LS1 Coupe

Nice truck, unfortunately I am not into doing the S10 thing, the frame on the 50 is nice and open and will have less issues of installing the LSX into. A rearend out of a 67-70 c10 would be an almost bolt in swap as well as being a much beefier rear as most of these where 12 bolts, the S10 rear wont handle any heavy launches. The frame setup in the 50 is considerably lighter than the S10 frame, the only advantage of the S10 frame I can see is the independant frontend, the rear springs of an S10 wont handle any serious weight in the rear of the truck if it is planned on being used as a truck. My overall opinion of the swap is far more work than just swapping the rear and putting an aftermarket frontend under it other than if the orginal frame is gone under the 50. Personally I like the straight axle as well, makes it look more old skool.

JoeyGC5

iTrader: (24)

Why not just swap an 8.8 explorer rear end with discs end and handle the power all day long Nice project and keep up the updates.

1974Nova

I guess I should have stated goals for this truck. We're building it to be a reliable DD with classic looks. LS1 made sense to us reliability wise, the 6 speed will make it a nice little cruiser on the highway, and the 80s suspension and brakes should make it more drivable. We're not going with a 12 bolt or 9 inch because we won't be bolting slicks to it and launching at 4,000 rpm. It might make a few passes down the strip just for fun, but this is by no means intended as a drag truck.

As to the frame swap: So what you're saying is we should have kept the older frame, just replaced front and rear suspension? I'd like to see the numbers on it being a lighter frame as well, not sure I believe there is anything more then a negligible difference weight wise between the two frames.

You're entitled to your opinion of course. If you think the S-10 swap is such a horrible idea, build up a 47-54 on the original frame. I have a feeling we'll be pretty happy with this swap when we're through.

LSGUNSS

iTrader: (41)

Looking good. I will be watching this build. My Girlfriend has a 53 that I am going to get running again, but not really going all out.

What are you doing with the original motor and trans?

Canyonag77

Original motor/trans/frame any other leftover parts will be offered for sale, probably on Stovebolt.com. We're hanging on to them until we get the project mostly finished, in case we need to measure, re-measure, and measure again.

Pickup has a 4-speed, which is less common than the 3-speed. I believe it is the SM-420 that the Jeep guys love so much.

EDIT: And in regard to the S-10 springs being lighter than the original '53 springs, the best I can tell, the curb weights are:

1953: Front 1845, Rear 1420, total 3265, payload 1500, GVW 4765

S-10: Front 1735, Rear 1294, total 3029, payload 1171, GVW 4200

Not a huge difference, and ours is probably heavier capacity. The donor S-10 had an optional extra weight spring package. I have the option stuff with the weight ratings somewhere, just can't find it now. The PO bought it to put a service bed on, hence the bigger springs.

1974Nova

Work continues. The front half is painted, and awaiting control arms to be returned from getting bushings pressed in. Then the front suspension will reassembled. Its not perfect, but it looks about a million times better then it did.

Canyonag77

Just FYI:

Distance between AD (Advanced Design 1947-1955) pickup frame rails: 22 inches

Distance between S-10 front rails: 23 inches

1974Nova

Though I've been back at school, Dad has continued the work without me. Hopefully over spring break we'll be test fitting the Cab so we can figure out where the engine mounts are going exactly.

Back half sandblasted and primered:


Whole frame painted:


Back on 4 feet:



Body off of the 53 Frame:


The picture is crooked, the cab isn't really sitting at such a bad angle:


More progress to come, hopefully.

Bullet95z28

iTrader: (3)

Lookin good, id love to do up an older truck like yours. Im gonna keep an eye on your build, i can wait to see it complete.

1974Nova

Got an email from Dad this morning, he's working on test fitting the cab. From his email:

"The deal with the wood:most folks put the S-10 cab mounts 5" above the frame. So the wooden support is to place the cab at that level and see how things match up. When the cab mounts are at +5", the bottom of the cab is level with the top of the frame, much as a modern pickup is. But the running boards
drop a little lower than that, so it will appear closer to the ground than it looks now.

I'd like to get the cab lower,but we'll have to get the bed at the right height, too, which is the limiting factor. The S-10 frame kicks up much further at the back than the 1953 frame. So you can only go so low without hitting the bed wood on the frame. We'll work on it, and get it as low as is reasonable.

As you look through the photos, the cab looks really high in the air, but part of that is the little tiny S-10 wheels. When I park my pickup next to it, notice that I have 16" wheels, the S-10 has 14s. Also, the running boards sit about 4-5" lower than the bottom of the cab, that will make the whole thing look lower.

Also on the stance, the cab sits at about the same height as my pickup. The center of my wheels is about 2.5" higher than the center of the S-10 wheels. So good wheels will raise the old pickup. But a few thousand pounds of sheet metal and engine should lower it. It will probably end up about where it is now. The floor of the '53 cab is about 23-24" off the ground....the same as my pickup."

So it looks goofy now, but there is a method to the madness. And I agree with him, those tiny 14 inch wheels really distort proportions in the pictures.

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

Cool! Thanks for keeping the pics coming!

So, is that a blazer style gas tank? Will the s-10 tank along the frame not clear the 53 body?

I'm assuming that not only will the box not sit low due to frame kick up, but the flat floor of the cab needs to be up to clear the trans, right? If one rebuilt the floor and did not go with the factory bench, could it go lower? Or is the box height severely limited on how low it can go?

1974Nova

Thanks for the response. Yes, its a blazer style tank. We went with it because we wanted it out of the cab (stupid design) and figured a little more weight behind the rear tires couldn't hurt.

We're not sure about trans clearance yet other then preliminary measurements, but its a fairly big tunnel so we should be okay. We just havent tried to mount the engine/trans yet.

We could rebuild the floor and go lower over the frame with the bed, but we'd like to keep as much of the bed as possible so its a functional truck.

We have to figure out final placement of the cab to figure out how far back we can mount the motor, and we have to figure out the bed height before we can mount the cab. It all kind of has to come together at once, so we're just doing a lot of test fitting/thinking right now. I'll keep yall updated.

JIBBBY

I owned a 74 Nova too... Years ago... Dude, you got alot of **** going on there, your putting the "OVERHAULING" show too shame with all your rust bucket projects...

I would love to just restore and build cars for a living, it just doesn't pay enough and you need lots of work space.....

1974Nova

You have no idea. I'm not doing anything to the Nova right now so we can get this truck running by August hopefully. The Nova wasn't even a project for a while, because it was my DD. After the engine blew, I figured I'd set it aside and do things right.

Its a family hobby, which makes things easier. Over the Summer and Christmas break, it was my dad, sister and I working on it. I'm going home for my spring break to get a good week of work done on it, and my sister is doing the same thing the week after for her spring break. We're dedicated to getting this truck done.

JIBBBY

Did your Nova come stock with inline six or the 350ci V8? Your blue beast brings back fond memories of my 74 Orange Nova.. I had the original 350ci in mine...bumped it up with a big Edlebrock carb and intake manifold, blackjack headers, excell dist.. etc.. I am sure you had it too or swapped in a bigger motor... It was still a little too heavy and a little too slow for me..

1974Nova

It's a little off topic, but I can't resist a chance to show off my baby.
It was originally an inline 6 car. It had a 350 and a 4 speed when it was running. It wasn't terribly fast, but it was loud as hell (Headers, true duals and side exit exhaust will do that) and looked cool, and I was in high school. Here's some pictures:

When it was running:



Why it quit running:


And my photoshop concept of how I want it to look when I'm done with it:

72chevelle6.0

iTrader: (22)

looking good man. Why use the S10 frame I guess it fits pretty well? I have two of these trucks that will make a projects one day...

BTW your sister is going to drive this with a T56... Thats just HOT..lol sorry..

1974Nova

Yeah, they're very close dimension wise. Plus 80s suspension is better then 50s technology, and 4 wheel disks are nice.

I'll just ignore the other part of your comment...

haha

72chevelle6.0

iTrader: (22)

Cool Deal..keep up the progress..

JIBBBY

I like your photoshop concept..Perfect rims and colors for the Nova...

Get it running fast and it's a gem for sure...