not g body related just picking brains

[Big block WI]

One of my buddies is looking at buying a 49 Chevy truck. His master plan is to lower it body and paint
Of course since he doesn't know much about this stuff he asked me what I would do to achieve this he's
Not looking to race it or anything but he wants a quick crusier. So I told him to find a 4 or 6 cylinder s-10
Regular cab short box pickup because you would have more modern suspension and the sbc conversions
Are easy. He mentioned bbc right away, I got him away from that quick because that's above mine and his
Fabrication skills. I said if it were me I would put a 400 sbc and a 700r4, 2" drop spindles in the front and flip
The rear axle on the top side of the leaf springs to achieve around 4" of drop in the rear. He likes all the ideas
Except the auto trans he wants a stick and he has know idea that this will be way harder to do if the factory
S-10 manual trans linkages won't mate well with that truck and a f- body five speed.

So my main question has anyone ever swaped a third gen f body manual drivetrain in an s-10 truck and if any of
The stock five speed brackets linkages worked with the beefed fbody trans?

And how much upgrading would have to be done to the fbody trans to withstand 400-450 HP getting beat
On every summer? I do know the s-10 rear end will not stay but to get it moving it would be a start.

Sorry for the long rant but any advice or info would help a lot. Maybe I will convince him to put an auto trans
In there and it will save me some headaches because he will most likely need my help to get it going

 

[username]

You actually want a regular cab long wheel base s-10. no need to lower if you swap frames, the 49 will be sitting plenty low on a s-10 frame.

 

[papabearxl]

I have a friend who has a 51, sitting on a full-size 73-87 Chevy truck frame, but he went the other way.....it's sitting on 35's....... 8)

 

[woodss]

I had a friend who had an s-10 with a built 400 in it. Ill give you the little info I have on it because I wasnt involved in the build. They had to lose the inner fenders which may or may not apply with your different body. That truck, that small, with that 400 was not driveable unless the roads where dry. Even when they where the truck was so light in the rear you could barely maintain traction. When pulling out to pass on dry roads you had to feather it or if it dropped down to second it would just light the wheels up at 45 side by side with another car - it was hairy and not for the inexperienced driver. It was certainly fun but is not driver friendly. Give a lot of consideration to what rear end and tire setup to make it driveable if youre gonna do anything with considerable HP.

 

[Mike P]

My first thought would be to search some other sites to find people who have actually done the type of swap your contemplating and get their first hand experience on exactly what is involved.

Your comment that a BBC swap was beyond you and your friend’s skill level kind of raises a red flag for me. If that is currently too complicated for whatever reason (experience/lack of tools/funds/work space etc) there is a good possibility the whole project is unfeasible to begin with.

As far as the frame swap, while it sounds good on paper it can be a lot more complicated (and expensive) than a lot of people believe until they actually get into them. Lengthening/shortening/widening or narrowing is often required to get the correct wheel base and tire fitment. Then there are the body mount and core support headaches you will run into. By the time you’re finished building the frame chances are you would have been time and money ahead by converting the stock frame to something like a Mustang II setup and reinforcing (boxing) the original frame.

The cab on the 49s are a bit bigger than the pre war models so building a mechanical cutch linkage should not be too bad, but you will learn a LOT about proper peddle ratios and linkage in the process. Converting to a hydraulic clutch set up is also an option if the mechanical turns out to be too complicated.

I’m not trying to dissuade you and your friend from doing this project, just trying to point out that they are usually a lot more involved than a lot of people are prepared for. Something like this is going to be time and money consuming and will take up a lot of space while it’s being built (figure needing about 3+ bays worth of space while it’s under construction. If you go thru with it you will definitely gain a lot of skills and experience in the process and that alone may make the whole thing worthwhile. Good luck.

 

[Big block WI]

Thanks guys I know either the long or short wheelbase s10 is with in an inch of that style Chevy truck wheelbase
He knows he will have to measure both trucks before buying an s 10. As for being worried about the skill level to
Do a big block Chevy I more or less didn't want to mess with making all sorts of stuff custom since just getting the body on there
Alone will probably eat up all my patience to begin with. I just think it would be a lot easier to by an v8 s10 conversion kit
And have the mounts and headders fit no problem.