47-55.1 55.1 S10 swap Gypsum

[Rusti]

grate work on that projects. and the fabrication of the mounts are amazimg. thex look really grate.
so long
Arnd

[Tempest67]

the bed width extenders are another great idea........... nice work and thanks for sharing and posting the pics

[steve aleve]

Great build thread, and I like what you are doing with the new mount kit!! Beautiful work. On a side note, what do you know about the control arms and spindles on the red truck (side project 1)? The reason i ask is because I am thinking about doing big brakes on my s10 swap but the rotor-hub that is on an s10 makes it tough, but I see that the spindles on this truck have hubs separate from the rotors. Thanks and I am looking forward to tagging along.

[joedoh]

steve those are I believe SPC g body adjustable arms, and the spindles/brakes are the dual piston 11" setup from 98+ 2wd blazers. its a direct bolt on (you will need to adapt brake hoses) and will put you through the windshield on braking, its a great upgrade.

you know, tempest, i didnt even consider they could be used to extend the width of the bed. forest for the trees! great idea.

rusti and jim, thanks as always. to everyone else i missed, my apologies, its been a heck of a month. new parts at laser cutter for quoting hoping for a quick turnaround. my contract work is trending up from 0 (its been nonexistent since late 2019) and we have other stuff in the hopper like always. this truck was "done" sunday and will go home tomorrow.

[steve aleve]

Thanks for the info. I will have to check this out. I wasn't aware that the 98+ Blazers had hubs separate from the rotor. Very cool!

Originally Posted by joedoh

steve those are I believe SPC g body adjustable arms, and the spindles/brakes are the dual piston 11" setup from 98+ 2wd blazers. its a direct bolt on (you will need to adapt brake hoses) and will put you through the windshield on braking, its a great upgrade.

you know, tempest, i didnt even consider they could be used to extend the width of the bed. forest for the trees! great idea.

rusti and jim, thanks as always. to everyone else i missed, my apologies, its been a heck of a month. new parts at laser cutter for quoting hoping for a quick turnaround. my contract work is trending up from 0 (its been nonexistent since late 2019) and we have other stuff in the hopper like always. this truck was "done" sunday and will go home tomorrow.

[joedoh]

short update, got donnies truck back to him, its been "done" since last week but he wasnt available to come get it till yesterday. instead of an empty trailer he brought me a present, a 94 longbed S10 with a v6 and 4l60e. I didnt take any pics of it yet because its literally full of trash but they always start that way haha. he also brought me a ZR2 axle which is gonna be nice for someone else haha.





the last week I have just been cutting and shipping parts, I ran through about 7 full sheets of 3/16 and 4 of 1/8. local guys love trade ins so i got some 47-50 doors in nice shape from one, some bumpers from another. whatever keeps the storage building full haha.



I think this week in celebration of labor day I am going to install the machine torch and z axis controller i have had in boxes for a couple months, its a good time for it because I am out of steel and cant get any till tuesday (4 day weekend there). need to do some testing and learning the new machine control software, guess i DIDNT need that lifetime MACH3 license. I have been working on the 54 but mostly just back where I was before donnies truck. I hope he gets it done quickly, he was all fired up because he brought me so many boxes of parts and bam now he is ready to wire and fire. its a good thing.

[joedoh]

I took a vacation last week in phx and since the steel shop didnt have my order ready yet I decided to do the z axis upgrade to my cnc table. I have had it sitting in boxes since the first of the year but with all the prototyping and cutting i havent had time to put it together. i had an early table so part of it was updating the lower rail which meant taking it all apart and even changing the control box. i also did the machine torch upgrade, and the new control software (so much for that lifetime license i bought for the other system)





honestly the difference is ASTOUNDING. before I set torch height manually with shims, and that meant pierce height was cut height so it was hard on consumables. I also had to stand there because you could only set torch height as an AVERAGE of the steel flatness, so at 0.069 it could vary from 0.00 (sticking to material) to .250 (big terrible kerf). but now it pierces at about 0.20 and maintains the right height. its only been working about two days and i already have 1000 pierces and 3 hours of torch "on" time. I dont have to hover around the table like i used to, I can just do whatever else and cut a big nest of lots of parts. anyway, just geeking out, cutting isnt a chore any more.


another trade in, longbed chassis with pedals. now i have a spare chassis for whatever, in fact this is the FOURTH spare chassis i have. might be time to get to work,



regular readers of my projects might remember that i got a set of 15x8 clip cap steels as a bonus on a run out of town, and i needed good matching set of fronts. well...



honestly worth the trade in price right there


today i am finished cutting and caught up, so i am back on the 54! its SIXTY SEVEN DEGREES out there, the first time in months our temps havent started with a nine and ended with something higher than five. wooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP

[oldman3]

Russ, happy for you with the new set-up...Jim

[8man]

That plasma is soooo cool! Congrats on getting it all set up.

[burger]

Hey Russ,

Hope you’re liking the cooler fall weather!

As a nerdy engineer, curious what software you use with that CNC router.


Thanks!
Ed

[joedoh]

they switched from mach 3 (after extolling the virtues of a lifetime license) to their own brand of controller called fireshare. i like it, mostly because if the torch misfires the old software would just keep merrily going, but the new stuff stops and says try again? ok we will start again right before the misfire.

i promise i am still working on this truck, i need to get the scrap hauled off at the storage its building up haha.

[joedoh]

back on the 54, got it hung and the shackle mount channel trimmed. I also took out the bottom bolts for the factory 60/40 seat in this truck.

spooky halloween suspended cab OOooOOOoOOOooOOooo



the upper bushings were wasted and since the 4 cyl springs will act like 1" drop springs with the weight of an engine, I went ahead and installed drop spindles while I replaced the uppers.




you can see the broken sway bar end link, thats the least of the problems I uncovered, it desperately needs a center link and idler arm. lower balljoints and tie rods seem ok though. I put the front end together and got distracted with a steel pickup



I have never seen this truck on the overloads and I have had a LOT of stuff on here occasionally. the laser part price was 33% higher and I guess it was all the extra steel. well and the 50% more inches of cut too.

but here it all is, my new bolt on kit. it is infinitely adjustable between just over 2 and just under 6 inches off the frame and honestly, you could drill some more holes for 7-8" tall. its really easy to install, I will show pictures of it going together (I need instructional pics anyway)




I visited my proturning friend jack today too, if you have seen a mecum auction in the last 10 years you have seen jacks cars/trucks. i need his permission to post pictures of his new shop but its the ford dealer from the 50s in the small town he lives. so much cool stuff being built, a 32 ford roadster, a couple 56 chevy trucks, a couple ads, a 57 with an art morrison chassis, some vws, on and on and on. he has a 76 suburban with like 40k miles on it, a shoebox. i definitely feel like a rock pounder to his stuff but hey, we all like what we like.

[8man]

Ahhhhhh!

Nice parts. Your kit looks great.

[joedoh]

laser man. it costs more, a lot more, than cnc plasma, but it is so clean. i tried it out on the weld on kits because the orders outpaced my desire to be cutting all day on my small table haha. but I will always offer it as a top tier product because it is.

they are SHARP though.

[28TudorAZ]

Wow looking great. Hope you had fun in Phoenix.

[joedoh]

we did! it was a hurry up trip and I did NOT like the heat, my wife loved it though!

great weekend so far, got the tailgate for this truck and some parts for the 56 too at the swap meet. check out the chevelle wheel with cap, the same style I put on the last truck.




started welding up kits for people. bending and welding we found the duty cycle on my welder haha. looks like i will need a new welder sooner than later! i have had this lincoln since 1999, it has been a rock solid workhorse for me. maybe if we weld 2 hrs and rest an hour it will stay alive.




maybe tomorrow i can continue working on the 54

[8man]

Missed where you went for the swap meet.

I just went to Conroe, tons of stuff there, couldn't make it all in one day.

[joedoh]

robert it was a local biannual one i go to. believe it or not ALL of that was under $200. the 56 wing windows were the deal of the day, I think they are 300ea for replacements that dont fit anyway.

[joedoh]

m buddy trav bought a copo nova clone, hes been gassing about novas for a while and i am glad he got a good one.



has a LQ4 swap and if it were a rapper it would be MC Smoothasheck. he didnt like the copo wheels and poverty caps though so he gave em to a friend...




changing out the s10 swirls to the steels counts as truck work, right?


i freaking love them. I think this is my 8th set of 15" rollers. a few months ago i got some one year only 88 camaro steels, and just a couple weeks ago some 85 monte SS 15s. it might be my downfall.

ran into an old friend, he was the one I got the bed for Wamego (remember that one? 49 GMC, like 7 trucks ago haha). anyway i perused his latest stable. this one stuck out to me... hard to find a complete 35 international 1/2 ton. he says it wont be cheap....



Maybe tomorrow I can get the front clip on. maybe not though haha. I need to get the ferd stuff done by christmas so maybe. I bought 3 cabs with little to no rust, 3 windows, so i finally have a use for all the doors in the storage.

[joedoh]

my good friend is moving 400 miles and didnt want to move these cabs so we struck a deal. 54, 52, 49, two with doors, one set of doors have door art on them. barely any rust at all, the 52 is missing some of the flat floor but the toeboard is great. the 54 is a GMC, originally that deep red that was GMC only color!

[8man]

Wow! They look in really good shape. I just looked at a 54 that can be had cheap, but it has so much BAD body work, a moon roof, and some kind of goofy bed work that all I could say is "tell me your bottom dollar number and maybe I'll think about it."

I guess the dash is the difference in the GMC vs Chevy cabs, right?

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by 8man

Wow! They look in really good shape. I just looked at a 54 that can be had cheap, but it has so much BAD body work, a moon roof, and some kind of goofy bed work that all I could say is "tell me your bottom dollar number and maybe I'll think about it."

I guess the dash is the difference in the GMC vs Chevy cabs, right?

yes, and talk about a unicorn, i need a glovebox door at minimum.

[8man]

That has a lot more room behind the gauges for all the electronic doo dads we like in modern versions. Amazing.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by 8man

That has a lot more room behind the gauges for all the electronic doo dads we like in modern versions. Amazing.

well if you want it i will make you an amazing deal hahha

because the chances of me fiinding the right dash stuff for it are slim. I have this 55.1 chevy here with a lot of rust but totally complete inside and my first thought was to swap dashes.

[8man]

I'm already looking at swapping dashes on the 54 I've got and I did swap dashes on the 48. A lot of work!