My '91 s10

As some of you probably heard, picked up an '02 S10 to replace my blazer. Wrote it off a week later, good riddence. Made my money back and then some off insurance, blah blah blah. Here's my replacement vehicle.

It's a '91 s10, single cab short box. Originally from Georgia I'm told, been in Canada for about 10 years now. The guy I bought it off of bought it as it sat for the most part, he only did a few things. It seems to have been the victim of a frame-off rebuild seeing as the frame is all painted nicely and such. Haven't had it up and crawled underneath yet but it's clean, had a cab corner replaced and the bondo is cracked through the paint but rest of the body seems to be original metal.

Anyway, it's a 4.3L TBI with a 2" throttle body spacer and a K&N air filter. Stock motor otherwise. I put new AC Delco platinum plugs, NGK wires and a new cap/rotor after it failed the e-test the first time. Passed fairly easy the second time around. Transmission is a 5spd standard, I think it's just a T-5 but I haven't looked into it. Feels like a short shift compared to my 5LM60, shifts nice and the gearing rocks. 3.73 rear gears with an eaton posi carrier, spins both all the time, proven

Needs a bunch of work, all of it being small annoying things. Minor interior clips, window clip, new seats, new sun visors, replace door handles, all of the little stuff.

I don't like red all that much and the WHOLE truck was red, so I pulled the grille and bumper to swap on my chrome GMC stuff from my blazer. Hood and cowl also came off to fix the windshield sprayer and tighten the hood hinges.

Shitty picture off my friend's phone but you get the point


Front is 2" spindles and 2-3" coils, rear is a 2 leaf pack with what looks to be a 4" block. Also has a pair of universal traction bars which seem to do their job so far. Rear is improper and will eventually be changed, hard to justify though because it handles like a dream. Stock front swaybar and zq8 rear bar, drove up a bank and the rear tire came off the ground so it does the job also.

Wheels are 16x7 front and 16x8 rear American Racing Torque Thrusts with Kumho 245/50r16 tires on the rear and  Goodyear 215/50r16 tires on the front.


Plans are to fix all of the minor problems, get clear markers and H4 conversion housings, install my foglight airdam with some universal fogs, then get the interior presentable and just drive it all summer. Will be hitting the track as soon as it opens to see how she does on some road courses!

Can't wait, will keep it updated as usual.





These are pictures from the ad but it looked the exact same when I picked it up except for a missing air dam due to a raccoon.

very nice sir!

It's got a good look. If you decide to keep TBI, I can get a spare TB from the junkyard for next to nothing, get it all smoothed and transitioned and get rid of the extra material around the bores. Did it to a pair of mine and seat of the pants says there was a difference, as did fuel mileage, when I managed to stay out of the throttle and keep it tuned.

looking inter FI V8 swaps, probably end up doing a 5.3 with a very mild build (cam, maybe intake, flat tops) definitely not educated about them so I have some reading to do. I want something between 2-300 hp and enough torque and reliability to tow my project blazer to the track

Then you don't need to do squat to a 5.3. They didn't make one with less than 200hp, and most of the 4.8s came with at least 200. But if you do want a little more power, you can always just cam a 5.3 with one of the vette cams, I tend to like the LS2, but the LS6 is nice.

so my best bet would be to buy a low km, running 5.3 with harness and computer from the wreckers? My buddy said he can find me a nice motor cheap since he has scrapyard connections.

Artos, i'll have to re-read your thread, i'm clueless about FI swaps.

You're going to want to look to Harley and GC for the 5.3 harness info, they've both done it. You want TBI info and I'm the brain to pick.

so my best bet would be to buy a low km, running 5.3 with harness and computer from the wreckers? My buddy said he can find me a nice motor cheap since he has scrapyard connections.

Artos, i'll have to re-read your thread, i'm clueless about FI swaps.

A running 5.3 is the best route.  They're quite stout without any modifications in our light weight trucks like Artos said.

Personally I would try to get as much as possible with the engine to get the best dollar return.  When you start having to buy all sorts of extras it will start eating away at the budget real quick.  I've spent the last few years waiting and watching for the best deals on the parts I missed grabbing with mine and knowing I could have had them all if I had been a hair more careful is somewhat frustrating, but next time I will know even better.  It's only been about $100, but when trying to put the parts together for less than a grand it really eats into the budget.

Check over the harness real careful to make sure nothing is cut off (connectors are $$) and that all the sensors are there including the O2s if possible.  Don't forget the accessories, starter, throttle body, MAF, and flex fuel sensor if equipped.  If the truck  has an electric throttle, even if you plan on going with the cable, grab the Throttle Actuator Control (TAC) module, the pedal, and the harness that goes between them.  It may make for a good trade for a cable TB or to cash out to buy one.  I'm always interested in those parts and I know others who are too.  Lastly as I say below grab the fuse block if it is available.

You're going to want to look to Harley and GC for the 5.3 harness info, they've both done it. You want TBI info and I'm the brain to pick.

What he said.  Speaking of which I should be able to update my wiring thread soon, but with a first gen you'll more than likely be doing a standalone harness, which isn't too terrible at all.  The other option is to use the factory 5.3 fuse block to power the engine harness, which wouldn't be a bad choice at all if you'd be going a standalone anyway.

yea, what Harley said.
just make sure you avoid sharp edges and heat sources with your custom harness.
i did both.

My mistake, mixed up Harley and Artos once again haha.

The way my buddy put it is they literally pull the engine and tranny out of the trucks with EVERYTHING. He said they even come with the airbox attatched sometimes. I could simply mount the computer and fuse block from the 5.3 in the dash (extending wires where needed) and run power/grounds as they were in the donor truck, does that sound right? or is it a lot more complicated?

Are there any trucks that came standard? Finding one already programmed for 5 or 6spd manual would be awesome, really don't want to start splicing and re-programming. Sorry for all the questions, i'm really 100% clueless.

The deal I found was for anything engine related I wanted, but some stuff got cut off or removed after I looked at it.  Given I wasn't buying it from a legit scrapper and I went back, later, in the dark to pick it up.  Things like the MAF, O2s, Flex Fuel sensor, TAC module, and Throttle Pedal aren't directly attached to the enigne, so those are things to be aware of.  Now that I think about it some of the older Gen III engines may have an Intake Air Temp sensor that is seperate from the MAF to make sure to nab.

My main purpose is to share what "everything" should be defined as and when you go to pick up or choose the engine knowing what you want included can help in negotiating and making sure it doesn't turn into a bum deal or out of control budget.

As you can see in my wiring thread getting the harness under the dash may not need much extending of wires.  Simply rearranging the injector and ignition circuits can flip the length of the harness to the back of the engine giving plenty to route it inside the cab.  It doesn't have to be very complicated.  On the 1st gens there may be a convenient hole already, but I'm not sure how that may interfere with the exhaust.  Like Ryo said hot + harness = bad.

The manuals only came with the 4.8s IIRC.

It really isn't too difficult to change the PCM for a manual if you have a tuner and you'll be wanting to get other things changed in the PCM anyway. Al (Blizazer) can change many of the parameters with the tuning software and bench setup he has, but still stays away from changing up fuel and ignition tables since he nor I have much experience there.  He normally charges $50 for a tune.  If anyone is interested contact him or I and we can take care of you.  We've taken care of Ryo (GC) as well as others in the past.

Again the wiring changes for a manual aren't too crazy.  Depending on the transmission you will have to add in a couple circuits and the rest is just moving the starting and clutch circuits to the right pins on the PCM.  That is some of what I've figured out recently that I need to post up in my wiring thread.  I did some different things to use the Blazer wiring to activate the solenoid in the back with the battery, but other than that the rest is the same.  I'm hoping it won't be too much effort to show how to do it both ways.

Thanks a lot, will continue via PM when needed. Not sure if I already mentioned it but this is an american truck, so the cluster is in MPH. I thought nothing of it, it has KM/h underneath right?

Then my buddy pointed out it has 246 thousand MILES, not kilometres. That means this truck has close to 400,xxx km on it.. It developed a knock/tick the last day or two, so I'm gathering up parts and prices for a carbed 350 swap. It will be a cheap build since my buddy has about 20 motors worth of parts just sitting around (exaggeration), already have headers and my other buddy has swap mounts.

Probably be a stock .030 over rebuild with stock heads and a decent cam/intake. Also have a hookup for a holley 650 if the guy still has it. This truck is crying for a V8...

Fuck yea Zach!
Man what a huge step up (imo)
Nice choice on the grill, I can't wait to see this truck in person.

Well, did a burnout last night real quick to swing the truck around with my ex in the truck... not 10 feet later I heard the tragic "click click knock BOOM" and pulled over... Don't know how I stayed calm, all of this is adding up quick and becoming overwhelming.

I dropped off my first gen 2bolt main 350 block at the machine shop today, the crank I had is fucked (worn down too far from spun bearing) so I'm buying the same crank off the shop for $150 which is what it would have costed to machine my old one anyway. Boring it .030 and will be running probably 10.5:1 flat tops with stock heads (recent valve inspection etc), a decent intake and a holley 650 with vacuum secondaries hopefully.

Thanks a lot Andrew, can't wait to hit the track with you! Might even be able to keep up now

you'll be leaving me sitting still with a 350,
I was just looking at the pics on s10forum, man you made out like a bandit going from that 2nd gen to this.
Get all the little shit fixed and get the conversion done soon! I just took the '84 out for the first time today. May 11th is the first lapping day and I'm getting pretty hyped on the warm weather.

MoSport is having track days already, I believe this weekend is the first one. We'll figure it out, truck won't be done for roughly a month. Lots of little shit involved in the swap I keep forgetting about.

Since the truck is sitting in my driveway at the moment and the interior was mis-matched, I started tearing it all out to give it a good cleaning and swap the seats from my blazer. Was VERY satisfied as to how it went. First, all 8 seat nuts came off with one turn of the wrench and the rest by hand. The door sill trim screws that i've NEVER been able to succesfully get out, came out with ease on both sides. All of the seatbelt torx head bolts came out with minor difficulty, etc etc etc.

Minty originally floors, one of the owners welded in bucket seat mounts. Not pretty, but it's properly done otherwise.


You can all say what you want, but after finding a near perfect truck (as far as body goes) with 75% of the work done that I had planned for a cost of $3400, I'm happy. Sure, there are little things that need my attention, I love tinkering with stuff like that, especially on beautiful days like this. Sure, it needs a new motor, I had planned a V8 swap this winter anyway.

I dropped off my block at Twin City to be machined and have them assemble the short block to avoid screwing up a motor I need to last for a while. This is going to put me in debt further obviously, but my parents are very supportive and understand everything else that's going on.


Forgot to post these pictures of the truck while it was still running, so happy with this thing so far.

Nice truck.

The only thing I must say is that a hot rod is not worth going in debt for, you could buy a p.o.s. point a to b clunker to drive while saving for the hotrod. I paid $400 for a rusted out 92 g20 full size work van to drive while I built my 85 ex cab. I ended up putting about $200 worth of parts in it and sold it for $1600 to a plumber. But I drove it for a year while I saved and built the truck. I know what its like to want things now, but debt sucks more later on in life. just my $.02

I know what you're saying, but I JUST bought this truck... not going to let it sit. It's a stress free and interest free debt, I pay what I can when I can. Should be getting a new job soon which will be huge help.

Yet another great looking truck that makes me really miss my old 1st gen!  Having said that, I could fit my whole arm through the rust holes on mine so maybe I don't miss it that much...