Wtf did i get myself into 51 s10 swap

[99 to Life]

nice patch work. 104 dang. On the east its honestly felt like fall already. leafs are falling and temps are mild. it hit 44 deg at night the other day, felt like winter! Good luck with the body work. man that stuff takes foreverrrrrrrr.

[rtinniste]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

nice patch work. 104 dang. On the east its honestly felt like fall already. leafs are falling and temps are mild. it hit 44 deg at night the other day, felt like winter! Good luck with the body work. man that stuff takes foreverrrrrrrr.

Thanks man its not perfect but I'm happy with how it's coming out and yea that was 104 at 4pm. I know the weather is crazy we were in the mid 80's last week and now we are back in a heat wave again yesterday was 111.

The body work is going surprisingly smooth this cab is really clean compared to my first rot box cab. But a buddy of mine recently got laid off from the body shop he worked at, so he's doing most of it and I've been helping on my free time.

I'm not in a real rush to get it back having the garage less crowded has been nice haha

[joedoh]

good to see you still chugging along!

[lower50's]

Looking good and having a body man friend is always a bonus.

[rtinniste]

Updates over the past couple of months
Ended up having to find 53-54 doors because my 51 doors were a no-go on my 53 cab. Drove 2 hours to the middle of no where to get these doors but for $100 couldn't pass that up original paint no rust.

Ordered new door handles, latches, strikers, locks, door pins

Cut off all the body mounts on my s10 frame to re-do them since I wasn't happy with the welds I originally did. They look alot better now and the fronts are boxed in just waiting to get my cab back to double check the rear mount height and placement before I burn them in

This weekend
Finally Christmas shutdown for the aerospace industry gives me and my buddy some free time to work on my cab. Got the new doors hung and 90% aligned he's saying we will more then likely have to adjust them more once the cab is bolted to the frame. He's hoping to have the cab finished up and primed this week.

[rtinniste]

Quick update life has been hectic the last couple of months so progress has just started picking back up somewhat. Wasn't happy with some of my original fab work so cut alot of stuff off to start fresh which I'm happy I did.

But so far over the past couple of months the following can be crossed off my to do list
cab body work is done (except I welded up mirror holes in the door and I'm going to shave the heater box louvers)

POL chrome booster and master
front brakes 100% new from hardlines to bolts
little shop of horrors no toe steering installed
new mevtech idler arm
steering box was stripped and painted (depending on slop might replace might go power steering but really like the minimalist approach)
scored a super clean original front bumper, repop tailgate, and better driverside rear fender cheap at pomona

re-did cab mounts, running board mounts, and bed mounts

pops donated a crusty but running 4 bolt main 400 and 700r4 trans that we pulled from the 55 ford he picked up recently
just cleaned it up, new performer manifold, new balancer, new gaskets minus head gaskets, spray bombed it, and added all the chrome stuff I bought for my 350 awhile back
had my headers nickle plated and sending a bunch of trim stuff, bumpers, and my 4 link out to chrome soon

Welded the motor mounts in and had to push my trans crossmember back 2" for the 700r4 since originally I was going to run a th350

Cab is currently off on the roller again to paint the firewall then its ready to be finally installed for the last time. Still sticking with painting the truck satin black maybe single stage maroon, firewall and interior will be painted ford wimbledon white.

Motor is 99.9% ready just need to grab some black 8mm wires and a black distributor cap because I can't stand the orange wires and red distributor I have currently

Some kind of updated pics before finishing the brakes and pulling the cab off motor wasn't buttoned up





my current to do list for next couple of months paint firewall and interior, get gauges (have original gauges figured new gauges would be easier and nicer), finish the rear brakes, steering shaft, remake the core support. Might add a oil cooler since my dad couldn't use it on his truck

[Cuttin up]

Lookin good. I’m glad you’re making some progress.

[rtinniste]

Originally Posted by Cuttin up

Lookin good. I’m glad you’re making some progress.

Thanks man swear if its not money its time. How's your truck coming along

[Cuttin up]

Originally Posted by rtinniste

Thanks man swear if its not money its time. How's your truck coming along

Yep same here. I try to find some time here and there to work on it. I’ve got the cab sitting on the frame, it looks fantastic. The fire is starting to build in me now since the days are getting warmer. Hopefully we’ll both be done and driving them someday soon.

[dsraven]

umm, did your running board fall off? it's sitting on the ground...
looking good.