My favourite S10 to date.

Hey guys,

I'm finally breaking down and building a log of my truck. It's a 1998 Chevrolet S10. 4.3L VIN 'X', manual transmission, G80 rear. Power locks, windows and mirrors. I picked it up for $500 after it was traded in at the dealership I work at. It had 177xxx Km's. As with everything else I ever buy, I 'wasn't going to do anything to it aside from lower it".

Shit.

I've owned it just over six months and it has gone through a couple transitions already.

Here is a current list of modifications.

Suspension

2" spindles
3" coils
3" leafs
4" blocks
Belltech Nitro-drop shocks in front
Napa-brand air shocks in the rear
De-humped LCA's
Bolt-in frame notch
Belltech rear sway-bar

Diamond Racing Steelies 15x8 -25 front and -38 rear (Grey)
     205/55/15 Kumho Ecsta's (Summer)

Diamond Racing Steelies 15x8 -25 front and -38 rear (Brown)
     205/60/15 Firestone Winterforce (winter)

Exterior

Rusted the whole body
Pro-net Air-gate
GM accessories window visors
Black vinyl window banner
StreetScene rollpan
StreetScene mirrors
LED license plate bolts
Flip down license plate
Hidden Hitch trailer hitch behind roll pan/license plate
TRS tow-strap - functional, for that winter fun.
Truxedo vinyl tonneau cover

Interior

Nardi 160mm woodgrain wheel
NRG GM short hub
NRG quick release
Cavalier seats, headrests removed
Beach-themed A-pillar trim

Engine

Throttle blade modification
Custom Y-pipe

Here's some pictures, starting with how it used to look:



















Future Plans

Hurst/Core short shifter
Power Performance tall ball joints
Zq8 front sway bar
Zq8 P/S box
Ragtop sunroof - already bought, just waiting for spring to install
LSOH rear disc brake kit - already bought, waiting to purchase rotors and calipers
4-link/fuel cell/coilovers

I'm sure there's lots of others, but that seems like a good place to stop, thanks for looking. 

I'd swap out that crappy G80 (gov-bomb) rear & pop in a Torsen/Zexel worm drive unit from a Camaro/Firebird (4th gen).

I'd swap out that crappy G80 (gov-bomb) rear & pop in a Torsen/Zexel worm drive unit from a Camaro/Firebird (4th gen).

I definitely intend on dealing with the terrible posi unit, that doesn't work, anyways. Honestly, assumed the F-body's would be the same, I'll have to look in to that! Thanks.

Got a little bored at work over yesterday and today, so I decided to install my rag-top, January 2nd. Seemed like the ideal time of year.

Have yet to finish the headliner, it is back in but still needs a little trimming up as well as the hole trimming installed. Should get that done and get the interior cleaned up tomorrow. I managed to knock off my rear-view mirror, though, so to the glass shop the truck goes soon. Sigh.

Was in Toronto recently, which destroyed my factory muffler.  So, I picked up a Thrush muffler for cheap and got to installing it. I also figured it was time for a different approach to exhaust tips, and built this.

I apparently forgot to grab a picture of the exhaust itself, but it is all made from mandrel bent piping.





I intend on getting a new bed come spring time, anyways, so this was a great trial run.

I also ordered a Hypertech "Maximum Energy" programmer for the truck. Mainly to see if I can pull some more MPG's out of it, but also to get an accurate speedo again. With smaller tires, I'm mostly guessing how fast I'm going.

It should be here tomorrow. 

There has been a lot go on with this little truck since I last update. The biggest of which, is it now has a 5.7L vortec engine in it, as I blew up the 4.3L doing a couple burnouts Easter weekend. 

Said burnouts:







I researched for about half an hour which led me to the decision to replace the 4.3L with the 5.7L. The swap just seemed... so easy.

I paid $700 for an L31 with 40xxx KM's on it.



For the life of me I can't remember what brand these mounts are, Zach pipe up here (thanks again for the recommendation).



Comparison of these mounts and stock 2.8 mounts.



Motor in it's home.





You literally need to re-pin this connector, and run two wires to the PCM for injector 7&8, and that is IT.



Zach provided me with most of an exhaust, and I ran it for a couple weeks without mufflers, when I finally got yanked for the truck being too loud (go figure). 







Buttoned up and ready to fire for the first time.



Completely finished and daily driven ever since:



End of first update.

So, in the time just before the 4.3L shit the bed, I swapped the rear drums to discs. I used an LSOH swap kit, and it has been just 'okay'. The rear using a front caliper makes the rears lock up VERY easy. The pedal is almost a small bit softer because of the large piston diameter now in the rear. Neither of these things are a huge concern to me, and I'm sure if I really wanted to I could change up the master cylinder and blah blah blah, but really, I don't care that much.





I need to paint the calipers and junk, but otherwise, life is good on that end.

I picked up a mini-spool, not installed yet as I would like to change the rear end to a 3.42 gear. (Currently a 3.08). I'm pretty sure I have a bent axle, so I'm going to assemble a whole new rear-end (I have three or 4 complete axles laying around at home to make one out of) before I put everything in.



I installed a tach over the old one (since it doesn't work after the swap)





The next plan is to 4-link the truck and swap a fuel cell in. I've already got the cell. I'd like to build my 4-link and find some used coilovers (since this entire truck has almost been built with used parts).

Can someone point me in the direction of some 4-link literature? Ideally this will be set up for road-coursing and drifting type fun, I'm not really sure if there would be a difference for set-ups.

I'll try and keep this more up to date, as it got mildly out of hand.

I have a line on some very lightly-used US402 QA1 coilovers, could work for your application. Guy wants $250. Glad to see my parts live on, sad that I spent so much on that exhaust only to cut it up later... I'm not sure on the brand of those poly mounts either, I was recommended them on here haha

They're somewhat standard now for swaps.  I'm sure I've seen them from at least Car Shop Inc, CPW, and JTR.

Ok, seen your truck on s10f. I'm cool with you beating the fuck out of it but why strip it and make it rust? That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever seen. So by the time you are done building it you have to re-body it?  And you have a copycat? It's no wonder I left the s10 community. Bunch of dumb fvcks trying to be original and just look like jerk offs.

What would be involved in making the factory tach function with the 5.7? 

seems to me all you would have to do is recalibrate it or something.

There are inline modules that can alter the pulse to match your tach from a 4-6-8 conversion. I believe Dakota Digital makes one.

Ok, seen your truck on s10f. I'm cool with you beating the fuck out of it but why strip it and make it rust? That has to be the dumbest thing I have ever seen. So by the time you are done building it you have to re-body it?  And you have a copycat? It's no wonder I left the s10 community. Bunch of dumb fvcks trying to be original and just look like jerk offs.

What would be involved in making the factory tach function with the 5.7? 

seems to me all you would have to do is recalibrate it or something.

What did you do for engine management when you swapped the V8? Are you still using the V6 PCM?

What would be involved in making the factory tach function with the 5.7? 

seems to me all you would have to do is recalibrate it or something.

What did you do for engine management when you swapped the V8? Are you still using the V6 PCM?

I kept the v6 PCM and re-VIN'd it at work to a 5.7L fullsize with a manual transmission. I have since swapped to a 0411 PCM and am now using HPtuners to tune the truck, factory tach works again perfectly, and I have replaced the lens on the cluster.

Truck has been down this last week being 4-linked and for the installation of coilovers.







Everything was built to keep the stock bed floor. Everything is completely finished suspension related, I've got to finish my fuel lines and plumb in this:



that should all be finished up tonight, tomorrow at the very latest, and then I can get a good shakedown run on it at that time.

I'm really excited to see how it performs, the simple fact that the axle wrap will be completely abolished is reason enough for me to re-fall in love with this little truck.

Boy oh boy, I left this build thread alone for too long. A lot has happened recently. A local guy has been parting out his truck, so I wound up buying a bunch of goodies including:

-My old vette wheels
-ART tubular lower control arms
-UB machine upper control arms
-QA1 dual adjustable coilovers.
-Another box
-Clean front fenders/inner fenders
-GMC hood
-Bench seat center console (in grey, but, oh well)





Old garb:





In with the new:



We aligned the front to -2* camber, which sunk the front wheels in a considerable amount.



I have two sets of Diamonds, both sized at 15x8 -25/-38. I got curious and wondered how the -38's all around would work. They work rather well.







I think shortly I'm going to re-align it (mainly because the coils settled and I've got some unwanted excessive toe) and dial in a total of -4* camber. I'm kind of fond of the whole drift car set-up lately for some reason and it looks decent on the truck, so I'm going with it.

Before all this, I blew up my diff. Luckily, I have about seventeen of them laying around. I took this opportunity to change out the sluggish 3.08's for a 3.73 gear set. This woke the truck up a lot.





Saturday night, we finally tackled my notches. The bolt-in notch just is not enough anymore, and with the extra power/traction/all around greatness the truck is turning into, I wanted to start making the frame stronger, I've already twisted an S10 frame in my lifetime and I do not intend to do it again.

Old bolt-in notch:





You can see here how the stock frame bows out, we squared that off and started boxing.







We got it all welded and boxed and also added a shear plate on the outside rail, just because the frame is only about 1-7/8" tall here. More so a precaution.



Boxing:



Having the new notches allowed me to lower the truck another 3/4" in the rear. Having the coilovers/4-link is the greatest thing in the world for adjustability.

Rear fitment is pretty delicious:



With the new box and fenders coming this week, I will finally have solid wheel arches to roll properly and really bang the fitment out on this thing.

Back to the wheels, with them being from two different sets, they're two different colours. I now want to change it up, and I think I've decided on a very pale blue. Mike (e30urobutch) did a photoshop for me yesterday and I love it.



That, I think, is it for now. You're mostly caught up.

I'm guessing that local guy was Zach, looking at the part list.

If you want frame strength, I strongly suggest a step notch.  It is going to strengthen it much more than any amount of shear plating or boxing.  The strength of a frame is all in the height of the cross section.

if you relocate the shock mounts, you can get away with cutting off the entire frame past the axle too

Don't worry, I didn't miss my truck already... fuck

love the last few updates, that rear set-up looks awesome.