[Stinkin V8]

Well, the heart is S-10 , anyway... Got a '89 S-10 4.3L 4WD, ABS, digital dash, loaded. Pulled the body off and dropped a '52 Suburban body onto it. There's some minor issues with the height in the rear, but I can solve that with the front torsion bars (they're all the way down right now) and axle lowering blocks. I don't mind a little rake in the stance but right now I've got 8 inches!

Next is tweaking the position of the new (old) cab, welding some body mounts to the frame, bolting it down and then bring all the electrical, steering and brakes over to their new home. Then it's time to spend money.. Glass, new rad, etc..

Not shown in the pic is the American Racing "Smoothie" rims I got today.

Sometimes I feel like a mad scientist...:evilg:

 

[mrt_s-10]

holy man u got yourself a big project there
keep us updated, looks like its going to be cool when all said and done

 

[Stinkin V8]

I figured I'd post it here, Southern is doing something similar so I thought he might get a kick out of it. I'll keep you updated.

 

[Southern]

I figured I'd post it here, Southern is doing something similar so I thought he might get a kick out of it. I'll keep you updated.

8in rake?? Damn!

Pics look good! Is the cab just sitting on there or have you moved the mounts over to the new frame?

 

[Stinkin V8]

Yep.. 8 inches. I didn't take this into account, the front mount of the S-10 is only 5 inches lower than the Burb's and at the rear axle center, it's the same height on both. once you measure all the way to the back of the cab, though it's 8 inches. Looks kinda cool, but I can't drive it like that without 20 inch wheels on it.

The cab's just sitting there right now, actually with 4x4 wood blocks between it and the frame. It's still reasonably low in the front, 10-12 inches.

You might not run into the problem with a pickup.. Next time you're playing with your project, check if there's a difference in height between the cab floor and the box floor. The higher the box sits, the better. The Suburban floor is flat from front to back so that's why I've got the 8 inch rake. I'm interested to know if the pickups are like this...

Oh, and there's a 6-8 inch gap between the firewall and the engine.. The V6 will fit in there, but a V8 would have to be moved back 4-5 inches at least. And then you're shortening/lengthening driveshafts and tranny crossmembers. Tranny may not clear the torsion bar crossmember without a little "massaging" with a BF hammer.

 

[Southern]

I haven't gotten a change to look at my truck, but I think the bed sits at the same level as the cab.

Have you managed to lower the rear or are you gonna have to do some metal work to the floor of the burb?

 

[Stinkin V8]

Well, the floor in the 'Burbs is only plywood so I'm just going to lift it about 2 inches. I got about 8 inches off the back end by notching the rear frame. No big deal there, since I have to build a wider sub-frame in the rear for the original bumper to mount to. Right now I'm figuring out how I'm gonna get the front fenders to sit on the new frame. Looks like I won't be using the original inner fenders, that's for sure.

 

[Southern]

Yeah....I was thinking the same thing about the inner fenders.

Of course, mine would be a for a different reason. I'm thinking of squeezing a big block in there.

 

[Stinkin V8]

A big block! That would rock! There should be plenty of room lengthwise and modifying the inner fenders would make it work. Of course, height wouldn't be an issue, either - those AD hoods sit pretty tall. Even with my body sitting right on the frame, there's 6" of under hood clearance on the 4.3 that's in there.

I've got some pics from a guy who's doing this swap on a panel truck. He's keeping the stock ride height so he's got 5" spacers on the front body mounts. The interesting thing is his engine placement... He's mounted the front of the block on the front crossmember, like the old early SBC used to mount, says he's still got lots of room between the block and firewall. Pretty cool, and I'll bet he's gonna have tons of room for cooling equipment. You'd have to build a new tranny mount, but that shouldn't be a big issue.

 

[Flamed 98]

My dad is doing the same thing...kinda. He is putting a 48 Ford on an S10 frame.