Current S10 build project 350 swap and 4" bodydrop

[98layinframe]

Im new to this forum and figured id share my current project if anyones interested. Im pretty much going to copy and paste my build thread from over at S10forum so hope this works correctly.



Picked up a "bagged" 89 s10 last year. Plans were simply save this thing from its hacked up beat up previous bag job by fixing all the things that were wrong and just drive it. Well as usual, nothing i do stays simple things spiraled down hill from there.

As i bought it complete with flipped mono leaf no shocks front OR rear, cracking booger looking bent notches rubbing driveshaft, and then up front floating bag cups that didnt fit for **** and would shift around everytime ya aired up to make the bags rub. Wont bore ya with a bunch of talking and strait to the pics.

sitting at full lift.. showing the ****ty lift out back of the over the axle little bags.




"laidout"



proceeded to push the truck into the garage and completely tear it apart.

First started with cutting the lower arms up and replating them so no lower bag cup is required





the structure made out of 1.5 x 1.5" tubing to reinforce the arms.



all welded in.



Didnt take pics, but the second lower arm is all finished also.

cut the upper bumpstop mount off, this gives me an extra 1" of lift with stock arms, and if i do end up running the tubulars.. atleast it will look alot nicer.






cut the spring pockets out, pushed the back wall of the spring pocket back and rewelded it all up. Provides plenty of space behind the bag without offsetting.






the original back section of the frame was so hacked up and twisted.. it got wacked off. again going with the free extremely cheap i hacked off the back of another stock frame to splice onto my front stock half.

made up a quick frame jig to narrow the frame rails 5 1/2"










trimmed mounts and slid the new narrowed section inside the stock frame rails.





rails all cleaned up welded in and notches started.





welded in and rails cut out.

[98layinframe]

Started the blazer tank mounts behind the axle.



all tacked in place.





Bottom of the tank brackets will sit 4" off the ground when laidout.



3 link bridge started and tacked in place



link crossmember started.



lower link tabs i made and how they fit.



started the welding.


welding the crossmember to the frame. eric laid down some beautiful beads.



all welded up.




started repairing the rusted out cab mounts.






passenger side









shows the instant center pointing towards the crank of the motor. So far the setup gets over 16" of travel with only 1* of pinion angle change thru out the entire range.

Started the 3 link build. Again its different colors since im using only old parts i had laying around for the entire build so far.





showing the link geometry. lower bars level while the upper wishbone positions the instant center at the crank.

lower link tabs, just drilled a second hole to adjust the link angles if ever needed.

[98layinframe]

Eric laying down some more welds. Dude loves to weld..



Well that pretty much brings things up to date, now working on the bodydrop of the cab





and just my little bit of motivation to keep working on this turd.




more pics.. ok i think i can do that!

well if i they made a rubber band for a tire.. i could run 22's



unfortunately i dont have any tires mounted just yet.. heres the torque thrust II's



rear half of the floor all modified and about ready to weld in place.



the cab is dropped down 3 5/8" right now and yet even with allowing plenty of space between the frame and bottom of the floor, its only needs raised 2" (The piece of wood is just there to hold it up level for now)





rear cab mounts ditched the stock ones and just made new ones out of 1/8" plate.



showing how close they are down to the frame.



link all welded up!








Since i forgot to post pics of what the wishbone actually looks like.. Its fully welded as shown in the pics above though.






Got the back wall, part of the passenger side step by the seat belt, and also half of the driverside step all welded up.








The best part is with all the body mount, frame mount, and mods to the floor itself... i only had to raise the rear half of the floor up 2 3/8" on a 4" body drop.


got the front half of the floor in place. I used a section from another old cab i had.

I dont know why the pics are so small.. stupid phone.





The front half of the floor was raised the full body drop amount so it sits higher then the back half.



front cab mounts modified to clear the angled fillers.





starting to weld it all in!







showing how the 2 sections were blended together nicely.






showing how well everything clears with the doors closed.




the floor is now fully welded inplace and finished except for the firewall and wheel tubs area.


got the frame horns all dropped and started welding in place.



starting to make the fillers, the passenger side is cut way back like that to clear the lower rad hose and the trans cooler lines.




And thats where i stopped for tonight.

[98layinframe]

I didn't round off the front of the canti part yet as im not sure exactly how far forward i want to place the bag, if i don't cut into the cab i can safely have 1/2" minimal clearance around the bag, or i could cut and put a little round notch into the back of the cab to give myself a little more room... what ya think? Gotta love cardboard for laying parts out.

close up



The upper bar will be a matching 1.5" dom tubing like the lower half is.




Then how close it will be at the full 12" of lift... assuming the bag will raise the truck that high.




Also played around with fitting the front sheet metal back together, hood as expected was not going to close, so i cut up the dented hood just to see what it would look like with a cowl or whatever.

another OPINION question!! Would it look goofy to run a scoop looking deal like this? or should i combine the other 2 hoods i have into a nice custom wide cowl hood?







350 motor, 700R4 tranny, engine wiring harness and computer to drop in the first gen.





well my beds here at the house thanks to djd and 2 other buddies. Now i just need to raise the floor 8" so it lines up with the cab..

well got a little more work done. cuts laidout and started cutting.







cut it free and let it drop.



then tonight started to get it all lined up.






the raised bodymounts i made to lift the floor the needed 3.75" to clear the notches fuel tank and all.



Ok now heres my question, does anyone know if the bed sits perfectly level from the factory? I assume since the cab rockers are leveled out the bed should also sit level... i cant stand that sagging bed look so trying to get it as close as possible before i start to weld it up. I can shim later if needed.

[98layinframe]

well got my back window image done.

cut our club logo out on the vinyl plotter


the mask all laidout and stuck to the window


all sand blasted


i was actually amazed at how well this worked... the edges even on the small letters are perfect!



I kinda forgot about this thread, havent been working on the truck too much but guess i should up date the thread some.
I suck at remembering to take pics while im working, but the beds mostly welded back together enough to hold its shape for now. the back wall of the bed isnt done though. I cut all the filler neck hump from the driverside floor.. and since that was never smooth the parts didnt exist, had to make them with old flat sections of the bed sides i cut out.



on the previous page I posted pics with the old hood all cut up to clear the pulleys and what not. Ended up i was able to modify a newer vortec bracket from a 2000 blazer to hold my original alt. Had to grind the sh*t out of it fit things but it works and now everything fits under a stock hood! The tensioner now sits under the alt, i got one and a new belt... but again no pics. sorry.






well long story short, the 18x8" torque thrust II's i had that fit a stock or lowered truck just fine... needless to say dont work on this thing. I had 255 45 18's mounted up and with the truck still a good 2" off the ground the tires were firmly shoved into the side of the bed skin and they were too tall.... SO i im ditching them, buying a pair of expensive ass pair of 18x9.5" torque thrusts with 4.5" backspacing, picked up a set of 275 40 18's and having the rearend narrowed about 4" per side. the stupid custom order wheels are 400 each, tires were 200 each, and getting the rearend narrowed quoted at 300... its only money right?



new tires



should look pretty good with the narrowed rear and wide meats.







also picked up a jeep steering shaft, cut it down and tucked it in there.

[98layinframe]

Ok again its pretty much all cut and pasted so hope some of the comments make sense. Let me know what you guys think, figured id share since i didnt really see any bodydrops on this site so far..

[BarryB]

I'm impressed with all the fab work. And to think I can barely get myself motivated to do the V8 swap in my 91.

[Gyawo]

Wow, amazing fab skills. Very impressed.

[Indian113]

Great job so far,keep up the pictures. I would stay friends with Eric that guy can weld!!!!!!

[Warrens69GMC]

If you want to keep the hood open, you could get a 85 mustang GT hood scoop, or a chrysler 6 pack style scoop...

[98layinframe]

very true, the air filter still isn't on in those pics... so good chance ill still have to modify the hood in some form. Adding a scoop, bubble, or whatever to clear the intake doesn't bother me as it can be made to look nice since its nice an centered. I just couldn't stand the idea of making a scoop just to clear the stupid ugly factory serp belt setup brackets alone.

[98layinframe]

Ordered my 18x9.5" torque thrusts yesterday. 800 bucks for 2 wheels isnt fun..
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[tattoed71]

truck looking sick

[tvblazer78]

Nice work man!

[YBNORML]

Excellent work, it'll be one sweet ride when it's done.
I still love these square body dimes.

[98layinframe]

well forgot about this thread... anyone know what happened? why arent my pics for the first half of the thread working anymore?


Little bit of an update, ive got a few things done here and there since the last update.

New rear rims showed up!
Tires mounted and balanced.... mmm so purdy!
Canti lower link bars built, welded and are done minus bag plates
Lower canti frame mounts are tacked in place
Frame is off the frame table
pulled the cab, its now sitting on stands
Motor and tranny are now pulled
Flipped the frame upside down to work on a bunch of welding, tierod notches, frame horns, and wire wheeling of rust.

But pics as everyone enjoys.


275 40 18 tires all mounted up on the 18 x 9.5" rims




buddy cnc cut out the flat plates for me, and then i started fitting everything together. bars clamped in place. Ya can see the lower bag mounts in place, still need to figure the exact bag placement and then drill out all the port holes.





setup doesnt get as much travel as i was hoping, but the link travels 14" with ease. laidout.





mostly full lift




then got both the lower links all tacked together





fully welded up

[98layinframe]

before the tires were mounted, but shows how far the rearend needs narrowed down in order to squeeze these up inside the bedsides.



couldnt resist slapping them on the daily real quick just to see how far they stuck out. Would cut the **** out of the tire the second i hit a bump.. but they fit on surprisingly.






then this past weekend, sat night about 8pm the truck started out looking like this.



then by midnight... it looked like this.

motor out.



cab lifted off.




now with the frame ready, we flipped it over. lots of welding to do and id much rather work from top instead of laying on my back trying to avoid a bunch of splatter landing on me. Thanks to my buddy Doug for the help in this endeavor.




frame flipped and ready for some welding. I did lift it back up and leveled it out on a bunch of jackstands... but didnt get a pic.




lastly started working on the frame horn bracing. Had to cut the bottom of the horn off so it would lay out. The rounded fillers are just for looks... kinda a little more stock looking.





Hooked up a little electric furnace that my buddy got for me when he was remodeling an apartment complex... All i know is it draws 30 amp at 220v so I guess its around 50 - 60,000 btu. The thing stood about 4 foot tall originally, so i removed all the A/C components and cut the cabinet down as much as possible and moved the filter to the side of the unit instead of the top. My garage is seperate from the house, and was a lovely 23* here the other night. When i got home I went out to the garage and turned the furnace on, then came back in to grab a bit for dinner, and when i went back out 40 mins later the garage was at 62*




Well I worked a little more tonight, and got the frame horns all finished up. Took some 1/8" plate put 2 bends in it and blew some welds down.

I really wanted the option to keep the sway bar, so thats why the side plates stop where they do and then bottom filler doesn't follow the side plates all the way down.

[98layinframe]

well unfortunately a small change of plans... the front wheels due to the bodydrop and the camber curve of the suspension, the tires hit the fenders instead of tucking inside them. SO... time to redo some things, ditched the drop spindles and modifying the suspension to layout on a set of stock spindles.


Decided to go ahead and get started on this pain in the ass endeavor. Guess theres 2 benefits A. the camber is sexy, and B. love more suspension travel, should get about 12" of travel now assuming the bag will lift it that high.

Started cutting things apart tonight, luckily with the amount my arms and frame were already modified, if I simply run the tall lower balljoints my current suspension will layout a 29.5" tall tire! Sooooooo, if I'm thinking right since the spindle is sitting at 14 3/4" from the ground, if ya simply subtract 2" which leaves me sitting at 12 3/4" multiply that by 2 and its already taller then the 25" tires im running!


started cutting the tierod notches out. In this pic you can see the "notchless" tierods i bent up previously to layout on the 25" tires without a notch... ohh well.






and a few pics for reference and measurements.

[tvblazer78]

Looka like you you dont load you pics to thi site and you pulling them from like photo bucket or somthing. Somethimes the photo sites chsnge somethng in the address and you get this.

But nice job man, loving it..

[melks]

cool build man, cant wait to see the finished product!

[andrewmp6]

On the hood i think a boss 429 hood scoop is wide enough to cover that.Its Length=26 1/8" Width Front= 21.5" Middle 22" Back=19.5" Front Height= 3".

[98layinframe]

again copying some more updates from my S10 forum thread about what Ive been up to lately.


well tiny bit of good news.. got my "hubs" turned down for the 12" LS1 front brake setup I'm making and the long studs pressed in. All that's left is cut up the spindles and make the adapter bracket.

bad news is I'm still not sure what to do about the front suspension and untucking the tires enough. After sitting, staring and changing a few things around tonight, while the physical arms will lay the truck out on stock spindles, the main problem is having enough room for the bag......... there is basically Zero! :doh: If i ran a 1" tall upper cup id be fine, but thats pretty insane.




Waaaayyyy off topic but kinda fun little deal, picked up a beach cruiser bike for 12 bucks the other weekend, and since i cant leave anything alone.... I had to modify it. Only had maybe 50 lbs of gas left in my welding bottle, so instead of worrying about it running out while working on the truck, I pissed around with this thing instead.

Started out.



and then started cutting and rearranging..



front half of the frame all welded up.


cut up and widened a set of front forks from an old mountain bike frame



partly done. still needed to lengthen forks, pedal mount, trim/mount fenders, and chain guide




and as she sits mostly finished. Need to make a bracket for the front fender still, and then slap a quick coat of paint on it. Grand total invested still the same 12 bucks for a fun car show cruiser.



Got the tierod notches welded up, the curved front section of the notch will be welded once the frames flipped back over.



Then the front half of where the 2 frames were spliced together, made the filler pieces and it welded it in.





then the bottom half of all the welds on the gas tank crossmembers, notches, and suspension crossmember all welded up.








made the filler piece for between the rear cab mounts and the side that runs up to the bed mount. The filler piece shows how much the mounts were lowered down.



front 12" brake set and machined down hubs.









and a gratuitous shot of the crazy 7'4" long bike leaning on the frame.



tiny bit of forward progress. (took 10 steps back last week.. so 1 step forward, still 9 behind &^%!)

Finished repairing the hack job the previous owner did on the front spring pocket back side wall by welding up the many off cut/weird grinder cuts, and also made some plates to close back in the excessively large holes he cut. I added a triangle to the back of the pocket about 2" x 3" long and I still have enough room to fit a DOM 2600 bag with 1" of space all around it. Some people should not touch vehicles...


Also got the suspension back on and the frame flipped back over again. :woot:

[98layinframe]

Other random updates, got my 6" narrowed rearend back from the shop! Custom Moser axles, limited slip diff and 4:10 gears all installed. Stock axles sitting there as kinda a comparison..




Then since I decided to chang everything around for the stock spindles.... went ahead and cut up the control arms a little more. Now they will layout a set of 24's with drop spindles and a "stock" standard height SD upper bag cup.


Made up my control arm jig and started cutting away.












Then I got side tracked again with another new project I picked up! I'm fighting the urge to work on it until after the First gen is atleast out driving around... its tuff.

Brought the truck home, and then promptly took it up to my dads warehouse to disassemble and tuck it away for the time being.





the storage tear down..





everything is amazingly beautiful and rust free... even the old brake lines are still in nice shape! no scale or anything other then a little surface rust on the frame.

http://a2.ec-images.myspacecdn.com/i...6ce6b6a7/l.jpg








not working on it... but allready buying parts.




ok little more updating of the past few months.

Not sure which way Im going to end up going with the 1951, whether I use the stock frame or go the S10 frame route alot of guys go. Either way, picked up an 03 quad cab S10 for fairly cheap and parted it out. The cab and bed are sold to 2 of my club buddies up in NY, sold off... well more like practically gave away the motor, tranny and wheel/tire combo since people around here are dirt cheap. Anyways long story short, I kept the frame, front suspension, and rear axle to possibly use under the 51.

bringing it home.



then tearing it apart.













Also, since I bought the 51, that puts me now at 6 vehicles... which is getting a little ridiculous.... so If ya know anyone that would be interested in buying my beautifully rust free 1982 C10 long bed let me know. Asking 5500.00 OBO I love that style truck, and its not costing anything more then 17 bucks a month for insurance... so not in any hurry to sell it if I dont get a reasonable offer. Would look pretty badass slammed down and towing the 51.










BACK ON TOPIC.


worked a little yesterday and then tonight on the firewall and wheel tubs area. started cutting and tacking things in place. Ended up moving the 7" booster assembly up 1" and shorting the brake pedal enough to work with the 4" higher floor all while maintaining the stock lever ratio. Due to the stock spindles the wheels obviously camber in like crazy when laid out.



made the tubs sit in towards the booster as far as possible, and set into the cab little deeper then needed so there's plenty of clearance around the tires when laid out. Also this extra clearance allows me the ability to turn the truck some at any ride height from laid out on up.


How much I can turn the wheels laid out.... assuming the fenders will allow it.




and then with the hood closed (which by the way needs the structure trimmed out since its sitting on the tire) how much the truck can turn at a 1" ride height.

[98layinframe]

I should just say... I really hate this single area on a body drop truck, so much **** to stuff in a small area!

Ended up getting the tub mostly welded in, the lower half of the firewall made a cut across horizontally under the booster area and then slid the steering shaft half up 5/16" so the steering shaft would clear the upper arm without rubbing at all. Then since the 350 is positioned back so far in the compartment I ended up pushing the firewall back behind the motor. The gas pedal section of the firewall was moved back 1" and also up over 2" so I shouldn't have to modify the pedal assembly "to much".



Worked tonight on cutting and shaping the center firewall section of sheet metal to form to the multiple angles there. The card board piece is just the next section to work on later this week... as you can see it also is moved back 1.5" from the stock location.







lastly another pic of how the center of the cross member was sectioned down 1".




worked a couple evenings this week and got most of the firewall done, next section moved back behind the motor.




passenger side tub fitted and starting to weld it in.



made and welded in the little filler panel between the motor and wheel tub sections. Also got the top wiper cowl section moved back to clear the dizzy. It clears the wiper arm by 1/16"







Picked up a nice set of used 245 50 15 BFG g-force sport tires for 30 bucks (included mounting) for the cheap set of 16's the trucks going to sit on for ****ty weather cruising, and while it sits out in the driveway. Not about to let my nice billet TTII's sit out and get all corroded.







and thats pretty much where I am currently. I did modify the motor mount "adapters" so that I could slide the motor back another 1". That being said, the motor is sitting about 2.5"-3" back further on the frame then normally on a V8 swapped S10 which hopefully should help with weight distribution for the more optimal 50/50%.

[98layinframe]

wow not one response.... dont know if thats a good thing or a bad thing.


forgot to take pics, but put the motor back in again, and then proceeded to cut up the "s10 V8" adapters so I could push the motor back towards the firewall some more. Its now sitting 3" further back then most normal V8 swapped s10's do. Also pulled the cab back off last night to make it nice and easy to build a custom tranny cross member since the mount is off by 3" and also want something that clears a dual exhaust much better.