what i do when im not working or playing with rc10's.

[matthew john]

i have so many freaking projects, it aint even funny. some times,i think im in too deep.hopefully in a month or two things will calm down.

since this truck got stolen ($7 grand down the drain)waiste of of money and 8 months. total cost add up to a little over $7 thousand. 1983 s10 4x4,did a body swap, complete over haul. too much to list. guy who was helping me switched vin tags,sold it when i left for millitary training.couldnt do a darn thing about. long story.



this is the last time i saw it and worked on it. below are during stages.









since this truck got stolen, i decided to get another one,a ford ranger, doing the same thing, but this ranger wont be as built up as i had built my s10. the s10 had $7 grand in it, this ranger is at $1100.
in a reply post ill post my new truck project. stay tuned!!

[matthew john]

truck in first picture is after the new cab and front clip was put on.chassis was sand blasted and painted, motor was overhauled. i completly rebuilt the motor before i did the cab swap,transmission and transer case where rebuilt, motor had cam and,edelbrock carb,edelbrock intake,edelbrock valve covers,headers i found in the junk yard for $100!!! custom built oil pan,oversized pistons (cylinders where bored to remove ridge) msd ignition system, brand new in boxes,never even installed em yet.had them in the truck when i left. axel came from a newer s10 and beefed up,front end was completely rebuilt,body that i got (cab and doors came from one truck, the front end and bed came from another) was about 99% rust free. bed and front clip was spotless. chrome bumpers where rechromed, new skyjacker lift kit and shocks.rear blocks where home built.
when i left , all i had to do was put in a new windshield, put the bed on, install the MSD ignition system,bleed the brakes and steering, bolt the passenger seat in, hook up the aftermarket gauges,put in a battery and go. truck was running when i left, steering was stiff and brakes didnt work. i had to leave for 2 weeks for ft . Irwin, . came back, truck was gone, he sold it. said i had left it there, switched the vin tags. he ended up putting in a 350 and sold it.my built up 2.8 got sold and put in another s10. switching vin tags is illegal. but i had gone to the DMV , told them what i was doing, showed titles for all the vehicles i was using for parts, and got a special contruction permitt.well, he took my vin tags for the truck, put them up, and took a set he had and put it in my 4x4 s10 that i was building up.then sold it with title and regstration that was in his name.
when i came back and found out what he done, i went to the cops,then i ended up signing over the title to the tags for the orininal truck. he treatened to get me introuble with illegally swithcing vin tags before building this truck. to top it off, he had cop friends too. so i got screwed big time.this guy has 40 acres of land, and has 235 s10's and blazers.after this all went down i relized what kind of guy he was. known him for about a year,he was a retired marine, almost was like a father figure.spent christmas and my b-day over there.trusted him, then he rips me off like that.that aint even the word , i lost $7000 and waisted a LOT of time. any way, i found a 83 ranger 4x4, lifted,didnt run. for $100 . got a set of alcoas and MTs for $400. ended up doing a complete body swap on this one too, bout to rebuild the motor,trust the transmission,do a duraspark conversion and holley 2 barrel carb conversion. trying to keep this build around $2000 total.
waiting for the pics to upload to photobucket,next post will have pics of my current 4x4 project the ranger.

[matthew john]

heres the current project 4x4 ranger. not as nice as the s10 4x4,but oh well.

this is it before



rest of pics are during the "tear down and build up"







pic above, i had to remove the rims and tires so i could lift the cab on to the chassy.i almost had it towed to the junkyard when it was like this.was gonna sell the lifted chassis with rims and tires or junk it. it sat like this for about a week.ended up putting on th new cab by myself, and it was raining to. i felt so miserable.but after the cab got put on, the next day i got it all bolted up, doors hood and body panels.



pic above, Parts truck before i started tearing in to it.





pics above is after i got the cab im using off the parts truck.

[matthew john]

these are misc pics of it being slowly put back together. this is after i got the replacment cab on. i used the doors and hood,quarter panels from the original truck. all i used from the parts truck was hood and cab,grille and motor.















pic above. you can see the original cab in the back ground



above is how she looks now. this weekend i have to transfer the clutch and brake pedal assymbly from the old cab to this one, hook up the park brake,hook up the steering colum, hook up the wiring harness, put in some missing bolts here and there,
start tearing down the motor from the parts truck. all im doing to the donor motor is a head job, replace all gaskets,main seals,
duraspark conversion,and holley carb. im hoping to have this done in about a month. everything i did my self, just paid a friend to help pull out the old motor. did it all in the back lot, in the rain sometimes. a few times i almost gave up, but i want this done , i want this truck to drive, so im gonna get it done. top it off, i got a 93 explorer that i have to fix the turn signals,re upholster the interior and then sell for a friend. i get 75% of what it gets sold for!!

so this is what i do when im not at work tinkering on humvees for uncle sam and playing with rc10's.
i think i need to slow down a bit

[Halgar]

That's quite the project. I look forward to watching it come together.

[matthew john]

Little update. i just got back from a trip outta state. bad news. the guy who had let me store my truck at his lot, called me and told me i had to get the truck off his property. neighbors complained about too many vehicles.
i have only 1 day to get it outta there . ( i got back monday,and he told me i got till noon on tuesday to get the truck off his land.) i have no place to park the truck, still dont run yet. so i have no other choice but to sell it. i told people $1000 , no one wanted to pay that much, so i said $500 firm. guy called and came and looked at it, told me $300. no one else wanted to pay anymore , so its getting sold for $300. i got $1200 invested in it. this was a waiste of money.

also to top it off, my v8 s10, is done. frame is twisted , so its considered totaled . have to junk it, instead im having it crushed so none of it can be salvaged. truck gets sold tuesday, my s10 gets crushed later that day.

what a way to start the week huh?

[mark]

Man you have some bad luck! Can't believe buddy sold the s10 out from under you, that thing was looking good.

[JPAE07]

Way to recycle these old trucks. I love the old Ford Rangers. Hate the I-beam front suspension setup though.

[matthew john]

oh i hate the front suspension. no clearance. not what i wanted to do with this truck.
the guy who was supposed to buy the truck flaked out. i rented a trailer, loaded it up, took it to his house. guy didnt answer the door or his phone. i was supposed to have it gone by noon, which i did, but didnt sell it. came back , to their lot, asked if they knew any one who wanted to buy it, then i was calling to find some one to take it for free, but he wouldnt let me keep my rims and tires, so i said the hell with that , then the dudes mom that let me store the truck there, ended up being her property, she said she thought i was building it up , i told her i was , but didnt have no place to take it, well aparently her son was supposed to have told me a month ago that i had to move it. so she let me park it in her drive way for now. doubt that ill be able to finish it, the motor i had for it got scraped with all the old parts. so now i have no motor. so if i an sell it i will, but cant let it sit real long. if i was to finish it, id have to find a motor FAST, and get on it. but i got enough projects, i got my s10, i gotta work on my daily driver which is the Ram charger. i also got many rc projects, i got 2 boxes coming in the mail that are project rc's from Gary. if i could find a motor Fast, id put my s10 in storage and knock out the ranger over a weekend. all i gotta do is drop in the motor, hook up the electric, top off the fluids and put in the seats. can be done in 2 days, but i aint got no motor 4 it rite now. nor do i have the money. just gotta take it one day at a time and see what happens. if i sell the ranger, ill be able to make my ram nicer, and fund some of my rc resto projects.

[matthew john]

UPDATE:

ford ranger project truck has a new owner! i couldnt sell it for what i wanted ($200) so i traded it for a 2 subs, kenwood amp,2 speakers and a sub box,and a cd player. i coulda traded just my rims for that stuff, but i got sick of watching the truck sit. but any way the guy who got it is going to build it up, he has the same truck, just going to swap motors.so at least ill see it on the road again sometime. kid was all excited to trade some sounds for a lifted motor less truck. i bet his dad thought i was stupid, he had a grin on his face as he was putting the tires and rims in the back of the truck. i said " oh yeah , i know those are real alcoa rims everyone wants.. im just sick of the truck sitting and dont want the rims taking up space"
his dad was shocked to see his son get an awesome truck, better that his actually. went to the dmv, and we got the title transfered in to the kids name. ive seen parents do that , take vehicles they get like that, my mom did that to me 3 times.
the fun thing is, im gonna take off some time from playing with my toys , to help this kid get his new toy going. (he's 15)
he has a 86 ranger, so we'll just pull his motor and trans and drop it in there.itll go after that . another thing is, he thinks the truck dont have interior.. it dont at the moment, but in storage i got full interior i made for the truck on my spare time over the last few months. i got a camoflauged dash board (covered with that mossy oak material and foam under it) got a set of used engine gauges in the dash,door panels are covered with the same material.i have all the plastic molding covered in the same stuff too, and then i got spares that i painted flat camo black, and 2 leather bucket seats.also got a complete a/c system i stole from a newer truck that i was gonna mod in to it. i was gonna keep all that crap, in case i got another truck,or sell it. but im stuck on my dodge ram and a new incoming old v8 s10, and id never be able to sell it for a decent price.
ill have fun helping the kid get the truck together, and just to see some one appreciate some thing. tell you what though, his dad is gonna want his truck when its done!
i just remember how things where when i was kid, id always hope for stupid little things like that, get some one elses junk.
i thought to myself, im never gonna miss this truck, its only gonna sit and never get done.so i let the kid trade me some sounds for it and boy is he gonna be a happy camper! hopefully itll get started this week end, ill take pics.

as for my old red v8 s10, its still sitting, might be getting parted out or sold as whole,or might fix it, i do have a frame lined up for it , but its a short bed frame. also my ram charger is a work in progress , reverse just quit working, so not for sure on whats up with it yet. also found a 86 v8 s10 with a 350/350. not running , i gotta put the headers on,put on a carb and adjust the timing. thing is old, was converted to v8 back in 87, been sitting since 1990. so this is gonna a fun old start cold start!! motor aint froze, all electrics work, brakes are stuck though. guy is asking a very little price for it , the cost of brand new headers. they took the headers back in 90, so he just bought a brand new set a month ago and a edelbrock carb, so the price for both of them , im getting them and the whole truck. has a cam already, roller rockers,center line convos wich i hate, ill use the ones one the red s10. has an old grant steering wheel, B&M rachet shifter,OLD aftermarket gauges , the usual 4:11 rear end,nice rusted chrome edelbrock valve covers and intake is a nasty white and grey color now. good deal for $1000, only catch is , it has the rear s10 rust spot where the cab wall meets the floor, and half the truck is a girly candy purple color with primered front end!! if the guy can hold it long enough , ill get it. just gotta get through the week first
as for my rc projects, i got 2 of 4 cox bandidos from gary put together,some kind of funky black foot frog thing i made,and started working on my old tamiya hornet.other than that im trying to learn about that cb ham radio stuff, trying to figure out what all i need, gonna try and find some equiptment and set it up in my ram charger. my dad is crazy about radios and stuff like that, so i figured id give it a shot, seems cool any way.
in a few days il upload some current pics of my ram charger. another thing thats in the air is, the guy who took my old s10 4x4, couldnt sell it, the guy who was supposed to buy it saw my adds for the truck being stolen, so he flaked out. well that guy wants my old red v8 s10, so m trying to get him to take my "v8 s10 pile as a trade for my old s10 4x4.only thing is,he has to fix my vin tags,and make that crap look like it was never screwed with. but they got them pop rivets at body shops and he has some , so hopefully i can get my old pride and joy back. i have no idea when we'd do the trade. the original motor is not running in that thing yet, and the windshield still needs put in, and the wiring done. if i can get that s10 4x4 back, i wont get that other s10 v8, or ill just sell my ram charger. gotta think about it though.
any one have one of them old square body s10? every one ive seen so far, has a push button 2 start it, turn the key and push a button. EVERY square body s10 ive seen here in hawaii is like that.

[matthew john]

update: since my ram charger quit working in reverse, i decided to sell it.

tried to adjust the reverse band, but hard to do when its broken
was a good truck. and now i regret selling it in a way, that thing had so much more life left in it!!
the guy who bought it mainly wanted the tires for his jeep, but he's gonna take the motor for a dune buggy, and he's gonna part out the rest of the Ram, the axels are going on the buggy along with the motor.
such a waiste!!!
well i picked up a 98% rust free f150 . has a 6in lift kit, has a set of 35's wrapped on some chrome alcoa's , same exact things i had on my old ranger above! should be able to bring home my new truck tonite, will post pics of it.
i have to completly redo the interior, i already put in a new trans and transfer case,just gotta wait to go pick it up!