hi,

if anyone could give me some advice it would be awesome!
i have a 1979 escort panel van that i am rebuilding. i have all of the parts i need to come from a donor car (1980 escort sedan). i am about to start the process of swapping everything from the 1980into the Van. by everything i mena EVERYTHING as the panel van is a wreck.

the question i have is, is it possible to lift the body off the Van chassis and put it onto the sedan Chassis? this way i have all the lines, diff, steering, disc front end etc....

is this possible? or does anyone have anther good idea of how to get this done?

No chassis, a hoist would be useful, you could drop the whole front end/ rear end by lifting the car. other wise get dirty.
 

The chassis is one peice with the body butI have done this with two sedans i unbolted all suspension, motor/ gearbox etc, myself and three other blokes did the lifting (one shell off, one on) and was handy to have a fourth to help line up the front struts when putting the new shell on, was fairly simple compared to exchanging everything over separately, just remember the brake lines, reverser sensor wire and and engine wiring.
Not sure but there may be small differences in rear suspension area between sedan and van. someone here could have more info on that here and then again i could be wrong, but look into it.

thank you for the advice,
 
i thinki will do it in the section as you suggested. i didnt want to waste time doing it bit by bit if i didnt have to.
 
as i am a novice, the less i pull apart the better for me. i am changing the good bit sform the 1980 sedan to my 1979 van.

At least if you end up changing everything over you'll know your car intimately and so therefore if (I mean when) things go wrong you'll have a better uinderstanding of what is going on and how to fix it!
 
Cheers
 
Matt

If you are a bit new to this sort of work then i suggest jacking up the car and looking at everything very carefully first, spend half a day looking underneath, make a list of things to do then get into it.
When i said i unbolted the motor i meant the front cross member to chassis, you can leave the engine mounts bolted. Don't forget to undo the flexible steering coupler on the steering shaft, this one can easily be missed.
Just remember with new stuff like this is take your time so not to damage gear.
 
Good luck

seams to me you are new to Escorts the  windows will not fit the doors will not fit there may be some differences in the front struts 
 
 --- the back brakes may not be as big -- the springs are heavyer in the van -- not that will be a big thing