S10 Frame Swap w/ AD and LS motor

[tlorber]

I'm just a the beginning stages of this swap and I'm in the process of gathering parts. I wanted to document progress (slow though it may be) so that I can post obstacles that I encounter, and to solicit input. I have found the existing threads to be extremely helpful and I hope to be able to contribute back.

Here is what I am starting with:
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My truck is a '54 GMC 150, which is a 3/4 ton. It is too stiff and large to be practical street vehicle, even after installing a T5 and 4.10 gears. My plan is to make it comfortable enough to drive that my wife will want to use it occasionally, and to get 2 kids into safely (my leash gets much longer as long as I have the kids with me).

The donor is a standard cab long bed, and the motor is a 2005 LM7 similar to the pic, from a Silverado that rolled (73,000 miles with heads that were replaced under warranty in 2012). Tranny is the 4L60e from the same truck, and I have all the harnesses, PCM and throttle controls from the same truck as well.

I have also acquired a rear end from a '76ish Camaro. This measures appx. 61inches from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface, which compares with 62.5 inches for my stock 150, and it has 3.43 gears. The good news is that I was able to swap the stock S10 straight across for the Camaro one.

I will most likely be purchasing cab mounts from AD Engineering. Thanks to the discovery of BlueJeep's thread, I realized that I can use the stock S10 bed, (with some cutting required). Therefore I will not need the bed supports, so the AD parts will be in the $550 range. I want my truck to be usable as a pickup for occasional hauling, so I will probably rhino guard the bottom, and for showing purposes I may cut and finish some veneered plywood w/metal strips that I can just lay on top of the bed to look like the original wood planks.

I am slowly selling the S10 parts I don't need to fund the new parts.

This swap will require me sectioning about 8-10 inches from my bed sides (in front of the rear fender) to fit the new frame. I believe this will look better proportioned and more balanced than my current stock bed. Due to the "embossing" of the bed sides and front on the '54 and 55 1's, raising the bed height relative to the sides is not really an option that I considered viable. Therefore, lowering will be accomplished via 2" drop spindles and 3" lowering blocks in the rear. I don't think I'll need to go lower than that.

Anyhow, thanks for reading. I hope to make some forward progress over the holidays.