My version of the s10 swap

[BlueJeep]

Not a lot of visible progress, but progress none the less. I now have the battery mounted under the hood. I was able to mount it off the firewall and the inner fender, and get it looking pretty good. I would have liked to have it farther from the engine, but there is plenty of clearance and the hood spring clears the other side so this is where it is.





I also pulled the gas tank out and did some more welding on the frame that I was leery to do before with the tank in place. The spring perches on the rear axle were also welded up. I'm now getting ready to set up the new gears that will arrive tomorrow. Feels bad to replace 3.50 gears with 3.50 gears, but the old ones had some pretty deep rust pits in about 20% of the teeth...so here I am.

[BlueJeep]

I installed new 3.50 gears and track lock into the 9" after cleaning it up. The old 3.50 gears were too pitted with rust to run. While pressing on the pinion bearings the original pinion support cracked, so I had to order a daytona support and the corresponding larger pinion bearing. All said and done, the 9" was way too expensive and if I had it to do over again I'd use an Explorer 8.8" in a heartbeat. Oh well, it's done now.



Cast coat iron Duplicolor on the 3rd member:




I also needed a way to change oil in the diff without pulling it completely back apart in about 500 miles for the gear break-in. I bought a parts-store magnetic oil plug for an engine that had 1/2" threads and did some more welding. Now I have a magnetic drain plug on the rear axle!

[BlueJeep]

I had the day off work today and I had a goal of getting a bunch of misc. pieces sprayed with epoxy primer and chassis black. After spending some time in the morning getting parts hung and everything ready, I was able to spray. Got the primer on before the kiddos got off the bus from school, and the chassis black paint right after that. Now to paint the rear springs with POR and get ready to assemble it and have a rolling chassis again, this time together for good!

Parts hung:


Mixed up and ready to go:


2 coats of epoxy:




And 2 coats of chassis black, out in the sun to bake on:


I'm very much a newbie with all things body and (non-spray can) paint related. I did it this way to prove to myself that I could do it. I think body panels will be much easier, because they're large and flat and more paint will hopefully go on them vs. in the air.

Once it's back together and rolling, the cab will come off to get buttoned up and the brake and fuel lines will be run! Hopefully more progress soon!

[BlueJeep]

Oh yeah, had to have a little Cross Canadian Ragweed playing on the garage Pandora after seeing Cody Canada and the Departed last night. You Texas/Oklahoma guys have it so good with your music scene.....

[BlueJeep]

Exciting day today. I was able to put some things together that won't have to come back apart!!

The boys got to learn about what shackles are, how anti-seize is applied, and what torque specs are. They think it'll last another 60+ years this way:




And the duplicolor "cast coat iron" paint is more green than I expected, but oh well.


Then I went searching around for brake parts I took apart 2 years ago (found 'em)....and spent some quality time cleaning and painting some more small pieces. Tomorrow the rear end should get buttoned up and the wheels back on, and if the parts stores are open I should get the front coil springs back on and the truck sitting back on the ground! Then the garage needs a serious cleaning!

[oldman3]

Good looking crew you got there, rear section looks great...Jim

[BlueJeep]

More notable progress today. It's a roller once more, this time for good! I worked on cleaning and painting all the small parts for the brakes last night and this morning got them put together. I know these were made for C-clip axles and I used them with bolt in axles but man, no room to work!

Buttoning it up:




Yes, I'll paint that caliper:


It felt really good to roll it partly outside and sweep the garage floor. My wife was more excited about me sweeping the garage floor than getting it rolling. Something about tracking the primer/paint dust into the kitchen all weekend....

It was quite a chore wrestling those front coil springs back in place. I rented a coil spring compressor from the local parts house to help, but it was still a bear. It would have been much easier had I not had the insulators to deal with. The s10 had rubber insulators top and bottom, and getting the coil popped into place without squishing out and mangling them was a feat in and of itself. But, if that's what it takes for a quiet ride it was worth it.



Gas tank, brake and fuel lines and this part is done!




Very soon the cab will come off for the last time. I need to finish welding some seat belt reinforcement under the floor, seam seal and raptor line the bottom, and paint the firewall and dash and then it can go back on the frame for good. Then wiring starts!

[skymangs]

Looking good!

[99 to Life]

the rear end looks killer. great feeling coming in to the wiring stage, really starts to make it feel like the thing can be finished.

[BlueJeep]

Miscellaneous things done this weekend. My rear calipers are freshened up with new slider boots, new pads, and paint. The rear brake line on the axle is bent up and installed.



I also started to play with the fuel system. That started by installing my sending unit/pump assembly. I think putting this together with the SUR&R nylon line kit is going to be a snap! I found an OEM fuel filter that uses 3/8" push connect fittings, that way finding a replacement and replacing it will be easy. Basically, using the supplied adapters at the fuel pump and push connect fittings running the lines should be easy....unless I decide to complicate it by adding some lengths of steel line in there. Actually running the lines will wait until I have the cab off, but it's motivating to see how easy it can be.

Fuel needs to go from here:


Through this:


And up to here (and back for the return trip):


Fastened down here and there with these:

[oldman3]

Where did you get your fittings, with that style clips???...Jim

[99 to Life]

looking good, cool snap ons, nice exhaust too.

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Where did you get your fittings, with that style clips???...Jim

http://www.surrauto.com/fuel.html

Push the little colored button and off they come, no tools required!

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looking good, cool snap ons, nice exhaust too.

Thanks! More info on the exhaust a few pages back.

[99 to Life]

cool fuel line and fittings, so did you buy a kit? how much was it?

[oldman3]

Thanks...Jim

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

cool fuel line and fittings, so did you buy a kit? how much was it?

Yes, it's a kit:
http://www.amazon.com/S-U-R-R-Auto-Parts-KP1200-Re...

[BlueJeep]

Radiator is now in. I used a 19x24 from a custom radiator shop in SE Minnesota, and ever since I pulled it out of the box I have been disappointed with it. Welds are sloppy looking, mounting flanges are warped from welding, and it generally does not look like it was made by a professional radiator shop. Nevertheless, I'm going to use it....so I finally decided it was time to build some mounts.

I whipped up some brackets and did some mocking up:


Yep, it'll work:


And everything fits, so this is where it will live:


Assembled with clekos and now looking at condenser fitment....that'll work too.


And it'll tuck nicely behind the latch panel:

[99 to Life]

looking good. There are sooo many options now days for aluminum rads. they are getting better and less expensive. as long as it keeps you cool thats what matters. I agree though it is nice to see some craftsmanship, fortunately most all your rad will be enclosed.

[BlueJeep]

Spent some time on the phone with tech help from Vintage Air to find out how far the condenser should be mounted from the radiator. 1/2" max without having a shroud between the two is what they said, and due to interferance with the radiator tanks the closest mine can get is 5/8...and that's not taking into account any brackets. So, I put that on hold so I can come up with some great ideas and worked on radiator hoses.

I used my tried-and-true method of bending TIG wire around to the shape I need the radiator hoses to be, and then going to NAPA and browsing the wall of radiator hoses. I came home with $180 worth of radiator hoses.

Here's the candidate pool:


After not too long of holding them in the approximate area, eyeballing, and figuring... I found a top hose that would work (with modification of course).


Looks good:


Now to the bottom. I again wanted to save $$ here and avoid having to buy an aftermarket straight water neck. Mission accomplished:


Both the hoses in the same view:


And here are the scraps and the "templates". Not bad.


The last step in this process was to return $140 worth of radiator hoses to NAPA. So now I'm $40 into some off-the-shelf radiator hoses, and the part numbers will be documented in a sheet in my toolbox should it ever need new ones.

[BlueJeep]

This weekend I tried to concentrate on getting my hood latch panel installed again. It took some doing, but I did get it put back together and it's very solid. I can use my un-modified panel, which was the goal here.

Here's the new piece from the side:


And from the front:


Fits good here:


And here:


So now that I had something there, I used it to mount the A/C condenser off of.


And now that I had the condenser mounted, next up is the tranny cooler. I ran out of time, but here you can see where I'm headed with this:

[FarmerSid]

Turned out nice. Nice fab work.

[72-c20]

nice!

[MIKESAD50]

What Paint did you use on the chassis and suspension components?

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by 72-c20

nice!

Thanks Mick!

Originally Posted by MIKESAD50

What Paint did you use on the chassis and suspension components?

I used SPI epoxy primer, and then this:


I also have a couple matching cans of aerosol for touch ups when I have to grind some back off and weld something to it.

Summer time is sometimes hard to find time for it all. There are family activities, canoeing down the river, summer concerts, etc.

Got to see Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, fantastic show!


This coming weekend is Goodguys in Des Moines. This will be the 4th consecutive year that I "missed" because my truck is torn apart. This makes me remember back when the truck was running and driving....oh if I could have just fixed a few things instead of EVERYTHING.

4 years ago:








Next year. I've said that every year, but this time I really mean it!

[BlueJeep]

I have found time to chip away at it a little more. After finishing up the tranny cooler mount, I decided that I needed to add some strut rods to hold the nose up like the original truck did. Since my radiator support is totally custom, I had to come up with a new way to do it. I decided to make it adjustable so I could fine tune the hood gap against the grille. Here's how I took that concept to completion:


Adjustable: