47-55.1 S10 Frame Swap on 47-53 - Would you do it again?

[gigamanx]

Figure I should put my two cents in. I chose a donor S10 for mine. Stripped two trucks down to the frame to build one. I drove it to work as often as I could for a year.





Doing it again with the time invested in the swap, fabrication, and learning. Darn I was disappointed when I saw how little of the S10 was able to transfer over for my needs. I joked with friends that the only thing S10 was the transmission tunnel I cut out of the stock frame. I wish I had kept my decently working stock frame and started there. When the truck was finished, I had poured so much money in other places that the extra $$ to upgrade a stock frame would have been negligible. I falsely hoped I could steal most things from the S10 and convert them over...here's where it went wrong...

Decided I wanted a SBC350....so new wiring, new engine mounts, new lots of things that didn't convert over from the S10, New radiator.
Replaced brakes and front suspension because they were 1990's old and needed replacement anyway.
Converted from a two piece to a one piece drift shaft
Installed 4 link rear suspension to replace the stock leaf springs.
Seat didn't fit, steering column didn't fit, ordered new gauges as the stock ones looked like a hack job in an AD.
New wheels to fit the AD wheel wells.

Sure there are cheap ways to get around some of this, but when I did it to my version of "right" I kept wishing I had the stock frame under there and an IFS front.

with that being said...power steering and power brakes made driving a dream. Plenty of power for the highway and the comfort and safety of the stock. Having newer suspension front and rear made for a smooth ride for sure. IT comes down to what you want as an end product. If you just want a truck that looks cool and yuo don't care about the frills, S10 will get you there. If you're considering resale value, originality, street rod, show truck, I think you're better off keeping the frame stock.