Chevy S10 - $2017 Challenge and beyond

In reply to eastsideTim :

do you need late C4 sawblades for this truck?

wait, i said that wrong.

YOU NEED late C4 sawblades for this truck!  I know a guy.  

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to eastsideTim :

do you need late C4 sawblades for this truck?

wait, i said that wrong.

YOU NEED late C4 sawblades for this truck!  I know a guy.  

Hmm, it has been pointed out to me that the Firebird wheels on it right now are not appropriate.

The S10 has been having issues with running rough, and not wanting to idle.  It has been intermittent, so hard to figure out, but tonight was finally able to see the issue.  The driver’s side injector is sticking open.  Since it hasn’t been getting used much, I’m not sure if I’ll try to fix it, or just let it go until it is time to yank the 305.

Decided the truck was useful enough it needs to be running well again, and ordered up a tbi rebuild kit.  In the meantime, pulled the injector pod and tested the injectors after cleaning them.  One will not work at all.  Fortunately, this was part of a replacement injector pod I pulled from the junkyard, and I was able to dig out the pod that came on the original engine. One injector in it was not working, but I threw them in the cleaner, and both now seem to be functional.  Will try to get everything reassembled and running later today.

One bonus to this is, if something happens that prevents the Impala from making it to the challenge this year, swapping back to the original injectors will give me a bit more wiggle room in the truck’s budget, though I’d rather just leave it at home and compete in the Impala.

It's idling way better now, but it seems to be burning some oil off the y-pipe, that I cannot find the source too.  I'll likely take it for a spin tomorrow, maybe while it's raining so if it catches fire, I have a natural extinguisher.

Been using it to make scrap runs since getting back from the challenge.  As much as I had wanted to get started on an LS swap for it over the winter, storage issues are going to prevent that.  Mainly, I don’t want to park my daily driver on the street during the winter.  At least this means I should be able to save up more money for upgrading it.

In the next few days, the plan is to shuffle some things around, and get some more stuff out of the garage and into the storage locker.  After that, the S10 will get parked in one garage bay, and the Beetle in the other.  The S10’s bed will need to be loaded up with some junk to make space to walk around in the garage.  Would it make sense to throw some jack stands under the rear frame so the lowering springs don’t get compressed too much for the next several months?  I don’t plan on putting more than 500 lbs in the bed, probably less than that.

Guess I get another winter of daydreaming what I am going to do with it.

It’s in the garage.  Threw some jack stands under the rear frame where the bumper mounts are.  There’s a little bit of space for suspension compression, but the stand should take some of the load.  This weekend, I should get it loaded up to clear space in the other bay.

Working out a plan/budget for the swap and could use some critiquing.  I'm trying to work under the assumption I want to get the build going fairly quickly, and will not have the time for challenge-type deal hunting and fabricating.  Does it look like I am missing anything critical?  Keeping in mind that this is just for a basic swap, not the turbocharged beast I'd like to have.  It does not include parts I already have, like the H3 oil pan I picked up a ways back, and a few gauges.

Part of this exercise is also to determine if I should just buy something else, like someone else's already running project, or just save up some more for a Coyote Mustang or something else in the similar range of performance.

I'm also working out budget sheets for a more aggressive N/A build, and a turbo build.  I'll post them here when I have them together, but I'd like to make sure I have the basic build list sorted first.

Just put a deposit on an eventual 6.0/4L80E donor.  However, it is solid enough that I may use it as a truck for a while before tearing into it.

Got pictures?

In reply to Stampie (FS) :

2001 GMC Sierra 2500.  Body is pretty rough (although not bad for an Ohio truck this age), but the chassis is actually pretty solid.  It may be very handy in getting the Beetle back and forth to rallycrosses.  I'm guessing it could flat tow it like it wasn't even there.

In reply to eastsideTim :

I've seen worse in Ohio.

Stampie (FS) said:

In reply to eastsideTim :

I've seen worse in Ohio.

Ohio is kind of the transition point in the rust belt, due to the increasing amount of salt used the farther you go up I-75 or I-71.  Southern Ohio is bad, but northern Ohio seems to be "Why did my seven year old car just snap in half?" bad.

In reply to eastsideTim :

I remember the first time I went to Patrick's with a then 16 year old Chevy truck.  He kept looking at my truck like a 14 year old boy looking at the cute girl in class.  Finally I asked and he said they just didn't look like that up there.

Just got the title notarized and took possession of the truck.  One issue I'll want to resolve, regardless of if it gets used as a tow vehicle or as a donor is the engine starts a little rough when hot, and you need to pump the gas sometimes.  PO said they put very little work into it, just enough to keep it going, and it has nearly 200K miles, so it wouldn't surprise me if it is well overdue for plugs and wires.

So, lets see, interior smells like an ashtray, CEL is on, ABS light is on, significant body rust and some damage, dash lights fade in and out, but it's a RWD 6.0, it's got relatively good looking tires on it,  and I paid a challenge-legal price for it.  I'll try to get the title transferred, and a temp tag for it in the next few days.  I beached it as far into the small snowbank on the street in front of my house as I could, and it'll probably remain there until the weather gets better, and we have a thaw.

If you decide to disassemble johnny 5 sooner rather than later...  And if they're in the right size...  I might be interested in buying the tires since I assume they wouldn't fit the s10.

Even though it's RWD, I still think that's a stupid low price for that truck especially considering covid pricing plus tax season.

On the rough start when hot, does it clear pretty quick with full throttle?  Is it like a rough after 15 mins sitting but not 5 or 25?

Stampie (FS) said:

On the rough start when hot, does it clear pretty quick with full throttle?  Is it like a rough after 15 mins sitting but not 5 or 25?

Clears pretty quick with full/high throttle.  It was only sitting for a couple minutes when the start was rough.

I'd say it could be fuel lines and/or injectors then. Ignition wouldn't necessarily get better with throttle, but fuel delivery would. Excited to follow along!

~Peter

In reply to eastsideTim :

Yeah I'm thinking injector/s.  Kinda a flooding situation that clears with full throttle open.

Cool, I will keep that in mind.  Maybe I should start looking for a set of larger injectors anyway, as I understand, the ones in it now top out around 375-400 HP.  Been doing some reading about these engines for a while, and need to start doing more now that I have one.

For the injectors, any guesses as to whether its a rebuild/replace situation, or if a cleaning will do the trick?  I'd be tempted to pull them when the weather improves, and try to clean them myself, but I don't want to waste the time if it would be better to send them off to be rebuilt, or buy replacements.  I don't want this project to languish.

Edit:  Also, just noticed the sheer volume of cheap "OEM" injectors on ebay at a price for 8 cheaper than one from RockAuto.  Despite the packaging, I'm assuming they're counterfeits.

I have a vacation coming up in a bit over a week, and am thinking of grabbing some injectors, spark plugs, and wires ahead of time.  Also, thinking, if I picked up a tuner (and a cheap laptop), I could go with some bigger injectors now.  Not sure I'll do that yet.

Also been doing more research into swap mounts and kits.  Holley seems to have some really nice stuff, including a full length 2 into 1 exhaust, but it is all spendy.  Leaning more towards CPW mounts and headers, and trying to fab the trans mount myself.  For a y-pipe, I am tempted to get a preformed y connector, instead of making my own like I did when I swapped in the 305.

Also thinking some taller wheel cribs would be nice for working under it.

Just got a temp tag online, and will get the title transferred tomorrow.  I've got til early April to mess around with it before it'll need a real plate or I get the engine pulled for the swap.

You what now? 

You can just print those out at home?