S10 Fram Question

[taccord1986]

I have a 1947 ford truck that i want to turn into a rat rod. I am trying to figure out what to do with the frame. I am looking at a 1987 s10 with a 2.4 It says fuel injected but it looks like it has a carb. What i am thinking is buying that truck taking it all apart putting my cab and bed on it wiring it up and driving it like that I will be running with a grill cab and bed. Kind of something simillar to this picture that i am attaching. Oh i forgot to mention that the truck is 4 wheel Drive. I am looking at doing it this way because of money and i think with all the newer parts it would be easier to find parts at orileys ext...plus might even do some hwy driving. Please any info will help I will start a build thread most likely next week when i start it.

 

[Old Iron]

First question that pops into mine little feeble mind is, why a S10 four wheel drive to start with? Is your hot rod going to to be a four wheel drive?

 

[Yankee Transplant]

it wont look like that with the s-10 front end under it .. ive got a chevy sub under mine ,, it dont matter what I do to it I just dont like it .. Im going with the strait axle ,,, and hope to make it the single spring from side to side . this is my project thats in the corner till I get all my steel , and other parts together for the front end

 

[taccord1986]

I know it wont look exactly like that But i can do some tweaks to it to make it look pretty cool i think. Well i hope ha ha ha the only reason 4wd because i found a running driving 4wd s10 for 800 bucks

 

[Old Iron]

I know it wont look exactly like that But i can do some tweaks to it to make it look pretty cool i think. Well i hope ha ha ha the only reason 4wd because i found a running driving 4wd s10 for 800 bucks

I think you're spending your money on the wrong S10 but, the key word is your

 

[taccord1986]

Yankee I see what you mean by the front end with the frame rails i am guessing is what you dont like How they stick out to far when your grill is sitting there I think the truck looks pretty bad ass though

 

[taccord1986]

Old iron what do you mean. If you are talking about the 4WD i will just be disconnecting that Because i dont really care about the 4wd

 

[Old Iron]

That's what I 'm talking about. You can buy a S10 2 wheel drive dang nert anywhere for $500 $800.
Please don't take this as, I know it all because I don't.
If you're going to build a 4 wheel drive then I missed the point of the build.

 

[Yankee Transplant]

as far as my rat with the sub ,,,, (If I had too) , Id leave it like it is,,, but I dont have too ,, ive got time because its got everything there .. and its ready to go as far as steering shocks springs .. its all ready... but I just want the axle ahead of the radiator. plus the pipes I want on it will hit the tires on this set up.. this sub was already on my frame so I just cut it up and lowered it to the way I wanted it to look . then chopped the cab . and now all I have to do is my front end .. I'll start on a build thread when I get all my stuff together.

 

[taccord1986]

Yankee Thats kind of why i was looking at this S10 since it is all complete I wanted to make sure it was possible to do what i was thinking to do. All the tweaks i can figure out when the time comes. I just wanted to make sure that spending my 800 dollars i was actually going to get a s10 frame that i could use . I just dont want to waste my money if everyone it telling me not to do it because it for sure wont work then i wont do it. Since this is my first rat i wanted to start with something that had everything. I didnt want to build a frame for my self or drop 3k on a pre made frame since it is my first one

 

[Yankee Transplant]

well if you can live with the look of a suspension like that,, it will be easy-er but you will have to gut the front chunk out of it and remove the cv shafts ,,, if you can run them with out the shaft ,,, the shaft on a ford is the only thing that holds the bearing together ,,, I dont know about an s-10 ... so it may still be in your best interest to look for a 2 wheel drive ... dont get in a hurry or you will end up with something you cant use its hard but dont buy the first thing you find get what you know will work that others have used ... look around on this site ,,, but thats just my opinion from my own past experience.. ive jumped the gun and bought stuff that just wouldnt work ,,, come close but just wont work

 

[Yankee Transplant]

Hey look at Ford49Rat he has a s-10 frame on his , you can get alot of imfo on that build

I think there is one on here that has a ranger frame too .. I cant remember who on that one .. just cruise around the builds for a while and see what fits you better ..

 

[taccord1986]

Ok cool i will

 

[taccord1986]

That is almost what i am looking to do I am guessing his frame was not a 4WD

 

[Yankee Transplant]

nope It was a 2 ... if your thinking on the 4wd check and make sure you can remove the axles and the bearing will stay together ... that will make your mind up quick if it dont stay together ,,and to get it to sit as low as mine I had to take out the bump stop ..and cut 1&1/2 loops out of my spring .. so that means it will most likely bottom out if I hit a big enough dip

 

[30sx]

the trouble with s10 frames are shown in some of the pics, the grill looks strange because the grill is forward of the front wheels,that,s why people use a solid axle. if you really want to use a s10 frame get the long wheelbase 2wd move the motor back and put the grill between thefront crossmember and the engine, that will give you the proper look

 

[Yankee Transplant]

30sx is correct and Ive seen some that the radiator kind-of hides or draws attention away from the spring/a-frame if the rad, is even or behind the tires it just looks better

 

[taccord1986]

Well i am almost thinking of going 4wd because i live in North dakota ha ha ha but the axle is out of it right now so the 4wd dont work but the truck runs and drives

 

[30sx]

carry on[

 

[Yankee Transplant]

well there are a few 4x4 rats on you tube One that comes to mind is a woman sitting on the roof on a side of a mountain or something she looks ,, I mean that thing looks good ,,, but I like anything 4x4 .. I think they used a jeep frame with it ,, Im thinking it even ended up with a jeep grill and tailgate ,, look under jeepster truck or 4x4 rat rod on you tube