dhutton01
Backyard Hack
I sold this pickup to a good friend and did a quick patina build for him. He’s an 80 year old ex Air Force pilot and he wanted it in a hurry so he could get on the road and enjoy it. 3.5 months and roughly 500 hours later it sits on an S10 frame with all new suspension, steering, C5 Corvette brakes, 8.5” 10 bolt with 3.73 gears. The frame mod kit was from Code 504. LT engine and 8 speed automatic out of an Escalade. The wheels are off a Caprice PPV. We used them because the leadtime for the artillery wheels he wanted was 16 weeks. Vintage Air and power windows. Newport Engineering wipers. Dakota Digital gauges connected to the ECM. E-Stopp electric e-brake. The crank out windshield is fully functional as is the cowl vent. Custom 2.5” stainless exhaust with LT4 stainless tri-y exhaust manifolds. Electric exhaust cutouts. Spal brushless fans with PWM control. I laid the radiator back Corvette style to clear the S10 steering box. Completely rewired with American Autowire Highway 15 harness. Hidden stereo with powered subwoofer under the seat. The frame was blasted and 3 coats of SPI epoxy applied. The only rust through was in the right side cowl behind the fender. It was cut out and patch panels installed. I found some chalk red paint that matched the color under the fender. These trucks don’t have double wall cab corners so they don’t rust out. The undersides of the cab, fenders, running boards and bed sides etc were blasted, epoxied and bedliner applied. I know bedliner is frowned on here but all my customers request it since it is the norm in protouring style builds. 14 coats SPI Euro clear on the oak bed. Someone applied an unknown coating to the exterior that I was unable to remove so I could not apply matte clear like I usually do. I think it is Penetrol and will apply another coat before it leaves. The dash, door panels etc were treated to SPI matte clear. He’s taking it to an upholstery shop to have the seat, kick panels, headliner etc covered in brown leather. New custom carpet too. The seat is a third row seat out of a Caravan
Extensive sound deadener and insulation was used and the cab is suprisingly quiet. The ride is smooth and it handles well as I found the large front sway bar and rear sway bar from an S10 Extreme pickup. Bilstein shocks were also installed. It is fairly quick too with 420 hp and 450 ft lbs torque.
Still a few things to finish up. Horn button, front end alignment etc. I’ll try to get a few better pics with the fresh coat of penetrol.
Don
Extensive sound deadener and insulation was used and the cab is suprisingly quiet. The ride is smooth and it handles well as I found the large front sway bar and rear sway bar from an S10 Extreme pickup. Bilstein shocks were also installed. It is fairly quick too with 420 hp and 450 ft lbs torque.
Still a few things to finish up. Horn button, front end alignment etc. I’ll try to get a few better pics with the fresh coat of penetrol.
Don