I just bought a kit from A D Engineering to install my 1950 chevy 1/2 ton on a long bed s10 ch***is. Does anyone have any experience with this kit? my biggest question is what does everyone do about the narrow track width on the s10? wheel spacers? offset wheels? or does lowering the truck push the wheels out at all? i read clarks post, which is a great resource, and a lot of others like "large marge" but nothing mentions the track width problem. or is it something that isnt all that noticeable? with that said....does anyone have pics of their swaps? freinds swaps? shows? step by steps?
Do an intro, then come back to us! There are wheel spacers for the front wheels and use a wider rear axle in the rear, like a 4x4 S10 or Camaro. Do a search here on S10 and see what you find, there are TONS of posts available and lots of info. Search Kustombuilder or my name and see what you can find because there are lots of replies to this in the past. Good luck and let us know what you find out. I'm NOT using the AD engineering kit because I can do it much cheaper on my own (like Clark's tech shows) and I've seen them installed and don't much care for them. I don't plan to sit that high!
Keep an eye on the guys at Kit Car Magazine; they are building a '41 Willys truck kit on an s-10 ch***is. http://www.kitcarmag.com/projectbuild/
I looked through this site, and it was a very useful site. thats why I posted this, because I knew this is the place to get some good info. I was just curious to see what everyone was doing about the front track width, if anything, and maybe see some pics.
Check the AD Engineering web site for links. I think that's where I found the front wheel spacers. I bookmarked it at work, I'll check tomorrow.
I used an offset wheel on my 48. You can get away with just a good sized tire, like a 215/70. The purple truck just has standard wheels..15x7. They will sit under a little bit but if you get the truck really low you will be glad of this. I tore up 2 sets of front fenders when I had a Camaro clip under my truck. Clark
Have you measured the tracking on your truck or the tracking on the S10? I have a 49 Ford truck and it tracks 60" wide (measured center to center of tires). The tracking on S10 that I measured is 57" wide (measured the same way). If the tracking on your Chevy truck is similar, you're not talking about much difference to make up.
using the 4X4 rear is the way to get your wheels all the way out in the rear fenders but like Clark said, if you're going low you might want to keep them in.
you actually bought that kit??? i sure hope you don't want the truck to sit too low. their kit mounts the body up fairly high on the frame. i've looked at the kit and there are alot of ideas to be taken and used from it but as a whole i'm not impressed for the money they are asking. maybe i'm just cheap. there are several posts on here. just do some searching. there have been several in the past couple weeks alone.
in the back you will definatley want a wider rearend or the bed won't sit down between the tires like it is suppose to (it'll sit on top of the tires when you try to put it on). the front is'nt a big deal, just get the right offset wheels. you could use a spacer if you want also. i'm running a Firebird (late 70s) rear in mine and my buddy is runnin a 9" from a 72 Ford truck.
Its not going to be a problem if it sits just a little bit higher. that way i dont have to cut my floors up at all, and it wont change the depth of my bed at all. this truck has been my daily driver for about 3 years with a slightly hopped up 235 and a 3-on-the tree. since im stationed in cali right now it makes it hard to drive with the slow acceleration, brakes that ALWAYS give me problems, and a top speed of about 65-70. since it is my daily driver i wanted something that was easy to get parts for (s10, 305/700r4 combo), decent gas mileage, and plenty of power. and i use this as a truck. ive moved a few times with it, towed with it, and ive driven from portland to fairfeild with it (600 miles one way). and i read clarks tech a few times, and he said his freinds truck was mounted off of the frame enough to the point where he didnt have to cut the floor for a ****** tunnel. and that truck looks like it lays on the ground. i dont think i will have a problem lowering it if i want to go that route, but we will see.
How far off the frame is the kit? The highest I've mounted one is 5" off the frame. That's mikey's truck and it sits low with spindles and bags. His tires may be a little shorter too. Clark
http://www.ad-engineering.com/photogallery.html If you go to the AD Engineering site you can see the kit installed. My kit is at my parents house in Oregon right now or else i would measure it. It doesnt look like it mounts it all that high off of the frame. and when he has the body installed in those pics its sitting at ride height with only dropped spindles lowering it. How much of a drop do you get with the bag set up? did you use a kit for the bags? or have you made a tech about bags yet? haha
you've got different options with bags. you can make the frame lay on the ground if you want to do the neccesary work and buy the right parts (like dropped spindles). there are some tech threads on bags on here but a better source would be one of the millions of minitruck sites out there. i am personaly a dealer for Airlift and they sell a great kit for the S10 that will lay you out on the ground. check out www.airliftcompany.com and let me know if you want the HAMBer hookup on a kit. i can't tell you the price off the top of my head but prolly in the 2k neighborhood. it's good stuff though with complete instructions that take the guess work out of it. ofcourse there are other companies that sell S10 air ride kits but i'm not a dealer for any of them . if you look at the AD Engineering site real close at the profile shot of the truck you can see the S10 frame hanging a few inches below the running boards. it's probably not a HUGE difference from what i've done or most of Clark's swaps but it's enough to turn me off. but then i like em LOOOOOW!!
I have heard of people using spacers but mostly from what I read it sounds like the 4x4 early s10 blazers are the rear ends to use. I think they are 4 or 5" wider. I wish I knew the hub to hub measurment of those but I do not. good luck and let me know how that kit works out!
I'm looking at following Clark's post about the 4"x4" height (3 3/4"). Haven't decided about reusing the rear cab shackles but they are an option that looks viable. My floor is air so I can lower it without cutting! I'll just build around the trans when I'm done. I've got a rotted '70 C10 out back with a nice firewall recess that may become the trans hump. 51GMC has the kit but he said it was too high and they cut 2" or so out of it. He also didn't use the radiator mount or all of the running board mounts. He doesn't post much but you could PM him.
Wow I couldnt imagine cutting up my kit and then choosing to not use some of it. The only reason i bought the kit was because it makes this swap so easy. I like that idea of using the firewaill recess as a trans tunnel, i might have to look into that for another one of my trucks.
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