I know some of you have seen the other thread about this truck, but there are so many mods I have done to it, the list is way long. This isn't one of those cut and insert other truck parts threads. Sorry. It is about taking almost every part GM had to offer and upgrading this truck with those parts and aftermarket improvements to make this a great overall unit.
I bought this truck in Lincoln, Nebraska in 2007 while on assignment there. It was sitting in a strip mall parking lot and looked pretty good. The PO had shined the tires, and waxed the paint. I called and had a look. The oil pressure gauge was bouncing around zero which concerned me a little. I as assured that they had changed the engine and it was ok... BS! Anyway, I bough the B*tch for $1,100.
1991 S10 short box single cab 2.5 5 speed. Color: TEAL! Built in Shreveport, LA plant. A/C, PS. PB. deluxe interior, bed liner, crappy sun roof. Pretty much all stock with 185K miles on the clock.
First thing I did was change the Oil Pressure sender, and changed fluids. OP was good. Next, front brakes were bombed. I bought all of the stuff to do the job and found an abandoned factory to hide out and do work. BUT... no tools!. Yep, cardboard freight to the rescue.
So, I cleaned up the front brakes right there in the back lot.
Next? The radiator looked like it had MUD in it. Big mistake flushing that POS. It was full of stop leak - and you know why? The freeze plug at the back of the block... where else? BEHIND the flywheel :rant:was a huge leaker. So, I filled 'er back up with stop leak and the leaking business finally stopped. BUT, I had to drive most of the way to bum fck Egypt with this rig... Like NY State.
Anyway, that had to go on hold.
Next, the A/C needed a new hose on the pressure side. A/C HAS to work. I bought a new drier and hose, then sent it out to have it charged. Result? COLD A/C - Bonus.
No radio... I bought an Ebay assembly and installed it. Cool - tunes back in style.
The tires were ok, factory 14s on ralleys on the front and 15" ralleys on the rear.
Ok, the Nebraska assignment was over in August, so off I went back home on a wing and by accident. How was this going to go with a radiator full of stop leak???
I went back through Baton Rouge, LA., then Anniston, AL., to Auburn, NY.
Oops, forgot pix...
Here is the Voodoo rig and the Barbie truck next to each other. This was before any real mods were done.
Although I did install a new grille and windshield...
Plenty more pix in the future
Well, after leaving Nebraska, I drove to Oklahoma City, then to Denton, TX, just north of Dallas, then to Baton Rouge, LA.
The radiator developed a small leak on the way, and the power steering pump was making noise also, but the A/C was stellar!
I arrived in BR and bought a new radiator and installed a new PS steering pump.
I left BR and went to a training session in Anniston, AL for work.
Made it so far.
After Anniston, I actually went the rest of the way home. No problems.
So, leaky freeze plug?
I went to my shop and removed the transmission to access the rotten freeze plug. Easy, right?
Wrong.
While on the transmission jack, the tranny fell off and grenaded the cheesy bell housing. Very bad.
I went to the local upull, and the only bell in the yard was on a 2.8 V6 with the transmission already removed. Lucky?
Reassembled the rig with a new clutch assembly and new flywheel. Yes, new flywheel.
I installed a reverse flush tap on the heater hose and flushed the crap out of the radiator and heater core.
Mud - like you read about....
Now, in between all of this travel, I also had a turquoise Harley.
A former GF said it reminded her of a "Barbie bike".
You know where this is going, right?
They say that B*tch Barbie has everything.
So............ when she saw the truck, naturally it was the right color for a Barbie rig.
The bike and truck go together.
She called it the "Barbie Truck" and the name stuck like superglue.
Now you know why it has the name.
AND it is NOT a 'SHE' - it is a truck and it has no gender. Period.:rant:
It just looks like something Barbie would have/own.
C'mon, it's a truck, not a female... GMC
I know you were looking for that...
Anyway, the truck sat in my barn for a year while I built the Voodoo unit... but that's another story.
In 2009, I drove this rig to Baton Rouge.
1420 miles at 70 -75 mph. Smooth cruise.
After I was there for a while, I went to the local upull (where else?) and bagged a 33mm front sway bar out of a 99 Blazer. That made a large improvement in handling.
I also added new front gas shocks which stabilized any bouncing action.
Since the shifter on these trucks is like a shovel handle I replaced the assembly with a Core shifter base and a Hurst stick. It shifts with a few clicks now instead of stirring a big pot of gumbo.
The OEM headlights on these trux are about as powerful as a few birthday cake candles, so those went into the dumpster and I installed a new set of reflectors and 80/100 watt bulbs.
That was more like 10 cakes full of candles.
At least now I could rattle those aholes that leave their hi beams on...
PIX!
Crappy cell phone camera, but you get the picture...
Fat front (33mm) sway bar - still has the RPO sticker on it...
Have to have a CB radio... and sneaky antenna. This is permanently mounted, but it is removable by simply unscrewing the side retaining thumb screws, and unscrewing the antenna from the mount.
Antenna...
Replacement headlamp reflectors:
I think these are a little rice, I am thinking of replacing them with a more "Euro" look pair.
I also installed a tilt wheel, but the pic was terrible.
About the same time I also bought a header from Clifford Engineering (6=8) and installed it.
This was not cheap...
I don't know of any other manufacturer that makes a header for the 2.5 in an S10. It is a super quality product.
I added a connection to the header and welded in a bung for the new O2 sensor...
Had a buddy at his muff shop bend up a mid pipe and added a new 2 1/2" cat:
Then connected everything to the 3" Summit exhaust that I had installed in Nebraska...
Transition pipe:
BIG pipey:
The system sounds really great, not at all ricey. It actually has a deep resonance...
Nice catch Dood.
The truck bed was repainted at some point, the shop did a crap job of masking off the underside.
So, yes the side of the spring is teal...
Maybe I'll highlight some of the underside components...
These taillights look so much better than the faded stock units... LED reverse lights too... And they don't look like those dorky Alteza POSs
Mr Duke in person - with 230K miles there are NO oil leaks at all. The engine is spotless. Even under the truck - it's clean
A little ghetto action:
There used to be an internal restrictor or silencer right where the plastic elbow meets the metal air inlet. I went to the local upull and found and earlier intake elbow without any restrictor. It didn't seem to make much difference, but I feel better knowing the intake can get as much air as it wants...
Tilt column for a 5 speed (no auto shifter hole) and a Camaro "butterfly" wheel...
In 2010, I took a trip back to New York towing a U-Haul trailer full of S10 parts and stuff (What else?)
We also took the shop Integra to Import Face Off in Montgomery Alabama.
The car ran it's best time to date - 9.99 @ 160 MPH!
I left IFO and got into north AL when the clutch stopped clutching... The master cylinder quit.
So... I was driving without a clutch.
It gets better
I made it to Fort Payne, when the truck died. Just shut off...
So $125 tow later with the U-Haul attached to the back of the flat bed wrecker, I made it to an Autozone parking lot.
No clue of what was wrong.
I thought it was the ECU, wrong answer.
I pulled the cap off of the distributor and a CUPFULL of rust came out!!!
FTW - How the hell did the insides rot?
Well, no one had a replacement, so I ordered one and got a ride to a local hotel. I also ordered a rebuilt ECU just to be safe.
Next day I installed both and the truck fired right off.
I had to use the starter to run the truck in 1st gear to go.
I did this for the remaining 800 or so miles, shifting clutch less.
I made it home...
The nest day I installed a complete new hydraulic clutch system and returned the U-Haul.
Good read, keep it going. The adventure stories help to bring out the character of the truck and are good for documenting memories. As long as my build thread on this site, Photobucket and the files on my computers are still around, I'll always have reminders of my adventures.
15" s10 style rallies huh? I saw a set for sale and thought he had just measured wrong because I had never heard of them and thought they only came in 14
Thanks for the tags gents. This is a continuing story, I sometimes wonder if I'm just belaboring the English language... :haha:
I have driven this truck back and forth between BR and NY multiple times. It has also done north east cruising duty in many states on the east coast.
It hibernated in my barn during 2014 to 2015, and around Tgiving 2015, I drove it back to BR once again.
Aside from the North Alabama fiasco, it has been very reliable.
Funny, the 4 banger is more than adequate as a daily slugger, although it hasn't been a super gas miser.
One of theses days - I will sort that out.
It runs the same with A/C on or not. It is generally a good ride, and now handles pretty flat, although moar low is in the near future.
I've done more mods, I'll be posting those shortly.
I have no plans to do a V8 swap or any other type of swap. The truck is a great cruiser, doing what it is supposed to do very well, even though it has 230K miles on the clock.
As I have said, I will do every possible factory style mod that was not intended to be done when this truck was built by GM. The parts are all available at the local Upull, and they are a pretty simple bolt in.
I hope this may inspire others to take advantage of the simple (HUGE) improvements that can be accomplished for cheap $$ with factory parts.
Here are a few more of the day I brought I home. I have ditched the lumber rack and the dumb tail light covers. This truck has been the best 2 grand I have ever spent.
the only place a tii motor makes sense is in a tii, and even then just barely. 140hp stock, and the mechanical fuel injection makes no sense to modify cheaply, even a 2.2 is close to that and doesnt puff blue on every shift from worn valve seals. My tii barely did 115mph. I would instead put something amazing in a regular 2002 (save the 276 VINs for collectors), like something twin cam and screamy. NOT an s14.
the turquoise truck is a great start, makes me want a rcsb 1st.
Yeah, I was more or less joking about the Tii... I do have a line on it for $500. The body is totally roached, but the mechanicals are all there.
I had (22) 2002s go through my shop in 1989... all paint/body and mechanical work. I used to do a lot of BMWs back then.
They are preety bad for smoke...
After the first year in Baton Rouge, I didn't do much but drive this rig.
At the end of 2013, I drove it back to NY.
I had a new windshield installed during this time and replaced the driver door with a perfect example - courtesy of the BR Upull. The original door had a dent in it, but it wasn't worth repairing it when a perfect factory door was available for $65.
I also bought a 2" fiberglass cowl hood on ebay. The total was $200 shipped to my shop door. It was a POS, didn't fit very well, but for that price, I wasn't complaining. It looks good until you are right on top of it, even then, most people don't notice.
The door molding was bent up, so I didn't remove it from the original door. I haven't decided whether I am going to remove all of the moldings or find a replacement.
The Voodoo truck is totally debadged and all moldings removed... it looks clean and straight, but I haven't decided for this rig. Any opinions?
This pic shows the truck with the 14" fronts and 15" rear Rallyes on it.
I drove my Mitsubishi Mighty Max back to Baton Rouge in 2013, so I could sell it.
So fast forward to Thanksgiving 2015....
I flew home and broke out the Barbie rig. It started right up - as usual.
I drove it back to Baton Rouge with no incidents.
I have a ton of factory upgrades that I bought at half price sales at the upull.
Last Christmas, the local upull had a half price sale - this what I bagged:
Bonus - the sway bar was included in the price and everything you see ^^
was $41.50!! Oh, there was a $15 core charge, and since I am keeping the old rear end (GT4 - 3.73 drum brake open rear end), the total cost was $56.50.
I also got the 2 Bilstein gas shocks for $6.59 each...
Next step is painting the axle assembly and installing it.
It probably isn't worth putting this axle behind a 2.5 5 speeder but it was so cheap it kind of is.
It needs new pads and rotors turned, but the shop has a lathe and pads are inexpensive. I will eventually install ceramic pads and plated/drilled/slotted rotors. They sell on Ebay for about $100 as a kit.
I will also install a set of 2" drop blocks, the Bilsteins, install Delrin sway bar bushings and fab sway bar mounts.
I bought the Ebrake adapters from Hi_i'm_Sean, so that will be covered too.
This should complete the rear suspension pretty well, unless I go moar low with drop springs.
I also bagged a full set of LQ8 (?) Extreme 16" wheels. $17 each...
Here is the installed axle assembly:
The Bilsteins were so cheap, I had to grab them. They cleaned up pretty well and made a HUGE difference in the ride.
I also fabbed some simple brackets to attach the rear sway bar. It is parallel to the ground...
And of course... synthetic gear oil...
The original rear end was a 3.73 gear ratio, the replacement is 3.42. Not much difference, if anything it improved the overall performance and the truck runs to 85 easily. The speedo is not noticeably off either.
I recommend this swap for any S10. The 3.42 gear is a great all around performer too.
I
The original rear end was a 3.73 gear ratio, the replacement is 3.42. Not much difference, if anything it improved the overall performance and the truck runs to 85 easily. The speedo is not noticeably off either.
I recommend this swap for any S10. The 3.42 gear is a great all around performer too.