Body swap or drivetrain swap?

[Nova70]

I got ahold of an '03 duramax at auction. The body is trashed but frame and all drivetrain is still good with 90k. I took it to a shop to check if the frame was bent and they said it's still straight. I don't know if I want to put the Allison and the Dmax in my truck and upgrade my axles, or if I want to put my truck on the newer chassis all together. It was a crewcab longbed truck and Im looking for a Burban body to chop for my crewcab.

What would you do?

[raycow]

Is the '03 supposed to be a donor for your '70 K10?

Ray

[Nova70]

Yes. I've been wanting to do a Dmax in my truck for a while now, but can't decide which would be best. If I swap the body, I would have a smoother ride, but if I swap the engine/trans, I have the original look still... I'm not sure which I want to do.

[raycow]

I was going to suggest a body swap with a lift (because of the frame differences), but if you are wanting it to look stock, I suppose that's off the table.

If you just swap the engine and transmission into the 70 it won't be too hard a job, but if you want to do the whole driveline/suspension you are in for quite a bit of work, again because of the frame differences. Honestly, I don't think there is an easy way to keep it stock looking unless you limit the swap to the engine/transmission only. That's probably not what you were wanting to hear.

Ray

[Nova70]

Well I don't plan on doing the suspension to my '70 if I don't do the body swap. I was just thinking of doing the engine/tranny along with the ECU, then just upgrading my axle's and driveline.