53gmc build! With pics!

[53GMC]

here is a photo thread of my 1953 GMC pickup owned by my great grandfather and her transformation into a newer looking truck on a 1996 S10 swap. I have the help of my girlfriend who never lets me live down how much she helps me...her work shows in these pics!!

i love the very first one showing it in all of its 56 year old glory!!

any comments, advice, etc. are welcome!
53 GMC

[53GMC]

these are sand down pics and grey primer....2 sand downs and a painting....the camera phone i used doesnt show full credit to all that is being done! and then one of her threatening to hit me with the hammer! haha

[britnjc]

nice. solid looking truck

[1956cameo]

Cool project! I wish my wife liked helping me work on old trucks. You better marry that girl!

[53GMC]

thanks guys......and im trying to tell her the same thing about marrying me cameo!! haha

[OrrieG]

I noticed she is using a carpenters hammer. I would hide that, they lead to projects involving wood, not metal, that take time away from truck rebuilding. That is why mine sat for 5 years in 1,000 pieces, I could not keep my sweety away from the carpentry side of the garage. It's nice when the significant others help out, last night I needed a third hand to pump the grease gun. Unfortunately I think I may be buying a nice blouse since we had an "incident" when the hose fitting came loose!

[53GMC]

hahaha so far ive been lucky with not having any incidents OrrieG but you never know...we did get her shirt a pretty grey primer color though! haha

[53GMC]

ok......so im setting my sights in on an s10 worthy of being bought....


????when i do strip it down to the frame and get ready to go, have i seen where you have to trim the front of the frame off near where the front bumper would mount? I thought i had seen that in a post thread somewhere but cant seem to find it now.....suggestions fellow s10-ers?????


pics of sanded then primed fenders, a quick sanding of the cab shows i will need to put down new sheet metal in the floorboard...and is coming slow but sure!

thanks everyone
53GMC

[britnjc]

I would not trim the front or rear frame horns until the 50 is on the frame and all mockup is complete. It will not impair the swap. once the swap is complete you can then decide where YOU want to trim them. Some people use different bumpers and you want to have the factory frame to build off of to mount the bumpers you want to use

[53GMC]

alright britnjc...that sounds really good to me....i just wasnt sure if the horns would affect mounting the radiator or not...but didnt think so..

once again you come through for me! haha
thanks

53GMC

[BlueJeep]

You can trim the front horns before. You'll need to unless you remove the inner fenders, grille, and radiator support from the front clip. I did the same as everyone, 1/2" back from the front of the steering box and I have about 1/4" of clearance between the front of the (cut) frame and the grille supports of a chevy grille.

[54 jimmy]

just remember that the gmc front end (grill sits out a little further than a chevy front) the other thing is the chevy and gmc use different bumper mounts/setups depending on 1/2 ton,3/4ton,1ton and up are all a little different the year also comes into play too.

[BlueJeep]

My chevy 3800 also has different bumper brackets than a 3100 or 3600, but if you're able to mount the body to the s10 frame bumper brackets should be no problem.

[53GMC]

Thanks everyone...thats helps a great deal...im in the process of getting my S10 and i will begin the breakdown of the S10 as soon as i get it to the house....thanks again for yalls help...im sure there will be plenty of little questions along the way!


i sanded the inside and put a quick coat of primer on it...gonna put down new sheet metal soon inside the cab...


Thanks again!
53GMC

[53GMC]

hey guys! UPDATE! I have been searching all over for an S10 that would be worth buying......well.....I FOUND ONE!!!!!! FINALLY!!! Patience is a virtue as it has finally paid off instead of me wasting money on a pointless purchase that will leave me high and dry in a few years......

Its a 1996 S-10 Extended Cab V6 with only 6000 miles on a newly installed engine (old one was just older and slowing ) its a 4x4 and the bed was taken off when he was initially going to put on a new bed after some dents and what-not...the seller just didnt have the money to put a new one on at that time after he ran into financial troubles....it is a great running truck....very dependable as it has been driven to work 30 minutes from their home everyday for several months....his wife just wants a car to drive....not a beat up truck!

It is a perfect match for my price wise and mechanically wise....plus its 4x4....i can go where i wanna go now! Those clay Georgia Roads I fish down need that sometime!!!

53GMC

[Thadious]

Being an extended cab you will find that you will need to cut about 5" from the frame (bust the 3 welds just under the driver's door, cut off the 5" and reinsert and weld). Not sure if the 4x4 version will cause you any grief, but in the end you need to decided what kind of stance you desire before you will know what you need to cut from the front of the frame and how high your body mounts will end up being. Obviously, the higher you go the easier it is to sit everything on the frame, the lower you go, the more mods and trimming you will have to do to get it down there.

So, unless you want a AWD (a 4x4 lowered is an AWD in my eyes), just look at other build's heights and get an idea of where you want to go.

I have a pic on my comp wallpaper that is exactly what I want mine to look like (+ a couple inches in height) that reminds me on a daily basis of where I want to go with it. Have an end goal and work to it...

But by all means, do what YOU want and make it yours!

Cheers,
Ted.

[53GMC]

Thanks thadious! Mine's not going to be dropped or anything like that....if anything it will simply be off the frame a good bit.....Not lifted up in the air not sitting 6 inches off the ground, but a standard comfortable riding height.....gonna test out the height many many times with wooden blocks first to see how high i would like it....thanks again for your advice...i sometimes look to other builders projects and steal ideas but in the end i want it to be mine and the way i feel looks best to me thanks again !

53GMC

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by Thadious

Being an extended cab you will find that you will need to cut about 5" from the frame (bust the 3 welds just under the driver's door, cut off the 5" and reinsert and weld). Not sure if the 4x4 version will cause you any grief, but in the end you need to decided what kind of stance you desire before you will know what you need to cut from the front of the frame and how high your body mounts will end up being. Obviously, the higher you go the easier it is to sit everything on the frame, the lower you go, the more mods and trimming you will have to do to get it down there.

So, unless you want a AWD (a 4x4 lowered is an AWD in my eyes), just look at other build's heights and get an idea of where you want to go.

I have a pic on my comp wallpaper that is exactly what I want mine to look like (+ a couple inches in height) that reminds me on a daily basis of where I want to go with it. Have an end goal and work to it...

But by all means, do what YOU want and make it yours!

Cheers,
Ted.

Actually, it's not that simple with the 94 and up body style. They're boxed all the way back to the rear kickup, near the rear springs. Not impossible, just more work than the earlier ones.

On mine I'm leaving the 2wd extended cab frame (1995) as-is, and I'm having new box sides made a little longer to make up the difference. My truck will be used quite a bit to haul things, so that's why I elected to go with a little bigger bed.

The 4wd swap has been done before, search on the HAMB for pics.

[53GMC]

Blue Jeep, So what you're saying is more work is that busting the rivets and cutting off the 5" would be more difficult on my year model? or that the swap entirely would be more difficult? whats the HAMB?

[BlueJeep]

Cutting 5" out of the middle of the frame will be more difficult than with a 82-93 S10 frame.

The swap shouldn't be too much more difficult because of the year, it's just not as easy to re-use as much off the s10. Brake pedal is the first thing that comes to mind, as the bracket is interated into the firewall on the 94 ups. My donor was a 95, so I've run into some of these issues and have had to source parts off a 90 to make the swap.

The 4x4 will add some complexity too, but shoudn't be too bad.

I'll let you google HAMB, but it's another great bulletin board.

[53GMC]

Blue Jeep.....i measured the wheel base of my 1953 GMC 100 and it was 124" ...ive heard that the extended cab short bed S-10's are approx. 123" -124.5" as well from other sources also....so im not sure if im missing something but it doesnt seem like i need to cut out 5" because it has the same wheelbase.....does this make sense? or am i confused still?

[BlueJeep]

Ah, you have a long bed. I think we were all assuming it was a short bed, but as I look back through the pictures I see that now. Stick with the extended cab frame, and mount the cab first and see how the box fits on it. I'd guess at the worst, you'll have to trim a couple inches off the front of the box and out of the running boards, which should be pretty easy.

I can't really give too close of box advice, since mine was a 1-ton with a 9 foot bed. I'm making new bed sides that fit the wheelbase, and cutting everything else down to match. I'm making new ones so that I can make them taller, since I'm losing bed depth with mounting my cab low on the s10 frame.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by 53GMC

Blue Jeep.....i measured the wheel base of my 1953 GMC 100 and it was 124" ...ive heard that the extended cab short bed S-10's are approx. 123" -124.5" as well from other sources also....so im not sure if im missing something but it doesnt seem like i need to cut out 5" because it has the same wheelbase.....does this make sense? or am i confused still?

I'd suggest doing as someone else said and set the cab and nose up the way you want them and then deal with the bed and fitment of the rear wheels in the rear wheel wells.

If you are going to run the stock running boards you may want to look at slipping the axle back on the springs the needed amount and redrilling the pads.

I went back and checked and the wheelbase for a 96 S-10 extended cab is supposed to be 122.9 inches so you should be pretty close.

[53GMC]

thanks blue jeep and mr48Chev! I really appreciate all of yalls help.....the wheelbase i measured this morning was approx 123"....exact to what you stated mr48Chev.....so its a perfect fit for me...doesnt look that long in the pic but its because i took the picture with my camera on my phone....not top knotch quality.....i probably shouldve told yall it was a long bed to save yall the trouble of worrying about my sanity!!

I BOUGHT THE S10 this morning!!! Guy gave me a great deal on it and i plan to get to work on it soon.......

It has a V6 Vortec Engine and runs really well....test drove it up the road at about 60 to 65 so it was running really good!!! .so im looking forward to the best !

So....i believe what i fear the most is fabricating the computer wiring and all on my old truck....connecting all the things together and making the correct hookups from the new to the old...

Its an automatic so i am going to leave it that way, but put me an in-floor B&M shifter to use so that i can use the original steering column and all out of my old truck in the project.....automatics are easier for my girlfriend to drive anyway im told! haha im used to driving big lumber trucks so it wouldnt bother me, but now at least she can drive it once everything is finished...

Blue Jeep, you said you did a swap with a 95 S-10..any little bits of advice before i get going into it that i should look out for?

[BlueJeep]

You will have to move the engine back in the frame. The amount will depend on how high you mount your cab off the frame, but mine is about 6.5 - 7". I only started mine a few weeks ago, so I'm not done yet. This weekend I hope to have the engine permanently mounted, the running boards on, and the front clip finish mounted.

When I gutted my s10, I took every single wire out of it and didn't cut anything. I intend to re-use as much as I can in the 49. I also took the switches, etc. out of it and plugged them back in to make it easier when it's going back together. Mine is nice because there is a separate harness for the front clip, one for the engine and ECM, and another under the dash. If you want to get rid of the ABS, all the ABS wires are wrapped in yellow tape with yellow connectors - makes it pretty easy to identify and remove.

Best advice I can give is to read and study the pictures of other's trucks first, so you have a really good idea of what you're doing before you start.

Originally Posted by 53GMC

thanks blue jeep and mr48Chev! I really appreciate all of yalls help.....the wheelbase i measured this morning was approx 123"....exact to what you stated mr48Chev.....so its a perfect fit for me...doesnt look that long in the pic but its because i took the picture with my camera on my phone....not top knotch quality.....i probably shouldve told yall it was a long bed to save yall the trouble of worrying about my sanity!!

I BOUGHT THE S10 this morning!!! Guy gave me a great deal on it and i plan to get to work on it soon.......

It has a V6 Vortec Engine and runs really well....test drove it up the road at about 60 to 65 so it was running really good!!! .so im looking forward to the best !

So....i believe what i fear the most is fabricating the computer wiring and all on my old truck....connecting all the things together and making the correct hookups from the new to the old...

Its an automatic so i am going to leave it that way, but put me an in-floor B&M shifter to use so that i can use the original steering column and all out of my old truck in the project.....automatics are easier for my girlfriend to drive anyway im told! haha im used to driving big lumber trucks so it wouldnt bother me, but now at least she can drive it once everything is finished...

Blue Jeep, you said you did a swap with a 95 S-10..any little bits of advice before i get going into it that i should look out for?