'50 Chevy S-10 Swap Build

[Chevytruck10]

I've been around the site for a little time watching various builds as mine slowly progresses. Im new to all of this and this is my first build. I am definitely an amateur but am learning as I go and appreciate any and all help people can give. Figured it was about time to start my own thread so I could ask questions and see what others thought of what I was doing.

[Chevytruck10]

This is how the truck was when I bought it. Picked it up off Craigslist in Oklahoma about 6 hours away. It had supposedly been in the family for decades and had been put in a field for about 2 years. About everything was stripped, no engine, transmission, only the frame of the seat was left, the bed was just sitting on it and was one he bought to replace the original after it got wrecked. The rear left framerail was badly bent but that didn't bother me for what I was planning. They were also nice enough to try and cover the floor rust with that nice carpet.

[Chevytruck10]

Here you can see the damage to the frame.
I pulled the cab and front clip off and set everything on the s-10 frame. This is when I started to realize how bad the rust really was on the truck.

[Chevytruck10]

For sure oldman3 glad to see people are already seeing it. Excited to show everyone what Ive gotten done so far. Thought I would mention, I purchased this back in September 2013. On with the pictures. I cut the s-10 body mounts off and made it way too hard. After the first one, things went much quicker. As you can see, the floor was gone all the way up the front and pretty well rusted out in the back areas as well. Also, the kick panels, rocker panels, most of the bottoms of the door pillars, and both inner cowls were badly rusted as well. Being cheap, I only ordered everything I thought I would need. I started with the front floor pieces and decided I could fab up the back half out of sheet metal. I also ordered the rocker panels for both sides and hoped that would be all I would need. Ended up having to make 2 more orders just for patch panels but oh well.

[Chevytruck10]

I decided to go the 350 route. Found one off craigslist out of a '73 camaro. Guy rain it for me on a stand and everything looked fine. He had the power steering pump and I also picked up an Edelbrock 1406 carb that he had. Then I found a muncie-M22 out of a different Camaro with a Hurst shifter on it. Picked it up and he included two extra flywheels and two bell housings since he was going to all LS stuff in his projects

[Chevytruck10]

I moved on to start the rust repair. I started with the drivers side lower cowl, inner cowl, rocker panel, and kick panel. Got it all pulled out and cut away some of the floor on the drivers side as well.








Once I got all that pulled out I tacked in the rocker panel and fitted the kick panel and drivers side floor panel. Took quite a bit of trimming to get everything to line up but eventually got it in.

[Chevytruck10]

Progress really slowed through the winter and didn't really do much work. I did pick up a 1954 bed, running boards and splash aprons, and a new set of 1950 front fenders. I liked the flat top rails and the deeper depth in the 1954 bed plus my bed was in about as good of shape as the rest of the truck. He had the tailgate but wanted $175 so I passed on that. The front fenders I had were both rotted out pretty bad behind the wheels so I couldn't pass up on these that were in much better shape.




I also ordered some motor mounts to mock up the engine. I put it right on the original s-10 motor mounts after doing some searching on the web. These were the mounts I had and am still not positive which ones they were. Don't know if anyone knows which these are.

Got the motor sitting in. Not right up against the firewall but not too much space either. I planned on probably running an electric fan so I think this should give me enough room.

[Chevytruck10]

That had been all the progress until I got started back up on it this summer. I saw this at a swap meet and gave me a good idea since I still didn't have a tailgate.

My grandpa does all sorts of woodworking so I figured we could we could build one and do the bed wood while I was up visiting. Heres some pictures of how it went. The wood is some really nice Red Oak. We had cut the log down and had it sawed at a local sawmill the Thanksgiving before. Turned out to be great timing to use on my project. We trimmed and planed everything up ourselves so it was easy on the wallet. Plus, it was great to involve some of his work into my own project. With the tailgate, I want to stain it but somehow leave the CHEVROLET across the back in the natural color before clear coating. Ill still have to see how this is going to work but we will see. Here's how we did the tailgate.



And heres the bed planks leaned up against the wall. Once i found a diagram online of the grooves on the boards it was a pretty quick process.

[Chevytruck10]

Once I got back I was motivated to get moving on this project again. I went to the passenger side and did the same rust repair on that side. Got the rocker panel torn out and replaced, tore out the front floor, kick panels, and inner cowl. Also went ahead and cut the back half of the floor out as it was just getting in the way. Then i got the kick panels and floor fitted in. I have to say, spot welding on the bottom of the floor sucked. Gets too hot for my taste, but I probably wasn't in "proper" attire.







I don't understand, but somehow both sides got left with this gap in the floor.

[Chevytruck10]

Next, I started to try and fill the gap left by the floor patch panels. With so little of the floor left, nothing was lining up probably so I cranked it back into place with a ratchet strap. Worked great!

Then I went ahead and formed a filler piece in order to fill that gap. Some of it may have to be cut in the future to clear the tranny but I just went ahead and did it all the way down.

Then I went on to the cab corners. I also replaced the rear lower door pillar but forgot to get a picture. Ill put one up in another post.

[Chevytruck10]

Then I went and did the passenger side cab corner.

All was going good until I gouged the cut a little too high in one spot. Had to make a little filler piece to fix that.

Also, the rear door pillar was a little rusty so I cut out that area and made a piece to fill that in. It wasn't rusted on the bottomside like the driver's side was so I chose to just fill it in.

[Chevytruck10]

With the new cab corners in I moved to the rear part of the floor. I was a little skeptical of cutting it wrong so I made a few templates before I cut it out. I decided to make the contoured parts in the corners separate pieces I will add in later. I forgot to mention, I am eliminating the inner cab corners by doing this. Saw this idea somewhere to just extend the floor all the way into the corner instead of leaving that pocket for stuff to get trapped in. I trimmed up the floor along the back edge but left a little shelf for the new floor to sit on.


I also chose to just overlap the floor along the front edge instead of trying to butt weld the entire seam. I forgot to mention, I did the same thing on the front floor against the firewall. Just didn't want to risk cutting too much off the firewall since i couldn't get a great idea as to where exactly I needed to cut.

Im going to have to make the cab's back wall supports some feet in order to reach the floor. They were completely rusted off on the original floor.

Also grabbed a stick of 1" square tube to run a few floor supports across the bottom.

[Chevytruck10]

Once I got the floor welded in, I hammered the edge over the rocker panel to make the lip. Worked out good enough for me.

Found it was a lot easier to weld the underside spot welds with the cab off of the frame. Worked a lot better than when I tried to do the the front floor while sitting on the frame.

Then I made some cab mount braces out of 3x1.5" tubing that I cut one side off of. Should work just as good as the original mounts it had.


Also, I finally got the inner cowl and lower cowl put back on the driver's side. I knew I was going to need it to mock up the front fenders.

[Chevytruck10]

Now that I finally had a floor that could support the cab, I started to make up some cab mounts. I looked at everyone's mounts around and used them in my own design. Ended up using some thick 3x1.5" tubing that i cut diagonally and welded plates on top that were 3.5" long.





Also made some gussets that I will weld onto the frame to strengthen them up as much as possible.

I know many people use the s-10 bushings but I didn't have them so I just bought some rubber insulators from napa for like $3. Think they should work just as fine. Thought I would post the dimensions that I found for the placement of the front mounts. If you measure 4" behind the oval frame hole found at the frame bend, this is where the center of your mount should be at for what I found to be the proper wheel alignment. Here is about where mine sits right now. I know it is a little crooked but the cab in slanted backwards because I don't have the rear mounts on yet.

[Chevytruck10]

Well that brings me up to where I am now. I have a few pictures I thought I would add in. Here is the clearance I have at the firewall with the cab in the right position. What does everyone think? I am thinking I should be good but if not perhaps I could make some plates to move it back a couple inches.

Also, just thought I would say I can see why people bag these trucks. Looks sweet but just not on this project.
I also just picked up some pedals out of an s-10. It was my first time at a new junkyard in town and they didn't get me the bracket for the clutch/brake pedal like I had hoped but think I should be able to make up something without too much trouble.
Another thing, I went ahead and filled in the steering column indention in the dash. I agree with many others that it looks better centered between the gauges and I plan on putting the new column there instead.

I did run into something the other night when trying to fill a hole in the window pillar. I cut out a piece to fill the hole but when I welded one side metal started pouring out. Im guessing this was lead? Im really not positive since like I said I am new at this, but would love some input as to what I need to do. Is it best at this point to torch it all out to ensure there is none left?

Oh, and almost forgot I picked up a Fulton sun visor off Ebay. I love the look of them on these trucks and found a good deal on one. I think this is the deluxe version because of the trim along the leading edge but am not positive.

[oldman3]

Chevytruck10, you've done a lot of work, nice repairs to the cab. If you haven't seen it yet Skymangs has thread all about work with the AD cab and s-10 frames, I'll try to post a link. I also used a 54 bed on my 50 and had to modify the frame, but you know yours will need that anyway. I think I would move the engine back another 1-1/2 or 2", by the pics, but I could be wrong. Yes heat up all the lead and remove, make any repairs and then do your body work. You can check out my build on some of the body work stuff. check with you later....Jim

[oldman3]

CT10, here's the link to the s-10 swap stuff, good reading http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=632686 ...Jim

[Chevytruck10]

Oldman, thanks I appreciate hearing that especially from you. Your build is some great work and I've looked through it a few times. Ive been following Skymangs thread as well and there really is some great info in there. Sounds good for the lead removal so Ill give that a try. Hopefully Ill keep moving on this thing and have some more updates soon.

[jackson]

Originally Posted by Chevytruck10

Oldman, thanks I appreciate hearing that especially from you. Your build is some great work and I've looked through it a few times. Ive been following Skymangs thread as well and there really is some great info in there. Sounds good for the lead removal so Ill give that a try. Hopefully Ill keep moving on this thing and have some more updates soon.

looks good . have you checked the door fit yet

[Chevytruck10]

Jackson, I have measured the door gap and held the door in position and everything seems like it will fit. Then again, I won't be positive until I get them remounted. I'm waiting until I rebuild the hinges to do so.

[Chevytruck10]

I finished lining up all the cab mounts and got them welded to the frame along with those gussets. They all turned out pretty nice and Im happy enough with how my welds look. Also got some small pilot holes drilled through until I can widen them out for the mounting bolts.



I think Im going to end up replacing all of the rubber bushings and sorts on the chassis. Nothing looks in great shape after sitting outside for so long. Anyone know of a good set or where I should look?

[Gregski]

hey this was such a fantastic project what happened?