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FullSize S10 Bogger/Mud Racer

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toomany

toomany

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toomany submitted a new Build:

FullSize S10 Bogger/Mud Racer

I guess you could call this a build thread. Mainly going to try to use it to keep track of my progress/notes/bounce ideas around.

I've been using my K5 as a bogger in the local bogs, and while it works great it has some downfalls. It's heavy (for a comp rig) and the manual transmission isn't doing it any favors. The motor that I run for the bogs is all top end, not good for daily use/trails (which is why I swapped it out for the Bundy Hill run).

A couple months back I picked up an 86 K10. I originally bought it from a high school friend, sold it to my cousin then I bought it back. Truck has 60/14, 350/465/205, solid cab and pretty trashed front clip/box. Plan was to use this as a bogger, gut as much weight as I could and go from there. I've been collecting parts for this for awhile but there are still quite a few things to get.

Before I even started with the K10 I got to thinking of way to shed weight, what's lighter than a K10 cab? One half the size, so the hunt was on for a solid S10 to steal the body from. I saw a few for decent prices but they were rustier than I wanted to start with. Eventually a solid cab/clip showed up for $300, picked it up for $200...figured I find some box sides later. Well later came around about a month later when another one popped up for best offer before it hit the scrap yard. $100 got me another really clean cab/clip/box, Only plan to use the box but the fenders are good for mock-up...plus it's nice to have spares.

Eventually I will run a BBC, but to get things going I'm going to start with the SBC that I had in the K5. Transmission will be Th350 hooked to a 205. Will keep the 60/14, re-gear to 4.88's or so. I've also got a 10 bolt I could use up front to lose more weight/gain ground clearance.

So far I've gotten the K10 stripped down and the S10 cab mounted. Working on the front end. I've put the BBC in there to give me the "worst case scenario" on clearances. So some of the pictures have the SBC and some have the BBC. Only have a few random pictures as of right now, will take some more once I get back out to the barn.


What I started with. I've got some more pictures of the blue truck in my K5 thread. Put my Boggers on because that is what the truck will be running. Obviously this is mid tear down. Truck cab is real solid. The box has seen better days and the front fenders are getting real bad....
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Read more about this build here...

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I like it! Be fun to watch you continue to build it. Any idea on final color?
 
I might go with red, only have to do the box sides that way sense I've got the matching red front end and doors.
 
Wow, gets me all nostalgic. My first build was an s10 on a fullsize frame. It's what got me into all this.

I am in for the awesomeness :popcorn:
 
Managed to get out to the barn for a few hours tonight. Spent the first hour cleaning and straightening things up. Went to finish the holes in my body mounts but my step bit crapped out on me. I got far enough to where I could get the cab back up and bolted down with the poly mounts. Put the red front clip on and started thinking how I'm going to do the mounts for the core support. Also finished trimming off the old stock body mounts inside the frame.


New poly mounts. IIRC they are for a 67-72 2wd GM truck. They were cheap on Ebay.




Holes sort of drilled, need to go like 1/4" bigger so the lip on the bushing will drop in.






Diy4x motor mounts I picked up on black friday. After seeing how far the stock style lets the motor move around I knew I wanted something better.




Front end I'm going to use. Will trim up the core support/fenders some. Also cut off about 6" of the front of the frame. Went back as far as I could, up to the spring hangers.






The grill is almost flush with the front now. Not sure what I'm going to do for a bumper yet.







It's pretty tight under the hood, which I think will help keep it cleaner (and the fact the tires are mostly outside the fenders). Most of the core support will get cut away, it just needs to hold the fenders apart. Radiator is going in the back.











I think that's all I got done tonight out there. Might try making it back out in the next few days...if not then, the weekend.
 
JoshHefnerX said:
That oil filter's had a hard life!
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Years ago I was trying to load some scrap on to my trailer with the cherry picker. Being in the grass the picker didn't want to move with my 140lbs pushing it. So I get the bright idea to lift the load up and back the trailer under it. Well that didn't go so hot, I went too far and back into the cherry picker...tipping it over. This bent it, it doesn't look bent but when you lift something up it has a lean to it. The higher you lift the more it leans/gets unstable.

When I bought the BBC we were unloading it from the guys truck. An all iron BBC with the torque converter still attached it quite heavy, enough to tip over the cherry picker when you're pushing it across the driveway and hit a crack. The oil filter took the majority of the hit on that fall. When I went to load it onto the trailer to get it back to the barn, I didn't know I was only part way on the drive way. Had the motor just high enough to clear the side and started pushing. The picker was leaning hard to the right and that happened to be the side that dropped off the driveway and into the soft dirt, down it went again....right onto the filter.

I've sense gotten a new, heavier duty cherry picker. It's much heavier/stable and pushes so much easier with a load on it. But, it doesn't fold up and is a pain for me to load onto to the trailer to get it back up front. So I keep the old Harbor Freight one around for that. I've got some tube that fit into a receiver hitch I'm going to weld to the bottom of it. That way I can plug it into the back of a truck and move stuff around the yard easier.
 
Made a little bit of progress today.

I tried doing the mounts for the core support last night. After a few hours I had some abortion of a set of mounts that I really wasn't happy with. Apparently trying to build something on 3 hours of sleeps isn't the best idea. Went out there again today and cut everything off to start fresh. Used some 1x3 rectangle tube and some 2x2 box to build this setup. Also put the hitch back in, will probably add a few braces for it.

It looks tweaked because the fame isn't square. One rail is further forward than the other. Truck was a plow truck that got rear-ended. When the frame was boxed (I bought it that way), they didn't bother to measure much. I've got the body sitting on there square, but the mounts reflect the oddities of the frame. Hopefully it isn't too noticeable once everything is back together and the bumper is on.






After getting that done I was able to start disassembling to swap the input gear in the 205, dig out the Th350 I'm going to start with and put the SBC back in. But since I had help there I figured I'd put them to work and toss the box on to get an idea of what it'll look like. The box will get cut down quite a bit in the end.

Wheelbase lined up ok. Still would be happier if I could get the cab further forward, but I'm at about the limit there.








The truck is all blown apart again now. Next time I get out there I'll pull the t-case and get going on the input gear.
 
Seeing it together like that, I'm surprised the wheelbase was actually that close! Looks good.
 
JoshHefnerX said:
Seeing it together like that, I'm surprised the wheelbase was actually that close! Looks good.
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Most people start with a K5 frame, but most people also do a giant body lift to get the cab up over the motor so the front wheel arch lines up over the wheel. I wanted to avoid the monster body lift as much as I could. I think it helps that I swapped in the 64" springs years ago when I owned the truck, that moved the rear axle forward quite a few inches. If you look at the first picture in post 1 you can kind of see how the tire is all the way at the front of the wheel well.
 
looking good, that should be a beast! Love the BBC!
 
max 02 said:
I think it looks good!
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76zimmer said:
looking good, that should be a beast! Love the BBC!
Click to expand...


Thanks!

The BBC will go back in eventually. Plan is to use the small block to get the chassis sorted out, and because I know how well it runs and I can be competitive with it. The 454 will get freshened up then dropped in. Still on the look out for a set of heads...either 781's or 049's. I did do some trading for stroker crank. Traded the extra Nv4500 I picked up a while ago, so 496 is probably in the future too. I've got a good bare block ready to go for that already.
 
Looks great man. Front support looks identical to how I built mine. Can wait to see this thing get closer. Great work!
 
Had a decent day out there today.

Started out by doing some maintenance on the daily drivers then got going on the S10. Dropped the T-case off and swapped out the input gear to the correct 27spline Th350 one. Next I pulled the 454 and Th350 out of the frame to get that cleaned up/painted some. Finished off with dropping the SBC with the good Th350 and 205 back into the frame. Once I open up the holes in the body mounts a little bit more I'll be able to slide the cab back up and start reassembly again..

Empty-ish frame. I also took the master cylinder/combo valve and brake lines off. I'm going with a manual brake cylinder and running new lines. Wheeled the rust off and only put some paint on the bare metal spots. The power washing after each use really does a number on the paint. Using a cheap rattle can paint makes it easy to touch up. Plus I still need to add a few tabs/brackets to the frame and cheap paint doesn't hurt as much as fancy epoxy paint when you need to grind it back off.





The 4500rpm converter next to the stock one. No clue as to how it will stall behind my motor, if it sucks....I'm only into it $50. If I don't like it I may try the stock one or find another one that suits me better.




350/350/205 back in the frame. Having no cab/front end to work around makes it real nice to install.






I've got other things I can do before moving the cab back forward, but that is high on the priority list right now.
 
Hmmmm I'll be watching this. As against everything Ive typically come to like as it is I think I'll be building something very similar down the road for mud drags when I move to VA.
 
There really isn't much around here other than mud. It's about a two hour tailer ride to get to anywhere for something else (sand, rocks, etc). This is something I've wanted to do for a while now, been collecting parts for it and have a real good idea for the direction I'm going with most everything on it.

I will say this, the major downside of the the mud is the maintnace it takes. Weather you make one pass or a dozen, you need to plan on a couple hours with the power washer and some time going through wheel bearings, brakes and u-joints.
 
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