In reply to pres589 :
Yeah I'm not sure but you did bring something up that i hadn't thought of. Idk for sure if the rims are budget exempt so I'll have to ask my veteran challenge friends.
No worries i appreciate all the ideas people give it helps me see the other side of the project that i don't see in my young, short experience with projects/life...
No, your rims are budgeted. It’s 4 tires that are not.
You can’t find an 03-06 van with a 5.7 because they don’t exist. 03+ 2500 have 4.8, 3500 have 6.0 and 1500 have 4.3 or 5.3. I used an 07 1500 van for a challenge donor. You really do need to get a donor to be able to swap on a challenge budget because of all the ancillaries that you don’t think of. Unless you are up here where vehicles rot out around good engines so you can score the occasional complete $200 4.8 with harness. If you were not 1100 miles away i’d offer you a 350 and some wheels
In reply to gabecar3 :
For the donor, I kept a close eye on local charity auctions. A Firebird came up, and I was able to snag it for $400 after fees, because it was a no start. When they tried to fire it at the auction, I was listening and didn’t hear the fuel pump, so I took a chance on that being the main problem, and it appears to have paid off.
Regarding tires and wheels. I think officially, it’s just the one set of tires that are budget exempt (along with mounting and balancing them), but wheels are in budget. That was another advantage of getting the donor car, got a set of 15 x 7 wheels.
In reply to Patrick :
okay thanks for clarifying.
hmmm okay I figured I could pull a complete LS from the harness down and that would get me everything I need (including the accessories and that stuff)
Yeah up here from a junkyard a complete engine from the harness to oil pan w/ a PCM is around $300 and every donor car I've found is over $900...
Guess I'll have to search the craigslist ads to look for wheels and maybe a 350 SBC...
Thanks for the help!
In reply to eastsideTim :
That makes sense I'll have to look and see if I have any around me...
Yeah it looks like I'll have to look around for a set of cheap wheels off a Mustang or similar...
Thanks for the help!
Does anyone know any challenge builders in the Central Florida area who might be able to point to me to where the good deals hide?
Just wondering because from what I've seen there are very few parts floating around CL and FBMarketplace in the area and I don't know of any swap meets to try to grab cheap used speed parts....
Thanks in advance!
I am in Jacksonville and am pretty good at finding deals. 
I also have a set of v8 mounts I no longer need since I sold my s10, I will let them go cheap.
Send me a PM if you need any help or questions.
Also I have a set of s10 wheels with tires you can have for $100.
These are the wheels...
Here is my s10 from last year...
I fully approve of this. LOL.
Slapper bars work great, just add at least a 1" spacer under the rear mounting pad to bring the nose up closer to the spring. Yes, they will be shorter that the spring eye you are aiming for, but unless you want to make them yourself.... They'll work for challenge purposes.
That sure looked like an 8.8. Make note that the cover is "square" in your picture, not like the "football" 7.5. Ford did do some funny things with the covers, materials wise. Mine is actually plastic vs metal in my challenge Ranger.
People have been swapping V8's into S10's since Noah went sailing for 40 days. Search, search, and search the internet until you brain is past mush. The answers are out there. The stock LS EFI is not difficult to retrofit, just dumping the rest of the unnecessary wires is the pain the ass. EFI tuning is readily available and can be had rather cheap. That would allow a bunch of other options that makes wiring even easier.
That's just a primer for running down into the rabbit hole....
In reply to pimpm3 :
Are the mounts for an LS or for a SBC? And do you know if they work with the 1.9l mounts in my truck?
The wheels would be sweet but my bolt pattern is 5x4.5 and NOT the 5x4.75 the S10's used. I need mustang-like wheels for my truck now that the 8.8 is in it. Unless those rims are the Ford style lug pattern...
Thanks for the help I will be sure to ask you more about the swap.
In reply to Ranger50 :
Haha I'm glad! I try hard to please the people... lol
Well actually I'm getting some that are longer than I need and I'll cut it shorter to work (i'm buying a 28" and I need a 26-27") that way it'll line up correctly.
Sweet I got the rear end out and home and then realized i wasn't 100% sure it was an 8.8 but now I'm sure it'll get installed later today. Let me ask you something: there is a wire hanging out the top of the diff is that for an E-Locker or for ABS? Its out a 2000 4x4 Sport-Trac Explorer with drums...
Does anyone know where i can get the "pinion flange yoke" for the Ford 8.8? Ebay didn't have it from what I saw and the donor vehicle had a missing driveshaft so I didn't get that part....
haha yeah thats what i've been seeing. I got the JTR conversion manual with the truck so I've been studying that to figure out more or less what I need. Been searching around for over a month and think I got a lot of information on it and know what I should need....
Thank you for the help especially with the Ford rear I was still unsure of what size it was.
The mounts are for a sbc. They use 2.8 mounts.
They are the jtr mounts.
At least one person who frequents the challenge also frequently has cheap mustang wheels in huge sizes, often still wrapped in sticky tires. Look for the q'ute'45 truck build...
In reply to pimpm3 :
Okay I'll see if I go SBC I'll probably take those mounts off your hands.
Where in central Florida are you?
Pigtail is for abs/Speedo in fords. Just leave it alone.
In reply to BadJuju :
I am in the Lake Mary/Sanford area but frequently drive down to Orlando for school and church.
In reply to gabecar3 :
Not too far, I’m in Lakeland.
In reply to BadJuju :
Oh cool! If you find out about any swap meets in the area or find any good deals let me know, please.
3/28/18
I got the Ford 8.8 rear pulled Monday (3/26) with a friend of mine and dragged it home. We guess-timate it weighs between 450-550lbs so she adds about 300lbs on top of the stock 10-bolt but should hold around 800whp on slicks (according to the V8S10.org forum members who have done the swap).
I have some pictures of the old rear getting dropped out but it doesn't let me upload them so when I put the pictures of the new one getting put in I'll throw those in with it.
The new-to-me Ford 8.8 is in-ish. Its currently sitting on the springs up in the air waiting for me to put the U-Bolts on but haven't had time yet. I'll be getting the brake lines, parking brake, and U-bolts in later this week/early next week.
Thank you to those who helped me with information and experience so far.
In reply to gabecar3 :
Have you been to the Sumter county swap meet? Used to be huge, I haven’t been in a long time.
In reply to BadJuju :
No I haven't I just recently moved up to Central Florida, which is why I'm still lost as to where the good deals are. Is that a car swap meet or just a general swap meet where you can find car parts?
Thanks for info I'll check it out!
gabecar3 said:In reply to Ranger50 :
Does anyone know where i can get the "pinion flange yoke" for the Ford 8.8? Ebay didn't have it from what I saw and the donor vehicle had a missing driveshaft so I didn't get that part....
We will be going to the salvage yard in a eeek or 2. Let us know if you still need the companion flange.
In reply to wheels777 :
No I found one on EBay for a few dollars used so I bought that.
Thank you for offering to help I appreciate it!
4/7-4/8/18
This weekend I focused on getting the truck in a drivable condition. I patched a hole in the gas tank, cleaned the carb, and finished connecting the rear brake lines. While I was bleeding the brakes the front lines going to the caliper blew a couple holes in the hard-lines (proving 36 year old rusted hard-line does not like high pressure). Seeing that I need to replace the front lines I elected to do the rear since I figure if one goes bad the others will probably follow but I wanted to know if hard-lines are budget exempt. I know that the rules say that fresh brake components may be used to make sure that the competitors have working basic safety equipment but I am unsure about the hard-lines themselves.
Here is a picture of my ghetto gas tank repair:
I continually forget to get pictures of what I work on but I will try my best to get more pictures in the following days.
Update on the engine swap:
I have decided to go 350 SBC since I can get one fro very cheap and its a much simpler swap due to the lack of wiring. I wanted some of the experienced challenge builders opinion on whether a nitrous system or a turbo system would be more cost effective. I know the nitrous is cheaper and better but I think I read somewhere that I need a fire-suit to run nitrous with an ET under 10.99. I was just wondering what you all think would be the best option.
If anyone has V8 S10 swap parts that they would like to get rid of for cheap please let me know; I am currently in search of conversion mounts but any swap parts will be appreciated.
Thanks for the help,
Gabe
Your brake lines will be exempt. I'll be following your build as it might be relevant to my interest.
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