'52 Chevy 1300 Canadian 5 Window

[motorhead153]

Well here we go. I've been planning, collecting and building this truck in my mind for 5+years. I don't have every single part I need to complete it but it'll never get done unless I get going on it.

Since this is my first build of this magnitude and the idea of the build is to hit the vision in my head as cost effective as possible. I've Decided on the typical S10 chassis swap and use Sarge's instruction manual for a basis to get me going. Thanks Sarge BTW!

[motorhead153]

So I started with a clapped out S10 that I scored from a neighbor that I had never meet or talked to because frankly he looked like an ax murderer...Well long story short I exchanged the keys for 150.00 and managed to drive away with the truck without bring buried under it

Fast forward 4ish years a new home and a lot of life in between and the S10 had slowly lost some weight and thats where we are in this first picture.



Once I had some time to get to it things moved briskly

[motorhead153]

Since I had bought the S10 for so cheap I knew that I will likely have to shorten the frame to land at the correct wheel base. So I inspected the chassis with the cab off and threw up some questions on the forum, with some help I came up with a game plan and dug in!

I supported the chassis with 8 adjustable legs, borrowed a transit laser level, shot the chassis in, recorded measurements at 12 different locations, welded in 4 square points and cut the sucker apart

[motorhead153]

Once every thing was done I was able to get the height to within 1/16 of an inch and to 1/32 of square. Happy with that I whipped up the body mounts using the plans supplied by the fine gentlemen on this forum.






That made it time to get the 52 into the garage. Since the cab that I have is basically what is left of a striped out farm truck there is no easy way to roll it around. So I scabbed some crap together and got it into the garage lol

[motorhead153]

Once the cab was in the garage I tore it down and welded in a frame using 1x1hss so that I could move it around with my engine hoist without having to call in favors every time I needed help







I then set the cab on the chassis and started really digging in.

[faribran]

I like your project and your progress!!

[motorhead153]

After digging in and to no surprise I found 4-5 inches of dirt/mud and tools and beer cap in the cab corners and a fair bit of rust in the common areas of these cabs. Since the majority of the metal work that has to be done is in the front cab mount area I figured the best way and most cost effective way to access it was for the cab to be on a stand. So again with 1x1hss is whipped up a stand to set it on.

[motorhead153]

Once I made up a shopping list of replacement metal I would need I hit the net and found the parts I would need. In total I ordered 14 pieces. I left the floor pans out for now since they are basically just flat sections I can likely just fab them up easily.

[motorhead153]

So that's about as far as I've gotten so far. Lately been spending a bunch of time on getting some other small projects out of the way before focusing on the truck, but I though I would give a little preview into where the truck will end up.


I plan on using a SBC 350 for a mill. 15 some years ago I had soaked I bunch of money into the engine. It was meant for a 81 2dr Cutlass I had (my first car) but the car had severe rust and at the time was out of my league so the car went away and the engine stayed. Now with the ultra accessible LS engines and the almost supernatural ability and strength I would totally go that but as I see it if/when I blow the 350 to pieces an LS swap is a small speed bump.

In the 15 years since the Cutlass I toyed a lot with the crappy Turbo Mopars of the 80's... yes those K-car based FWD 4cyl cars that everyone loves to hate. Even though they were crappy I loved and still love those cars. At my peak I owned 8 of them. I still have one left and it will always have a place in my stable, like really whats not to like about a light, (2500lb) well handling car that gets 25mpg, puts down 400hp (my car is a little modified) and runs low 12's in the 1/4?





As you can imagine messing around with Turbochargers and tuning ****ty old speed density EFI systems you develop a knack and obsession to it. I had been getting tired with the same builds with the turbo Mopar stuff I got to thinking how fun it would be to do a RWD V8 turbo build and the truck came into the picture. So yea I will be putting a pair of turbos on the 350 and it will be getting a speed density EFI system from FiTech that will support BOOST!

[motorhead153]

To get the power to the wheels, in my opinion this cannot be accomplished with out the use of a manual transmission. After a fair bit of research I settled on a nv3500 out of a late 90's GM truck. Its not the strongest option or does it have great gearing ratios but oh well it was 150.00 for everything (trans, drive shaft, clutch, flywheel).





For the rear end I scored a diff from a family member which was out of a Gen3 Camaro for one hell of a price and it was already outfitted with HD axles, 4:10 gears, WillWood disc brake setup, Eaton locker and a TA cover. There's one major issue with it tho, it's to wide. So as it stands I think I'm going to use the S10 axle housing, stuff all the Camaro parts into it except for the axles then sell the Camaro axles and use the money to buy HD S10 axles.







So yeah I'm fully aware that basically all the driveline parts likely will not be up to the task of a twinturbo small block but I'm also not building a race truck. What I'm after is a fun to drive truck that makes cool noises and looks cool. If I wanna go fast I'll just fire up my Charger.

[NorCalGal]

Looks like you're well on your way. I'm intrigued

[motorhead153]

For the suspension I plan to put it on air. So far I've collected some parts but still need some things. The front will get 2600 bags and a set of used 2" drop spindles. I haven't decided whether I opt for better control arms or mod the stock ones. The rear will get a triangulated 4 link and bags. I was given a set of bags from a Trailblazer and still unsure if I will use them. The compressor is a York A/C compressor. From what I've been told they are the shizz for air systems they are easy to mod to work with a air system and they are quiet, fast to pump up and provide a lot of air, enough to run air tools if needed! So I guess I'll find out





The 4link will come from Paul Horton rod parts. It's next on the grocery list of parts



Link to the website
https://www.welderseries.com/Triangu...ings-p51209606

[motorhead153]

I was board the other night and thought I would do a quick and very basic mock up of the engine setup. Keep in mind it is a very basic mock up but it looks funn!

[chewychevy67]

That's going to be a cool truck!

[84blaze]

Cool! In for progress!

[motorhead153]

As live gets with family, kids, and work, I've been slowly picking away at the rust damage caused by the 60 odd years of farm use and abuse. I've been making decent progress despite not being a body man or all that good at metal work.

[motorhead153]

The drivers side was by far the worst side of the two. I maybe should have bought the replacement floor pans and firewall sections but once it's all said and done everything covered by seam sealer, undercoating, and sound mat, ect so my scabby metal work will only be a memory haha.

[motorhead153]

Mostly finished up

[motorhead153]

From the day we got the cab both doors would not shut or latch, the thing must have been pretty twisted for the loss of structural strength. Now with most of the fab and weld completed the door closes and latched with one finger, Success!!



Both cab corners have rust and those are getting repaired also, but the driver side had some damage and was partially repaired at some point. So I got the hammer and dolly out and tried my hand at cleaning it up some.

[motorhead153]

For what ever reason I've always liked the steel 15" S10 rally wheels so I would like to use them, and from what I'm gathering most guys that do this chassis swap put 2" spacers up front and the wider 4x4 diff in the rear, but I want wide tires under this thing so I tried to widen the wheels, for the rears I cut the hoops and adding in 3" to make them 10" but I failed and they are going to leak due to the massive amount of porosity from welding, not until recently have I found 10" barrels that the S10 centers will drop into so eventually I will go that route.





For the fronts I found that the 8" rally from 1/2ton have the same center diameter so I got 2 from the wreckers and cut everything apart and fit the S10 center in with center off set back in the hopes that I wont have to run 2" spacers

[joedoh]

thats a neat idea on making wider wheels. I would like to try that with some late model camaro 18's, either flip the centers or at least change the offset to negative.

nice work on the repairs too

[lower50's]

Cool beans dude. I like where you are going with this. The York compressor will work great I have had one on my Jeep for years filling tires and whatever. Use air compressor oil in it, the oil does not hurt rubber.

[Matt_50]

Wow dude, I wish I had your skill and confidence. Looking great, and the wheels look good. I like what you said about covering up scabby metal work with sealer, undercoating and sound mat. Ive kept the same idea in my head since I started but your metal work is awesome compared to mine.

[motorhead153]

Originally Posted by joedoh

thats a neat idea on making wider wheels. I would like to try that with some late model camaro 18's, either flip the centers or at least change the offset to negative.

nice work on the repairs too

Thanks! I like this idea, which Camaro wheels are you refering to?

Originally Posted by lower50's

Cool beans dude. I like where you are going with this. The York compressor will work great I have had one on my Jeep for years filling tires and whatever. Use air compressor oil in it, the oil does not hurt rubber.

Thanks! I really like the idea of the York, from what I was told their output is really good and much quieter than electric ones, and since I'll have a 11g tank on board I can use it for more than just the bags.

Originally Posted by Matt_50

Wow dude, I wish I had your skill and confidence. Looking great, and the wheels look good. I like what you said about covering up scabby metal work with sealer, undercoating and sound mat. Ive kept the same idea in my head since I started but your metal work is awesome compared to mine.

Thanks, Not gonna lie it took me a while to get my confidence where it is haha. I spent a lot of time reading and watching videos to get my head around what I was taking on, and yet that still didn't prepare me enough.

I'm still nervous about welding in the outer panels but I feel like, if I take my time it should go well.

[vintovka]

Wow! Great work. Makes me really appreciate the lack of such serious rust on mine. Keep it up.