New guy with an S10

[squeak]

Hello everyone. I'm here because I found this site and found a lot of great info here. I have a 99 s10 with a 2.2 and a 5 speed. I have an LS1 with t56 out of an 01 Camaro that will eventually get swapped in, but first on my list is making the truck handle well enough to deserve any extra power. I purchased the truck in February. After getting engaged and starting the house shopping process I decided to sell my the Subaru STi I had to free up a little extra cash for a decent house payment. Needless to say moving from that to the s10 was a bit of a downgrade, but it allows me to build a new project which is always fun. I started off just cleaning up the truck and fixing a poor lowering job consisting of cut springs and pulled leafs with lowering blocks. My brother had 3 ZQ8 wheels laying around so i got a 4th off of ebay and painted the whole set grey and got a set of decent tires put on them. For the front I ended up with ZQ8 springs and shocks out of a v6 s10, 2'' drop spindles, and a blazer sway bar. For the rear I found 4'' drop leafs and a 4 door Blazer rear sway bar, which sounded great, but it turns out the leafs are WAY too soft. I did a few other cosmetic upgrades but recently have mainly been gathering parts for an overhaul of the rear suspension. I came across a guy with a wishbone 3 link off a truck that had been bagged, got the raised gas tank crossmember with 3rd link mount and bolt on rear differential 3rd link bracket with it and everything. I'm sure it's geometry isn't the best for handling (it's made to be a mostly bolt on setup for bagged trucks), so I'm going to build custom mounts for the front of all the bars with a few mounting holes in each for adjustablity and the length of the lower bars is already adjustable. I also recently bought some single adjustable QA1 coilovers with 275lb/in springs. In the end my goal is to make this truck into a decent handling, decently powerful truck without ruining its functionality of being a truck.

Here's a few pictures:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/IMG_20120910_121631-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/IMG_20120910_121614-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/09/IMG_20120908_183502-1.jpg

[The Stickman]

Welcome to the Forum. I had a 91 S-10 and had it handling quite well. You might want to look into Hellwig Swaybars. Also one of the easiest ways to improve the handling of your truck is to relocate your battery to the bed. You would be surprised at the difference it makes. I put mine in the front right corner of the bed. Lightening the frontend of the truck helps as even after what I did which was considerable it had a 61/39 weight balance front to rear. Now I did have the bigger 4.3L V-6 as well.

[squeak]

Thanks! Do you have any more info on your 91? Moving the battery is on my to do list. The truck didn't have a spare tire when I bought it, so there's plenty of room behind the axle for it. I've been considering swapping to a 2 door blazer fuel tank, which sits behind the rear axle as well.

[The Stickman]

It was a 91 S-10 Cameo edition with the 4.3L V-6 and 5 speed transmission. It has Suspension Techniques lower control arms and stock springs up front. In the rear it was Suspension Techniques lowered leafs. I used Carrera 3 way Hypershocks all around. And Hellwig's swaybars front and rear. For AutoX and track days I ran Goodyear GSCS tires. I forget the sizes. Think it was 245 and 265-16's. Towards the end it was a pretty stripped out truck. No insulation, no radio, no A/C. I bolted the racing seats straight to the floor. I am 6'4" and looked like I was 12 sitting in the truck. I got it to handle and brake great. On a road course it could handle with a C4 Vette. It's only lacking area was the straights.
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2008/12/ebay3801-1.jpg

[squeak]

That's awesome, man! thanks. While I don't plan to strip mine down much, I do want it to handle.