Hey, I have a 92 w250 auto club cab with rot, i'm getting a rust free 77 club cab, plan is to swap cab and fenders on to the 92 drive train....question is what to do with the electronics part of it, i'm wanting to keep the 77 dash and stuff because of the title so dash swap is out. i have ideas like to control the od with the pressure switchs put an external voltage reg on it, ect. ect. but i'm not real sure about the grid heater i'm in northern iowa and last year it got down to -30 so i want the heater but don't know about the cycling part of them. i can hook them to a push button but do they have to cycle? also wondering about the ksb? toggle switch it also?? and the same for that what about cold weather does it cycle or anything? anything else i'm missing?

 

real simple swap the vin plate to newer dash then swap everything else over n your done best of both world's it's just 2 small rivet's

 

hey-Hey!!!,
The grid heaters don't need to cycle. A push button will be just fine; you're quite a bit smarter than the 'puter that decides when to run them anyway.

On the KSB, power to it advances the timing and remove power puts it back to warmed up running timing...again a switch will serve you better than the little 'puter( now the early, non-IC'd trucks advance the timing with no power and go to run mode when B+ is applied to the KSB ).

The OD I have no idear about...mine are either 727 or manual... The early truck has a mechanical speedo, and the A518 sends out an electrical signal. translating that for speedo function may pose some issue...or get a GPS speedo/odo.
cheers,
Douglas

 

figured on the od i was just going to run pressure switches and or a toggle switch, the speedo i was just going to use the cable and swap the electronic part for cable...

pretty sure swaping vin plates is highly illegal...plus the vin on the cab wouldln't match.

 

I have a 77 Dodge pick up and the VIN tag is located riveted on the drivers side door.

 

vin is also on dash pad

 

This is more question, than rebuttal...

It is illegal to swap vin tags if it is going to a different truck. However if you're swapping body parts to the 92, I think it would be Illegal to not change the vin, whether you switched dashes or not. You are pretty much only changing sheet metal. The vin should be matching to the drivetrain & chassis vehicle. Since he is planning on putting the cab and fenders onto the 92 as opposed to the 92 drivetrain into the 77, it would not be a 77 dodge ram with a diesel, it would be a 92 ram simply with fenders and cab replaced, would it not?? I mean axles, engine blocks, and various body panels on most vehicles are tagged with vins, and swapping them doesn't seem to be a problem.

 

Pics?

 

I'll try and take lots of pictures but I probably won't get a good start till after winter.

 

Go down to your local police department and double check with them. Tell them your plans and see what they say about swapping VIN's (Which is illegal) or if you leave the cab intact and swap it onto the other chassis.

I did this years ago with another project and got the OK from the police, nice to know if you ever got pulled over they wouldn't impound your vehicle because you did something wrong.

As for the grid heaters. May look for a system off a NON-IC truck. Think all you need is a 12V ignition source to activate the black control box. After that it's the air temp and relays that take care of the rest.

 

I could swap the engine engine into the 77 But i'd also be swaping the trans,tcase,front and rear axles so the only thing left that i didn't change would be the frame,so it'd still be 92 drive train in a 77 truck......it wouldn't be any different from us doing the crew cab swap with my dads truck....like thrashingcows said probably better go ask...

 

Well this is what I;m doing on the crewcab so I don't have hassel's with reg .it's going to be reg as a 93 due to there are No number's on the frame only tag;s that can be swapped over on the body .I have my 93 frame complete torn down an also the crewcab and haven't found a frame number yet so when they check the only number they will see is the vin tag on dash and that will show 93 Yes I know the crewcab's have the vin tag's on back door jab ooops repaint must of been removed

 

With doing the complete drive train swap your still retaining all the vin #'s and stamps on the body and frame together, and they match. This is more important then the drive components.

 

Where is the vin on the frame?

 

there is none that I have found and I have my 93 down to bare frame along with my 85 crewcab still no number's found anywhere the use to be on Pass side right by wheel from what I understand they stopped stamping frames a while ago Now I am not sure on newer truck's