Turning a dime into a nickel

So for a few months I've been on the prowl to build a car.. or truck to race in the x275 and no prep class events near me this summer. Now when I look for a car to race, I become obsessed with weight. I like to start with the lightest platform I can and go from there. Obvious choices in this category would be fox body Mustangs, a Datsun 240z, perhaps a Nova II or AMC Rambler.  However, for some reason or another I couldn't find decent examples in my price range (except for the Mustangs... but I'm a GM guy at heart). Then one night my father suggested a 1st gen S-10, which at the time, I completely shrugged off because I assumed they were heavy due to be a full frame truck. Boy, was I completely wrong. All the sudden I began intrigued and started my search which lead me to this... 

A 1990 s10 with tons of goodies. Full roll cage, 11:1 355sbc, refreshly rebuilt th400 with reverse manual, 4500 stall, line lock, QA1 coilovers in all corners, triangular 4-link suspension, fuel cell, battery relocation kit, JAZ racing seat, and best of all a clean title. I found it on craigslist for $5000 Christmas morning and drove out the next day to get it. I didn't even haggle the price because I thought $5000 was a steal. 

Sounds like I could hop in it and just go racing, right? Well.. not exactly. This truck does have a few items that need to be addressed. Wiring, paint, interior, brakes, and most of all replacing the 7.5 rear end.  I'm fortunate enough to have a dad that has built a few race cars and a lot professional resto-rod work. So we decided this April we're bringing it to the shop to have the frame narrowed, swapping in a Ford 9" and redoing the 4 link to fit some 33x22 tires (I know I said I wanted to race x275, so we'll work through making this work with small tire as well even if it will look funny). At that time we'll fix the paint as well. I was reluctant on posting this until we started the work, but I figure I can update with small items before we get to that point. 

My problem is project cars is I tend to think economically about them first and foremost. I always choose to be transparent about my costs to help others who look to build something similar. I have $15,000 budgeted to get this truck on the road and at the track late this spring. Half of that will probably be spent in beer and pizza with my father, but that's alright!

Anyways.. I think that's where I'll start for now. 

Looks like a great truck for 5 grand! Enjoy spending the time with your dad.

I always liked the early S-trucks.  They are still incredibly reasonable for what you get.   I have been keeping 2wd S-Blazers on my radar for a while now, and will follow along with your build.

Congratulations! Score galore!

that looks righteous. Those are the cheap ticket to speed at all the local dragstrips. Usually with nitrous and a tailgate full of concrete.

I like it, I have a soft spot for S10 pickups.

In reply to ultraclyde :

I think one of the challenges this year will be getting the suspension right. For it being a 4-link, I've heard you need to aim for a 50/50 weight distribution to make it work. However, we'll find out for ourselves this spring.

In reply to ultraclyde :

It's weird the market of cars/trucks you see in different states. For some reason here in upstate NY, they don't seem to be as popular (or maybe they were but they've all rusted back into the ground..)

Nice score, I love these trucks!

In for more racetruck updates.

Have fun racing no prep, its pretty wild watching it at our local track. 

My little brother used to trade me nickels for dimes.  He thought he was getting a better deal since he got a "big" nickle and all I got was a "little" dime.

My dad made me stop taking the trade, no sense of humor. 

In reply to jharry3 :

Hahaha.. that made me laugh out loud. 

I named it that way because right now it's worth a dime, but after I spend all this money and time, it'll be worth about a nickel :P

In reply to Professor_Brap :

Ours too, normally a 1/4 mile track, but they limit to 1/8th and everything from big tire promods to small tire ls swap's. 

So traditionally in the past I've built my own fuse panel with relays.. however this time around I'm heavily considering going with MSD solid state relay blocks. Has anyone here used them? If so, what's your opinion.. worth the money?

Big tire builds with a 275 radial on them always look weird but it does give you a better variety of races to attend. Hopefully you get atleast one of the suspension set ups figured out this season 

In reply to dropstep :

This is true. I've always wanted to own a big tire car. I've only raced small tire for the past few years. There's two x275 events and one no prep at the end of the summer. The goal is to attend at least the no prep event, with lots of time spent at test and tune. 

Small update while we're dealing with the snow in the northeast. The truck needs some wiring.. so I decided to build a fuse panel instead of freezing in the garage. Good news is I found a 15x30 shop nearby for $190/mo I'll be moving into while my garage is being rebuilt.

So I'm pretty terrible at remembering to take pictures when I work on something. But I've been making progress.

I finished wiring up the truck (or so I thought.. plans changed and it's an LS swap now).

I've been wanting to do a turbo LS swap for a while, so my father expressed an interest in the sbc for his corvette.

Engine out

Cleaned up the frame and treated it with some POR15 before I dropped the engine in

This past weekend I dropped the 5.3 from a 2005 silverado. I was pleasantly surprised to find this 180k engine received some regular oil changes in it's life (I did hear it run before I purchased it).

And engine in mated to the th400...

Next item on the list is figuring out a way to fit my LS3 exhaust manifolds around the steering shaft. I tried to mock them up, but the flange was hitting on the upper control arm.. I think I'm going to have to cut the flange off and run a straight piece of pipe instead to get these to fit.

I also need to drop the transmission crossmember and shorten it a little. I ended up moving the engine forward about an inch because clearance was pretty tight against the firewall with the sbc.

This should be sweet!

This thread has 100% less Datsun content than I was expecting, but that truck looks well bought for $5k. 

I built a simple tube manifold when I had my 4.8 mocked up in an s10. A blank flange and some pipe elbows can make it come together pretty quick. I don’t have a completed pic but this will give you a good idea.

Nice clean truck by the way. 

In reply to 1SlowVW :

This is actually pretty helpful. I've considered building a log manifold if I have issues modifying this LS3 one to work. What size tubing did you use?

In reply to T.J. :

That's funny because I had a '77 280z prior to this. For some reason I just couldn't fall-in-love with it though.

In reply to AWSX1686 :

Thanks! I normally only get Saturday/Sunday to work on it so updates will be weekly and a little slow. However, I think things will start speeding up now.

ruhltodd said:

In reply to 1SlowVW :

This is actually pretty helpful. I've considered building a log manifold if I have issues modifying this LS3 one to work. What size tubing did you use?

IF you watch the Skid Factory, Al builds a set for the Ford Fairlane with the Turbo 1UZ-FE. His trick was to weld the engine gasket side to a piece of angle iron while working on it to keep it from warping too heavily and smooth it out on a linisher. You may also want to take stock LS exhaust manifolds and see if you can adapt them- cheaper in the long run, and as the sloppy mechanics have found, just as good.