I have a few questions on putting my body on the s-10 frame. 1) when I put the body on the frame with blocks of 4x4 ( the gas tank in the rails of the s-10 on the drivers side hits the back of the cab) Do I trim the body so it fits lower? 2) the bed sits on the frame at the tail gate end (which is as low as it can go) but this is still to high. I can't get the back fenders low enough to match the height of the front fenders. This is keeping me from being able to attach the running boards to both fenders- What do I do?? 3) how do I determine how much to cut out of the inner fender and where. 4) I heve not started doing the radiator yet any ideas? Thanks for any help you'll have would be great thanks Hermin Quail
Welcome, Herman. You have come to the right place. There have been several body's mounted on S10's in this group. Some of them were actually trucks. Anyway, good to have ya. Just wait for the experts to chime in. This should be a good thread. Gater
Hi Herman I'm not a Hot Rodder but I've been working on these trucks a long time and I can guarantee you , the stock radiator is plenty enough to keep a Caddillac 500 CID engine cool as a cucumber whilst in Death Valley.... We have several expert Hot Rod builders here who will chime in shortly , wait for them and pay sharp attention to what they say . I know there's been much written on doing this S-10 frame swap so you might take a moment to look inolder posts , print out and save anything relevant .
Welcome, and Happy New year everyone I'm still in progress, Hopefully can help you out. One thing to be careful of is your body height off of the frame. To get a stock height, the cab will look like a treehouse on the frame because of the way the frame drops down. If you want to slam it, this is the ideal way to go... Are you using a kit, or fabbing your own mounts? I fabbed my mounts and set the cab high enough off of the frame to clear the gas tank by 1-2 inches. Once together this will give you about 6-7 inches of clearance from the running boards to the ground with stock s-10 suspension height. Unless you want sparks on every curb and bump, I recommend mounting the cab higher off the frame so it clears the tank, this will help out on your bed as well... For the bed, I cut the frame short and built some brackets to allow the bed sides to drop lower so the running boards match up. I also built a cross member to go across the frame for the front of the bed to rest on. The only issue I have found so far, it the fact that the floor will have to be about 1-2 inches higher that it's stock position. Since the angle strips were missing from mine, this isn't much of an issue to me, I'll have a slightky shallower than the normally shallow bed. Are you replacing the s-10 rear axle? It (2WD longbed) is too narrow for the bed (the bed sides land on the tires about 1" from the inside). If you plan to keep the s-10 axle, you'll have to cut the bed sides to clear the tires and put some fender wells inside the bed. For the front fender wells, it's trial and error. I seperated the inner and outer fenders, mounted the outer fenders to the cab, built a core support from the radiator support and some angle iron. Found the location they need and set the height. My core support rests on the original s-10 core support mounts. I had to move the mounts back a bit. From there it was a matter of guesstimation. I set the fender wells on the core support and fram to see where the cuts needed to be and used a cutoff wheel and removed a little at a time until I got the fit I was looking for. I lost track of how many times I took the fenders off and put them back on. You definately want to do this BEFORE you do any bodywork or paint A couple of helpers make it way easier... For the radiator, well, I'm still working on that part. I did some hacking on the original AD radiator support and added some angled brackets to the front. The radiator is at an angle to clear the steering box. The biggest thing I can say, is determine the look and stance you want for your truck before you start. The higher you mount everything above the frame, the easier everything else fits. I chose to go low I ended cutting about 3-4" from the fenderwells, lifting the bed floor 1-2" and have a decent sized tunnel in the front floor of the cab to clear the tranny. I got the look I wanted without any suspension mods that will affect the steering or handling though. Hope this helps. There is a wealth of knowledge here that will be able to help. Enjoy! Bob
So where is Kevin ANYWAY????!!!! Welcome, Hermin! Good luck with your project! Kevin use to be a regular here, but since he "bagged" his frame ~poof~ he's gone. He's doing the s-10 thing, also. Maybe PM him and see if that works. ?
s-10 swap Thanks for the info. to those who want to know. I am doing this swap without any kit. this is the first time ever trying somthing like this, but you got to start someplace. So, in responce to the height of the cab above the frame, should I set the motor in the rails as low as possible then tuck the cab down to it. I have heard that the cab can be 3''(meaning lot more work) or up to 5'' (no cutting needed in the cab. For example, at what height does the ad engineering kit do. It was mentioned to cut the end of the frame in order to get the bed to sit lower. Do I cut the frame shorter and come up with a bracket to hold the square support at the corners, or.... do I cut a notch into the back frame member to allow it to drop lower. I know that this is all to make it look good in the stance. But a more basic question is, should the front fender and the backfender be the same height off of the ground on a level frame? keep it comming on the ideas I need them Hermen
We have done several and be prepared for a major project. The way people toss around "AD on an S10 frame" many are led to believe it's a weekend project. We figure 200 hours and we're pretty darn fast and in a well equipped shop. I have hundreds of pictures but don't know how to put text with them or how to send an entire folder. I can only send one at a time. As, Nate, has pointed out this makes for a lot of unfinished projects but it let's me pick up parts trucks. Now that all the disclaimers are out of the way here are a few tips. 1. LEAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. Lower it onto the chassis with the fenders, hood, doors all bolted together with the gaps you want and build your mounts to fit from the frame to the body and a bracket from the top of the frame to the side of the core support. The inner fenders will have to be trimmed to clear the A-frames and the steering box. The bottom of the radiator channel will have to be cut off but with the brackets now to the top of the frame it will be just as strong. A chain to the top hinge pocket bolts and a 100# weight hung from a bar across the the two top radiator bolts will give a dead level attitude. (picture) 2. The radiator can be moved up 3" to clear the steering gear and still clear the hood easily. Just drill new holes in the flanges and use the factory radiator mount holes. (picture) 3. Use metal building screws to temporarily attach cab mounts and bed mounts to S10 frame till all is adjusted as you want it. It's a lot easier to move screws than cut weld. (picture) 4. S10 parking brake cable can be used with a shortened and re-threaded AD parking brake rod. (picture) 5. There is much, much more such as a rear end from an S10 4x4 pickup, 2 1/4" spacers on the front hubs, steering hook up, front and rear bumper mounting, etc., etc.
more help needed on s-10 swap I just saw your post Even, What you said makes sense. I was wondering about the distance between the frame and the bottom of the cab. when you mount the bed how close to the cab is the bed, if you space it by the running board then the rear fender is not centered around the back wheel. Do I move the fender on the bed the one inch that everyome is talking about or do you do somthing else. I'm learning but its slow, thanks for the help Herman
S-10 vs original At the risk of sounding dense, and with no offense intended to anyone who has or is doing this conversion, what is the advantage of the S-10 frame over the original frame that makes it worth all this extra work? Just curious.......
If you look closely at the under cab photo you will see the left front cab mount and the stock transmission cover. The paint is flaked off on the pinch weld over the transmission where it has been massaged for clearance. This is as low as the cab can be mounted (with a turbo 350 and stock floor) and the mounts are made to hold the cab in this position. Always make the mount stands too short so shims can be added if necessary; if they're too long they have to be cut down and re-welded. If you are using the regular cab long bed frame the wheel base is 117" and this automatically centers the wheels in the fender openings when the bed is the factory distance from the back of the cab. These pictures show a tapeline put on the back of the cab even with the top of the bed BEFORE it was removed from the factory frame. The other pic shows the bed mounts needed to place it back in the same position on the S10 frame--note how long the front bed mounts are. All bolt to the side of the S10 frame. Final shot is a side view showing wheel position.
advantages Updated front and rear suspension, steering,rear end and mounts for V8 already existing instead of having to fab up everything. Make an AD drive and perform like a modern truck from what I understand.
If your frame is in good shape, a Fatman front end kit is a HELL of a lot easier to install and drives wonderfully. It costs around $2400 w/ power steering. Granted, the initial cash is steep, but what is your time worth? I can install one in a weekend and be on the road a lot sooner than all that fabricating.....just my opinion, of course.
The 64 $ Question ! That all depends ~ NO advantage to the average old truck owner who just wants an old truck to tool around in and occasionally take to the dump . I work my nearly stock '49 just as hard as you'd work a modern truck . If you want something to show off and burn rubber with , the V-8 is the way to go . Few ever turn out well like Even (a consummate professional builder if I've ever met one) can do ~ 90 % that are taken apart for Hot Rodding , will be abandoned and sold for junk within 5 years . Oops ~ I'm ranting again , sorry but I have been very good about this all year . -Nate
A New Record? Nate~ I'm proud of you! You held off, what, almost a day? That's OK, I think we know how you feel about things by now...
I have read the many threads and thank you all! A few more questions: When I set my cab on the frame with 5" of wood blocking, the back of the cab is 2" above the gas tank and the back of my front fenders are 11" off the ground. When I put the engine and other stuff back in how much more will the suspension drop?? I liked the picture with the tape across the back of the cab to show where the bed should sit to get the orginal look. I took my truck appart 20 years ago so I don't know what this distance should be, could any one tell me the diffrence from the tape to the seam below the rear window. In the process of setting the bed on the frame and having the rear fenders centered around the rear wheels(given a long wheel based s-10 frame with a regular cab, ie 117-118 wheel base) how much distance between the cab and bed. mine looks close to 2" and it looks large. any thoughts. I know I have been asking for specific messurements, this is because I am trying to make a pleasing looking truck and one way to do this is to make it look like the original. I bought mine 20 years ago and it has been in pieces this whole time. I have never ridden in a 53 ever. my plan is to put a chevy 383 with a t-5 manual trany and a camaro rear end. thanks again with all the help, sorry for asking such dumb questions Herman
