Ok long story shot I need something cheap on gas and has to take me to work every day( 120 miles round trip) is there anything I can use becides a s10 frame and running gear? I'm wanting a 47-53 chevy truck but since I don't have the s10 I figured I would see if there is anything else I could use while I'm looking.....seems like long bed s10's are getting harder to find lol
Yea how about the stock frame and just put a mustang II in front and a crate motor? Or a mild six and 5 speed combo? I you dont need a truck and gas mileage matters a falcon or similar small car would would better. Or a ranchero like tuck!
Yep that's a pretty damn good frame in it's own right. people swap to the S-10 frame because it is cheap and easy. I should say used to be cheap as the asking price for worn out S-10's around here has gone through the roof. What used to be drag it off for 100 bucks is now 5 or 6 hundred asking price for a battered dead truck that needs a complete front end rebuild around here locally if you can find one.
I wanted to do it quick an easy and figured a frame swap would be the cheapest and quickest way of going about it. I had he idea of getting my plymouth running and using it as a dd..........3 years later its still in pices.......but waaaaay cooler lol
...And fabricate or buy body mounts, and core support, and snake the steering, and figure out a radiator, and correct the wheelbase, and shim the front sheet metal until it comes close to fitting, and set up and mount the brake pedal, and mount a steering column, and a million of other mayriad things that need to be done. Why does everyone think of body swaps as the easy way out?
it's never that easy. It works on 47/54 Chevy trucks because it is fairly easy to build a set of body mounts and you can raise the truck bed floor a few inches to clear the kick in the frame but you would probably end up spending several months trying to cobble that setup together.
Haha ya I do....I have done a bunch of looking around and it looks like I could bust this out faster that a full build.......is that better? .....
Man are you living in a Fantacy World. Probably why your Plym is a 3 year project and not done. If you want cheep and quick buy a complete truck not running and drop a F.I. small block and a 700-R-4 in it. Use any 10 bolt rear end and leave the rest alone and just drive it. Can't get any cheeper or easier than that. The Wizzard
Wow you guys took "just drop the body on" the wrong way.....and my plymouth isn't done because I keep adding to it......the plan was to just get it running and now its going to end up being a full custom...I know what it takes to get the body on the s10 frame, I know its not 4 bolts and I'm done....like I said I need something that I can put damn need 1,000 miles on a week at 80mph with good gas milage, disc brakes, ect and I figured the Best way to do it was a swap.
Still isn't a body swap. Look to the left at my avatar... Everything that you just described as needing is done by that car for the last twenty years or so. It also can go a hell of allot faster than that and turn back about 19mpg doing it. For a '47-'54 Chevy truck, I would do a MustangII or Pinto front end, a V6 or better a straight six, a five speed or overdrive auto, and an S10 4X4 rear axle. No power steering (use the stock steering wheel), anybody's brake pedal kit. Easy, simple, CHEAP, and with the help of a couple of friends something I have done in years past in a couple of months of free time.
I didn't mean to hammer on ya, but I've been down that road before. The build I described goes quick, and takes very little money to do, and if the truck is clean enough not to need any major resto won't require complete dissassembly to do. Now, truth be told, if a client dropped an ultra clean A.D. body on my doorstep with no trace of a frame under it, and IF I couldn't for some reason find a decent frame to start with, I might then look at a S-10 situation. But I would warn my client up fron that more time will be spent on making the "little" things work than would be other wise. I have only seen it done well on a couple of occasions (Check out threads by "Tyler Durbin" here on the H.A.M.B.) but it was tons of work.
There are plenty that are finished for sale...All shapes and sizes. I bought the one I'm driving as a finished truck. I have 4 years invested in the current build that I thought I would finish much quicker.
Just buy the s10 and wear sunglasses so your friends don't recognize you, or tint the windows. Body swaps seem good on paper, but can easily turn into a 1-2-3 year project.
Hell straight 6 out of a 80s with a 5 speed behind it in the stock frame for now. You can always get a mustang 2 in parts and pieces and have that as a project later down the road. Thats what i want to do if i ever find a decent priced one to make it a good daily driver.
Have you looked into Jag? There is plenty of info on here and they're good and plenty. http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/cto/2959929644.html Thats a Big brake R&P IFS, and a Dana 44 IRS that would ride like a lux-o-sedan. Not to mention drive and stop like a sports car. Got to be a shit load of other cool odds and ends on the carcass.
Cool Daily driver: 60-63 Ford Falcon, with the 170-6. 32MPG, and you can hold your head high. Takes most Mustang stuff for parts too (give-or-take V8 vs. L6 suspension differences).
Not the frame. You'd remove the suspension from the front and rear of the Jag, and mount them on the pickup frame.
Graft a Toyota Hilux front end onto the stock frame, while you're at it use a hilux rear end [ 8-1/2" crown wheel & 31 spline axles ] That way your brakes a proportional to each other. For economy Use a Toyota Hilux Diesel and trans. These trucks "pulled like a schoolboy" and weighed over 1800kg [ 2wd ] Your truck would weigh less than that, so it would perform OK and be cheap on fuel
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