Project Wayne 1951 Ford Fun-1 S10 swap

[joedoh]

well I am a glutton for punishment and since all the chevy purists complaining about my endless s10 swaps have finally accepted that i just will not be swayed, I thought i would give the same chance to the ford purists, and not only do a chassis swap on a 48-52 ford but also use an s10 chassis. its the giver in me. i am a giver.

my reasoning is this: first, I know the s10 chassis inside and out, i dont think there is anyone who knows more tips and tricks for s10 modifying. second, the natural conclusion might be to use a ranger chassis for a ford body swap but thats just a terrible idea. the ranger chassis came in two flavors and both had dumpster juice as an ingredient. the early had twin i-beam suspension, the later had an unequal length control arm setup but with short short spindles and short upper arms. lowering either early or late is expensive and unrewarding because of extreme camber. no one really supports the aftermarket for rangers, but S10 has dozens of well thought out options for suspension.


blah blah blah lets get to it. few words do trick.


a buddy named dave had a shortbed s10 he was making into a drag truck until he didnt. i picked it up as a bare chassis and it fit on my 7x12 trailer, bonus.



i knew what i wanted in an F1 donor so I visited my friend Wayne in South Haven (almost oklahoma). he had a nice F5 with a running flathead. on my s10 swaps I like to use grain trucks with little hope beyond being shredder fodder instead of taking apart 1/2 ton trucks with a chance at restoration or better.



Waynes farm has given me almost 8 trucks worth of builds so I couldnt think of a more fitting name fore this project. while we were there picking up just the parts i need we stopped and reminisced about trucks and life and how this hill used to be full of old steel.




a little rust in the floor but a great start.

[joedoh]

i had the chassis in the back yard for a year which, married guys know, just makes married women extremely happy. to be fair i would have taken it to the storage building but its full of other s10 chassis and old trucks. cest la vie! well now its in the driveway CHECKMATE shes bound to be happy about that.



I switched out the torque thrusts for some stock second gen s10 wheels. its a second gen frame but the centerbore of the axle and front hubs makes me think dave switched to super first gen parts. for the unaware or otherwise uninterested, the brilliant guys at GM changed the centerbore from 70.5mm to 70.3mm so if you put second gen wheels on a first gen and crank the lugs down tight you might want to invest in a on-truck tire changer because they are never coming off. since they are just rollers for the project I just snugged em up.



i got this sweet little heavy duty cart on facebook marketplace. it is perfect to move cabs and heavy stuff around alone, you just rock the cab forward and slide it under.



the drivers window didnt want to roll down, so i left the door open to use my (neighbors) a-frame and dual 4x4 cab lifter.

[joedoh]

annnnnd the open door kept me from getting the extra inches to let the tires roll under.



so y wife and I worked together, rolled the wheels under the center of the cab and bounced the front and rear sideways. success!



it looks like the sun going down but it was only a matter of minutes. a storm front was rolling in and we finished in the nick of time. god love mrs joedoh for helping.



now on the 48-52 (and other year) fords. on a 47-55.1 chevrolet, the 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton trucks all had the same front clips, and all trucks had the same cabs, so if you started with a 2 ton cab you could find a 1/2 3/4 or 1 ton front end to bolt right on. the 3000 series trucks didnt share anything in common with the 4000 and larger though, except headlights and park lights.

but FORDS of the era, the only way to get half ton sized fenders was to buy F1 half ton parts. thats it. but the good news is that the grille, hood, upper and lower grille parts, even the inner fenders, are exactly the same parts from F1 all the way to F8. so at least all you need to find are the upper and lower fenders, everything else is the same. I found a great guy in ottawa ks who heard my online plea for F1 fenders and paid his asking price for the very rare parts.



I also found a nice F1 bed (rear fenders are unique to the F1 too!) in coffeyville ks. black like the rest of the truck! this will be great!




so thats today. i would be lying if I said i hadnt already made some preliminary measurements and have some mounts mocked up.

I also need to make the frame longer, its a 108" and the 48-52 fords are 114. lucky me i already have a frame stretch kit designed. more soon!

[mongocanfly]

Looks like a good truck Russ...I envy yall having solid metal out there in Ks...
I've got a buddy that built his truck from his grandpas old farm truck..
It's a 48 ford..he built it with what he had laying around, got a Dakota front clip, a AMC engine trans, and mopar rear axle.. really pisses off the Ford around when they look it over.. haha

[joedoh]

its not bad, its pretty rusty in the passenger floor but its weird how the fords dont just rot away from a start like chevrolets do. its just some flat floor, all the cab mounts are still there.

I found a technical drawing online that gave me some measurements, so i set up a straightedge. 73.94" from the back of the cab to the center of the wheel.






keep in mind I have to lengthen the frame yet but there will be no harm working with the shorty frame right now.

leveled the rocker with the bottom of the frame which is level on an S10.





more in the next post!

[joedoh]

here is an excellent lesson in using your eyes. its my experience that the human eye can see even a 1/16th misalignment, just step back a few feet and its as glaring as an inch! this picture is with the rocker level with the frame.



but look at the drastic change in appearance with the front dropped just 1/16th of an inch.



it looks "proper" on the frame now, like a dapper man with a raked cap. I have a complete 48 f1 (same cab, different dash and rear window) and i will take a few pictures tomorrow for verification. but the door glass looks more level in the second picture. my mounts will have adjustment in them so i can move it around a 1/2 inch up or down.

this is my adjustment tool by the way. just a jack under the middle of the cab. i could do this a more complicated way but the theory of relativity indicates I should take my measurments WITH RESPECT TO (WRT) other known measurements and since I dont have (or need or even want) a frame table.



when guys ask me for mounts I dont make (yet) this what I tell them to do, get the cab hung in the right place and measure UP from the frame to the mount surface



and OUT to the mounting hole.




with those measurements I can make up some mount prototypes.

more in next post

[joedoh]

again for the rear its UP




and OUT



since I didnt want to design an arm for the factory swing rear mount I settled on using the same mount on the rear for the front. copy paste in 3D and




it looks flimsy and it is, but its a prototype after all. the front corners cant take a full size S10 bushing like I am fond of so I found some smaller ones to try out.



if they work well I may change the s10 kit to take them and order 200 pr (100 kits worth)

they will be here tomorrow. I have an errand to run, another nice kansas guy was selling some upper and lower 51 fenders so now I have enough cabs and parts to make TWO 51s and a 48. maybe tomorrow I will show you the special 52 hood i got.

[28TudorAZ]

This definitely looks interesting. What are you doing for the engine? Too bad you dont live closer or I would be trying to get the 57 Chevy in the background. My dad had a turquoise green one when I was growing up.

[mongocanfly]

its sure odd how much difference that 1/16" can make on how the cab looks

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

its sure odd how much difference that 1/16" can make on how the cab looks

it might have been an eighth but it was no where near ever a 1/4. it was crazy my wife was standing there and couldnt believe the difference.

the new body bushings came in, I am on the fence, they look too narrow to mount the cab but... we will see.

I picked up some 1/2 ton fenders from a nice guy in ness city, he met me in mcpherson so even saved me driving. so i dont have to take my other front end apart. they were even black at one time!



and the hutch meat swap was today. got some 47-55 goodies.





and i broke in the new crosstour getting it all home hahah


more soon!


he had a whole front clip and doors for $250

[62c30]

Damnit I forgot about the swap meet. If you ever want to try a 53-56 ford I have several cabs.

[CG]

Anything happening with this project? I love the 51's and the things you do with S10 chassis.

[joedoh]

thanks for thinking of me! I love the 51 grilles too!

its still right there waiting for me to put the cab mounts on. I have had a run on parts lately, must be the summer warmth! i need to get it back on it, i have a waiting list on these as well.

[28TudorAZ]

no updates?

[joedoh]

soooooooo

my kit biz was slowing down a little and i was getting bored again, common theme. i took a 9-5 (8-4 really) in july as a design and stress eng mgr figuring i could easily do both. but in september i realized i was getting swamped with orders. i always figured to be a thorn in the other kit makers sides and maybe get floated a buyout offer, you know entrepreneurship 101. but instead code 504 closed and i have been busier than a one armed paper hanger, work all day, kits all night and weekend. I am typing this next to the machine cutting non stop.

i have a welder and a shipper now, and all the parts get laser cut so i am slowly knocking down the backlog.

we have done upgrades to everything, (which is entrepreneurship 102, plan for the future) put a new table and new hypertherm plasma in over year end shut down, we have a 1/2 deposit on a 48x60 closed cell spray foamed building and just paid to have the pad and culverts installed on that empty lot we bought feb 22. I ordered a cnc press brake and die sets to eliminate 1/2 the welds on my kits.

the ford kits unfortunately were put aside for the time being but i can finally see the light on the kit backlog and am making plans for finishing them.

so stay tunnnnnned if i think about it i will put up some recent pics of shenanigans.

[Tempest67]

Welcome back Russ, we have missed watching you complete an S10 conversion every 6 weeks.

Hope you are well, and looking forward to some more builds

[Modsqaud69]

Saw one of these trucks on the road this morning. Didn't have a stitch of paint on it anywhere. Was definitely a hotrod and the guy had a huge grin on his face. Probably be ordering a kit from you in the next couple of weeks. Rob

[CG]

Looking forward to see you back on the Ford. What are the plans once you get it running and all street legal?