Turning an S10 into a Dodge....

Well. It started off as a sweet 16 present for my daughter.... and a father daughter project. I bought a 1955 Dodge C3 pickup for my daughter's 16th birthday. I also ruptured my Achilles' tendon trying to push it off the UHaul trailer, but that's another story....

Here it is on her bday....

Then we set upon the journey on getting it running. It has a Poly Block 273 V8. We needed to replace the 2 barrel carb, run new fuel lines, and then we had a running engine.

So it starts and runs... now we had to work on the steering and whoa part.

First we had to find NOS parts to rebuild the steering.

Then I found a kit to replace the front drums with disk brakes

So now we had a running, driving, stopping 1955 truck...... one that smelled from the exhaust leaks, still had 6" of play on the non assisted steering, rode stiffly...and I really didn't want to drive in Seattle traffic.

I was sad. I thought about really rebuilding the engine, grafting a jag IFS onto the frame, putting a T5 tranny behind the engine, but all the unique parts would be serious work and $$. Barely mention Hemi anything and prices go up up!

So I researched frame swaps and came up with either a SWB Dakota (the frame would have to be shortened), or a SWB s10 (track width a tad narrower, but the wheelbase was spot on).

One day on Craigslist, this came up.......

Cheap $500, "was running great" till a tree decided to wack it. One vacuum hose and a new clutch master (they thought it needed a new clutch), and I got it running again.

So now it's a death cart. I actually would be interested in seeing how light it is now....minus the glass, bedsides and fenders I'm sure it's at least 200 pounds lighter.

I used a floor jack to pop up the cab roof for now. I trimmed the bed sides off... I'll be using the bed floor for the floor of the Dodge stepside.

This is already fun!

My plans.... I sometimes get so paralyzed in trying to plan out the next ten moves, that NOTHING happens! I'm hoping this thread will help me out in that regard, keeping me on task.

I want to strip the Dodge of its body, scrap the frame. I don't have a lot of space to work in, so I have to do this in pretty much one day. One problem with the old frame is disposing of it. All the scrap yards want a title with it. I want to keep the title for it, as I'll still have it licensed as a 1955 truck. I don't have the space to keep it and wait for someone on Craigslist to take it away for free.

The cabmounts will be kind of easy to do... having said that, I need to continue to learn about welding. I did take a class, but obviously will need to learn more.

One other issue is the steering column. I'm pretty sure I'll neeed to shorten it. The first gen ines seem like they're pretty easy to move in. The second gen ones have this big aluminum mount that doesn't mount directly to the firewall, there's a cantilevered box frame that it mounts off of. I'll have to take some pics of that.

I do love the label maker my wife got for me... makes labeling so easy and fast.

Right now it'll live with its 4 cylinder engine. I'll copy the Driveabeater formula for handling, and play in the CAM class eventually. Thanks for following along!

Cut the frame up and recycle it or haul it to the scrap yard like that. If it doesn't look like a frame, they won't care.

Yay!!! Im inspirational!!

I have more s10 knowledge than what was posted if you have any questions. It also appears that the parts truck is a zq8 package. Is it?

Hmmm... re The ZQ option... where are the option codes for these? I didn't see anything in the glove box. It does look like it has newer rear springs. Anyway to tell for sure? It's a pretty basic 2.2L truck 5 speed, no AC, no stereo even!

Once I get the body on, I'll be sure to hit you up Dusterb13 for tips. I like what you did with really pretty basic upgrades without going crazy. Also like the Targa Newfoundland C10

Even with his current LS engine set back, he's using stock front swing arms, and doing pretty well.

Can't wait to get really going with this.

Easiest way to tell is rear sway bar and a brace from side to side on the front bed mounts.

Looking at the pictures again, the tell tales i thought I saw were figments of my imagination. Hopefully im wrong about being wrong though.

Now id the time to box the frame. Something i wish I had done to the drivabeater. And build an x brace for the mid section of the frame.

I don't know but it sounds like this has quickly become less the daughters truck and more Dads?

Haha! What gives you that idea?? Yes. My sweet sixteen year old is now 21. We did have fun with it together, but it's never been really driver friendly. This is part "get it together so we can both enjoy it", and a lot of.... "well, you've been busy at college, I'd like some fun too." :). She'd just like to see it complete.