1946 Ford Truck over S10 Frame.

Wanted to start a build thread here for my future reference and any help I might need from you guys. I also want people to be able to search in the future for '46 Ford Truck builds to maybe help them along being theirs not a lot on the net.

I started out with a 1946 Ford Truck that I picked up from a local guy here a couple months ago. I was originally going to rat rod it on a Z frame, but just didn't have the heart to tear it apart that far the way it sat. I wanted to give it a second life, but I also wanted it to be a lowered, ass kickin' truck that had a late model suspension and an LS motor to throw under the hood. Here it is as bought.



I found a long bed S10 regular cab that has a wheelbase of 117" as a donor frame. The '46 Ford is 114". Here it is at the sellers house before loading it on the trailer.



Here it is stripped down within a few hours.



Here it is sandblasted and ready for the real work to begin. Old body mounts are also stripped.





While it was being sandblasted, I was actively looking for a Ford 8.8 rear end that is a 4:10 posi to throw under it. It is pretty much a direct bolt-in to the stock 2WD S10 and the wheels and tires I picked up were going to be a good fit. The S10 WMS distance was 54-1/2" and the new Ford 8.8 WMS distance is right at 59-3/4" which is perfect width with 1" wheel spacers that also converted the 5x4.5 to the 5x4.75 wheel bolt pattern for me. No axle drilling or anything needed. A direct bolt on. By the way, the wheels and tires are from a 2007 C6 Corvette.



I also picked up a 2004 5.3 LS truck motor and the 4L60E that came with it that have 64,000 miles on them. I am currently in the process of swapping out the tail shaft because it was a 4x4 and the 2WD output shaft is longer. Yes, it had to come almost all the way down to swap the output shaft! Ugh..... Anyways, also got the entire wiring harness off and it is being shipped out tomorrow to Oklahoma to get 4-wired, which means totally simplified for install. It will have a positive, negative, ignition, and starter wire. Pretty simple!

Also got the old body removed yesterday for mock-up. Now the real work begins. I will keep posting as I go here.

Body removed and now the stock rolling chassis is up for sale.



First stage of mock-up



The front end placement will determine where exactly to put the cab for new body mounts to be fabricated. As you can see, it is going to take quite a bit of fabrication to make the front clip work. I will also need to modify either the frame or the front cab corners for it to look right.

I plan on leaving the body pretty much alone. I might do some light sanding on it and a satin clear or something, but that is it. It will also get all new tinted glass.

I forgot to mention above that I also fabricated some 1/2" spacers to go between the rear leafs and the axle perches that moved the rear end forward 2". This should be enough as the fenders as you can see on this thing are huge. I am shooting for around 5-6" of space below the running boards when complete. I will adjust that with suspension mods when the body is set. That is the beauty of the S10 because of all the aftermarket parts and the affordable prices.

l like it

subscribed[P




Later

Very nice stuff.

Your extremely clean shop floor is an embarrassment to us all...









Oh wait, I meant my shop floor is embarrassing compared to your nice clean floor.


Seriously though, this is one I'll be watching along. Good work.

I have always wanted to do an S10 frame swap.
Nice project

Looking for an affordable cab to swap on my daily S-10 right now. Thanks for the excellent documentation............... [P

Looks like a great start!

The other beauty of the S10 is the frame can be shortened easily right behind the trans cross member. Grind the weld, separate, trim the excess, slide back together and weld. Depending on your welding skills it will look factory.

Made some progress on the truck last night. I had to tear the whole front end apart to get the new frame-mounts on for the engine mounts. They were nutted from the bottom side as Chevrolet assumed you would never have to change that side of the mount. The only way to get to them was through a little pocket directly above the hinge point for the lower control arms. Of course on a 25 year old truck I destroyed the ball joints, so I had to do all that too. Oh well, it has new ones now. I used big heavy freight straps and the frame to compress the springs back up. Not to bad though. I bought my mounts from http://www.jagsthatrun.com/ for the LS conversion into the S10.



Here's the engine wiring harness getting ready to be sent off.



I did have to remove the air conditioning compressor and the exhaust manifolds to get the engine in. I will also need to move the transmission cross-member back a few inches. I will be getting headers from the same place I bought the mounts from. I haven't decided if I will notch the frame yet for air conditioning. It is a Rat Rod you know! Here it is sitting in the truck.





Not a lot of clearance between the oil pan and the crossmember, but it should work fine.



I will now get some measurements I need and pull it back out to start the front clip rebuild for ride height and setting it. The front end position is what I will base the rest of the body off of.

Aaron

Looks like a great start. Keep us posted on your progress. [cl

I'm in! [P

awesome

Great...
maybe just what i need for a 1938 chevy cab (no frame) I'm buying
I'm in

On the S10 right behind the front suspension, the frame doglegs out for side impact crashes as seen in above photos. This causes a problem on some of the older trucks cabs because of the way the front cab corners angle in. Today I cut the frame rails straight and welded new plates in to set the cab on. These doglegs basically have to be removed. The drivers side is good with just the outer plate because of the way it rolls under into like an "L" shape for the tranny crossmember to sit on. The passengers side is a different story. If you just put a plate on the outside, it gets really thin in there so you have to go to the inside and beef it up from the inside also. In the picture below of the passenger rail, I have not done the inside work yet. I wanted to get the cab on and look at where cab mounts will go first to make sure their are no issues.







Not only did I have to straighten out the doglegged frame, but I also had to do some creative corner fab work on the cab itself to get it to drop over the rails. Next, it is getting a new firewall and floor which will be channeled about 3" inches or so to drop the cab lower to the bottom of the fenders. This will require me to take that height out of the hood also, but will give it a lowered, mean look. It should give it a more proportioned look.

Id like to follow along.lol Looking good so far.

Been moving forward on the build, new firewall, engines set, headers installed, steering box installed and looking good, radiator and front clip support done. Next is removing the cab to get the entire drivetrain finished including brakes, fuel system for LS motor and driveshaft installed. While the cab is off, I will be doing some sheetmetal work to it. I will try and get more pictures later. To be centered in the grill, the radiator has to sit pretty far below the engine. I guess I will just blank off the cap and use an expansion tank? Anyone have any experience to this?

NICE!!![cl[cl[[P

Thanks for sharing!

Regards,
Shea

All that work and still not a speck of dirt anywhere, not even any dust. I can trash my garage just changing my oil.

Going to follow this build, you are doing some excellent work![dr

Project

This information is very useful indeed. I am collecting to do a similar build. I have an old dodge to move over to an s10 chassis. I am thinking short bed frame tho. Cool to know the frame can be shortened as well

Frame is very easy to shorten Rusty01. Here are a few more pics. I made the grill out of 1/2" rebar. It will look good when I get the bumper installed tomorrow. As you can see their is plenty of room behind the radiator for the 16" electric fan that should be here Friday. I am currently working on the cab mounts and the steering column. It's coming along.........

allright

looking great..... [cl

l'd scruff and clear coat the "paint" and call it done.

the patina looks perfect.

Later....