51 GMC 5 window+S10+5.3/4l60E

[changethis]

I set mine at 4 degrees and I made my transmission crossmember. I took and cut the bracket off of the s10 crossmember and bolted it to the tranny. then centered the tranny and set it at 4 degrees and welded a piece of 2 inch square tubing to it then made brackets and welded them to the frame and bolted them to the new crossmember. I would post pictures but I'm not that smart. Its not that hard to do it just took a few minutes

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by showme49

I set mine at 4 degrees and I made my transmission crossmember. I took and cut the bracket off of the s10 crossmember and bolted it to the tranny. then centered the tranny and set it at 4 degrees and welded a piece of 2 inch square tubing to it then made brackets and welded them to the frame and bolted them to the new crossmember. I would post pictures but I'm not that smart. Its not that hard to do it just took a few minutes

I did the same thing but with 1.75" square tubing.

[bsccp]

Engine and transmission mounted! Or perhaps positioned would be the more appropriate phrase
The original S10 cross member was bent (due to being drug off the trailer at the beginning of the build due to 4 flats! and the cross member was handy) and didn't seem to really fit with the whole 4L60E and the engine relocation.

I found a '99 S10 that was being parted out and it had 4 leaf rear springs and a decent cross member so I thought I was home free! Well, the S10 frame starts to curve inward just behind the stock frame location and to achieve 4 degrees of down slope it would require some fabrication of new mounts.

Thanks to my welder friend who had some scrap 2 x 2 x 1/8 angle laying around I trimmed the stock cross member to match the frame width less about 1/2". This allows for the 2x2 to be welded to the end of the cross member and then use the other piece welded to the frame rail. I will bolt the cross member to the frame piece just in case I need to ever work on the trans, etc. using the stock transmount. The beauty of the stock cross member is that it allows you access to the mount and everything is kinda stock.

Scored a rear end out of a 98 Camaro SS. 3.23 gears and posi. Not sure about the condition but for $200 and a little welding I'll have a wider rear end and disc brakes and a 5 on 4 3/4 bolt pattern. The guy is pulling the Camaro center console and brake lever for me and I'll be trying to use the Camaro park brake lever? Haven't made a decision on the seats but I will have some form of center console.

Will be removing the bed to work on the rear end and that will allow access to all the mounting brackets to weld on the back supports for strength. Then blow the frame apart and sand blast the nasty, rusty thing so that I can start putting it together!

[99 to Life]

looking good. hey how many times have you hit your shins on those running board brackets?? I put mine on last. I hit my shins on my bumper countless times!!

anyway, liking the build

[bsccp]

Believe it or not I haven't hit this set yet. The original frame was a different story! I took those off very early I'm one of those people that take the ball out of the receiver because of the number of times I've run into those after pulling a trailer!

I decided to build the running board brackets early so that I could get the bed layout and rear fender placement kinda dialed in. Due to the height of the bed I had to drop the rear fenders 2" to level the running boards.

I wanted to keep the abilitly to bolt the running boards to the brackets just in case they become damaged so I had to match the brackets to the running board. The middle bracket is in the stock location but the front one had to be moved back to clear the front cab mount and the rear mount was too close to the rear spring perch so it was moved forward. Thank goodness for aftermarket suppliers!

[bsccp]

OK, finally after much delay I got the frame fabrication done. Final grinding down this week then off to be sandblasted and powder coated. I wasn't originally going to powder coat but the shop is less than a mile away and he quoted $375 for the blast and coat and in my mind a pretty good deal.

Also, finally located a '98 4x4 4 door Blazer rear end complete with disc brakes, $250. 3.42 non-posi but it was complete with sway, ebrake, etc.

Measured it and this is what I got for dimensions:
S10 rear end
48" backing plate to backing plate
Blazer
51" backing plate to backing plate, that makes the Blazer 3" wider (1 1/2" side) and out to 59" hub face to hub face. Since I plan to run steelies with 4 1/2" backspace I'm pretty much good to go. By comparison:

Hub face to hub face:
Ford 8.8"
59.5"
'79 Camaro
62.5"
82-92 Camaro
62"
93-02 Camaro
65.5"


Going to pu a primo GMC front clip and then off to the races with the sheet metal!

[av8tr33337]

Great start on your project. I'm subscribed. Looking forward to more updates.

[bsccp]

Pictures of the frame and S10 v Blazer rear ends. Having a lot of issues with the server!

[bsccp]

Finally, framed! Sand blasted and powder coated. $375! Paint alone would have been $100+gas+time+4 bags of media $60. Plus his shop is 3 miles from mine and he let me borrow his trailer!

Sand blasting is about $150/hr, soda is $175/hr. When I take the cab to him he will sand blast the main cab and soda the doors to avoid warping. So maybe $200 for the cab and doors. Epoxy primer for the cab and then rust repair.

[av8tr33337]

Ok, so how did you get in my shop and grab my frame when I wasn't looking??

Wow man that looks great. Ours are almost identicle.

[99 to Life]

frame looks great. Luv having a nice clean frame to work with.

[bsccp]

My thought process was to start with a clean slate, so to speak. Just a large thank you to everyone who has contributed to the site! If you look back to the first pictures of this frame it's a remarkable outcome. The powder coat flowed very well but there is still considerable pitting that couldn't be removed by the sandblasting. It would have been nice to start with a prettier frame but it's sound metal!

Nothing original just copying everyone else's designs but the pricing on the blasting and powder coating was too good to pass up. I'll blast and epoxy prime the suspension stuff and top coat with chassis black.

Found out that there is a product called Holdtight 102 that is a water based cleaner that can be used after sandblasting to help clean the bare metal. Haven't used it yet but it answers the questions of how do you clean the bare metal of dirt, oil, grease, etc but avoid the problem of flash rust and using a ton of solvent based degreaser to prep before primer. The sandblaster guy that did mine uses a steam cleaner with an acid wash to prep for the powder coat.

Mix up the 102 in a pressure washer and go to town I guess. According to the literature you have up to 5 days to topcoat? Has anyone used this product?

[bsccp]

Finally, some paint! There is a sandblaster about 3 miles from my shop and he is very patient and tolerant of my project and understands car things. So he soda blasted the door skins and sand blasted the inside and jambs. Knew I had some rust on the inside door bottoms, right under the weather strip of course but discovered some on top of the door! Of well not a big deal just some more MIG practice.

Built the paint rack using leftover 2x4's and some framing brackets and so far its pretty stable! Shot epoxy primer rather than self etch due to it plays better with repair work, etc.

Due to work I had to wait 4 days to paint but thankfully the humidity was around 5% so the surface flash wasn't too bad. Washed it down with plain water to remove the soda and sand and then hit it with degreaser. Didn't have to blow it dry due to it being almost 100 degrees!

Took about a quart and a half to cover, including hinges. Still fine tuning my cheapo HF gun but it lays out very well. It cost almost as much to paint as did the soda/sand blast ($125).

Next on to the cab. Should be cheaper due to it being all sand blast

[wedjim]

Subscribed...

Doing a similar project, but redoing some really bad work rather then starting from scratch. Feels worse actually this way.

[bsccp]

That's right folks I have officially gone off the deep end. Had a very good friend of mine have one of his work trucks stuffed into a bar ditch! (I'm guessing there was some air time involved) Bent both frame rails and tore off the right front suspension but didn't deploy the air bags or shove the radiator into the fan!

He gave me a hell of deal and now I am the proud owner of a '03 2500HD Sierra that's in more or less one piece. Now I just have to take it apart and keep the goodies I want and swap out the rest!

This means I will have to do some mods on my nice and shiny frame since the 80 is longer than the 60 but a little paint and no one will know the difference!

[wedjim]

Any more progress on this truck, looking great so far! Anxious to see what the driveshaft and exhaust end up looking like. I'll be tackling the same issues soon....

I think two 3 chamber flowmasters opposite the tank back into duals under the bed will work.
Driveshaft maybe something from a Silverado will be close?

[bsccp]

wedjim, I agree that right side duals will be the best fit. The people at AD engineering show some good pics. I will use the drive shaft off the Silverado and have the local driveline shop shorten and attach the S10 u joint.

The 6.0 is the same as the 5.3 and I'll probably use block huggers to fit inside the s10 frame. The truck exhaust will only fit the passenger side. I'll only use the front O2 sensors.

[wedjim]

Sounds like you have it all nailed down pretty well. I went with block huggers on mine, but i'm not moving the engine back as much. I went with S10 LS1 mounts and went as far back as they go without making the frame bracket as you did. Wish I would have now after realizing my S10 radiator will need to be angled to clear the hood and i'll need a pusher fan. Might also run a 12" puller on one side, if needed.

I am considering moving it back a few inches... more fab work as if redoing this guys work wasn't enough. I was expecting his work to be decent and have it running after a few weekends. rofl

[bsccp]

Finally some progress! Removed the 6.0/4L80E today. Cleaned off all the oil, dirt and pea gravel from its landing! This thing was a beat on work truck so I will go through the engine and trans before using it.
Cool thing about buying an entire vehicle is that I got all the wiring, ECM, cruise control with pedal, oil cooler, trans cooler, etc, etc. Will continue to strip it down before I trade it off to a local yard for additional parts.
Will use the seats for templates for nicer Suburban/Tahoe power seats. Will try and use the column including cruise. Not sure how that will go but hey it's free!

[wedjim]

Cool, same set up i'm using basically. I have made a lot of progress and i'll have some new pics to put up over the weekend. Basically everything i've looked into that the purplemonketkustoms ebay guy touched had to be redone. Compression fittings on the brake lines, cold welds, rear brakes metal to metal, rusted bleeders requiring caliper replacement... but i'm getting there in spite of his lack of effort to do things right and this truck will be sweet AND safe when i'm done in a month or so.

This past week I installed aluminum filler panels on the engine side of the firewall, installed and wired the gauges and radio, engine harness is installed and I just need to finish the mod of the p/s pump housing and squeeze in the air filter and mass air components along with a few other details and it will be time to light the fire!

[bsccp]

Finally, progress!
Between pulling all the stuff off the 2500HD. weather, time, yadda yadda,
got the cab to the sandblaster.
Came out wtihout any big surprises; all four corners plus the flloor pan. Primed it with epoxy primer to seal it up. Sandblasting does make finding the spot welds a lot easier.
Planning on using the 2500 column since I have the TAC for the cruise control but it will require a bit of square tubing behind the lower dash from side to side to mount to. The dash is pretty beat up where the stock position is so that will require some metal work too.
The 2500 seats are the same size as Suburban, Tahoe, etc, and if my measurements are not totally off I can use the same style seat (but power) and have adequate leg, shoulder and arm length. I think an S10 Blazer center console will fit and it has cup holders (my wife's requirement)!
Will try a late model 2003-2007 'vette drivers side exhaust manifold to clear the frame and not cause a column issue. Cast iron but not too expensive and should flow well enough for my needs.

[99 to Life]

looking good, I like this build. Can't wait to see some more progress.

[wedjim]

I will take some update pics end of the week and post them here. Fired my engine for the first time last week, mounted the radiator and buttoned up the power steering hoses also.
I had to get a smaller diameter P/S pulley to clear the S10 steering box and changed from the S10 rad to a 32 ford style rad for more authentic look. I hated the layed back set up I had in there so this is WAY better.


A driveshaft and exhaust system and i'm on the road!

Oh and a set of tires and brakes, which are the only things left on the truck from the seller on ebay. Even though i've never driven it it has metal to metal rear brakes and a right front rotor .125 under discard thickness. So much for install your engine and off you go... 6 months ago... lol

[chevyboy73]

wow kinda sad that you got rid of the patina but it is your truck not mine! good luck and subscribing!

[68 Four on the Floor]

This looks awesome. cant wait to see more