[davidraeburn]

I have a really good 1 litre ute body with really bad mechanicals I also have a completly rusted out 1.3 Sierra ute but mechanicals are really good what problems would I have fitting the I litre body to the 1.3 chassis complete.The 1 litre is one of the last before they went to the 1.3 set up .Looking foward to your replies.

[sideways]

It depends what model of 1l it is. If it's a steel dash 1l then you will have your work cut out for you. If it's a plastic dash, it's essentially a bolt over swap.

Steel dash 1ls (type 1 and 2) have different body mounts and it's also very hard to fit a brake booster to them as the steering shaft passes through the firewall right next to the brake master. Type 1/2 also have different plugs on the electrics so everything will need to be swapped over.

If she's a plastic dash (type 3) then it's practically the same cab. Type 3s 1l were sold along side 1.3l Sierras when they came out in 11/1984 until 1987. Type 3s also have no brake booster but they just need the firewall hole enlarged and the booster/pedal fitted.

The type 3 also has engine/gearbox mounts that allow the 1.3l to be a bolt in swap, you can do the same swap in a type1/2 but there's a bit more work involved.

Personally I'd fix up the 1l mechanicals.

[fordem]

More out of curiosity than anything else - aren't there legal ramifications to such a swap? I can't do that legally here in Guyana - the body has to stay with the chassis, so I would have to swap the mechanicals over, and then notify the authorities of the engine number change.

[just_cruizin]

In Queensland at least this is possible so imagine the rest of Australia would be similar. A surrogate VIN may be required, interestly enough approved via QLD Police, maybe as a stolen vehicle check not sure. There is a grey area which may need further verification with regards to ADR compliance and what applies, I.e. A chassis from a vehicle that had side intrusion compliance with one with no side intrusion. Not that this is applicable unless the donor drive train is a coily.

Talk to your states Transport department, it's not that uncommon.

Body mount wise the 1.0 to 1.3 is different, different stud locations, lengths etc so may require some fabrication and custom bolts which I can assist with.

[davidraeburn]

Thanks for the help I really appreciate the advice, it has a plastic dash with the 4wd light below the dash also the disc brake front end.so should not be too hard, the reason for the swap is I have a lj50 restored also a lj80 restored but would like to have something a bit better on the road for longer distance travel
Thanks again David.