New shop truck (kinda)

[Z06killinSBF]

Its a 97 S10 step side with a 2.2l 4 banger 5 speed. Got it for the price of Free.99. The paint and body is fairly rough, it needs a new pass. side fender and someone tagged the rear bumper so it is crooked as well. It is 100% stock with the exception of the wheels and some stereo work. The PO cut the foam on the driver seat bottom so new seats are in order and the carpet must have had bleach spilled on it at one time. I have a 3" fr 4" rear drop coming in from suicidedoors.com and should be in Tuesday. As of right now my plans is to give it a 60's shop truck look and may find someone to make me some door banners. I also have a Magnaflow muffler I've had lying around that I'm going to have welded in and cant decide over rear side exit or in front of the pass tire. So here is my new money pit.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2010/10/IMG_0235-1.jpg

[Mach Par]

I like s10s.


On a side note: Being a DirecTV installer I have a huge pet peeve about leaving up old dishes(Dish Network) on the house after installing a new system.

[dropit69]

nice ..how does one get stuff for free like that only thing i get free is like a taco at the local taco bell..lol..thall make a cool shop truck..

[Z06killinSBF]

Mach, next photo I will PS those out, sorry. =)

Drop, I got this from my in-laws because it was their 3rd car and they just moved into a downtown apartment. Me needing a reliable beater to drive, they just gave it too me since they won't get anything if they sold it.

[Z06killinSBF]

Here is a little before and after of a speaker install I did. The original speakers were blown and it looked like someone went after the grills with a screw driver. Not much but still.

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The speakers I used...

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[bonecrrusher]

I want an s10 extreme extended cab with a side step... lol.

[ArtosDracon]

Welcome to the land of S10s! We've got a pretty big community, and we're slowly dragging people into making them handle too. I'll be happy to throw part numbers your way if you decide to make it go around corners too.

[Z06killinSBF]

The drop kit is on. My dad and I tag teamed it and was done in 2-1/2 hours the other night. This is a shot at work yesterday after we got it done. I will snap a few better ones later. Headed to the wrecking yard to find some 2wd Blazer sway bars and maybe some seats.

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[Z06killinSBF]

Big sway bar from S-10 Balzer. - $20 also the guy threw in some sun visors and a new dome light lens. The truck handles SO much better now. I just need to find a rear bar and get better shocks. The Blazer I pulled the sway bar off had nearly new Bilstien shocks on it!!!

Stock swaybar on bottom.

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[ArtosDracon]

Make sure when you get the rear to get one off of either a truck or a 4 door blazer, the 2-doors had a different bar that faced forward instead of to the rear.

[Z06killinSBF]

Good to know, thanks!!

[Z06killinSBF]

Not much but I just got back home from Charleston, SC yesterday and took the truck to get tinted today. 5 in the back and 35 up front. Darkest LEGAL for Texas. I get to enjoy it for a few days until I leave Sunday for Fayetteville, NC. I think next project will be Cavalier seats or painting of the wheels. What color should I go? Black? Charcoal? Bright Silver? or other?

[ArtosDracon]

Before you jump on the Cavalier seats, check out Cobalt seats. They're a tiny bit harder to mount, but they have A LOT more bolstering and are quite comfortable. The pasenger seat is pretty plane jane, but the driver seat is height, lumbar, back angle and slide adjustable. I've found sets here for about $200.

For the suspension, the ZQ8 front and rear bars, which also came one the 4-door blazers, are as good as any aftermarket bar that I've found, and are cheap. The ZQ8 bilsteins are the best shocks you can put on them without going adjustable. The rear is going to depend on how you dropped it. If you did it with blocks on stock springs then the standard truck bilsteins are good, if you did 3" drop springs you have to go with different shocks. I've heard good things about the Koni Monomax on them. A ZQ8 steering box or one out of an 85-93 Montecarlo SS are the best IMHO. The thirg gen camaro boxes are ok, but they have slightly too low of effort and feel, and the stops are really tight, like 15% too tight. For bushings, unless you live in a consistant and cool climate, I wouldn't go with poly busihngs, and definitely not the red ones. For a street truck I would just get good stock replacement rubber. Swaybar bushings I would get the special plastic ones from Autozone, the blue ones, I can't remember the names, but they're great. And if you get the ones with the brackets, the bushing is smaller and more solid so it'll be a bit stiffer. For endlinks, pull up McMaster Carr and get four female inline booted ball joints, 3/8" or 10mm, and a threaded rod to match. The stock style end links have a tendancy to bend and distort and generally go horribly wrong.

I'm working on the maths for a fully adjustable tie rod linkage to completley and properly eliminate bumpsteer, but they're probably not going to be very cheap and they're not 100% yet.

[Z06killinSBF]

Awesome info. I knew about all the ZQ8 stuff, but how do I identify it? Do they have a special part# associated with anything? cool on the Cobalt seats. The JY had a 350Z with black leather fully adj but had some weathering and tears in them. A seat that also looks good are the Tyburan (sp) seats. Im not sure how well those mount up but. I also have considered making fully adj endlinks for the bars. It would be cool to check out how you do yours too.

[Z06killinSBF]

Does anyone out there run a Panhard bar on their leaf spring set ups? I saw where Meir Racing has some on the early leaf srung Mustangs. Ideas?

[John Wright]

Neat lil truck, you'll have fun with that.

[ArtosDracon]

PHBs are great with leaf rears, especially if you go with spherical front bushings. A watts would be better since it won't cause side load on the leafs and cause bind.

To be sure of ZQ8 stuff, just check inside the glove box for the tag and look for ZQ8 in the options.

I've got a build thread over on ProTouringS10.com under Project Lean. Progress is rediculously slow due to budget constraints, but that just means I have more time to make sure I get things right the first time. Steering is next up, with the adjustable tie rod ends and the adjustable ball jointed swaybar end links. I should be able to do the whole shebang excluding a new center link. for $200 to boot. :)

[Z06killinSBF]

Just got back from the JY with a blazer rear bar and like new Bilstien shocks, $35. Now how do I mount the bar to the frame? My truck doesn't have any brackets but the blazer one were welded in.