"Albert" -- 1949 AD, S10 Chassis

[HUSSEY]

I start this project in late 2013. It’s been slow going but I’ve managed to keep a fairly steady pace. My plans are to put a 1949 AD on an S10 Chassis. This is a project I've wanted to do for a while. I owned a 1952 Chevy for about a year but sold it in early 2013 and I'm now using the funds from that sale to get this project done.

Back in June 2013 I picked up a 1949 Chevy 1 Ton Stake Bed truck with the intentions of using only the sheet metal. It was non-running. The motor was missing the head and it was locked up. The last Missouri state inspection sticker was dated 1972. It had, as I was told, spent most of its life in a barn or covered shed. It was the most solid truck I had come across in my price range. It doesn't need any floors but could use some patching where the kick panels meet the toe boards. Each of the cab corners are just starting to rust though. There's not much left of the interior but I plan to redo all of that anyways. I ended up giving $1,200 for it and the guy included delivery which was 110 miles to my house. I don’t plan on doing anything to the exterior of the truck; I like the patina and the painted doors. I would like to do the interior really nice and dress out the engine compartment. But, for now, my objective is to get a solid running, driving, mechanically sound and completed roadworthy truck, then go back and do the interior and under hood.

Here are some pictures when I went to look at “Albert”.









Here are some pics of Albert being delivered. I was a little nerve wracking getting it off the trailer since it didn’t have any brakes and I didn’t wanting it plowing through my neighbor’s fence. I hooked a safety chain on it to stop it from running away and also laid down a couple railroad ties. It stopped on the first tie.

[HUSSEY]

A couple pics of my previously owned 52 Chevy: 1952 Chevy

[rustytruck50]

Nice score!! I just got a '48 1 ton last fall....mine is a like yours...just not a dually...trying to get the brakes sorted out & make a driver out of it & move on toward what you are doing when money's less tight

Is there any manufacturer name on that grain box?

[HUSSEY]

Originally Posted by rustytruck50

Nice score!! I just got a '48 1 ton last fall....mine is a like yours...just not a dually...trying to get the brakes sorted out & make a driver out of it & move on toward what you are doing when money's less tight

Is there any manufacturer name on that grain box?

No, I didn't see any name on the grain bed. I have since taken the bed apart. The wood was all pretty much dry rotted. I did save all the metal from it. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do with the bed. I may construct a mini grain bed. I do have a short bed and fenders but they don't match the truck and the fenders are a bit rough.

[HUSSEY]

I have located some bed parts. The first bed I bought was converted into a trailer and I gave $200 for it. The fenders were pretty beat-up; apparently they used it in some sort of figure 8 demo-derby type of race. I stripped the trailer down and sold the trailer for $50 and the bed sides for $150 and got my $200 back. What I was left with was the front panel and a GMC tailgate. I picked up some decent bedsides, so-so fenders, three running boards, and four running board to bed filler pieces for $100. I also picked up a decent rear bumper and bumper brackets for $75. I’m going to try and match the patina of the truck on the bed and rear fenders. Only pics I have are of the old POS trailer and bed sides I sold off. The other parts aren’t much to look at either but they’ll do for now.

[ghettoluxury]

Albert would go back to being a work horse if he were mine.

[HUSSEY]

Originally Posted by ghettoluxury

Albert would go back to being a work horse if he were mine.

That will probably be my next project, that is when I get a new place with a little more room. I see a lot of the 1.5 ton or larger ADs with the big truck hood and fenders around my area for sale which I think would make a cool work truck. As for right now, a good cruising low riding AD is what I'm after.

[HUSSEY]

Just before I bought the 49 I had seen a complete S10 with a bad 4.3 advertised. It was still for sale after I had bought the 49. I ended up getting the S10 for $600. I did have to pay $100 for a tow truck since I wanted to get it that night and I didn’t have a means to haul it. Since I've bought the S10 I've pretty much parted out what I don't need. I sold the bed, camper, front clip, doors, cab, steering column, and rear end totaling to $750. About all I kept were the chassis, transmission, and the wheels and tires.

[Robert Andrew]

Originally Posted by HUSSEY

Just before I bought the 49 I had seen a complete S10 with a bad 4.3 advertised. It was still for sale after I had bought the 49. I ended up getting the S10 for $600. I did have to pay $100 for a tow truck since I wanted to get it that night and I didn’t have a means to haul it. Since I've bought the S10 I've pretty much parted out what I don't need. I sold the bed, camper, front clip, doors, cab, steering column, and rear end totaling to $750. About all I kept were the chassis, transmission, and the wheels and tires.

I have a tilt bed trailer, and a one ton dually you can use if you ever need to haul something again.

[HUSSEY]

The S10 chassis has been stripped down and all the parts I didn’t need got sold off. I pressure washed it; wire wheeled the front half then coated with Ospho. I don’t plan on doing any painting yet, I want to reach the goal of having a running driving truck then go back and do the cosmetic stuff.

[HUSSEY]

The rear 2-wd rear end has been swapped out with a 4-wd rear end to get the wider track width. The rear end came out of a 2000 Oldsmobile Bravada with the production codes GT4 G80. It's a disk brake, 3:73 gear with limited slip. I went ahead and removed the cover and drained it, washed it out with brake clean, and installed new axle seals, and filled it with fresh gear oil. I installed new dust shields, rotors, and pads.

I’ve also learned that a Ford 8.8 in. rear end which is common in Explores has a track width very close to a 4-wd S10 rear end. They even have nearly the same spring saddle width and they are practically a drop in other than needing some conversion u-joints. I’ve seen this conversion discussed on several S10 forums. If my rear end doesn’t hold up in the long run, I’ll probably swap it out to a stronger Ford 8.8 in.

The rear end for now has 3 in. drop blocks. Beware, don’t mess with the Beltech drop block set or other manufactures drop block sets for the S10, they don’t come with the right u-bolts 1) they are too wide and 2) they are a smaller diameter rod than stock. I had u-bolts bent at a leaf spring shop of the correct diameter and dimensions. Jagsthatrun.com are the only one that I know of that include the correct size u-bolts, which I wish I knew beforehand.

[918733]

Where did you get the new dust shields

[HUSSEY]

Originally Posted by 918733

Where did you get the new dust shields

I got the rear dust shields from Rock Auto, they were $12 a piece which I though was more than reasonable. AC Delco PN 88935978, and 88935977, right and left, respectively.

For the front I did a Blazer big brake conversion and needed new dust shields. New ones were like $35 a piece, I ended buying those salvage.

[HUSSEY]

The front end has been completely gone through. New rotors, pads, calipers, wheel bearings, ball joints, steering links, everything. I also did a Blazer big brake conversion that provides larger rotors and dual piston calipers in lieu of the original single piston calipers. All brake parts come from a 2000 Blazer using 2000 Blazer spindles. For the spindles I also bought 2-wd Beltech 2 in. drop spindles, PN 2102. Most of the info on how to do this is on the S10 forums but it’s fairly easy, just replace the spindles, wheel bearings, and brake parts with those from a 2000 Blazer. You can also use Corvette calipers and rotors with some adapter brackets. I added hubcentric 2 in. wheel spacers to get the proper front tract width also.

I also pulled a sway bar off a 2000 Olds Bravada which is significantly larger in diameter than the stock S10 sway bar. It was a direct bolt in and I have been told these are the sway bars they used in the ZQ8 S10s.

[HUSSEY]

The front springs were a pain to get back in. I first had to compress the spring to to get it up into the spring tower and the a-arm under it. I borrowed a spring compression tool from O’Reilly’s and even had to cut down the rod a little to get it to fit up into the spring tower. Since I didn’t have much weight on the chassis yet, I then had to chain a jack to it to compress the spring to get the lower ball joint attached. Here’s a couple of pictures of how I went about it.

[BC Toy chest]

Hey thanks for the idea & photos on the front coil installation I am having a similar problem with an old stripped down El Camino. Can't wait to see your truck when it's done.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work! Been doing this a long time now and the chain idea is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing!

[ricott]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work! Been doing this a long time now and the chain idea is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing!

Same here on the chain idea. Thanks for sharing. I will be using this idea next week when I reassemble the front end on my current project.

[HUSSEY]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work! Been doing this a long time now and the chain idea is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing!

I can't say I came up with that idea right away, it took a bit of head scratching. Working with a compressed spring always makes me nervous.

[918733]

I did the exact same thing you did, brake up grade bell tech spindles, sway bar and a chain to put it back together, then I went to the wrecking yard and found a wrecked S-10 Extreme and got the coil springs and quick ratio steering box now i gotta take it back apart and try not to scratch anything, Hussey what are you doing for front brake lines

[HUSSEY]

Originally Posted by 918733

I did the exact same thing you did, brake up grade bell tech spindles, sway bar and a chain to put it back together, then I went to the wrecking yard and found a wrecked S-10 Extreme and got the coil springs and quick ratio steering box now i gotta take it back apart and try not to scratch anything, Hussey what are you doing for front brake lines

Nice score on finding an S10 Extreme at a salvage yard.

I haven’t done anything with the front lines for now. I do have the rubber flex lines off a 2000 Blazer that I'll mount up. From the flex lines to the master cylinder I'll see if I can tweak the lines I have off my original S10, or I may go get some lines off a 2000ish Blazer, or bend up some new line, just not sure yet. What did you do?

[918733]

Haven't done anything yet blazer soft brake line and my truck hard line has different fittings the blazer hard lines are not a direct fit to the master cylinder (blazer has abs) and if I'm not mistaken, where the line exits the calipers are in two different places from single piston calipers to dual piston, I know it's not that big off a deal I have made brake lines before and I'm a little nervous about making them

[HUSSEY]

Originally Posted by 918733

Haven't done anything yet blazer soft brake line and my truck hard line has different fittings the blazer hard lines are not a direct fit to the master cylinder (blazer has abs) and if I'm not mistaken, where the line exits the calipers are in two different places from single piston calipers to dual piston, I know it's not that big off a deal I have made brake lines before and I'm a little nervous about making them

Ok, good to know. I havn't messed around with the brake lines at all yet, guess I thought they would have used the same fittings.

[HUSSEY]

My engine came from Pick N' Pull, I grabbed it during a 4th of July weekend during their half off sale. It’s a 350 that came out of a 1990 K1500 with TBI. This so far has been the best deal on the truck; I think I have about $85 in it. It came with the intake and the TBI unit. I had to pay a little extra for the MAP sensor, EGR solenoid, Engine Control Module, Spark Control Module, etc. The front end accessories came off the 4.3 from my S10. I had earlier bought a long block 350 Vortec off a guy for $50 who had just swapped his out with a new motor from Jegs. It needed a rebuild and I bought it just to mock up the motor position. I ended up selling it for $100 so that was an extra $50 that went back in to my build fund.

[HUSSEY]

A few other little things are done too like a new fuel pump and fuel lines routed and hooked up. Power steering lines also hooked up. The engine is set but I can adjust it forward or backward a couple of inches once I get the cab on. I’m using Advance Adapters S10 conversion motor mounts.

I know there’s multiple ways to do the motor mounts but this is the solution I came up with. The S10 conversion mounts are meant to move the motor forward not back. You need to move the motor back with an S10 chassis swap.

I bought a set of S10 conversion mounts thinking I could simply swap them side to side to get the motor to move back not forward. However, the fuel pump casting of the block interferes with the motor mount adapter plates.

So, I put the S10 conversion mounts on the chassis and the rubber motor mounts on the motor. One other problem, at least on my chassis, the chassis motor mount bolt holes are not symmetrical. This is why the S10 2.8L motor mounts have slots in them and the Corvette style has holes.

On the passengers side you can install all three bolts. On the drivers side you can install the top bolt then drill the lower two on the chassis or weld the S10 conversion mounts to the chassis. I haven’t gotten my engine set yet so I’ve put off worrying about final attachment until then; though, I will probably bolt them on.

I picked up my S10 conversion mounts on eBay for $30 shipped. Otherwise, I don't think I would have experimented with them.

So in summary, S10 conversion mounts bolted to the chassis, rubber motor mounts bolted to the motor. From my measurements, this will get the motor back about 4 inches which I’m hoping is enough for radiator clearance; otherwise I will have to come up with another solution.

***EDIT -- This ended up working well for me. The conversion mounts bolted to the chassis were at the halfway mark of the bolt slots. On the driers side you need to oblong the holes in the chassis to get the conversion mount to bolt on. Or, once you have it where you want, just weld it on.






Anchor 2436, 1990 S10 2.8L


Anchor 2713, 1990 Corvette