My 54 s10 build

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Hello all. Ive lurked on here for a while and picked up a lot of tips and tricks involving these trucks and s10 frame swaps. There is so much info on here its amazing.

Anyway, I figured i would start a build thread for my truck. Ive been working on it for 4 years now off and on (life happens, kiddo, etc) so this will probably be painfully slow but I hope to get it done sooner than later. The story starts with me needing a little truck to do errands (lowes, trash to the dump, etc) but still be a badass ride. I searched locally and found a 54 3100 a couple hours north of me for a good deal. I had seen the s10 switch over and decided thats the route for me. Ive always played with cars and was heavy into s10s in my mini truck days so it seemed natural.

The truck lived its entire life before me on a farm in Caroline, VA and its very believable that it only has 12,000 miles on it. It was ordered without the bed and the flat bed on it was built for it after it was bought. I thought it was odd that its a corner window truck with no bed, why would someone spend the money on the "fancy" cab but no bed? Its still cool none the less. Ill post some pics as i find them to catch up to its current level. The s10 frame/suspension is done, ready for the cab to be set on and mounts mocked up. My next step is to pull the 54 apart to get the cab off.

[big_moss]

right on man welcome that's pretty cool about the no bed but still the "fancy cab" parts it looks like its a pretty solid truck. whats the suspension setup on the s10??

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Originally Posted by big_moss

right on man welcome that's pretty cool about the no bed but still the "fancy cab" parts it looks like its a pretty solid truck. whats the suspension setup on the s10??

It is your standard bagged setup for an s10. It has tubular upper and lower a arms with airlift 2500 dominator bags up front, bolt in four link from the thorbecke bros with an 8 inch bridge notch and airlift 2500 dominators out back. I'll post pics as I find them. Hopefully somewhat in order, haha.

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I don't have many pics of the front end assembly but have a decent amount for the rear. I first power washed the frame and gave it a few coats of black tractor implement paint. That stuff is tough as nails and goes on thick even in a spray can. The first is my daughter doing work trying to help.

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Here are some pictures of the steps in the bridge notch.

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Halfway through I went to the same pick and pay yard where i got the frame and found a 4wd rear from a 01 Olds bravada that has a posi and 3:73, as well as disc brakes for less than 100 bucks. Score! Most of these pictures are taken over a couple years just tinkering when i had the chance mostly on Saturday evenings after the little one goes to bed.

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Here is the s10 frame as i started with it. It was an 82 reg cab long bed and I picked it up from a local pick and pay for 300 beans. We stripped every thing off of it in the junkyard and left the cab, bed, and engine/trans behind. It took the three of us 2 hours to strip that sucker clean and wheel it out the front door.

[joedoh]

that bed on the roof looks like something I have done over the years haha. notice I did not say something I would do...

great start! I have seen 5 window and big window grain trucks before and wondered the same thing?

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The funniest part was that the roof of the Saturn was a perfect shape for the bed to wedge itself on top

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Now on to the powertrain. Like all of us, you tend to end up with a few spare parts over the years. I decided to re purpose this engine and trans for the truck. The engine is a 400 sbc thats been popped out to a 406 with aluminum heads, forged internals, and a fairly healthy cam. The trans is a th400 with a 2500 stall and shift kit. That setup was in my 84 Olds Cutlass Supreme until i got a wild hair and decided it needed an LS1 and 6 speed. The 400 ran strong (12.20's at 110) but I wanted the car to be more of a road trip type of ride and do duty as an alternate daily. It does both very well.

That said, the truck should haul with this combo in it being as the Cut comes in at 3210 lbs and I doubt the truck will approach the 3000 lb mark. I took the engine mounts and swapped the ends, frame mounts on the engine and engine side on the frame, and it worked great. I've seen that done throughout threads here and it works perfect. I just had to drill one hole. The trans crossmember is from jegs and its for a th400 in an s10 v8 swap. I just took the member and flipped it around, made couple of mounts and it fits right in the space just behind where the boxed part of the frame stops.

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my sweet new valve covers.

[TimE]

Cool story about the truck bed and your dad. Reminded of some of the things me and a buddy used to get into. Also like the '61 (Impala/Bel Air?) in the background of one of the pics.

Nice build you've got going. A 406 and bags ought to be a blast to play around with.

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Thanks man. Good eye on my 61, most people are way off on what year. It's a Impala 4 door hardtop. It's mostly stock but it's bagged, naturally haha.

[rtinniste]

I'm not sure if i missed it or not but what lower control arms are you running? One pic has stock uppers another has tubular uppers. And what size tire?

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Sorry I kind of blew over that, my bad. The lower arms are from thorbros, the uppers are chrome moly from an ebay store that sells mainly drag racing g body stuff (hurstcutty83 is his handle). The tires are bias ply g78-14 Goodyear powerstreaks on a factory g body 14 inch steel wheels. They are tall, like 27 inches, so i figure it'll lay hard on almost any wheel tire combo. I've been thinking on whether or not to go radial but i already had these tires from my Impala, they were on it when i got it, but I would want wide whites and they are expensive. So I'm still on the fence on that. Depends on the budget towards the end.

[rusty76]

I'm digging in on this one. Cool truck.

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Thanks man. I've been slacking lately on the truck, life has gotten in the way. To keep the wife quiet I've been working on the house, an old house always has something to do. I have had time to mess around for short periods of time and built a drift trike. I haven't killed myself on it so I got that going for me, haha. It's just an old bike, some 1 inch box tube, a go kart axle, and the bulletproof harbor freight predator engine. It's pretty simple and a whole lot of fun. Hopefully soon I'll be back on the truck. I'm itching to get it done.

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So between working and the wife wanting to renovate various parts of the house, I haven't had a lot of time for the truck. I have, however, gotten the cab mounts made and tacked into place on the frame. I used the plans that hussey has posted and they look like they are gonna work great.

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I have also removed the front clip off of the cab so I can access the lower sections of the kick panels/wheel house that Mother Nature has removed material from. So of course I had to lay it on the frame to get hype. This is my goal when it is aired out. Maybe I'll pick up some side jobs grading driveways.

[rusty76]

Cool. Thanks for the updates

[BIGglaSS]

I spy a 68 442. Love those cars! And 54-55 5 window trucks too. Going to look great pushing gravel.

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So thanks to fellow board member, Fred n’ Ethel, I got a much need kick in the pants to make a little time for the truck. He wanted the original frame and stuff I didn’t need so we made a deal. I’m glad the old parts are going to be reused. But first I needed to get the cab off and onto the new frame. It’s been ready for it for a year or so, I just haven’t had the time. I’ll tell ya these things are heavy but with 6 of us we man handled it and set it on the new frame. I know there are easier ways to go that have been documented on here a million times but time was of the essence and I had a few friends itching to help. I now just have to measure and square it up, finish welding in the cab mounts, and bolt it down. I can't stop looking at it. Hopefully my next adventure with it won’t be with so much time in between.

[joedoh]

always fun to mock everything up!

[Erics51chevy]

That will be a bad mother right there! I love it laying frame. A couple minutes here and there adds up!

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While I was digging through some pictures, I finally found one of my winter projects I did for the truck. I found a 57 caddy steering wheel at the same yard I got the bed from. It was in rough shape but I figured I could save it.

First I sanded it all down with some 320 paper I had laying around. Next I fixed the cracks with some jb weld waterweld epoxy puty. This stuff worked really well for the big cracks. Then finished it with some light bondo to smooth out the transitions from the puty to the wheel. I then primed, painted, taped, and painted some more. I went with a white from rustoleum and a silver glitter paint (for the side accent pieces) from them as well. Then buried it in eastwood company's 2k clear. Its a 2 part clear in an aerosol car, its fantastic for small projects like this. I think it came out pretty sweet considering how bad off it was to start with. The only problem I see with it is I'm going to have to paint and spiff up the inside of the cab to go with the shiny new steering wheel.