Morphing a Sierra with a Silverado

[04DOOR]

[04DOOR]

I'm betting you'll need a Sawzall or maybe even a plasma cutter

Between the two, you've got at least 1 good frame, but you might need to get friendly with an autobody professional.

I betcha the block is still good. Keep tearing into it and keep us informed.

As bad as the front end was smashed all I needed was a large pry bar and an air ratchet. Ill use the Sawzall and plasma cutter when I chop the Silverado up!

[04DOOR]

O I forgot to mention that the crankshaft pulley, a/c and power steering pump were untouched in the crash. Awesome. That means there is a good chance that the engine is still good. I figure that the water pump took the brunt of the hit and just pushed against the iron block. Which is attached to the trans which is supported by rubber mounts.

I ended replacing the engine mounts with the Silverado ones. The rubber was good on the engine mounts but the brackets were hammered!



The trans crossmember is bent and so is that large block piece that is between the trans and the crossmember. I haven't gotten around to swapping that out yet.

The only thing im worried about now is the driveshafts and the output shaft housing of the trans. I took a look underneath and they didn't seem bad. The carrier bearing was pushed back though about 1/2." Im guessing it needs at least a new output shaft housing seal but other than that I think its ok. I will take a second look and make sure. Do you think the driveshafts have enough flex room in them to be ok?

[txarkitekt]

Damn dude...you've got a lot of work done! Nice write-up too...

Ok, as for the drivetrain on the GMC...consider it trashed. I would not reuse or try to fix anything. There should be enough flex in the driveline to where the rear end should still be good. I would take the motor, motor mounts, tranny, and driveshaft out of the GMC and replace it with the Chevy stuff. Of course you will need to get a new CCSB driveshaft for the GMC. I would save the motor and tranny from the GMC to use as your own parts stock.

From the looks of the frame, you are good--just swap over everything from the Chevy that you take off the GMC. It should be a pretty straight forward swap.

Good work--keep us updated!

[04DOOR]

Sry about this newb question. What is a CCSB driveshaft?

I need to post some more pics to try to catch up to where I am today. Maybe this weekend i'll get caught up here on the forums. Thanks for the encouragement.

[Beatdown Z]

CCSB stands for Crew Cab Short Bed

[04DOOR]

After swapping the motor mounts I later swapped in a new trans mount along with the crossmember. I swapped intake manifolds. Broken one for the good. I swapped the ps pulley and alt bracket. I used the same ps pump. Its nice that you can leave it hanging while you take the bracket out. I used the alt. from the other truck and swapped out the water pumps. Its awesome that the trucks use the o-ringed water pump seals instead of the gaskets.

I took the radiator support off the Sado and transferred it to the Sierra. I left everything attached and just removed two bolts for the support. I disconnected all the cooler lines and reconnected them on the Sierra. Looking really good at this point.

[04DOOR]

[ducky]

wow you really are making progress on this transformation! congrats and keep up the good work!

[Frenchy]

It's comin along good, I didn't even know there was that much difference in the Chev and GM