S10 Swap how to

[joedoh]

your bed floor location depends on how tall your cab mounts are and what bushings you use on them. if you used skymangs "short" set and stock s10 bsuhings, the bed floor will only be about an inch higher than the angle strips currently on the bed sides, plus the thickness of whatever you use for a floor. its almost an invisible amount of raise. you will not be able to use the stock cross bars that are in your bed right now. with his "tall" set, the floor does not need to be raised at all. to find out where to set your bed, clamp or use jack stands to hold your running boards and the aprons in the right position for the cab, and the apron will tell you the correct position for the bed.


for lowering the rear I like having the s10 leafs dearched at the local spring shop, 4" works nicely for me. you can buy drop leafs, alternatively, or use a 4" block. keep in mind though, with the 4" block the lower spring perch and u bolts can potentially hang lower than the rim, which can be super exciting with a flat. 4" blocks cost almost as much as the local shop charges for dearching. you will need new u bolts, and teh spring shop can make you some of those too.

[KRFitz]

Originally Posted by joedoh

your bed floor location depends on how tall your cab mounts are and what bushings you use on them. if you used skymangs "short" set and stock s10 bsuhings, the bed floor will only be about an inch higher than the angle strips currently on the bed sides, plus the thickness of whatever you use for a floor. its almost an invisible amount of raise. you will not be able to use the stock cross bars that are in your bed right now. with his "tall" set, the floor does not need to be raised at all. to find out where to set your bed, clamp or use jack stands to hold your running boards and the aprons in the right position for the cab, and the apron will tell you the correct position for the bed.


for lowering the rear I like having the s10 leafs dearched at the local spring shop, 4" works nicely for me. you can buy drop leafs, alternatively, or use a 4" block. keep in mind though, with the 4" block the lower spring perch and u bolts can potentially hang lower than the rim, which can be super exciting with a flat. 4" blocks cost almost as much as the local shop charges for dearching. you will need new u bolts, and teh spring shop can make you some of those too.

Great. Thanks for that suggestion of dearching the leaf springs, I will check that out. I have also seen suggested salvaging different springs. I believe the Astro van is the same length and a lot flatter. Thanks

[skymangs]

what joedoe said, but I like to stay with 2" blocks. the lower you go the closer the bottom of the U-bolts get to the ground. speed bumps become an issue.

[tlorber]

I started out with 4" lowering blocks. The bump stop bracket would hit the axle when I hit bumps or deep swales at speed so I cut them down to around 3". Now they are fine. Another thing to consider is your wheel size. Those look like stock size wheels (15" I presume). Larger wheels/tires will fill up the bay and make the bed look closer to wheel since there will not be as much space in between.

[KRFitz]

Originally Posted by tlorber

I started out with 4" lowering blocks. The bump stop bracket would hit the axle when I hit bumps or deep swales at speed so I cut them down to around 3". Now they are fine. Another thing to consider is your wheel size. Those look like stock size wheels (15" I presume). Larger wheels/tires will fill up the bay and make the bed look closer to wheel since there will not be as much space in between.

Good point on the wheel size. I was more concerned of the gap distance to the ground. I thought if I used a smaller wheel size it would help keep things lower all around to start.

[tlorber]

I know these are not the best angles, but they show how my truck sits with appx 3" lowering blocks, stock s10 bed bottom sitting on its stock rails with respect to the frame (I grafted the '54 bed sides to the S10 metal bed bottom).
Rear Wheels are 17" and I believe the rear tires are 255 50's. You are correct that the smaller wheel will bring the truck closer to the ground, but the delta off the ground is only half as much as the total difference in diameter. Both the lowering blocks and the spring rearching will allow you to drop the CG.

[joedoh]

tlorber did you use the short or tall cab mounts.

this is my 49 truck with the short mounts and 235/75/15 rears, which are 2" taller than a 255/50/17. I usd 3" front springs and 4" dearched leafs. bed done the same as you, the stock s10 floor grafted to the 49 bed.

IMG_5254 by Joe Doh, on Flickr

[Rockabilly1984]

Skymangs
What size of the square tubing was used to make the cab mounts?

[skymangs]

i don't use square tube. follow the instructions on the first page of two. they're much stronger than square tybe.

[8man]

Skymangs,

With the S10 brake set up, do the old dash to firewall support rods become trash or are they still used?

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by Rockabilly1984

Skymangs
What size of the square tubing was used to make the cab mounts?

If you want to use the square tube technique, it's 4x4 11ga tube. See my build thread for how I made them. Post #82

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=726321&page=4

[dettmer13]

Question for you guys. I browsed the thread for awhile and couldn't find what I was looking for.

I used SKYMANGS cab mount design and everything bolted up. I was wondering what the cab height off the frame should be both front and back. I'm not sure if it should be level or what, but if someone could provide me those measurements, I'm sure it will make putting the rest of the body together much easier. Also, let me know to what point on the cab you measure to. As we all know, pictures are worth a 1000 hours of work.....

Thanks in adavnce!!

[skymangs]

still used. read the early posts very carefully.

[JC’s Vintage]

[QUOTE=skymangs;6723893]I've been asked lots of questions about how I get these S10 swaps done so quickly, and how to do "x" or "y"... I want to start this thread detailing as much as I can on the nuts and bolts of S10 frame swaps, parts lists, pics, and any other frequently asked questions out there. To start this off, there are basically three options I see as easily attainable for an S10 frame swap. Keep the stock 4.3L, go small block, or go LS1. I will start off with small block parts, as these are by far the most popular conversion.

What is the part number from speedway for the headers?

[skymangs]

I no longer use the conversion headers. I use early Camaro exhaust manifolds, or if you have to have headers, just get block huggers.

[J_Hall]

So I've been going through this thread and I was wondering if you had any advice for hooking up an AC system in these trucks. Like what you need and any tips for how to do it.

I'm new to this but this whole thread was so good I just had to say thank you for it. I got a 51 with half an a frame already on it and have been trying to get everything to fit right. This was a huge help!

[skymangs]

on the AC. the correct thing to do is vintage air, I use the compac and not a sure-fit. I can do it much cheaper (about $900) and customize it to the truck. not only that, that under dash plenum just looks stupid! that being said, you could go with a more budget friendly under dash unit (about $600). just remember, you get what you pay for.
you cannot re-purpose the s10 AC (it's been tried). I get all my AC parts on ebay. you want a universal 19x22 condenser (usually 80-90 bucks) and a hose kit w/drier (80-100 depending) then go to oreillys to have your hose ends crimped. I have gauges and a 20lb bottle of 134A so I do my own charging.

[J_Hall]

Yea I don't like that under the dash system either lol. I saw a 54 in here that used a vintage air compac, how would you fit the duct work and vents ? I couldn't see any from the interior picture of that 54.


Also what do you do as far as a brace inside the front outer fenders. Usually that bolts to the radiator shroud but can you do that with the radiator in the shroud ?

[99 to Life]

100% agree, use a compac unit, not the surefit. The sure fit IMO is very unprofessional looking for the cost. Plus you can piece it all together as you go if money is an issue, and you can do it for less than buying a complete kit.

Your next issue will be compressor and bracket. dep on engine used that will change and again IMO the brackets are overpriced. but if you want to spend $125 and be done with it (for an LS bracket) then go for it, or build your own.

[tlorber]

This it timely information for me, as I plan on putting in AC as one of the next major projects. I fully agree about the plenums. They look like they are from a mid '70's Chevy Caprice or something. They don't match the architecture of these trucks at all.

Kwik Performance makes a bracket that works with a mini compressor (I believe Sanden SD7B10) that puts the compressor in front of the passenger side head instead of to the side of it. That way you don't need to cut into the inner fender-at least not as much. I have not bought or installed it but it is probably the route I will go.

Chris, do you have any pics of the plenums you have put together?

[skymangs]

J Hall: there's room for the ducting fits up there. as for vents, use vintage air round surface mount vents. mount them high on the kickpanel. so it's out of the line of sight.

as far as the core support, if you read the first few pages carefully you'll see that you can still bolt the fenders to the core support.

[J_Hall]

I’ll look into those vents. Thank you again for the responses and all this information ! I’m sure I’ll have more questions later on but for now I appreciate the help !
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[J_Hall]

skymangs, I haven't had any luck with those vents. You don't happen to have a link to them or anything do you ?

[skymangs]

J Hall; This is the surface mount vent I'm talking about.https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Air...53.m1438.l2649
and you'll put it in a housing like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-AIR...LH_TitleDesc=0

[J_Hall]

Thank you skymangs! I see what you mean now