Round to Square Front Clip

[Monzter]

Well I just swapped my 73 Suburbans clip out for a front clip of a 86 Chevy truck. I thought that some people might like to what it takes to do this, everything I found on line did not show what it takes so I took pictures of my swap.

The unsuspecting Suburban.

The 73 front clip pulled off.

The plastic screen, weather strip & wiper mechanisms need to be removed now.

Now time to mark out where the cutting for new hood hinge holes & bolts need to be.

Here's where I had to add metal for the hood hinges, I added some support also, it seemed a little flimsy without it.


Test fitting the hinges.


With rubber.

Now it's time to drill holes for the wiper mechanisms, plastic screen & cowl. I forgot to take pictures of the drivers side wiper mechanism hole, it had to be enlarged to fit the longer mechanism.

After hoes drilled in the right spots I installed the cowl.

Next is to put the clip on.

Here you can see where I had to enlarge some of the holes to get the clip lined up.


Now the fenders are shimmed & bolted down.


Next is the hood. I drilled a hole in the firewall & used a new hood release cable to be able to open the hood.



The front body mounts had to be cut off & welded on in the right place along with cutting the frame for the bumper.

Drilling holes for bumper.


Ta Da! It's all on.



Next is to wire up the headlights & turn signals. I kept the wiring harness from the old clip top do this, the bulkhead connector is way different & wires will need to be spliced. I did no get pictures of this, it's not that hard to do though if you can do this clip swap.

[werewolfx13]

Good to see what all is involved. If I end up settling for a 73-80 cc srw 4x4, I'll end up doing the same thing.

[Bitzer!]

Well impressed! Thought about doin mine but too much work-had ennuff on my hands! What colour is the ole girl goin?

[VileZambonie]

Looks good but I liked it better with older nose.

[the_legend_1981]

I agree with Zambonie

[Monzter]

Well impressed! Thought about doin mine but too much work-had ennuff on my hands! What colour is the ole girl goin?

I was planning on Silver with black tribal flames, I also have a air bag kit I was planning on putting on it too, now the air bag kit will be going on my 93 Dually.

[Monzter]

Looks good but I liked it better with older nose.

Yeah, I know that some people like the older front ends & some like the newer front ends so I expected that I would get people saying that they like the older clip better. I prefer the newer clip because it's smoother looking when you've got the billet grill & slopes down more giving you the feeling the truck is lower than it is. Besides my old front end was rotted out at the fender & radiator support from the battery, so this was one way of fixing it & getting the look I wanted.

[ca180]

What wheels are those?

Torque thrusts?

Excellent write up

[Monzter]

What wheels are those?

Torque thrusts?

Excellent write up

Polished 20" Coy's C5s

[dumbucket1]

good job, everytime I get a 81 up I immediately yank the nose off and put a round head light nose on it. Everyone has their own tastes. 

[80stepsideguy]

Should be able to get money for the fenders and hood, they look to be in pretty good shape.

thanks
pat

[Bitzer!]

Well impressed! Thought about doin mine but too much work-had ennuff on my hands! What colour is the ole girl goin?

I was planning on Silver with black tribal flames, I also have a air bag kit I was planning on putting on it too, now the air bag kit will be going on my 93 Dually.

air-bag the burb!! cool m8

[Captkaos]

Thanks for posting the info.  I have never had to move the core support mounts on any of them though.

[comp]

slick 

[Monzter]

Thanks for posting the info.  I have never had to move the core support mounts on any of them though.

Really? Here's where the front two of my original rivet holes are from where the mount used to bee, it was about 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" from lining up. The original body mount bolt was also too short, I had to get one 4 1/2" if I remember right. The top bumper bolt ontop of the frame was in the right spot though.