Just like to post a few pics and get peoples take on my 51 truck. Bought most of the parts from classic parts and am very pleased with the end result.
Your truck look great and welcome aboard. The interior really is turn out good any more photos of it? Thanks For sharing, Charles
WoW!!! Looks like it has come a long way! I'll assume it's not the original frame? Welcome! I'm sure you will have some good info to pass along to others who want to convert their trucks to a more modern type. Thanks for joining/sharing the photos!
Details Here are few details: 350hp 350 700R4 w/shift kit Electronic pushbutton 4 wheel drive 88 S10 4x4 frame Edelbrock 600 carb and chrome headers Edelbrock performer intake Mallory unilite Vintage air frontrunner pulley system and a/c Dakota digital gauges power windows, tilt, cruise, 6 way power, heated, memory seats. My next step will be the Holley avenger fuel injection system.
I used the brake booster from the S10 since I was already using the Chassis. This helped because I didn't have to get an adjustable proportioning valve for the brakes. I was then able to order pre bent stainless steel brakelines for the S10. I plan on buying the rear disc conversion at a later date.
Nice truck Thanks for sharing and welcome aboard. Man this must have a lot of work to get it in this condition ! Martinius.
That is Uber-Nice!! Best part is, its all "Chevy" too! I like the street stock look but you know its Baadddd! underneath.
History So here is a little history on this 51. I drove up to Lander, Wy with a friend and spotted this truck in a front yard and decided to ask how much from the person. Of course they asked how much and of course I said as low as possible $50 bucks. The best part was they replied $100 and I said here you go. We loaded it on the trailer and drove it back to Nevada. When I got home I charged the battery and drove it off the trailer but it wouldn't run after that because the generator wouldn't charge as well as the fuel was bad. Truck had been licensed last in 78. I pulled the front clip off and the frame was cracked on both sides just in front of the cab mounts. Like everyone on here, I wanted IFS so I just scrapped the frame and drivetrain.
Then next step for me was to find an S10 4x4 as I new what I wanted to do. Most people at the time were using blazer frames but I wanted that IFS so I went to the junkyard and measured wheelbases and found an extended cab shortbox S10. This was in 97 so I didn't have any history on the regular cab longbox that are posted on here. The pictures below show the frame as I tore it down, sandblasted it, replaced all bushings with energy suspension, went through and reset both diffs. I then cutoff all mounts and undercoated the complete frame. Lesson learned here, I should have drove the frame the 200 miles and had it powdercoated. I didn't really get to work on it for another 10 years as I moved around and had no garage until 2001 when I bought the engine and trans.
The truck was rusted pretty bad and I had to replace the complete box, inner and outer driverside kickpanel and inner and outer cab corner. I replaced the floor because of the 700R4 trans and I wanted to get rid of the floor shifter panel. At the time they didn't have the body mount kits so I had to make all my own mounts by measuring with a string from the rear of the frame to the front and then building them with 1/4 inch plate. Another lesson learned is not to trust a company when they say they can blast body panels and they use sand. This warped every panel on the truck and the body shop had to cut the door jambs in order for the doors to fit back in. You can see in the finished pictures that the hood doesn't fit and that's due to buying a repop hood because the original was warped beyond repair. We didn't find the hood issue until we were in the middle of paint. More pictures to come.
