The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop Anybody use entire s-10 drive train?

I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to use in my 41 chevy. I've considered using the entire drive train along with the frame from an s-10. I was looking for a good running 4.3 v-6 and just use the entire drive train, Might have to get a rearend out of a 4x4. Has anyone done this with either the auto or manual trans? Dave

the T5 from S-10's is popular. A few folks are even using the 3550 from behind the 4.3. Nothing wrong with the 4.3 either.

I myself am using a complete chassis, wiring harness, Transmission, tilt column from an S-10 on Frankentruk.

I known in an AD with a frame swap, the motor has to move back 4" Not sure how it will be in a 41

If I were you, I'd get the S-10 loaner, strip the body off, and just start fabricating body mounts, starting with the cab. You'll need to fabricate a transmission tunnel in the '41 cab, so might be a good idea to cut out the S-10's floor pan and reuse that with your '41 cab.

That's what I plan on doing if I ever actually get my Dad's Sonoma that he keeps telling me about. Then I'll be looking for a dead half-ton AD to use the body panels. I won't be keeping "Captain Anemic" though, (the 4.3 liter V6). Biggest boat anchor I've ever seen. And DIFFICULT to work on!!!

Instead, I'll be building myself a nice little 327 and sticking my tuned port injection on it that I kept when I got rid of my old IROC-Z. Not enough torque to blow up the tranny probably, but a lot better engine than that 4.3 liter.

Is the 4.3 REALLY that bad? Am I headed the wrong way, I don't want a super hot rod just a good driver. I have NO experience with the 4.3. I was leaning toward using the EZ chassis swap kit for my first time at this. Dave

There was one at the Unfinished Nationals a few weeks ago.

This is a picture under the hood with a 4.3 in place.

More pictures of that truck and other things I saw at the show are here. These pictures are not for the bandwidth challenged.

Looks like they didn't move it back any toward the firewall.Are there any pics of the entire truck? Dave

the 4.3 is a 5.7 missing two cylinders. I myself built a 300hp version for a friends Blazer (although it was a bit tempermental). GM has 400hp versions that they ran on the Salt Flats.

They respond just like any SBC with the same bolt-ons. They just make 3/4 of the power.

I myself like the engine over the 60 degree V6's. The 96 and newer with the Vortec heads were rated at 190hp which is plenty for a truck

There is a link in my post to more pictures.

good pics I didn't look at all the photos, found a few with the v-6 but not any with the entire truck. Dave

http://www.ad-engineering.com/ a few S10 trucks here.

Its in there. Start with 100_6124 and they are all that truck up until you see the rear and suspension of the truck parked next to it.

The photos were just dumped there, not sized for Internet, and my server isn't real fast, so I understand not looking at every one.

This morning, sitting at home where that server is local to me they are easy to browse.

I have had 2 Chevy 4.3s. Both in 1500 1/2T pickups. One a 96 5 speed the other an 06 automatic. The 96 I sold to my son and it has 180K on it with minimal maintenance and is still going. The 06 only has 52K on it and I have had the hood open only once and that was to check the oil. IMHO this is probably one of the best engines for an AD swap. Not a Godzilla engine but plenty of snap for an AD truck and the dependability factor is great. I would go with it.

Weeds

I went to a garage sale today and they had a 78 el camino there and said it had a rebuilt engine and transmission (auto). I know it was a v-8,don't know which one. Would this possible be a good donor for the 41, could I possibly use the independent front suspension and the rearend? Dave

The track width on that el camino is 58" with a wheel base of 116" (sharing the same wheel base as the Malibu Wagon. That is one of the G-body GM metric chassis (two wheel bases, the shorter being 108"). The frame perimeter is wide, about 54", riding along the rocker panels in the el-camino, so it would sit outside of your cab. Remember, the El-camino was a car that wanted to be a truck, not the other way around.

Here is a pic of the stock GM metric frame (108" wheel base shown) http://www.thedirtforum.com/Metricframe.jpg

You could use parts of it, however would spend more time than making a new frame from scratch.

The engine is most likely a 305 as they were one of the 4 available engines (Buick 231, Chevrolet 229, 150hp 305 and 165hp 305)

Since the 700R4 and 200R4 were not introduced until 81, you most likely have a TH350 in it

Hope this helps

Yes that helps, I was thinking more along the lines of using just the front end and the drive train not the entire frame, I REALLY don't know what I'm going to do with this truck, I may just go ahead and do all of the body work and see if I can sort this out as I go. Dave

how bad is the frame that your looking to replace it? If the frame is in good shape, I myself would most likely do a drop axle with a disc brake conversion prior to swapping to IFS. Its retro, cool, and straight forward - plus it fits

I went the IFS route because I got my truck as a pile of parts with the stock drivetrain and suspension removed. Then I took it to the point of making a IFS kit that I can sell.

If your set on IFS for your truck, a purchased cross member for the existing frame is the easiest, followed by building a new frame from scratch (that has the same body mounts as the stock frame), followed by using a different frame and getting it to fit.

Not sure what your choices are for parts vehicles in Alaska. I know that down here, a late model engine from the LQK u-pull-it yards is about $200, a trans is about the same. If your looking to go low$ on driveline, a 96 or later vortec V6 or V8 is a good engine, either keep it EFI or convert them to carb.

I really haven't taken the time to see if the frame is good or bad, my guess is that it is fine, the rest of the truck is in pretty good shape. My first thoughts were to stay original, then the cracked block came into the picture so I looked farther and saw that everything is very worn so I thought the S-10 swap would be in order to make it more modern and safer to drive.
Scott, what is the deal with 96 or later, computer issues? Dave

starting in 96, GM came out with the Vortec cylinder heads which on the V8 are good for an extra 40hp. The V6's went from 165 to 190hp. They are the best iron heads to ever come out of GM. They are better than the famed "double hump" or any earlier head in a street application.

Prior to trying to figure out the chassis, I would undeck the body, and fully asses what you have. Even a newer S-10 will require bushings and balljoints so keep that in mind. If you only need kingpins and tie-rod ends, then my recommendation would be to keep the stock chassis and suspension with a refresh vs a frame/chassis swap. I would invest in a disc brake setup though.

I like your thoughts, that is probably what I will do, as soon as the weather starts getting bad here it will drive me to work inside and that's when I'll really start tearing the truck down. Until then I have outside things I can do. Dave

Scott has made some excellent points. You are dealing with a 50 year old truck. Pull body off and put on S-10 frame and deal with multiple custom modifications.

There are alot of kits out there that have already done the engineering and offer disc brake, engine swap, tranny swap mods for your truck. Brothers truck is offering a SBC and tranny crossmember kit for $99 right now.

The Vortec heads that Scott talks about are indeed awesome heads. Unless you are shaving 10ths off at the strip you do not need Alum heads unless bragging rights. You can also run these on a carbed motor. If you are going to upgrade the cam in a 350/383, you will need to watch you amount of lift. If you go above a .450 lift in your cam you will need to upgrade the valve springs. Be aware though these heads will also upgrade your compression, so premium gas will be warranted

In todays market to upgrade to a 383 stroker is not that much more $$. A 383 stroker combined with Vortecs, pistons get you to 9.75:1 compression, and an Isky 270 cam will make you smile.

The newer VORTEC engines may be more tempermental than you think. Remember, that's a cast iron block, and can come with aluminum heads and/or intake. These metals have 2 different rates of expansion when heated or over-heated. My 2000 CK3500 with just 176k miles+ has the 7.4L Vortec, and has had its intake gaskets replaced twice already withing 20k miles.

The factory vortec heads are iron. Intake problems aside as the intake was plastic and aluminum on the 5.7 and 7.4