My version of the s10 swap

[oldman3]

Super nice repair work, you're doing some great metal work. I still remember helping my little guy build his car for the scouts, he's 43 now...Jim

[chuckmc8]

Very nice work on the truck and I enjoy seeing your guys are Scouts. My son earned his Eagle a few years ago.

[Flatty]

Love this build. I am a rockcrawler as well getting back into hotrods. Seeing your work absoltely amazes me.

Can you tell me why you used the S-10 frame? I know its a common swap, but what are the benefits?

Dima

[lower50's]

I enjoyed reading your build so far. Nice setup for your 9". To bad the build quality of your rad sucked. Going to be a great driver!!! When you put the Lord Fusor seam sealer on did you scuff it first? Thanks
I'm taking my Jeep offroading in 2 weeks.

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by chuckmc8

Very nice work on the truck and I enjoy seeing your guys are Scouts. My son earned his Eagle a few years ago.

Thanks! I'm an Eagle too from back in the day. Some of my best friends today I met through scouts.

Originally Posted by Flatty

Love this build. I am a rockcrawler as well getting back into hotrods. Seeing your work absoltely amazes me.

Can you tell me why you used the S-10 frame? I know its a common swap, but what are the benefits?

Dima

Thanks! I used it because it was free to me, and because of parts availability. It'll be driven a lot when done, and things will wear out or go bad...and I wanted to be able to find what I need and get back on the road. Common parts have huge value to me (I once changed out my wheel bearings on my trailer in the hotel parking lot in Moab Utah...very glad I found parts that day).

Originally Posted by lower50's

I enjoyed reading your build so far. Nice setup for your 9". To bad the build quality of your rad sucked. Going to be a great driver!!! When you put the Lord Fusor seam sealer on did you scuff it first? Thanks
I'm taking my Jeep offroading in 2 weeks.

Yeah, Champion radiator is probably the way I'd go instead. Hindsight is 20/20.

I did not scuff before the Lord Fusor, but I did it just after the epoxy flashed so I didn't really need to.

Have fun with the Jeep, we just pulled mine out of winter storage on Sunday!


Well, it's been quite some time since my last update. I had a non-truck related project to do and then there is just life stuff that's been happening. Lost my father-in-law in February, very glad he got to ride in the truck after I built it the first time but before I tore it down to "fix" some things.

He would have liked to have ridden in it with the V8. He liked going fast.

RIP Pappa Kimmer!



I talked to the guy that's doing my body and paint work last weekend. Sounds like the cab will be ready for primer and blocking within the week, and paint after that. Sorry about the poor quality pics, they were texted to me.

[lower50's]

Thanks for the info. Cab is lookin good. Sorry for your loss.

[gusman]

Reading through this gave me the motivation to take a half day and yank mine out of the shed and put in some work today. I'm going a similar route but on a dakota chassis, I'm a little behind you in progress but had the same experiences (especially the rot in the windshield channel after media blasting).. I also love to coat everything I can in POR... That 5 window conversion has me thinking. Awesome work man definitely following this to the end.

[BlueJeep]

Once again no updates on the truck, but I have been very busy. We decided that we were going to attend the Hot Rod Power Tour with my dad's car and my buddies 54 Ford with a cummins. I got the car about 4 weeks ahead of the departure date to do some prep work that my dad did not make time to do over the winter. I had a lot on the list....some small things, some larger things, and some things that didn't go as planned. First up was brakes, the car since he put it together has never had good brakes. After some research I learned that it needed around 18" of vacuum to run power brakes, so I bought a gauge and tested it. The car had 10". I decided the way to fix this was to replace the power brakes with a manual master cylinder after watching them do exactly this on Hot Rod Garage. At the same time I removed the drum brakes and installed discs off a 1995 Camaro on the rear axle (thank you GM for not changing the housing ends). This whole process took way longer than it should have, and it's still not completely done...but it was better than what it had. After 6-7 calls to the Wilwood tech help line, we think we have the remaining problem attributed to the DOT5 brake fluid that dad used in the car. That'll get flushed out and replaced with DOT3 as soon as I feel like working on brakes again....so that might be a little while. DOT5 compresses, whereas DOT3 does not, leaving you with a squishy brake pedal which does nothing for your confidence that your car will actually stop in a panic situation.

On to the pics...
Out with the old:


In with the new, much cleaner:


Rear discs:


Horns in case I couldn't stop:


Driving 3000 miles, better not chance it without a spare. Decided why not use a space-saver spare from a 2002 Camaro, this was checking the fitment:


And there has been a banging sound in the front for a little while now that we hadn't been able to chase down. I found it, ball joint was loose in the control arm. This should hold it until he gets some new control arms!


Some new fan shroud mounts:


And radiator overflow/recovery tank:


And lastly installed the tailpipes:


This was completed about 7pm Friday night. 8am the next morning was departure time for Madison, WI.

[BlueJeep]

So plans changed. My father's uncle passed the week before the trip, so he had to drive my grandparents to the funeral in Montana (no power tour for him) so my buddy and I would be taking my twins with just the Chevelle. Better pack some extra tools, as there was no backup vehicle now!

The trip was great, exceeded expectations! We logged 2951.5 miles on my dad's Chevelle and averaged between 15 and 21 mpg. Kids made it a week with no TV, no iPad, no Wii, and loved it. They got to meet Finnegan and Frieburger from Roadkill, and chat with them several times. Only real troubles on the road were a leaky wheel seal the first day that had us jacking up the car and checking/adding gear lube every 400 miles. Definitely something I'll do again, hopefully in my finished truck!

Ooh, that'll keep us busy....but won't keep us from racking up the miles:




Champaign:


St Louis:


Smile, I'm sending this picture to momma!






Gulf of Mexico. Uh dad, your car has a lot of sand in it now!


Long Hauler ceremony is over, gear oil filled, car checked out, ready for 1000 mile trip home!


Yep, good trip:

[oldman3]

Sounds like you had a great time, and the time with the boys will be something they will remember the rest of their life, good times....Jim

[Indian113]

Wow! Looks like you made some memories that will last a Long Time. Really enjoyed your pictures

[84blaze]

Wicked attention to detail. I just finished reading through the entire thread and I am throughly impressed. It will be an excellent resource throughout my build.

I believe I'll use your idea of reusing the stock S10 bed floor.

I just got started on my 49 5 window. I hope to have the body stripped off the frame by the weekend. Check it out!

[47owner]

Thanks Blue Jeep, again greatly appreciate the information. Do you know if the rear end suspension off a 4x4 blazer could be adapted directly to the frame off a 47 chevy p/up?
I am trying to find an inexpensive alternative to a frame S10 frame change. I have a 1947 (3600) If I could adapt the rear end, maybe I could do the same for the front. What do you think?

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by 47owner

Thanks Blue Jeep, again greatly appreciate the information. Do you know if the rear end suspension off a 4x4 blazer could be adapted directly to the frame off a 47 chevy p/up?
I am trying to find an inexpensive alternative to a frame S10 frame change. I have a 1947 (3600) If I could adapt the rear end, maybe I could do the same for the front. What do you think?

I think you need to clearly know what your goals are before you start and what your abilities are. If you're looking to swap an s10 front clip and rear suspension, that's a fair amount of work. Once you know that then the rest of the direction can be planned.

If you're just looking for info on using an s10 rear, check out this build:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=554051

[BlueJeep]

Some updated pictures from the body shop. Supposed to get color on the outside of the cab real soon, then I can start putting it back together while he works on fenders and hood.

[lower50's]

Nice color!!

[oldman3]

Looks great...Jim

[99 to Life]

looks great, color is awesome. you doing base clear or single stage?

[BlueJeep]

Base coat clear coat. Original plan was for single stage, but he said he couldn't get the paint store to match the original color in SS....not sure what the whole story was there.

Inside is gloss clear, outside is all flat clear.

[47owner]

very nice.

[BlueJeep]

A few more pictures for today, then updates next weekend when I pick the cab up from the body shop!!!

I figured I had better get the rear fenders to take in to get done next. I tried all the acid treatments and still could not get rid of the surface rust (I wanted to get rid of it, not "treat" it) on the insides and flanges of the rear fenders, so I went back to the tried and true method...blasting. I used black beauty this time in 30-60 grit with a small pot blaster and a normal compressor (vs. industrial equipment I used before) and it turned out really nice. Got rid of the rust and didn't warp the panels from the peening. Today I put some epoxy on them and they're pretty much ready to go to the body shop.









They aren't as nice as they look in the pictures. Both will need a small amount of filler work but nothing more than a small wipe down.

[joedoh]

that dark green really looks good!

[oldman3]

Originally Posted by joedoh

that dark green really looks good!

X2...Jim

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by joedoh

that dark green really looks good!

Originally Posted by oldman3

X2...Jim

Thanks guys!

[BlueJeep]

Update time! I have the truck back at home, and very excited to be putting it back together for the final time! So far, it is going great. I guess that is the positive of it having been together and apart so many times before. Very happy to start to see my piles of parts disappearing!

Back on the frame: