Body/frame advice request 73 Blazer, more than I wish I had to do

[thepunisher]

I'll try to make this quick.
My first car was a 73 Blazer 4x4. in the early 90's I mildly restored/updated it, rebuilt everything etc.
Somehow it survived my marriage. It wasn't practical for a young family, it spilled oil. (believe me, my wife tried to make me sell it and I'm still married to her) I was able to hide the truck out of sight for years.
The next time the truck came up, I had the brilliant idea to say the truck was going to be for my son.
One day, Texas happened.
I let my father take the truck out to South Texas when he retired. He was/is a master mechanic and experienced collision expert. The idea was that I would move there (I did, for a bit) and bring the truck back to road-ready condition, it still ran great but had things that needed doing.
Fast forward 10 years and the warm salt air has cannibalized the body. I haven't been down there to visit, but I know my father doesn't want me to see it. It's mine though and I promised it to my son so I have to do some major work.
TLDR: I need a new body and I would like to do it as cheaply as possible - so I'm looking at available K5 bodies and the most intact I can find are 80's K5.
I know there are differences - the door posts will have to be cut, along with the windshield frame, etc. There's also the gas door thing.
I'm wondering if anyone has done this before?
My father insists that he once measured an 87 Suburban and that chassis was narrower than the one in his 74 Suburban (He was looking at a potential swap and EFI, etc). I found aftermarket replacement frames for K5 and there is nothing that I could find about these differences.
I don't have long to get this truck ready, my son just turned 14 - your help is appreciated.
Thanks..

 

[Crispy]

Searchtempest.com search in Arizona, NM, Nevada, and Cali.

It sounds like this project has some sentimental value so I dont want to suggest selling it and starting over, but maybe you should consider it. You can find deals on Cali vehicles because of their draconian emissions laws and people not being able to pass smog but I believe it was Mid 70's (75, 76 or 77) and newer that are under the emissions mandate. If you're going to be doing all of this cutting and hoping to find a donor body why not source replacement panels and not have to worry about searching for parts?

Sounds like you need to get a good look at its true condition and decide from there. One persons opinion of non repairable rust may not be anothers.

Good luck and welcome.

 

[thepunisher]

Thanks for your advice.. I hope to get a look at it soon.
A bit of reference - we did a body swap on that 74 suburban to a 76 body, so my hope was that a complete cab swap was something that someone has done before, with the consideration of cross-generational K5 years..

 

[Crispy]

I'm sure its been done and someone has the info on the frame differences, if any. Unfortunately I do not.

Side note, is it a full convertible K5?

 

[thepunisher]

Yes.. full convertible.

 

[dvdswan]

I remember seeing a couple years ago that a company was making 73-75 Blazer shells. not sure if they were steel or fiberglass though. might be an option though.

 

[thepunisher]

Fiberglass would be pretty neat - I would hope that it would be molded and absolutely perfect (no body work), but I have my doubts about that.. I was able to hunt one down on one site and it was
$8,300.00 w/o tax and shipping..
the search continues... but thanks..

 

[thepunisher]

Wasn't there one of those car tv shows recently where they did a body swap? I seem to remember a blazer being resto'd and something about a new body..

 

[bucket]

The K5 frames changed in '78, to accommodate the redesigned floorpan. Then there were mild changes again to the frame in '81, it used different body mounts and the frame horns were slightly different due to the new bumper design.

And other than the same minor differences in body mounts and bumper mounts, Burb frames were the same '73-'91.