Sunday, September 6, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Slight Change In Direction
After starting to tear down the S10, I came across an interesting local ad during my periodic craigslist browsing: 1954 Dodge cab on 2000 S10 frame - $600. Wow! What are the chances? I went to look at it and ended up buying it.
This S10 was 13 years newer than the one I had bought previously and the S10 body and drivetrain was already out! The '54 cab was in good shape and I'll be able to steal some parts from it too - most importantly the windshield! The windshield on my truck is cracked and fogged but new windshields are extremely hard to find for my style and are over $600 new. Too rich for my blood. The reason they are hard to find and expensive to replace is my style of windshield was only produced for 1.5 model years - 1954 through early-1955 - before Dodge switched to a 50's style wrap around (with vertical B-pillars). This '54's windshield was in great shape!
The front clip fits inside the bed of a late model Ford pickup - can even put up the tailgate! :)
This S10 was 13 years newer than the one I had bought previously and the S10 body and drivetrain was already out! The '54 cab was in good shape and I'll be able to steal some parts from it too - most importantly the windshield! The windshield on my truck is cracked and fogged but new windshields are extremely hard to find for my style and are over $600 new. Too rich for my blood. The reason they are hard to find and expensive to replace is my style of windshield was only produced for 1.5 model years - 1954 through early-1955 - before Dodge switched to a 50's style wrap around (with vertical B-pillars). This '54's windshield was in great shape!
The front clip fits inside the bed of a late model Ford pickup - can even put up the tailgate! :)
Still going
My vision for the truck is flat black, lowered, wide meats, and smoooooth. But I also want it to be a solid, safe, and reliable driver. The stock drum brakes, leafs at all four corners, and sloppy steering would not do.
I came across a company called E-Z Chassis Swaps that makes kits to adapt 50's pickups onto modern Chevy S10 chassis. The more I thought about it, the S10 made a lot of sense, particularly because parts are so hard to find for the Dodge. The S10 had nearly everything I needed: Disc brakes - check. IFS - check. Modern steering - check. GM Steering column - check. Cheap aftermarket and performance parts - check and check. This was a win-win in my mind. So I started researching E-Z Chassis Swaps and while they didn't have a kit specifically for Dodge, they did have a universal kit for under $1,000. I decided to go for it!
First, I needed the S10. I found a non-running one locally fr a few hundred dollars, dragged it home, and started tearing it down.
I came across a company called E-Z Chassis Swaps that makes kits to adapt 50's pickups onto modern Chevy S10 chassis. The more I thought about it, the S10 made a lot of sense, particularly because parts are so hard to find for the Dodge. The S10 had nearly everything I needed: Disc brakes - check. IFS - check. Modern steering - check. GM Steering column - check. Cheap aftermarket and performance parts - check and check. This was a win-win in my mind. So I started researching E-Z Chassis Swaps and while they didn't have a kit specifically for Dodge, they did have a universal kit for under $1,000. I decided to go for it!
First, I needed the S10. I found a non-running one locally fr a few hundred dollars, dragged it home, and started tearing it down.
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