The Mouse

[Pk31690]

Well guys, I've been around on the different s10 forums for a few years but never really posted much. Now I've decided to do a project thread.

I started on this 95 Sonoma that I got for free from my dad's truck fleet. It had 150k miles on it and a 4 cylinder but the body was still good. I had no idea how to work on cars and I was 15 (this was around 2006). I have been slowly piecing it together since then and only i the last couple of years have I been making enough to buy parts.

Anyway here's the pictures up til now, I'm planning on having it finished up and painted by July.

It is a 95 Sonoma standard cab short bed
98 s10 front end
installed a fuel cell in the bed
fully built 400hp 350
TH350 with 2500rpm stall converter and reverse manual valve body
b&m ratchet shifter
racing bucket seats
Belltech lowering springs, spindles, blocks, and shocks
03 blazer rear end with 3.73 gears, zexel torsen posi, and trick flow differential girdle
Holley racing fuel pump
IROC camaro rims
dual 2.5" exhaust with thrush welded mufflers

Right now I am tearing it back down to the frame to have the frame blasted and powder coated and then all new moog steering components and energy suspension bushings all around. Rear will be rebuilt with moser alloy axles, blazer rear disc brakes, welded axle tubes, and slid-a-link bars. Front brakes are getting ssbc brake calipers and slotted discs.All new brake lines will also be installed.

Anyway that's enough for now. I just wanted to let you know what I'm doing and where I'm headed

more to come.

Here's the first pictures I have of the truck. It was around the time I had tore everything out of it and started sanding on the chassis.

[Pk31690]

Here's the engine that went in,
350 w/ 4 bolt mains 1 piece rear main seal
Lt1 Rods, Eagle forged crank
World Products Sportsman II heads
1.55 exhaust 2.02 intake w/ triple valve springs
Harland Sharp 1.5 Roller Rockers
Double Roller Timing Chain
Comp Cams Extreme Energy 286/292 Roller Cam
Moroso Oil Pan
Edelbrock Performer RPM dual-plane intake
1" carb spacer
4150 750cfm Holley 4 barrel with vacuum secondaries and electric choke
Pertronix HEI distributor and 45k volt coil
Patriot Headers

[Pk31690]

Here's the new suspension parts going in

[Pk31690]

Here's the wheels off the camaro and onto the s10

[Pk31690]

Here's the TH350 getting some new paint and a manual valve body

[Pk31690]

Here's the engine going in and the exhaust

[556mm]

Good lookin project. I have a question though, if you were 15 around 2006 how are you 29 now?

[Pk31690]

Here is the fuel system and some interior pics

[Pk31690]

Quote: Originally Posted by 556mm

Good lookin project. I have a question though, if you were 15 around 2006 how are you 29 now?

hmm you are right... I'm only 20

Wonder why my account says that
When I go to edit my account all it shows is a white screen.

[Pk31690]

Here's as it sits right now, gettin ready to start working on it again.





Sorry for all the pics I've just got a few years worth of them so its hard to pick out highlights

Anyways Ill have more soon

[mostizzle]

looks like it's going to kick some ass.

[Pk31690]

Alright, I've been working hard for the last couple weeks parts chasing and deciding how I'm going to finish this up.

I've got the truck stripped completely down. So far I've gotten alot of wiring done as well as the fuel door on the bed smoothed out, I'll get some pics up here in a bit.

I'll be getting a few boxes of things from summit, jegs, and lmc today a tomorrow.

Ill be tubbing the bed, putting a roll pan on, and under coating it. from there it'll be off to storage while I get the suspension and power train worked out.

In the mail is a full Moog steering linkage, Hotchkis tie rod adjuster sleeves, zq8 steering box, belltech front and rear sway bars, poly body bushings, poly sway bar end links and bushings, and flaming river ujoint for the steering shaft.

Other odds and ends coming are a casper electronics gm weather pack kit, various relay kits, new holley blue fuel pump and regulator, fram fuel filters, full engine gasket kit, stainless engine fasteners and exhaust hardware, and a jegs regulator to carb mounting kit with hardlines.


I've decided on a Moser ford 9" with 31 spline axles and a detroit truetrac 3rd member... but I've read as much as I can get my hands on and I just can't decide what suspension to go with.

So far my father-in-law has been pushing my towards a triangulated 4-link mainly because he has a chevelle and that's what he knows how to setup. But I'm leaning towards a 3-link wishbone with a watt's link. What do you guys think?

Just for reference I am pro-touring this truck with the occasional trip to the strip. It will have coilovers on all 4 corners. Also as you can see the battery and fuel tank are relocated to the rear so I have plenty of room ahead of the rear end to do with as I please.

wow... this thing is turning into a book.

Cya
-Pete

[Pk31690]

Alright guys sorry I started this thread and then never updated it, had a busy last year. Ill be posting updates here on out. Im at the home stretch now to finish this

[Pk31690]

Ok first update (and what got me a little sidetracked over the summer) My fiance decided we needed a wedding present last June. So she went out and got my dream car

[Pk31690]

Then after that I married her on July 30th

[Pk31690]

And one last one

we are expecting our first child at the end of August.

[Pk31690]

now onto the real biz... Since we bought the vette i threw out my plans for the coilovers, z06 brakes, 9", and 3 link. I just decided to put the s10 back together and cruise it. Ill try to comment on the pics as I post them over the next few days.

[S10dude]

congrats..........

[Pk31690]

so last spring, the rear end was leaking so I pulled it apart and cleaned it, jb welded the spot welds on the pumpkin, they were porous so it was letting oil through. so cleaned it painted it stuck it back in and added a zq8 rear sway bar.

[Pk31690]

Christmas in june got the tubs so I could start working on the bed

[Pk31690]

here i shaved the fuel door, it was my first time really welding sheet metal. unfortunately I didn't ask for help til I had warped the metal around the patch, so I had lots of fun pulling all that back out straight again

[Pk31690]

I got to work pulling out the old wheel wells and deciding how much tub I wanted, Also cut a put a spot in for the sump on the fuel cell. Got the new roll pan from lmc as well, fits like a glove

[Pk31690]

My wife got me a Hobart handler 190 for christmas... it also came with a spool gun to weld aluminum. And when my father-in-law moved out of the garage the moving people wouldn't take hazardous materials so I got a fresh 80lb tank of argon/co2 mix. SCORE!







Got this as well with my bonus!! It's soo much nicer than an abrasive saw, it slices through tubing like butter.



a few other odds and ends. If anyone doesn't have a pair of eastwood brake tubing forming pliers and is planning on doing new brake line I would totally recommend it. They are so handy and you dont need 4 inches of line free to do a bend.

[Pk31690]

I built some work benches back in december I am really proud of the way they turned out. The whole thing ways about 600lbs and it only cost me $181 dollars in materials (granted took a couple weekends to do). Oh and those drawers, snagged them out of the neighbors trash only needed new sliders.

[Pk31690]

apparently I stared at the frame for too long I decided it didn't look good and needed to be repainted.

Here's how it looked after just pulling the body off.

[Pk31690]

here I scraped the frame clean, used some cheapo rustoleum self etching primer and semi gloss epoxy. I guess we'll see if i should have gone with por-15 or not. but hey it only cost me 30 bucks to do the whole thing.

[Pk31690]

For some weird reason i decided to paint the frame before i stripped down the front control arms and everything, so I had to go back and do that...







In the mean time i replaced the uca's with global west's and new factory lowers. went with a bell tech front sway bar, lower springs, lower spindles, shocks, moog steering assy, zq8 box, and some cheapo summit rotors just cause. still the factory brakes tho. also got the russel stainless brake lines for the calipers and the rear end

[Pk31690]

I forgot to mention one thing that helps adhesion IMMENSELY is to spray the frame down with some rust converter, i think the stuff i got was from advance auto and was in a purple bottle. just soak the frame with the stuff in a spray bottle and then let it dry. it converts the rust then leaves a sticky residue that paint will adhere to.

[Pk31690]

on from the frame I re-gasket-ed the entire engine because of a couple leaks. new plugs, wires, front timing cover, and valve covers. Also finally got around to changing out the power valves to a lower rating. they were too high so the engine was running rich. repainted the headers as well hopefully this stuff lasts a little longer than the cheapo black paint the came on them....

oh and I also got sick of the bolt heads rusting on my new aluminum. So I replaced all the bolts with stainless ARP bolts.

I got a +2 quart TCI cast aluminum pan for the TH350 too. Couldn't make the chrome stop leaking. go figure

[Pk31690]

After we finished that up I moved back to the frame to run all new brake lines, as well as move the fuel pump/filter and lines back to the factory position (I had originally mounted them on the exterior passenger frame rail) Well long story short I found the start was arcing onto the stainless braiding on the fuel line. not good. so that's how I got back to here.





On the exhaust I had originally gone dual thrush welded mufflers with turn downs, no tail pipes. The tubing is 2.5" and it sounded good...just a little bit poppy, so I added a 2" h-pipe to hopefully smooth it out a bit.
Also, has anyone used glass packs as resonators? I had a couple dynomax 3" bullets laying around so I bought some 2.5"-3" reducers and welded them to the bullets then stuck them in the mufflers. I'm going to try it with and without just to see how it sounds, maybe quiet it down a bit, cuz this thing is suprisingly LOUD.





FINALLY the completed power train as it will stay at least until the next round.

[Pk31690]

Went and picked up some wire separators today and installed the 8.5mm wires from msd. I'm loving how clean this engine is shaping up to be!

[Pk31690]

Here's almost current. Saturday I spent a lot of time scraping and sanding all the rust out of the floor pan. I figured I might as well since it is stripped down and off the truck. I cut out the reinforcement plates for the original bench seat mounts since I will be using new plates. I had to patch those holes as well a substantial pocket of rust under the drivers feet. I got all the cleaned up and painted it with some rust sealing paint like what eastwood sells. I also did the inside floor pan tonight but the camera is in the garage and I dont feel like going an getting it. you can get those pics tomorrow. anyhow...here you go

[oh so slow]

Dang man. You have had a busy year. Congrats on the car, wife and kid! Truck looks like it'll be sick.

[90blueS10]

Going to be a fun truck for sure.

[Pk31690]

Thanks guys, my summer was pretty much shot but by september everything had slowed down. It was nice not having to do anything on the weekends after the wedding for awhile. I'm planning on this year being a little more relaxing.

I'm loving getting out to the garage on a daily basis now-a-days. I just can't wait til this thing is on the road. My wife told me she wanted to hit up some stops this year before she has the baby. Good guys columbus, NHRA Top Fuel races in Brainerd (her parents live very near there), and maybe a super chevy show.

so what do you guys think for color of paint... Im feeling some gm storm gray metallic with satin black racing stripes