Pro Touring S10 - "Quicksand"

[SRD Art]

Some of you know that my son and I are G-body wagon guys. We also like S10s, and as we're building our wagons to be more than daily drivers we both picked up an S10 to putt around town in. Mine is an 88 Blazer, click here for a couple pics (https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56679&highlight=jimbo). My son picked up a beater '84 pickup that will be his first ground up build, doing almost all the mechanical, body and paint work himself.

The set up is: Engine is a 355 with Scat rods KB 10.5:1 pistons, a .540" roller cam and Engine Quest circle track heads topped by an air gap dual plane and 750 Holley. Trans is a T-56 6 speed from an LT Camaro. Suspension is DJM drop spindles, 700# drop springs, Belltech shocks, Belltech 3" drop leafs and 4" blocks. C5 Corvette 13" brakes on UMI brake adapter brackets are wrapped by 18x9 XXR wheels and 275-35 Nitto NT555s all the way around. Coming soon is a disc 8.8" Ford rear axle swap and more UMI suspension upgrades for better handling. 👍

Here's a few pics of where he's at with it. More coming soon!

1. I did a rendering for him when we started the project to give him some guidance and motivation. He'll be using late model Toyota truck tan and the hood louver is from a late model Camaro.

https://i.imgur.com/pWFKCvE.jpg

2 & 3. Mocking up for hood mods.

https://i.imgur.com/kzIilXo.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/audb6Ky.jpg

4. The truck should be somewhere around 3000-3200 lbs so the 13" "budget" C5 brakes should help it stop real well.

https://i.imgur.com/duAAEzr.jpg

[Roscoe03]

This will be awesome! What better way to bond between father and son.

[CamaroAJ]

Pretty sure G body tubular control arms bolt right on to an s10 if I remember right.

[SRD Art]

Thanks Roscoe, and yeah it is.

You are correct AJ, aside from the steering linkage because the S10 is narrower G-body front suspension is a direct bolt in for S10s.

[rixtrix1]

Lower arm bolts on S10's are 1/2", I believe, and G-bodies are 12MM, so you have to make sure you have the correct inner sleeve. I haven't changed my lower arms on my truck to aftermarket, never bothered to check the size and just used a die grinder to slot the holes when I relocated the rear mounting point for more caster and to center the wheel in the fender better. These are really neat projects, Ben and Roman!

Ben, did you know that Speedway Motors, Lincoln , NE, offers a G-body centerlink that's supposed to help with the inherent bumpsteer problem with these cars? The inner tie rod end mounting points have been moved. I haven't investigated it as it fits nothing I own, but the theory is solid and probably is safer than welding new mounting points onto an existing center link.

[SRD Art]

Thanks for the input!

[syborg tt]

I am in love and can't wait to see more.

[SRD Art]

Thanks Marty!

We've had a problem with the heads and after doing lots and lots of internet research and talking to different engine builders and circle track racers that often use these heads still no answers. What a headache it's been dealing with a problem no one has ever dealt with before. We even sent them back to the engine builder we bought them from. After inspecting them he was convinced our Comp rocker arms were defective, despite them working fine on other heads we have, and he sent the heads back saying use a different rocker. I finally had a great conversation with Judson Massingill, the director of the Texas based School of Automotive Machinists and engine masters top 5 competitor. He confirmed what I had thought, the rocker stud mounts are machined in the wrong location- closer to the valve than they should be, making it impossible to get decent rocker arm geometry. Since the distributor we got them from wouldn't warranty them our only option was take them to a local machine shop and have the stud bosses machined shorter and we'll have to run a pretty short push rod so to get the rocker tips to line up on the middle of the valve tip. Although the geometry is off Judson and our local machinist assured us for what the engine will be used for and the cam and rpm range it'll see there wouldn't be any issues with doing this.

Roman's getting close with the rest of the truck's repairs and upgrades and we're anticipating getting the heads back from the machine shop this week so we're hoping by the end of the month it'll be back on the road. More coming soon...

[ScotI]

Some of you know that my son and I are G-body wagon guys. We also like S10s, and as we're building our wagons to be more than daily drivers we both picked up an S10 to putt around town in. Mine is an 88 Blazer, click here for a couple pics (https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56679&highlight=jimbo). My son picked up a beater '84 pickup that will be his first ground up build, doing almost all the mechanical, body and paint work himself.

The set up is: Engine is a 355 with Scat rods KB 10.5:1 pistons, a .540" roller cam and Engine Quest circle track heads topped by an air gap dual plane and 750 Holley. Trans is a T-56 6 speed from an LT Camaro. Suspension is DJM drop spindles, 700# drop springs, Belltech shocks, Belltech 3" drop leafs and 4" blocks. C5 Corvette 13" brakes on UMI brake adapter brackets are wrapped by 18x9 XXR wheels and 275-35 Nitto NT555s all the way around. Coming soon is a disc 8.8" Ford rear axle swap and more UMI suspension upgrades for better handling.


This should be a cool project as it's hard not to like a square S10.
Where did you source the 700# drop springs? How much was the 'advertised' drop?

[SRD Art]

Thanks Scot, he's getting pretty close to having it running now, hopefully by the end of the month. We ordered a set of Moog 5662 Coil springs from Summit, listed on Moog's website as 748 lb. spring rate. He cut off 1.5 coils which is what the average that most S10 guys were doing. That theoretically will increase rate even more but we just say 700 lb. to keep it simple. ;) Right now the truck is maybe 1/2-1" higher than what we're after but we need to drive it a bit to let things settle and then we'll asses how we like the ride height again.

BTW these same springs work in a G-Body, I have them in one of our cars with 3/4 coil cut off to yield about 2 1/2" drop.

[syborg tt]

Thanks Marty!

We've had a problem with the heads and after doing lots and lots of internet research and talking to different engine builders and circle track racers that often use these heads still no answers. What a headache it's been dealing with a problem no one has ever dealt with before. We even sent them back to the engine builder we bought them from. After inspecting them he was convinced our Comp rocker arms were defective, despite them working fine on other heads we have, and he sent the heads back saying use a different rocker. I finally had a great conversation with Judson Massingill, the director of the Texas based School of Automotive Machinists and engine masters top 5 competitor. He confirmed what I had thought, the rocker stud mounts are machined in the wrong location- closer to the valve than they should be, making it impossible to get decent rocker arm geometry. Since the distributor we got them from wouldn't warranty them our only option was take them to a local machine shop and have the stud bosses machined shorter and we'll have to run a pretty short push rod so to get the rocker tips to line up on the middle of the valve tip. Although the geometry is off Judson and our local machinist assured us for what the engine will be used for and the cam and rpm range it'll see there wouldn't be any issues with doing this.

From past experience I have learned to give on parts like that and buy parts that everyone is familiar with. Trust me it cost me Thousands and Thousands of dollars on my old truck. Lesson learned thus the reason I did an LS1 this go round.


Roman's getting close with the rest of the truck's repairs and upgrades and we're anticipating getting the heads back from the machine shop this week so we're hoping by the end of the month it'll be back on the road. More coming soon...

I can't wait to see more updates as I plan to build another s10 in the future.

[SRD Art]

For those that may be interested in meeting Roman and the truck he's got a Youtube channel with some build videos. He's got another long awaited update video that should be uploaded soon. Click Here (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiXALMZevYYukFdamgKBZg/videos) to check them out. Be sure to subscribe to follow along. :)

[SRD Art]

We mostly went with Engine Quest because they're widely used in circle track as a legal stock type classes iron head that flows better than a Vortec, and the price is way better than most aftermarket heads. Many racers have good luck with them. Not sure how ours got so whacked out, if it was from the factory or the engine builder that sold them to us but either way it looks like they'll work out. With the retro roller cam we have it should be a solid 425-450 hp and about 480 ft lbs, pretty typical for this complete set up. Agreed with the LS swap, Roman has a 6.0L LS for his Cutlass wagon's future rebuild.

[ScotI]

Thanks Scot, he's getting pretty close to having it running now, hopefully by the end of the month. We ordered a set of Moog 5662 Coil springs from Summit, listed on Moog's website as 748 lb. spring rate. He cut off 1.5 coils which is what the average that most S10 guys were doing. That theoretically will increase rate even more but we just say 700 lb. to keep it simple. ;) Right now the truck is maybe 1/2-1" higher than what we're after but we need to drive it a bit to let things settle and then we'll asses how we like the ride height again.

BTW these same springs work in a G-Body, I have them in one of our cars with 3/4 coil cut off to yield about 2 1/2" drop.

This is why I enquired. I swapped a set of Hotchkis 1"drop 600# springs into a g-body recently & it's chewing up the inners (<2k miles). Previous builds I did used a 650# spring but I couldn't find the mfr for this one. The similar g-body set-up using the 650# springs (& similar gas charged/mono-tube shocks) didn't have the buzzing so I need to increase the front spring rate slightly.

[syborg tt]

Digging this bad boy back up.

Any chance this truck is still being worked on.

[SRD Art]

Thanks for asking! Yes, it's on the road. It's in the break in period and we're working out the bugs right now. Once we get it past this stage we'll take it out for some more photos and video. I've been with Roman on some part throttle pulls and it'll plant you in the seat. We're both looking forward to the 500 mile mark. :drive:

https://i.imgur.com/VABXleK.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DJ3JHJg.jpg

[syborg tt]

I am so happy to see it on the road. I miss my s15's and one I will have one again.

Please post more pics when you out and about.

[SRD Art]

We will for sure. I've been so busy with work I didn't photo document this build much. He's been videoing it for his Youtube channel though. He's a bit behind on editing/posting but he's working on it now that he's got it running. You can keep up with what he's going on by clicking HERE (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJiXALMZevYYukFdamgKBZg).

[sls1025]

It's looking great Ben !

[SRD Art]

Thanks Shawn!

Roman's got the next installment of the Quicksand build up on Youtube, "painting the frame". Check it out at the link below! Please like, subscribe and support the vendors by watching the ads, that stuff helps Roman fund his sweet project and keeps the younger generation playing with old cars!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDFtx_XLdnE

[ScotI]

Tell him well done on the YT video. Definitely watch-able....

[SRD Art]

I will Scot, thanks for the compliment, he'll appreciate hearing that!