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'83 & '84 S10 Dad and Son Projects

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#1 ·
Hello, my name is Andrew and I'm from Ontario Canada. I've been enjoying your forum for a while now and recently decided to sign up. One of my favourite areas is the members projects. After reading about other members projects and enjoying it so much I thought I would contribute some pictures and a look at my never ending project.

This is who I am so you can put a face to the name.


This is my 84 S10 Tahoe. My dad bought it brand new and I grew up riding around in this truck. I learned to drive standard in it and got laid for the first time in it lol. This truck has a lot of sentimental value to me and I love it.



At the start of this project the truck's engine was getting very tired. The winters were brutal. The carb on it was junk and it really needed an overhaul. My dad has been talking about redoing the engine for years and finally Nov 08 I convinced him that we should start working on it. This entire project has been a great learning experience for me. This has been my first time really getting my hands dirty and learning anything and everything to do with engines and what have you. So please bare with me as I'm still quite the amateur when it comes to these things.


I'm going to try and post up pictures of most events. I took quite a few pictures along the way starting back in NOV 08. So here it is. Day 1.
At this point my S10 had been sitting in my grandmas driveway for over a year and had not been driven at all. So when we went to start it the battery was dead.




We worked on the truck at one of my dads Child hood friends shops. This was ideal as I live in the city and my driveway is just not suitable for even jacking up the truck. On top of having a lift and a heated garage to work in. My dad, John's childhood friend Sheldon builds engines for a living and has been doing it for over 40 years. So he was just perfect to have around when ever we got into specifics we weren't sure about. This is the truck at the shop.



just over 360,000kms original everything. That's roughly 223700 miles.





I was sort of oblivious to cost when we started this project so I told my dad I wanted to do something powerful. I said "lets make it 500 hp and 600 ft-lbs of torque." He laughed and just said do you have 15 grand?

So after I learned the cost of these projects and got my mind around it we decided to rebuild the original 6 cylinder. For 2 reasons, drive ability and fuel efficiency. I know I sound like a bit of a pussy saying that. However this truck is my daily driver and I'm a college student so my funds are very limited right now. So drive ability and fuel efficiency are priorities.

So again the plan is to rebuild the original 6 cylinder. It was a 2.8L when we started and it's now a 3.2L. We bored it, stroked it, Cammed it, Honed it, the works and she runs like a champ now. Well if you continue to read you'll see.

The first thing we need was new/old heads. This was the donor car.


After 2 trips to the junkyard we had the heads.





Will post more shortly.
 
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#4 ·
^ Thanks for the warm welcome guys. 2low2tow_nukka, I actually already had a set of Camaro rims and tires, so they weren't needed. Smart thinking though.

This was really just a Saturday afternoon project. Every other weekend we would drive up to the shop and work on it. So naturally only working every other Saturday for 6 hours or so a day progress was quite slow.

This was the first real weekend of work. So we pulled the truck into the shop and began to pull the engine.









Took the rad out and it was toast. So we added a new triple core rad to the list of parts we needed to buy.













Here is something non related to the build. During this weekend I also took my Grandma and went and got my new puppy, Kayla. This is the first time I ever saw her.


my old mans reaction when I brought home a dog


During this you will see Kayla grow up quite a bit so I thought I would show you all how small she used to be.

Anyways continued the tear down the following Saturday.



Kayla just chillin





The following week we received the exhaust from LMC



Continued to Dissemble.







compared the old and the new to see if clearance was going to be an issue.


one of Kayla's ear stood up this weekend



The next weekend I pressure washed the engine compartment



the old man checking my work


taking some weight off the pistons


truing up the heads from the Camaro



Boring the block



Had to drop in a helicoil into on of the heads



The next weekend. Had to dig a path so we could winch the truck into the shop.


Some before afters



Sheldon Honing the block



Kayla is a bit bigger at this point.



will post more shortly.
 
#6 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

^ Yes I would like to keep it close to original. I plan on getting it repainted next year and it will stay the same.

We did do a small drop during the build but nothing extreme. I respect the time and effort some of you guys put into dropping and bagging your trucks but it's just not for me. I drive this daily in the city and on dirt roads up in the hills and really put this truck to use. I mean I do 20 quarts of wood a year using this truck and need it for that among many other things. So altering the suspension to much just isn't feasible for me.

More updates later, photobucket is down right now.
 
#8 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

I don't see why anyone would flame you for that. I like the look of a lower truck but it still needs to function so I never really considered a lift.

Like I said I would like it to stay close to original so it is still the same truck, if that makes sense. I'm not really trying to stand out and go to an extreme low or high. I just want to restore the truck to it's glory days back in the late 80s early 90s. We did drop it 2" and it made quite a difference in the end.
 
#12 ·
Thanks guys. 83LOWrange, yes Sheldon does really great work. Most of the stuff he does is very high end, luckily he made an exception to help us out with this.

Yes I took the cap off when I brought it home. It was on for the winter because the truck spent 6 days of teh week outside in the snow. I didn't want to shovel out the back every saturday as well.

here are some more pictures of the progress.

The next Saturday shoveling again


My dad and Sheldon doing some final assembly




used this picture to reference for the bracket placement



putting on more brackets


put on one old valve cover and one from the Camaro then decided to buy new ones.


Also bought a hood release as the old one broke when taking the hood off. Would have been nice to get some Edelbrock valve covers but there was none available at the time we needed them so we made do with these.



Sheldon was dynoing this engine the next weekend. It didn't make near the numbers he wanted. Later found out he parted it out.




Kayla is getting bigger


Oil pan and new valve covers are on, not for the last time though...




Painted the headers



I stopped taking pictures for a few weekends out of frustration. We had quite a few set backs that were really demoralizing. The first was we were changing the engine mounts and my dad and I didn't realize you have to take out the lower control arms in order to do this. So we end up changing all of the bushings on the front suspension while doing this and putting in new shocks as well. We also put in 2" lowering spindles. After doing the passenger side we did the drivers side only to find that almost a full coil had broken off the drivers side shock. So we then had to redo both sides and change the shocks as well.

When putting in the block to lower the rear 2" as well we replaced the drums and found that one of the leafs is cracked...

Also changed the spare tire mount because the old one was broke and then ran into some problems with the exhaust and trailer hitch clearance.

Anyways here are some more pictures.

Finally the engine was back in the truck. After 3 1/2 months of unplanned set backs and more money.



Trailered the truck over to the alignment shop and the exhaust shop.

Would have been nice to do the exhaust ourselves but we didn't have any pipe bending ability.



If you remember we bought an exhaust system from LMC right at the beginning. Well unfortunately the only part of that entire system we utilized was the 2 resonators. The rest was junk.

We ran 2 straight pipes from each header back with a cat on each and just the resonators. As you can see in the pictures a lot of rust. This is because I scraped all the build up off while we were working on it and it sat outside during the winter. I can assure you this is just surface rust. The frame and everything is in immaculate shape.

anyways here is the exhaust





Here is a video of the first run ever. Nothing was set up on the carb and the choke but you get the just of it.
http://www.vimeo.com/4921865


After taking both valve covers off again and a crack in the thermostat housing and some bad casting on the edelbrock adapter all of the leaks were fixed and I drove it home.


When I got home I washed it for the first time in atleast 2 or 3 years. Took the cap off as well.




Scraped away some of my highschool days.




The seat brackets were starting to rust really bad by the floor so I took them out/off and blasted and painted them.








greased them up as well





interior looks like this


Shot of the engine



Bending the bumper back. A friend of mine rear ended me 4 years ago or more in his big purple blazer. He then pushed me into the car in front of me and the front bumper got bent down a bit. So we bent it back.


Did the passenger seat brackets the following day and also put a coat of wax on.

Here is what it looks like now.



will try and post another video of how it sounds and runs now that it's all tuned up.


I'm so happy to have it back on the road and it has twice the power and torque it used to. It's bit bitter sweet though. I'm going to miss working on it every saturday with my old man. It was really nice to have a project. Maybe I can convince him to start working on his 70' boss 302 soon.

Here are a few pics of it and where it's at.





and then covered back for who knows how many more years








Anyways, that's it for now. Hope it was somewhat entertaining.
 
#15 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

Are those the dyno numbers from your engine? It looks a V8 on the dyno. truck looks good. That mustang looks sweet! convince and push your dad to finish that project with you!
 
#17 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

good job on the detail and pictures of this thread, it was fun to read and agreed i like how you narrated it. overall nice truck and hopefully it lasts you a long time, deff seems like you guys take care of your cars
 
#18 · (Edited)
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

Thanks for the great comments guys. It's nice to get some positive feedback.



Driveway Kustomz
, Thanks man. Actually it has been repainted once about 15 years ago now. So it's due for another paint job. The pictures are a bit misleading. There is definitely some spots on that really need some attention. There is 3 major rust blisters, one on the drivers door, the front right of the hood lip and on on the passengers side quarter panel. Also the seams are splitting above both the back passenger windows of the cab. I would like to get it painted next year but I think if I sell a couple of things this summer and do some more work I can get it done before the years out.
I'm impressed you and 98layinframe are aware of rust issues that come from living in a climate like mine. Most Americans I talk to from California and Florida, the warmer climate states just have no idea what I mean, very knowledgable guys. edit* just noticed you guys are from PA and NY so you definitely have similar issues as I do when keeping your trucks in good shape if you drive them throughout the winter months. Salt is a killer.

As for future plans, paint is #1 on the list right now. Sometime soon I would also like to get a set of 16" rims and put some nice fat/tall tires on it. The interior needs some work too. The dash has cracked straight through by the glove box and the plast panels on the doors are all starting to crumble. The drivers seat also has a pretty big hole happening. I'm strugglling to find a seat kit that is close to the original though so I think it may be a custom job. $$$$$....

When I graduate college in a couple of years and starting making some good money I would like to go with my original plan and drop some real power into it. I don't have any specifics in mind but a nice big v8 with a twin turbo set up would just be such a fun project. However those are just pipe dreams right now.

VTsonoma , Thanks. No I wish my engine turned that kind of power, that was a comp engine that he was building out of spare parts. I've been trying to convince my dad to work on the BOSS since I was 5. He is waiting until he retires to do it though so that won't happen for 6 or 7 years.


I just bought a set of tail lights and left and right Bezels as well as an oil gauge and Speedo. All original GM so working on those will be my next project as well as fixing the clutch pedal and ebrake pedal as well as installing the hood release.
 
#20 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

man the truck looks awesome, and the way you set up your build thread was great. like said before, i cant believe the shape your trucks in, especially from being from ontario. i think ontario has the worst rep for producing the rustiest vehicles around. we see cars from ontario that arent even two years old yet with rust forming all the time here(sask), so for only three rust spots on yours is incredible. ive been fighting the rust battle through our winters and still losing, so yours just wows me. great work!
 
#23 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

this is hands down the best build thread ive ever read. i like the clean narration and the no bullshit in between flow of it. real good job man. truck looks great too! It's cool that you got to do a project like that with your father. im sure that meant as much to him as it did to you. good job brotha!
 
#26 ·
re: 83' & 84' S10 Dad and Son Projects

the white almost looks like the masking stuff that would be over top of the black when you first apply it. the only reason i say this is because it looks kind of bubbly around the doors. im just guessing though cause it doesnt look like the car ever moved to change the colors, that or they are amazing at putting everything back in its identical place
 
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