my first fat fender project. 52 flatbed budget build

[tranzamwayno]

found at junkyard with hole in block, holes in corners and 4 mismatched flat tires. going to have a 350 with posi and 4 wheel disc. i like the flatbed but i have a decent bed from another project i gave up on, just too much cab rust for a $450 truck but i kept the doors , bed and tailgate.

[Rednek13x]

Thats a nice truck! Good save!

[RedneckRodder]

Looks pretty solid for a Pacific Northwest truck. Good save! I have a lot of parts laying around the house, and connections for the things I don't have. Let me know if you need help finding anything for it.

[mr48chev]

Pretty slick. Don't junk that bed as someone may be looking for it or make a trailer out of it. I've seen one other in the past 30 something years so some outfit must have made and sold them in the PNW using the stock fenders in the process.

[tranzamwayno]

it had a quickie fixer up moment probably in the 80's or 90's, floor is a little weak and driver kickpanel has been poorly patched up but looked good from the outside till i pulled the fenders off, oh well.

put the flatbed frame up for sell and its gone so i took the cab off the frame

[tranzamwayno]

frame had quite a bit of rust so i bought a s10 with a 350 in it. should have the body mocked up this weekend

[tranzamwayno]

we got the cab and bed sitting on the frame. the cab is sitting on a 4x4 and a 2x4 so its about 5" off the frame. the trans is 1/8 " from hitting cab. i do not want a trans tunnel. we moved the motor back 4" so there's about 2.5" clearance to the firewall.

the bed corner angles are 1/4" above the s10 bed mounts. so the bed will be about 2" raised with new wood and angles. i want to keep the floor as low as possible.

the front wheel will be 215 75 15, 15x7 rim, 3.5" backspace. about 1" forward of fender center line to help with the wheelbase difference. it has about 3/4" of clearance to fender when turned. thats a 235 on it now just to mock it up, the 235 hits. we also put 2" drop spindles on it.

we will move the rear fenders back 1" to the other holes that are in the bedsides. we got a ford 8.8 with posi and 373 gears and disc brakes, with 2" drop blocks just sitting on the rear springs. just need a brake line adapter fitting to hook it up. will use the 8.8 bracket for the lower shock mount and make upper mounts.

the axle may be moved forward 1" so we can slide the bed forward as the cab is about 3" from the bed. alot will depend on if i can find a drive shaft that will fit or if i have one made. with 235 75 15 tires on 15x8 rims with 3.5 backspace there is 1/4" clearance to the bedsides.

we got started on cutting and fitting the s10 rear cab mounts to fit for the front body mounts. the rear 52 mounts will bolt right to the frame. should be able to cut down the running board mounts to work just fine to finish up the body mock up and see where we sit.

the s10 booster, pedals and column are mocked up. the s10 booster pedal bracket is really big and ugly but it will work pretty easy for now. gas pedal will take alot of bending but should be fine. we cut down a wrangler collapsible steering shaft to fit. bolts right up to the s10 box and column. goes thru the s1o v8 headers.

[tranzamwayno]

couple pics. got some cheapo guages hooked up, got front lights working. ran s10 gas fill through side of bed, still has original fill on passenger side. ill take out the tank behind the seat someday. will try to use stock gas pedal with s10 linkage.

2" spacers on front axle, battery on firewall, and booster bolted in. if this truck didnt have as much rust as it does i would be fixing the rust and keeping the firewall clean. but she's just a budget shop truck for now. next project will have clean engine bay.

rear sway bar for 8.8 installed, looking for blazer front sway to upgrade.

had a extra front bumper laying around so put that on the back.

[tranzamwayno]

got the inner fenders cut and mounted, stock rad is in, tilted out at bottom, fan blade clears, saved me from an electric one. need a p/s hose made. i cut up the old one to the shape i need with the different ends on it. used shifter linkage from 80's chev truck, works great. grill and bumper is mocked up. exhaust got raised and shortened up a bit. running boards mocked up.

took the torch to my oak and tried some stains i have. ill sleep on it and stain her up tomorrow, just got the stock strips right now. ill have to buy some new angle corners.

painted up the motor, last owner rattle canned everything black and it was flaking off the intake, valve covers, ect. choke wasnt hooked up so the 4 barrels didnt open. kick down cable was disconnected in trans so it didnt downshift, linkage hit the headers so had no 1 or 2 gear. got all that working.
it was a dog when i test drove her, but sounded real good and smooth.

pulled her out to see how she sits, so far so good! next . go find a driveshaft, figure out brake and signal

[tranzamwayno]

buddys 55 ford

[*Kenny]

wow making quick work of this! Love the look of it and how you're doing it on a budget, so perfect!

[tranzamwayno]

yes, me and 2 friends have about 150 hours in it so far. and about $3k total. used some tires off a wrangler that we sanded the whitewalls into, came out pretty good and cheap. got the bed all stained up, waiting for bolts to show up in the mail from albanycountyfasteners, great price!

[mikec4193]

Originally Posted by tranzamwayno

yes, me and 2 friends have about 150 hours in it so far. and about $3k total. used some tires off a wrangler that we sanded the whitewalls into, came out pretty good and cheap. got the bed all stained up, waiting for bolts to show up in the mail from albanycountyfasteners, great price!

I really enjoy the low buck builds, when I find them I reread them and learn as much as I can....I think you have an awesome project going here...

Did I see a Jeep in one of the pictures???...these old trucks can be a lot more wallet friendly than those Jeeps are....

Been there done that...

Keep up the great work...

MikeC

[tranzamwayno]

thanks, yes i have a 95 wrangler with all the goodies on it. ill get some pics later but the bed wood is mostly in, just need a few more used metal strips as a few of mine were missing. just did a clear satin on it, the underside is stained dark oak and looks good but i decided natural look for today.

got a driveshaft from a shortbed chevy truck 2 wheel drive. swapped the tranny end with the t350 s10 end as it was a manual truck and got a combo joint for the 8.8 end, perfect fit no cutting needed

used a pressure line from a s10 blazer v-6, took a while to get it to fit without hitting anything but its working, no one could make one like i had designed cause one end was pretty short on the metal part.

finally found a 2 wheel drive blazer to get the sway bar from. used end links from 4wd blazer as the 2 wheel were frozen up and had to be cut off on my s10 and the donor blazer. worked good.

[tranzamwayno]

got her licensed and tabbed and drove her around the block alot, to the store, the bank, parts store, got home and ignition module goes out in driveway. hopefully thats the problem. used some wrangler tail lights for now. couldn't figure out wiring for the brake/ signal through the column with a single bulb dual filament. wrangler has 3 bulbs in the housing so works good.

being in seattle the next step is wipers. the mechanical fan is blowing the wrong way, felt like a heater blower coming through the grill. gotta swap that, still ran at 190 on a 65 degree day. after adding the front bumper and step piece, the rad and trans cooler the front dropped a little more and rubs on full turns, gotta put the stock spindles back on. or run no bumper

this tailgate was made for tailgating!!! i'm ready for seattle seahawks 2nd superbowl season

[ghettoluxury]

Looks good, I love the tailgate.

[tranzamwayno]

got the fan fixed and stock spindles back on, took her on the freeway first time since she makes it around the block now, i am very happy. been driving her around the block for couple days working out the bugs. had the coil go out few blocks away. replaced it with a used one and it did the same thing. replaced module. ran for a while then died again. put other coil back in and has been running good for 1 day. vacuum advance not working. need to tune the shift points on the t350. posi works great.

hooked up vacuum to wipers and they work, not good but new blades and wax the glass and i can see for a second. really like the vacuum operation. wish i had more usable vacuum.

funny thing is i noticed there is some mint green under the front fenders. the bed came from a different truck. i was going to primer black the bed and rear fenders and call it good, maybe now i want all 4 fenders black with some green showing through and not paint the bed or gate.

finished off the bed wood, got the front parking lights switched over to blinkers also. cleaned all the windows and interior, front sits a little higher

[rusty76]

Good looking truck.

[Rods57]

Looking good, it will look great over by seabeck and holly.