It's my turn, 47 S10 build

[Cautrell05]

Evidently this is about the only picture I have of the striker pockets. Also a picture of the floor panel and the bracing underneath. Panel is 18ga, square tubing is 1 inch, 1/8" wall.
I also made some cab mount clearance to make pulling and installing the cab easier.

[joedoh]

beautiful work!

[Cautrell05]

Thanks. I'm trying

[Cautrell05]

Wide shot of the inside before blasting and a couple from during and after. I waited to pull the glass until after I blasted the inside just so I didn't accidently get the outside.

[Cautrell05]

Pleasantly surprised to not find anything nasty under the front and back window seals. The one small hole below the windshield was pretty minor. Small sander on the inside and outside followed but a small bead of panel bond to seal it up. Also that set up I went around both window flanges and cleaned those up then they got as good coat of rust converter to get whatever I missed.

[Cautrell05]

Instructions aren't very clear. How many coats does it take to fix the cab corners?

[Cautrell05]

The cab corners just got a coat of covered over the bad areas to hopefully slow the rust down. Both sides it's almost all behind the filler panel above the running boards and not visible.

Starting to get the outside masked up and ready for primer. I don't envy the guys that do this every day.

[Cautrell05]

Two coats of epoxy inside and out and remasking for the lizard skin ceramic.

[Dave_The_BMXER]

I really like the recessed firewall!

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by Dave_The_BMXER

I really like the recessed firewall!

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. For some reason I don't get notifications about new posts.

That's a stock depth firewall. I just replaced the sections.

[Cautrell05]

Hey just a heads up, if you want any pictures from the first half that are on Photobucket you might want to save them because they're probably going to disappear in a couple days. They dropped their rates from a while back but I still don't feel like paying 15 bucks a year just to have them post pictures.

[joedoh]

photobucket is the debil.

the forum does photo hosting but I wish they would give a larger size. I think last time I complained about it the sizes were 800x600 but i would swear they are even smaller now. I just checked, they are 642x482, no matter what size you upload (i usually upload 1400x1051)

great work on the cab, as usual

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by joedoh

photobucket is the debil.

the forum does photo hosting but I wish they would give a larger size. I think last time I complained about it the sizes were 800x600 but i would swear they are even smaller now. I just checked, they are 642x482, no matter what size you upload (i usually upload 1400x1051)

great work on the cab, as usual

I absolutely hate the fact I can't go back and edit posts. Would be next to go through and upload the original picture so it's still there.

[Cautrell05]

Couple pictures of the firewall after paint. Three coats of duplicolor semi gloss black. For someone that doesn't generally do paint and body I think it turned out pretty good. The interior got a couple coats of gray. Can't remember what brand it was though.
I still need to build a base for the center jump seat. 2004 Ford Taurus center console/seat goes pretty well with my 04 suburban front seats.

[Cautrell05]

Finally got my fuel pump wired up on an oil pressure switch. Should have done that a while ago. 80s GM choke switch is the original application. That controls the ground wire for the pump relay. I highly recommend it for anyone running an electric fuel pump.

[joedoh]

nice work!


fun fact, TPI and TBI have this interface and it can be super frustrating to start a wallered out motor.

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by joedoh

nice work!


fun fact, TPI and TBI have this interface and it can be super frustrating to start a wallered out motor.

Thanks. It's hard finding time to get updates posted which is frustrating.

I haven't messed with them in a while. I thought the ECM primed the fuel pump on start up.

[Cautrell05]

With a 400 a fan shroud is not really optional. Nothing off the shelf really lined up so I built my own. I wanted it two piece because I really hate trying to bolt a fan up while working around the shroud. More experienced guys could probably just bend it up out of sheet metal but I'm not that good. For me it was easier to build the frame from 3/16 round bar and cover the openings with 20ga.

[Cautrell05]

Patterns were made with cardboard and then transferred to metal. Lots of small pieces to weld and dress but it turned out well.

[Cautrell05]

One of the things that I have been trying to figure out for a while now was how to hook up cruise and more importantly the kickdown cable to the transmission without having all the linkage and cables up on the intake. I had a few different ideas that I had sketched up and laid out over the course of the last year and this is the version that I ended up going with. When I had the cab off this past summer doing the floor, I put three weld nuts in the cab Mount directly in line behind the gas pedal. The idea there was that I could try a couple different arrangements and I'd have an attachment point on the cab without having to permanently attach anything or having to spend the time before I put the cab on to get it worked out. The way it is hooked up from the gas pedal the linkage runs through the firewall down to a bell crank and pushes on the bottom half of it. The top half of the arm pulls back on the carb just like normal. On the bottom half of it there's a push rod that runs from there back under the cab to another Bell crank that I made that has the kickdown linkage and post for the cruise control hooked to it. There is three different attachment points for the pushrod running up to the throttle linkage and where the kickdown linkage attaches is slotted so I've got almost infinite adjustment on how soon and how much it pulls the cable.

[Cautrell05]

Once again, way too long between updates. Truck currently has about 3,000 miles on it and is also torn down to the frame. The plan more or less from the beginning was to put it together as a rolling test bed to try a few different things and then once I knew it was going to work like I wanted pulled apart and finish the chassis out properly. I wasn't 100% sure on the rack and pinion working, the hydra boost I figured it probably would but if for some reason I had to change something, I didn't want to have to go in and redo paint on the chassis. There's a place about 30 minutes from my house that quoted me 120 bucks to powder coat the chassis if I take it down there already blasted. I can't hardly buy paint for that. And where we have the equipment at work to sandblasted it's kind of a no-brainer.
Things have figured out so far. Bilstein's are awesome, I already knew that but this just verified it. With new xtreme coils up front with 3/4 of a coil cut out and used xtreme leaves out back the ride is excellent. With the 36 mm bar up front and the factory S10 rear sway bar a corners like a go-kart. The torque arm out back works excellent as well. It will over i
power the tires if I really try, but otherwise it hooks up very well and there is no wheel hop.
The turning radius sucks. It kind of knew that with only having about 6 in of travel in the rack and the stock b-body spindles. The correction for that is going to be a set of fabricated spindles that I can set my steering arm length as well as correct the Ackerman. I looked into a couple different options but didn't really find anything that really matched what I wanted. You can get a GM metric spindle with a bolt-on steering arm which would technically fit. But then I'm down to smaller brakes and smaller wheel bearings which is not something I want. The new spindles are going to use 2008 Jeep front hubs just because they're 5 on 5 to match the rear axle. The stock base model Jeep front rotors are 12 in which is the same as the B-body rotors on the front now. And in the future I have the option if I want to go up a size between the Wrangler and the Durango there is 12 13 14 and 15-in sizes available that will all fit the same hub.

The 700R4 did a good job for the 3 years it was in there. The only time it would protest is 3/4 throttle or more when it's hot in first gear it would start to slip and squeal. Anything less than 3/4 throttle it shifted beautifully. Not really surprising when you put a 450 ish horsepower 406 in front of a V6 transmission. The transmission is for sale if anybody wants to make a drive and get it. I'm pretty sure it would be just fine with a lower horsepower motor or for somebody that just wanted a driver.
Was also pleasantly surprised that my plan of making the transmission mount reversible to fit a 4L80 actually worked. Picked up a used one with a hundred thousand miles on it a while back for 500 bucks. Was very happy to see that it would fit without having to redo the mount or the chassis brace. Or the exhaust for that matter. That officially removes the weak link from the drivetrain.
The engine unfortunately is back over at the machine shop. Found out that steam holes in the cylinder heads are not optional on a 400. Driving around is fine. Pull up anywhere and stop when it's fully warmed up and let it idle and it will just continue to build heat. Somewhere in the process the rings didn't fully seed and it was using a quart of oil every 300 mi. Talking with my friend at the machine shop sounds like just a set of rings and gaskets and will be good to go.

Also picked up an MSD Atomic 2 and was part way through tuning when the truck got tore down. The initial impression was very good. Looking forward to getting it back together and being able to run it hard without ending up with park and 6 neutrals in the transmission.

Things that are gonna get finished this time around -
The budget power windows. Modified square body regulators, just need to finish the wiring.
08 Chevy door latches. Need to finish out the inside handles so the door fits.
2 speed boat wiper motor with the factory delay switch. Need to finish the wiring also.
Full custom ac setup with frame mounted compressor and fresh air heat and AC. Compressor and heater case are done. Need to finish the ductwork and inside ducts.

[Cautrell05]

Been working on the spindles for the last couple weeks. It handled fine with the B-body spindles but the steering arm is too long and spaced wrong. Turning radius and Ackerman suffered though. It turned wider than my 99 k2500 crew cab and shoved the front tires in a hard turn just as bad. Did a lot of looking and nothing would work without a bunch of compromise or big money so the only way to get what i want was to build them.

Main requirement is that i don't have to change wheels and don't want to change brake size at this time.

Current pattern in 5x5. 2008 and up Jeep Wrangler hubs are 5x5 and don't need a stub axle to hold them together. Also the base model Wrangler rotors are the same diameter and thickness as the B-body rotors they are replacing so i can run my current calipers.
First step was to mock up the rotor and hub with the suspension to determine pin height and offset. The plywood knuckle might look redneck but it allowed me to visualize what i needed and get measurements. I didn't remember exactly what they were but it gave me a 2 inch drop and i spaced the rotor about 3/8" from the lower arm. From there it was pretty easy to draw out. 1.040" from the hub face to the machined flange for the caliper bracket. Lower ball joint flange is mounted at a 7° angle from the main plate, upper Ball joint ear is 8 1/2" from the lower.
I had a single piece of 12x12x3/4" and some 1x3 to work with. Rough cut the 3/4" to match the pattern i got from the plywood version and cut the hole for the hub and Added a 3/8" spacer for the hub that i will machine down to set my hub height.
The caliper mounting brackets worked out to be flush with the back edge of the 3/4" plate. The plan was to build it for future upgrades. Currently it has the 11.8 inch rotors which is a big as i can go and still fit inside the current wheels. Nice thing i figured out researching is that base model 18 grand Cherokee rotors are 13 inches and the heavy duty version is 14 inch. Or the SRT is i believe 15 inch if i want to upgrade later.
For the initial build the caliper mounts were spaced to the Cherokee caliper and 13 inch rotor. Then I'll build the bracket for my current caliper to fit those mounts.
For the Jeep caliper it came out to 1.040" from the hub flange to the caliper mount. That was easily cut after the hub flange was welded on.

[dsraven]

nice to have the tools and skills to do all that. keep posting your progress pics

[Modsqaud69]

Great work! Wish I had some of your skills. Would the rack work with the widened frame and stock s10 spindles. I know that's not what you're after but very curious about it.

[Cautrell05]

Originally Posted by dsraven

nice to have the tools and skills to do all that. keep posting your progress pics

I got really lucky. 3 1/2 years ago I was still in a GM dealership doing regular repairs and building small scale stuff as a hobby. Then i got onboard with a restoration shop and never looked back. I've picked up so many skills since i got here it's crazy. But an awesome change after 27 years of turning wrenches.

A lot of what I've learned from customer builds i use on my own truck and the other way around.

This is one of our builds that's almost done after 3 years. 2016 GT350 with 67 exterior and the full 2016 interior.