Project *** - - Rags to Bags -- ***

[flnole78]

I just order the other fender and picked up my new hood. Things are coming along!

[flnole78]

well I know these pics of random parts are getting boring but I swear the conversion will start as soon as I get the other fender and the new core support in next week. Here's the hood to hold you over, lol

[2 LayLo]

well im ready to see the progress should be nice.

[tat2dmthrfckr]

This ain't done yet...J/K. Good luck with it.

[flnole78]

Quote: Originally Posted by tat2dmthrfckr

This ain't done yet...J/K. Good luck with it.

Well damn all this nagging I can't take it! Haha j/k.

I did however break down and face my fear, lol. My fear of cutting the fender! Here is my little write up on doing a colorado fender on a 1st gen s-10. If you had seen the write up in MT then you will clearly be able to tell they skip a couple of things and some vital info. Well here we go, the transformation begins!!

First thing you will need to do is cut the stock fender. This was not mentioned in MT. You have to do this or you can't get the colorado fender to line up properly so that you can mark the stock fender for cutting:



You will also need to cut the colorado fender just as they did in MT. This is the only part you will use of the stock Rado fender:



Once you get the Rado and the stock fenders cut, then you will need to position it on the stock one and mark where to cut. Now the key to this one is to make the very front lower piece of the Rado fender flush with the front of the stock fender.



Next you cut on the inside of your line. This is important bc you will mark the line from just outside the edge of the fender so do not take out the line when cutting.



Here's a pic of the rear part of the fender that is cut. Now its cut like this b/c the bodyline on the Rado fender extends to the longest point and the stock part of the fender where the fender bolts to the cab starts at the shortest point.



Once the fenders are all cut out and they match up well, then take a flap disc and clean up where the tacks will be the get to tacking!
Here's the fender tacked up and bolted up to the cab!!



Here is a quick mock up with the grille, couldn't get a great one b/c I only have 2 hands and 1 fender, lol.

[xxosiris9xx]

Oh Snap Son!

[tat2dmthrfckr]

Fukking sick. Oh my god that is awesome...

[2 LayLo]

badass son

[xxosiris9xx]

and he told me that the wheel/tire combo is sittin like 28" there...hells yeah

[FCKNLOW]

this is something ive always wanted to do.....looks good so far man i wanna see it done!!! chop chop!!!

[Slammed03]

wow thats clean as hell

[got_u_sick]

Holy shiz man, lookin great already! Keep up the good work.

[jman]

you make it look so easy! nice work on the cuts.

[flnole78]

Thanks everyone but the hold up right now is the other fender. I am witing on it to get her. Scheduled delivery date is Tuesday

The core support will be here tomorrow and I should be leaving for Jacksonville on Saturday morning so I guess the next update should be Tuesday night unless the other fender gets here sooner.

[hghtchtnr]

R U SERIOUS, thats gonna be bad ass

[DroppinTheDime]

yo shane what up. trucks coming along good man but it looks like im moving so you wont get anymore skillful work form me I'll deff still come visit and stuff but keep up the good work, this thing better be done by SF next year

[2 LayLo]

so is a 22 gonna fit under the hood ?

[flnole78]

Quote: Originally Posted by 2 LayLo

so is a 22 gonna fit under the hood ?

I am gonna damn well do everything in my power to make it fit. I have a few ideas if it doesn't work right off the initial install.

Quote: Originally Posted by DroppinTheDime

yo shane what up. trucks coming along good man but it looks like im moving so you wont get anymore skillful work form me I'll deff still come visit and stuff but keep up the good work, this thing better be done by SF next year

Man that sucks. Why the hell are you moving? Damn that just leaves me and Dustin. Oh and don't hold your breathe on SF next year, maybe SF '09 or'10

Quote: Originally Posted by hghtchtnr

R U SERIOUS, thats gonna be bad ass

I am afraid so. Thanks man appreciate it!

[97texas_sdime]

colorado front looks soo bad ass! im wanting to do the same on my 86 2 door blazer. i love your truck lol

[MGSDime97]

its gonna look awesome man, keep up the good work

[flnole78]

Well I got my core support today

The damn thing came damaged so its getting sent back.

Pics in a bit.

[flnole78]

Ok here's the pics of the core support

Here's the big ass box it came in


a pic of the good side of the core


and now the damaged side




This sucks but at least I wasn't planning on using it this weekend.

[xxosiris9xx]

****in bastards...i hope it works out the way ya told me

[97texas_sdime]

damn that sucks about the core support

[rbryant4]

do u have to section the hood aswell?

[not_possible]

yea that does suck...is it a repro? me and a buddy of mine both had the same problem when we got our repro core supports for our 2nd gens. i will never buy a reproduction core support again ill just shell out the extra cash at the dealer. those things are sharp as a razor blade and flimsy as fock...i bent the bottom of mine back straight by hand.

what size tire u got on there now? im gonna be tryin to fit a 22 on mine and i know nitto makes a 235/30/22 that is 27.76" overall dia. im tryin to find a used tire for mock up now.

[flnole78]

Quote: Originally Posted by 97texas_sdime

damn that sucks about the core support

No I will not have to section the hood at all. The rado and the dime are the same widths. And believe it or not I think I may be able to use the stock hinges as well but we'll see. I will do a little write up for each part as I do it.

Quote: Originally Posted by not_possible

yea that does suck...is it a repro? me and a buddy of mine both had the same problem when we got our repro core supports for our 2nd gens. i will never buy a reproduction core support again ill just shell out the extra cash at the dealer. those things are sharp as a razor blade and flimsy as fock...i bent the bottom of mine back straight by hand.

what size tire u got on there now? im gonna be tryin to fit a 22 on mine and i know nitto makes a 235/30/22 that is 27.76" overall dia. im tryin to find a used tire for mock up now.

Yes the are pretty flimsy. I am gonna try and see if I can't repair this before I send it back. I don't really want to wait for another one to be shipped.

The tires that are on there now are stock 265/75r15. I do have 1 1/4" spacers under them to raise them to 28" for mock up. I saw that the Nitto Neo's are available in 235/30r22 also. That's what I was looking at getting. Ebay has a set of 4 for 995 shipped.

[tat2dmthrfckr]

Whispers I know what color he is painting it...Just messin with ya shane. Keep it up and good luck with your fender tuesday.

[xxosiris9xx]

Quote: Originally Posted by tat2dmthrfckr

Whispers I know what color he is painting it...Just messin with ya shane. Keep it up and good luck with your fender tuesday.

so do i

[genx-treme]

Quote: Originally Posted by xxosiris9xx

so do i

So do I

[rbryant4]

wow, so u dont even have to section the grille. thats awsome!

[Kenny Pollock]

Looking good Shane, I'm sure you'll fix the core support yourself

Can't wait 'till you come down next weekend!

[flnole78]

I don't know how all you guys know the paint color b/c I don't even know it!


Well I picked up the headlights this weekend and the new core support is being sent out tomorrow and also the other fender will be here Tuesday!

[2 LayLo]

how long do you think its going to take you to do this swap...seems to be going really smooth so far.

[Myst]

its looking like its coming along great....I wonder if a Col. hood bolts directly to a 2nd gen .... Very big props for this ... and sucks about the subframe ... if you dont mind me asking ...where did you get the fenders/hood/etc... all ebay??

[FSUnole]

Quote: Originally Posted by Kenny Pollock

Looking good Shane, I'm sure you'll fix the core support yourself

Can't wait 'till you come down next weekend!

Shane, are you going to be in south florida this coming weekend?? Let me know man and I'll meet up with you.

[flnole78]

Quote:

how long do you think its going to take you to do this swap...seems to be going really smooth so far.

Well once all the parts come in I am hoping that I can have it done by the end of this weekend. The 1 fender took me 3 hours. So I figure about 2 hours on the 2nd fender and then about 3-4 hours to get the core support bolted in with minor mods and then a few hours to bolt up the hood, grille, and headlights. I don't have a front bumper yet so that will come later. I will be happy to have that much complete. And all that does not include any body filler or anything like that.

Quote:

its looking like its coming along great....I wonder if a Col. hood bolts directly to a 2nd gen .... Very big props for this ... and sucks about the subframe ... if you dont mind me asking ...where did you get the fenders/hood/etc... all ebay??

Thanks man. After looking a little close at my buddy Joe's 2nd gen, it looks like it may just bolt right up to the stock hinges as well. It looks like I may have to do a little modification to the ones I have to get them to work but nothing too major. I will document everything I do like I did the first fender so everyone will know pretty much step by step what I did.

Quote:

Shane, are you going to be in south florida this coming weekend?? Let me know man and I'll meet up with you.

Sean, we were throwing around the idea of helping Kenny out with his bodydrop but it's not going to happen. Had some stuff happen at work that won't allow time off and the drive is just killer. Especially since my Rado is rolling Thornbirds, a.k.a gas hogs. But the next time I head down that way I will hit you up definitely!

[Myst]

where'd you get the parts?

[xxosiris9xx]

fenders=EBAY, headlights=guy with a Rado out here by me, hood=via dealership (thanks to a member of local forums), core support=ebay i believe

[flnole78]

Quote: Originally Posted by Myst

where'd you get the parts?

Sorry man, I read that question before I started the last reply but overlooked it during the response. Dave is correct on most of his reply. I did get the Fenders from an ebay store. They work out great for this b/c they are just the outer skin with no inner support. I got the hood from a guy that works at a dealer here in Florida so I got a good price on it and it's an OEM part. The headlights were from a guy in Jax who had a listing in the classifieds on coloradofans.com. The grille was from a different guy on coloradofans.com, had it shipped. The turnsignals were also from a guy on a forum, either coloradofans.com or 355nation.net, I can't remember but both are really good resources as far as their classifieds for finding parts. The core support I got from an online store called Rock Auto. But it looks like I may have an extra one if I can get the minor dent fixed. So if you are interested, it will be modded to fit the s-10 already if I can get it to work.

[Chappy316]

glad you didnt sell it now?

this thing is gonna be bad!

[tat2dmthrfckr]

I thought you said the other night you were gonna paint it the color we were talking about?

[flnole78]

Quote: Originally Posted by tat2dmthrfckr

I thought you said the other night you were gonna paint it the color we were talking about?

I was but then I started looking at it and it wasn't light enough I don't think. I will have to see it in person. I may still be going with that color, it's at the top of the list right now.

[flnole78]

Well I got the passanger side front fender in yesterday and the new core support should be here today so hopefully I will be able to continue work on the conversion today!

[flnole78]

The new undamaged core is in. I just picked it up at Fed Ex so that it didn't risk getting damaged again. I also went to Harbor Freight and picked up some flap discs and cutt off wheels. I also picked up a cheap paint gun. That beast was on sale from $40 to $14, so I figured even if it were a piece of crap I will most likely get my $14 out of it. More progress tonight!

[genx-treme]

Quote: Originally Posted by flnole78

The new undamaged core is in. I just picked it up at Fed Ex so that it didn't risk getting damaged again. I also went to Harbor Freight and picked up some flap discs and cutt off wheels. I also picked up a cheap paint gun. That beast was on sale from $40 to $14, so I figured even if it were a piece of crap I will most likely get my $14 out of it. More progress tonight!

Sweet bro. Glad all your parts arrived in good condition this time. If ya decide that you need a better gun to use, let me know and you can borrow my primer gun and my BC/CC gun.

[kandel123]

subscribing nice thread man looks great

[Country Boy]

dude this is going to be one bad ride looks good man

[not_possible]

Quote: Originally Posted by flnole78

But it looks like I may have an extra one if I can get the minor dent fixed. So if you are interested, it will be modded to fit the s-10 already if I can get it to work.

hmm i wasn't planning on doin a front end swap on mine but let me know if u get it to work and decide to sell it

[flnole78]

Ok guys are you ready for How To: Round 2?

Well here it is. I finished up the 2nd fender. I think there may be a few more helpful hints or important cuts that I forgot to show in the first one.

Here is the first cut that is needed on the stock fender. This one is made in order to allow the Rado fender to line up enough so that you may mark the fender for the final cut:




Here it is cut and on the truck ready to mock up the Rado top:




Here is the mark on the Rado fender for the cut that needs to be made. The cut ends at 36 1/4"if you measure along the bodyline, that you are not cutting, pulling from the front of the fender:
(you can see a dent in the fender. It was delivered that way but I knew I wasn't gonna use that part)




Here's the Rado top cut out and mocked up on the stock fender:


This is a cut that I think I forgot to mention on the first fender:


Here is the stock fender ready to be attached to the Rado fender:






Rado fender is now attached!


Here's another cut I had to make on the fenders to get the core support to fit:






Let me know guys if you find this helpful, if not I won't do it anymore.