short wb to long wb conversion

[rudy]

Looking for information on changing a 67 912 to long wheelbase, what is involved, and parts needed. Someone told me he thought it was a simple swap, but he wasn't for sure. Any info would be really appreciated, and if anyone has parts for the swap. Thanks

[Dave Bouzaglou]

There are two ways to do it. Besides the obvious purchase of long wheelbase trailing arms , the tube will either have to be removed and replaced, or modified on the inner pick up points. You can purchase a tube from a wrecking yard, then have an experienced weldor install it. But the motor.trans, rear interior carpet/upholstery all have to be removed first for access. The back seat portions need to have cuts in the metal so "windows" for cutting the old tube out, weld replacement tube in, reinforcements overlapping the welds can be accomplished. The replacement tube needs to be carefully set in place or else the "clocking" and hence the rear arm positions will be off. I won't get into details of prime. coat, paint to finish it off. With all the parts removed for access, a good weldor will charge you between $250-400 , depending on where you live.
Install the torsions, some new end bushings when done, realign it and have fun.
The other way is to make a jig off a lwb tube, fabricating the inner pick ups, welding them in (again necessitating engine/trans removal) reinforcing them, and install arms bushings etc.
The fabrication way probably is cheaper, if you have the time to make the brackets, not as clean as the whole tube, but the two methods have the same end results
good luck
p.s.- if you are in so calif, we can recommend a shop to do this

[89911]

For this, it would be much wiser to buy a 69. The price you would spend converting this would easily buy you a tub. After that, you could swap out many of your components and purchase the other items if they didn't come with the tub.