1949 Chevy with S10 swap. Beginner build with ambition!

[99 to Life]

yeah with the s10 or blazer rears, which is what I like to use. Id suggest cutting your pads off the axle, then you can rotate your axle where you need it and tack your pads back in place. Or..... if you wanna spend extra money you can get pinion shims. But its better to do it the first way I suggested. Getting those pads off the axle with an angle grinder works but takes a while, they are really welded on there good. careful you don't cut through the axle tube. if you do just weld it back up.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

yeah with the s10 or blazer rears, which is what I like to use. Id suggest cutting your pads off the axle, then you can rotate your axle where you need it and tack your pads back in place. Or..... if you wanna spend extra money you can get pinion shims. But its better to do it the first way I suggested. Getting those pads off the axle with an angle grinder works but takes a while, they are really welded on there good. careful you don't cut through the axle tube. if you do just weld it back up.

Not by the truck this week, but was wondering why I would need to cut the tabs at all? Can't I take the angle from the rear pinion and just move the engine to match? The only reason I would think that wouldn't work is if the stock rear end is either zero degrees or more than 5 degrees?

[99 to Life]

in a perfect world that may or may not work, but that is doing everything backwards from how it should be. Pinion angle is usually always done last and really one of the easiest to do. You have quite a few factors in trying to get your engine, trans, driveshaft clearance all to mesh together in harmony. engine should be about 3 deg down, that is issue one. sometimes engine height dictates things, so its best to do that first. ex. I mounted my about 5" off stock frame so I have more header clearance. #2 trans is dictated by engine angle so if you want two things to line up to the rear end it could get harry. easier to line one simple rear end up to the bigger parts of the equation. #3 depending on your body off frame, you may not have enough body clearance and will need to tunnel the floor.

[joedoh]

you are running a carb. you need 4-5 degrees down angle on the engine/trans because of the float in your carb is set by the preset angle on your intake, which is 4-5 degrees down.

also your trans pan will be level with a 4-5 degree down angle.

set the rear end angle like 99 says above. I just use angle shims because joedoh's law (also called the dumbass constant) says if I touch one thing, no matter how simple, it will cause two other things to break or otherwise need work.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by joedoh

you are running a carb. you need 4-5 degrees down angle on the engine/trans because of the float in your carb is set by the preset angle on your intake, which is 4-5 degrees down.

also your trans pan will be level with a 4-5 degree down angle.

set the rear end angle like 99 says above. I just use angle shims because joedoh's law (also called the dumbass constant) says if I touch one thing, no matter how simple, it will cause two other things to break or otherwise need work.

Awesome thanks! That's my labor day weekend job. I didn't think of shims...glad I didn't start cutting first. I may start a law of my own...for every task I start there will always be a tool or part I don't have to complete it. haha

Exhibit A: I need a transmission cooler but the lines will end up being custom. So now I need the double flare line tool.
Exhibit B: I wanted to add an electric fuel pump but it didn't ship with the tube ends, so I had to find some. Then fuel line to match. Now I can't install it because the fuel line is a hard line and.... I need a double flare line tool haha

Unrelated funny story: I started out calling my steel guy with specific dimensions, where to cut 45s, and even made diagrams on SketchUp. A few orders, and mistakes, later I just called yesterday and said

J: "Hey I need some 2x1...."
Steel: "How much do you need?"
J: "Give me about 20ft but cut it into 6ft lengths so it fits in my car. I'll figure it out later"
Steel: "I have some extra off cuts of 16ga sheet and some 2" 11ga flat do you want to.."
J: "yes"

[gigamanx]

Transmission crossmember in. It wasn't too hard to decide on how to mount the Corvette transmission. There are two bolt holes going straight down so I put some grade 8 bolts in. Cab is already back on ready to line up the fenders and start working on core support. Oh and my Hobart 220v totally kicks a$#. Took about 10 minutes to setup and its burning some really nice weld beads. There's no comparison to the 110v Lincoln in terms of weld quality.

[gigamanx]

Pretty successful weekend. Strapping sheet metal back on after the transmission crossmember went in. I've got the core frame mocked, inner and outer fenders on, and the cab is on its mounts. Playing with angles, rake, and trying to decide on how I'd like to mount the radiator. Test fitted the radiator. Plenty of room in front of the block for a fan, however I can see there will need to be some pretty tight elbows in the bottom radiator hose.

Still haven't figured out the accessory belt. There is a long list of small projects I can start working on now that the sheet metal is in place. Brake booster, steering, headers...very exciting to be working on something that looks like a truck again

[OutlawDrifter]

Looks like you're making some great progress!

[joedoh]

keep it up! getting stuff done

[gigamanx]

Interesting find today. I had someone suggest I needed to add a bushing between the transmission and crossmember. Well, nothing fits, so I had to do some research and figure out a custom solution. Turns out there is a specific durometer that trans isolators are made of....70A. If you wanted to check which energy suspension part has the correct durometer, this was a neat site...


http://www.suspension.com/universal-isolators.asp

I ordered 9.9528... they are 2 1/4" pucks 1/2" thick. I figure I could stack them if needed. Speaking of pucks, I did get a suggestion to use old hockey pucks. There were mixed reviews on if those work or not. I decided to get a few just as extra height on the cab mounts where needed.

Quick update: The 2 1/4" pucks are an awesome size for shimming and shock mounts. Very pleased with the purchase and can't go wrong with $20.

[99 to Life]

nice find. I too look for universal kits. I have quite a few extra bushings laying around. I like those square ones.

[gigamanx]

Made a bit more progress than expected last night. Got the brakes installed. I opted to drill out the holes necessary instead of using the plate I had cut out of the S10 (see post #59). Once that was done, I started fabricating the core support mounts. Ready to tack weld that up tonight. I'll be interested to see what people think of how I've opted to hang the front end.

[gigamanx]

Here's how the front end hanger ended up. It's setup so I can shim the height to fix any gap problems. A little more bracing to be done where it mounts to the frame just to make it bomb proof. Pretty happy with the way it turned out

[OutlawDrifter]

Looks good to me!

[99 to Life]

looks good, I'v seen a few fronts done similar to that. Only problem with front design is radiator choice. I always like a rad with a center outlet, just a peeve of mine. They always seem to be a longer rad and require a bit more kick out and would never fit in a space like that. But there are so many smaller and efficient rads out there you should be fine. But... I would buy the rad and moch all that up bf you final weld everything.

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looks good, I'v seen a few fronts done similar to that. Only problem with front design is radiator choice. I always like a rad with a center outlet, just a peeve of mine. They always seem to be a longer rad and require a bit more kick out and would never fit in a space like that. But there are so many smaller and efficient rads out there you should be fine. But... I would buy the rad and moch all that up bf you final weld everything.

I actually have the radiator. Doesn't seem to be an issue with the outlet being on the passenger side and the water pump also having the outlet on the passenger side. Probably chop up a bit of radiator hose to fit. I got skymangs suggested 19x22 aluminum job from speedway motors.

[joedoh]

nice progress!

[gigamanx]

Thanks all. I continue to plug along at a pretty good pace. A little work every few days. I'm focusing on JD's suggestion of "do what makes it run."

I'm preparing for winter at the moment, so I have to get all of the frame work completed for the cab and front end. Then I lose the wife's side of the garage until spring, so I'm hoping then to focus on interior...steering, wiring, pedal linkage, gear shift, instruments (they seem optional haha). Might be slowing down here a bit unfortunately.

[gigamanx]

By necessity, I decided to build a 2 into 1 y pipe for the sbc conversion headers. I first tried finding a 2 into 1 pipe, but no local store had them, so I grabbed a couple of pieces and went at it. Although a bit ugly, I'm proud of myself for not burning a hole through a single exhaust pipe piece. Here's the custom y pipe for my headers so I could use the same rear exhaust section of the S10.

[OutlawDrifter]

Pretty good for a first attempt!

[joedoh]

not to be nitpicky but it doesnt look penetrated, might try turning up the heat. I never weld continuous on muffler pipe, I do big tacks to keep from burning through

[gigamanx]

Originally Posted by joedoh

not to be nitpicky but it doesnt look penetrated, might try turning up the heat. I never weld continuous on muffler pipe, I do big tacks to keep from burning through

Thanks. I was concerned with burning through but I had a test piece of exhaust I was using to set the welder. Definitely getting penetration through the tube. Any higher, it melts the edges of the tube when trying to weld the two together. Hopefully I got it right. I did do a bunch of about 1 inch long welds to tack it together and keep heat down. Started out with just spot welds but that was taking a LONG time haha.

[Nut Case]

Gig

Been following the build, strong work!!!! Just a question on 131 the photo shows the tranny bracket resting on top of the frame, seems that could be a problem to remove the bracket to fix tranny issues with the cab in place.

Keep on keepin on

NC

[gigamanx]

I am hoping by bolting each end to the frame and then bolting through the transmission that I can remove said bolts and the crossmember would slide back. I did it once already to install some rubber pads between the crossmember and transmission.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by gigamanx

Thanks. I was concerned with burning through but I had a test piece of exhaust I was using to set the welder. Definitely getting penetration through the tube. Any higher, it melts the edges of the tube when trying to weld the two together. Hopefully I got it right. I did do a bunch of about 1 inch long welds to tack it together and keep heat down. Started out with just spot welds but that was taking a LONG time haha.

ok, sounds good. it will have a good sound with that large diameter pipe all the way back. my 4.3 trucks always have the bendy straw y pipe.

and in the end the only one that would give you trouble is that butt joint where the two pipes join, the rest are slip joints so even tacks would keep them together.