S10 or other frame "swaps", why do this? Pros-cons

[62ChevyII]

Great thread. I have done two AD/S10 swaps and it is a TON of work... not for the faint of heart, lol. I see these abandoned swap projects on craiglist all the time. People get the impression that it is easy and quick.

The first one I did I had picked up a dirt cheap 48 5 window cab and bed sitting on a bent AD frame, I found an S10 minus enigne and transmission for $100. Sold extra parts off the S10 so the frame was free plus a little pocket change. I did that first one very cheap and learned a lot on it.

The second swap I did because a guy wanted me to build him one and it ended up costing a lot more to build because I had to pay more for the S10 and the frame ended up being bent and I had to pay to get it pulled straight. It turned out nice but it is probably the last one I will ever do unless I run across a super bargain on an S10 and the AD truck has a frame problem. Even then I would think twice, it is a ton of work to do.

I have done one MII IFS kit on a 54 GMC for a friend and it was a TON easier and much faster to complete.

The Camaro/Nova subframes work well but they are getting hard to find and then by the time your rebuild the suspension and stuff it gets expensive too.

I recently picked up a 51 Chevy 3100 3 window and it is a pretty complete, fairly solid ole truck. Someone's old school build from several years ago I assume. It has a later model 250 6cyl, car 4 speed trans and has been converted to 5 lug. I can't decide if I am going to keep it and fix it up or not but my plans if I do keep it are to put disc brakes on the straight axle, put a rack and pinion on the straight axle and also move the straight axle above the springs to lower it... Thinking it would be good to just give it a little face lift and drive it for a beater.

Anyway, I probably vote stay with the stock frame unless you have very good fabrications skills and lots of perserverance and are up for a challenge. The IFS swap kits are certainly the easiest way to get modern suspesion in the shortest amount of time. One draw back is if you break down on a road trip, and need to replace a suspension component it might be tricky to find parts where any auto parts store would have S10 parts in stock.

Like someone said earlier, it depends on the situation you find yourself in to really determine the best way for you to go to meet your objectives.