I know i will get some negative comments about what i'm doing but i have a 1960 F100 big back window that i'm setting up to tow a fifth wheel camper around the country. I am putting the cab and front sheet metal on a 77 chevy 4x4 frame with a 6.2L diesel, 700r4, 203 transer case, dana 44 front, and gm 12 bolt rear. It gonna sit on 35" tires and have a steel/wood flat bed. I'm trying to find or figure out a custom front bumper to hold a winch and offroad lights.

 

Someone's gotta be first, so here goes.

How will that truck do what you are proposing it do, even one bit better, by removing its' Chevy skin and replacing it with Ford skin? Aren't you just wasting money, for the sake of a skin graft?

Not to mention the indignity you are subjecting each of those poor trucks to.

Take a trip to Hawaii, a better use of your "hard-earned".

 

If you actually pull it off you are way ahead of a lot of people that get an idea and never do it. Last year I put a cummins diesel from a ups truck in my '59 f350. It is mated to a gm sm465 4 spd and a sterling 10 1/4 rear axle from a '92 f350. The 9' flareside box bed came from a donor utility trailer. The electric wipers were from a backhoe and I adapted the front hubs to match the 8 lug rears without going to a machine shop, utilizing the existing front hub as a 'lathe'. For me the 'truck hobby' is about innovation, creativity and using parts and pieces I already have or can swap with a friend. I have owned a 6.5 diesel suburban and currently own a grumman stepvan with a 6.2. They have both been great engines and I seem to always be explaining to the uninformed that these engines are NOT a dieselized chev 350. That was the oldsmobile thing. The 6.2 and 6.5 were designed and built for truck and marine service. American General continues to turn out Humvees for Uncle Sam and what is under the hood? GM 6.5 turbo diesel. I vote you do what you want. Just don't pick away at it for ten years. Roll up your sleeves and do it! I may be showing how boring my life is, but I think I enjoyed the resto-conversion of my '59 more than any endeavor I've ever undertaken.

 

Not that familiar with C***y but won't that '77 frame be a little too wide for the '60? Not that it can't happen but it would mean a ton of cutting and pasting. You plan on using the '77 column and guages?

 

gonna have to build new body mounts. i will use the 77 column but for gauges i have a complete dolphin set with insert.

 

muddin; sounds like you have plan. As for the front bumper i guess its wide open, just depends on how you plan on using the vehicle when you are not dragging your camper, do you want trail proof or handsum/functional?
We like pictures, without pictures it didn't happen. LOL
Good luck in your quest!

 

Looking more for trail proof but also look good at the same time. Will post pics as soon as i get some taken.

 

Wally, I love your Jeffersonian signature!

 

Thanks Gary! It helps me with some of my frustrations.