I have done searches on the site but havent come up with anything.
Has any one done this or heard of anyone doing this swap? Taking a 75-78ish body and swaping it onto a mid 90's 250 or 350 running gear.

 

I'm sure it could be done if you matched body types, cab,sb,lb. there is a 94 long bed 1ton srw 4x4 460 5speed roll over at my brothers shop I have been wondering about my self.

 

I've seen this question asked on here before. I can tell you the front of the frame on the 90s truck is wider so your core support and front bumper is going to be no where close to bolting on. And also the 90s drive train is junk compared to what the 78/79 body should have had. So basically have something worse than stock in my opinion.

 

i don't know about the 90's being junk. stick with an f-350. a fuel injected 460, HP dana 60 10.25 sterling rear are all pretty good pieces in my opinion. swap out the aluminium t-case for a 205 if it doesn't have one, if it really bothers you.
i've been wanting to do this same swap for a while.

 

I'm with basdude what about a 90's running gear is junk compared to a 70's. It would be a pain to do the swap bit if you could make it fit it would be a sweet ride. I would stay with the 3.50 and away from the ttb front end though.

 

I was doing this swap years ago, but with an 87 f350 dually 4x4 reg. cab. It had a flat bed. I had to make all the cab mounts, and was going to make all the core support mounts. it was not to bad of a deal, but I never finished it and sold it when I moved. It was also a cummins diesel and 5 speed I was swapping in. I know the bed will bolt straight on, if you go off of that you can line the cab and front clip up to match. I think you might have to move the engine though. I also had a 79 f-250 4x4 that the p.o. put on an 89 f-250 4x4 diesel 5 speed frame. motor was in stock location, but he had to move the front wheel well openings to have the wheels line up, and had to cut some out of the front of the bed, it was weird but worked and looked good. Basically moved the body about 4 inches or so back on the frame.

I think you would be better off swapping the newer drivetrain into the older truck. and converting to 4x4 if you need to, as long as you like doing alot of fab work.

 

Well the 350 is the cream of the crop and gets rid of the TTB which is a HUGE plus. But if you're using a 250 then thats a joke. But even a 1990 F350 doesn't have nearly as good of a transmission or transfercase as a 1979 F-150.
Just seems like a lot of work to down grade a truck. Why not just get a 1979 F-350 and put EFI on it? Seems a lot easier and better. I've owned an 80 Bronco and a 93 Bronco and my dad has a 89 F-250 and I've been around a lot of others and I am not impressed at all.
The OP said 250 or 350 and that makes me think of my dads 1989 F-250 with a 79 body. Yuck. TTB, junk transfercase and transmission with some goofy rear axle (non-full floater). That entire drive train sucks compared to my 1977 HALF TON.

 

i guess i shouldnt have added the 350 in there with the 350. i was thinking it would be nice to have a 77-78 body right on a 95-97 one ton with a 7.3 in it. correct me if im wrong but if the wheels dont line up with the body (if you liked the bigger fender flares) you could use the cut out fender flares to make up some of the difference. maybe you wouldnt be able to make up that much i guess. or the fender flares would have to be those huge ugly looking ones. just some thoughts.

 

I still think it would be MUCH better and much easier to swap a 7.3 into a 1979 F-350.

 

Yea i would just go with a 19778-79 F-350 fram because they just could take a hell of a beating and still keep going

 

I've been researching this, but for a Dodge frame and Cummins. I'd like to put my 77 on a 90's dodge, that way I can get the cummins, D80 rear, D60 front, NV4500 tranny, and whatever good transfer case. I'd move the cab and even the firewall if necessary, before I'd move the engine. I've seen the swap done with the body modified, and it's looks ridiculous changing the 70's ford, which I think is the best looking trucks ever

 

You would have to make cab and rad mount but it cab be done. There is a couple of guys over on the Powerstroke Nation - Powered by vBulletin that have put 70s bodys on 99 up chassis so putting it on a 90s chassis would be easier.

One 79 reg cab long box on a 04? chassis with a 6.0 diesel

another 69 crew cab on a 04 crewcab on 40s w a 6.0 as well

if you can fab it can be done

 

I know this thread is a dinosaur, but I have been doing this type of project over the past year and a half (adding some goodies after the body swap). My truck being a 79 f150 2 door long box, 133" wheelbase

I used a 1997 F-250 HD rolling chassis (naturally the 2dr 133" wheelbase) I got from the local junkyard for 200 bucks, cleaned that all off. The front two cab mounts on the 97 chassis can be used, just have to remove the rivets and move them forward using the two existing holes. They do have to be shimmed outward about 1/2" . The rear cab mounts have to be fabbed but the rest was gravy. The bed bolts somewhat lined up, I forget which ones didn't, but atleast 4 line up. Then all you have to do is move the motor forward about 3ish inches. I did the superduty axle swap, with an RSK which was really easy. The powersteering lines I used to mate to my motor were the stock 97 ones so that was easy, even the spline on the steering box was the same so I could use my 79s steering shaft. The total amount of parts I had to make were two rear cab mounts, the two radiator core support mounts and some bumper brackets. I guess if anyone has any questions about the ways that I took let me know.

 

You should post some pics or a build thread would be even better!

 

Good suggestion, I may do a build thread soon!