Howdy all!
I've mentioned in various posts that I am attempting the famous S-10 frame under an AD body swap. Since then, I have been deluged with inquiries (okay, two people) asking about my experience.
With the moderators' indulgence, I am beginning this thread, and plan to add to it as time passes, hopefully updating with lots of progress.
It all began innocently enough, with my teenage son wanting a hot rod project. That developed into this
pretty decent 1974 Nova. .
Two years later, my daughter hits driving age, and she wants an "old pickup". After a brief search we bring home
this 1953 Advanced Design project. So at this point, I'm finding out how woefully ignorant I am. I don't know about the torque tube, I don't know about IFS options, I don't know about engine swaps....
So I spend hours and hours online, many of them here on
http://www.stovebolt.com/ . Through my research, I begin to settle on the idea of the S-10 frame swap.
My reasoning includes several considerations. My project is not rare, and is awfully far downhill for a restoration. I don't plan to chop or otherwise mess with the appearance, but I certainly want my daughter to have modern handling and brakes, and a relatively modern engine.
To accomplish this, it appears I need to consider a rear axle and IFS swap. But if I'm going that far, why not go the S-10 route?
As an added benefit, I will eventually have an intact 1953 frame, engine, trans and rear end available for another 'Bolter to use in their project (start getting your bids in now!)
On a side note, about this time I saw a 1947 Studebaker pickup grafted onto an S-10 frame by a skilled hot rodder from Albuquerque. I don't have a photo of that pickup, but he also built
this 1938 Buick "Taxi". So the search begins for yet another vehicle to clutter the yard. It ends in my own hometown with this
1985 GMC S-15 donor vehicle. Poor thing, it doesn't know what's in store for it.
It is a conventional cab, long bed, 2 wheel drive. As an added benefit, the previous owner bought it to use as a service truck. So it has extra heavy rear springs, listed as a "1625 pound payload option".
As most of you probably know, the regular cab, long bed S-10s are within an inch of being the same wheelbase as the AD pickups, with similar front track widths.
Now the fun part starts, ripping into the donor vehicle. I was actually pretty careful with this, as I have no idea what will go to the junkyard, and what will become part of the new S-10/AD hybrid. Here we see me lifting the cab from the frame, using
an OSHA approved lift system. 
Okay, it wasn't the safest way, but I didn't get near it or under it. I promise I'll be more careful with the AD cab.
This past Saturday, I got the final major piece removed, as the
2.8 V-6 and transmission depart. But I haven't been completely idle waiting for the tractor...I've been searching for a rear axle to swap underneath.
If you aren't as deep into your research as I am, I have found, and my measurements confirm, that the S-10 two-wheel drive rear axle is too narrow to fit underneath the AD bed. But the 4WD rear axle is identical in every way to the 2WD...except it is about 4" wider.
So I begin my search for a rear axle from a 4WD S-10 or S-10 Blazer. But I don't want just any axle...I want one from a 1998 or newer S-10 Blazer...the year they switched to rear disk brakes.
This was a major
OUCH for the project. I'm thinking this is a $100 item. The wrecking yards are thinking it is a $1000 item. The best price I find is $450 in Lawton, Oklahoma, and $550 in nearby Amarillo. I decide I can't drive to Lawton for $100, so I go with local.
For my $550 plus tax, I get
this lovely hunk o\'junk. Complete rear end, sway bar, disk brake calipers and rotors.
But what's this? The 2000 S-10 Blazer rear has
these odd little round indentations above the leaf spring, while my original 1985
S-10 rear end has none! A mystery....but for my next post. It is time to sign off for the evening.
