1982 Chevy S10 - $2018 Challenge Build by a 16 year old kid

UPDATE 9/17/18:

Been somewhat busy the past couple weeks so here's an update on more or less where the truck is at with less than a month till the Challenge.

I have basically finished painting the truck, with the exception of the mirrors, door handles, and the badges that I will do when I am mostly done with the truck since they are details that are quick to do.

This is how she sits with the satin black grill and the bumper flat black.

Two weekends ago Fladiver64 come over to help me get the truck running (i was struggling to get the timing set correctly and he helped me out). We found that my regulator was effectively broken (would send over 100psi of fuel pressure to the carb) so we filled the bowls on the carb and got to to start and run for a few seconds. I am waiting on my new regulator but it's past the expected delivery date and the seller is blaming it on the hurricane despite it's expected delivery to be two days before the hurricane but whatever.

Since I didn't have anything really to do with the mechanicals I started to do some detail. I put together an exhaust system, a long-time viewer will remember that my manifolds are flipped forwards and up so a normal exhaust system is not possible so after some math and research I put together this:

Basically a 180 bend cut to the exact angle I need to point my 5" chambered glass pack straight down. I realize it's not the best thing but it fits and hood stacks are technically illegal for the challenge (otherwise hood stacks and tractor flaps were being put on)...

The final welded product:

An o2 sensor bung is going to be welded on so that I have a wide-band for easy tuning.

After the exhaust I moved on to safety. Safety third right?

I got the stock 3-point belts out and put the two 5-point harnesses I bought in (for the most part) using stock mounting locations and a hole drilled in the floor for the anti-dive belt. For those more safety conscious I did in fact use a backing plate for the anti-dive belt so it is fully legal. Also grade-8 bolts replaced the stock bolts because the stock bolts got stripped by the impact I needed to pull them out with. 

(I do realize the seat cover is very loose and it will get fixed soon) 

Driver side belts are regulated to me with my seat position and the passenger side is relatively loose since a lot of people will be using those harnesses and adjusting the anti-dive belt later is a pain and unnecessary on the street.

Quick side note: The harnesses are legal till December 2020 so a little over 2 years. Is that a common thing where they are legal for over 2-years?

For the shoulder straps a bolt in/together harness bar is being made by me with some 1x1 square tube so that I can bolt a harness bar in and use the shoulder straps until I need a full cage.

Some more random stuff going on:

The front tires rub way too much and no amount of cutting will make them clear from lock to lock so I need a set of 26" radials instead of the 28's I have so I'll be throwing a pair of stock steelies up front for street driving until I wear the rear tires out to swap on some shorter tires for the front and move the 28's up front to the back.... Unless someone wants the pair off the front (has under a mile on them) or wants to trade a sport/ drag tire for the drag radials then shoot me PM and maybe we can work something out so I can swap the front tires for something that fits better so I can drive the truck up on my 15x10's...

Anyone know what kind of plates are available for an antique/historic/modified truck in Florida other than the blue one that I've seen? 

A huge thanks to all the people following the build and giving advice, answering my questions, and encouraging me through the build I appreciate the help you've all given me I couldn't have done it without you all.

Blue plates or an original plate from the year it was built. Iirc that plate has to be in perfect condition. I also don't know how old they go back on them. 

I have a set of 14” steel wheels with some fairly small, older, r-compounds on them.  They wouldn’t be worth shipping, but I can see if I can find the space to haul them to the Challenge.  I think they are 185 or 195 width, but I can check next time I go to my locker.

In reply to eastsideTim :

Well at the challenge I think Stampie and I had worked something out for some AutoX slicks that should work. The smaller tires would be for driving it up so R-compound isn't really needed I'll probably take one of the stock steelies I kept and throw some cheap used tires so I can drive it up. I was more asking to see if someone basically wanted to swap tires with me. A pair of 275/60R15 for something sporty in 275R15 but shorter just so I can run the 15x10's up front till I use up the tires on it now and grab another pair of 275/60R15 for the back and 275/45R15 for the front.

Thanks for offering them though

In reply to Stampie :

Alright so basically Blue plates or a regular plate is the option. Thanks

UPDATE:

Okay so the truck tried to burn itself to the ground a couple days ago but everything survived.

It was leaking water into the cyl6 so i thought it was headgasket pulled the head off today and found a crack in the head:

So i swapped the head-gasket and am going to see if a couple bottles of blue devil sealer can fix it. 

In case it doesn't fix it does anyone happen to have a pair of heads that they could get to the challenge so i can swap them on the night before in the parking lot to race. I would appreciate it greatly if i can borrow a pair for the challenge (could even trade a pair of bare heads i have for them if that works best). 

On a side note it's mostly together major issue was the head leaking which was preventing it from turning over. 

Ugh.  I don’t think i have any left, and nobody from my way is coming this year.  Is it an old(perimeter bolt valve cover) head?

In reply to gabecar3 :

Any money left in your budget? They can be had cheap.

Patrick said:

Ugh.  I don’t think i have any left, and nobody from my way is coming this year.  Is it an old(perimeter bolt valve cover) head?

No i have a pair of center bolt valve cover heads

In reply to TRoglodyte :

I have no time to find a pair and buy them, budget i can work out

No time for u pullit?

In reply to TRoglodyte :

No I'll waste a day pulling something and then another day putting it on. Then Wednesday i have a school test so i only have Monay and Tuesday to work. And Thursday afternoon in Gainesville

In reply to gabecar3 :

Check your other thread, a guy in Montgomery has offered to help , good luck and go fast!

Okay so tomorrow I'm heading up to the challenge with Mr. Roy (FlaDiver64) 

I'm currently having issues with my carb.

So it starts and stays on but it won't idle (i can keep it on down to 1200rpm anything lower and it dies) and then the vacuum secondaries don't open as far as i can tell. So basically i have all the rpm between 1200rpm and 2700rpm. No top end or idle. 

I'm hoping someone at the hotel parking lot who knows more can help me out but since i still have today i was wondering what might be causing this.

I was told vacuum leak but i tried keeping it on and then shooting it with carb cleaner to see if RPM changes and I can't find any (other than a vac port on the back that i forgot to plug) but even after that was plugged it's giving me issues.

Is it possible the vac secondary pod is sticking and the idle circuit is dirty or something?

need an update on this!

I had a whole top end, Vortec heads with roller rockers, Victor Jr manifold and Edelbrock 4 barrel carb.  I responded early in the thread, gave you my number, and at least 2 people suggested you contact me.  You're young and I want to help and encourage you, so when people say they can help you with a need, contact them and see what they can do.

In reply to Justjim75 :

Yes, sir. I really appreciated the offer but I got so busy with school and getting the truck there (which in the end I couldn't get it there) that I forgot to call you. 

Again really sorry I got distracted with a lot of other stuff that took priority over cars that I totally forgot to contact you.

If you still have that stuff laying around now that I have some time to think maybe we can work something out?

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Update is that I got back and had all of last weeks college home work to do and all of this weeks work to do that I haven't even looked at the truck since last Wednesday. 

The plan is when I get all my school stuff managed I can sit down and see everything it needs that I couldn't do on a time crunch (like harness bar, spongy brakes, headlights, oil leaks, etc.) and get it done for the $2019 challenge.

Hoping to hit a bunch of swap meets to find some stiff springs, maybe a nitrous kit, traction bars, and anything else I can throw at it and stay in budget.

Also hoping that I don't get carried away with racing it that I blow up the 305 before the challenge...

Idk if it was you or someone else who offered me a leather bench seat for an S10 but that also might be happening for those who are looking for beautification...

I will be continuing the thread as this year goes by but probably not as frequent of posts since it'll be very small things done slowly.

One year is a lot of time to improve stuff. Then again 16 ounces makes a pound so maybe the little S10 will be getting a diet....

In reply to gabecar3 :

You made the right choice re school vs Challenge.  I look forward to meeting you at the $2019 event.

UPDATE 12/6:

SHE RUNS!

Update after a long time off worrying about finals and a new job.

This past weekend I had a buddy come spend the weekend and help me get everything sorted that I needed help with and we got a few things done:

We fixed the brakes so they are MINT and actually work. The pedal now goes about 3/4 of the way down and its stiff so it has a great brake feel.

I bought a brand new in box Holley 850cfm Ultra XP for cheap and we decided that it would be interesting to put it on the 305 to see how bad it went but the 305 liked it... She idles at 500rpm and if you mash the loud pedal it spins it to 2700rpm instantly then climbs quickly to 4700rm (too scared to spin it faster with stock valve springs).

If  I could attach a video I would show you the video.

I then traded the stock 14's off the S10 for a pair of door panels of my buddy's '91 S10 that were in mint condition and a cheap little sound system he had laying around from Walmart so the interior is almost too nice for the challenge but still under budget:

I just want to extend a huge thanks to Stampie, Mr. Roy (Fladiver64), the Nelson family, and everyone else who had a hand in getting the truck to where it is I really couldn't have done it without you all (even though I'm a month or so off in completion). 

Merry (early) Christmas/Happy Holidays to everyone

In reply to gabecar3 :

Great job, now you have time to start sorting things out. 

Update 2019:

Been a while since I've given an update but here it is:

After I got the truck running on the new carb I shut it off and let it sit until I could rebuild the rear drums (about a week) when I got back to drive it the next weekend it wouldn't start and backfired out of the carb. I've ruled out hanging a valve (readjusted all the valves), timing (pulled timing and advanced it nothing changed), bad plugs, and a few other things, but nothing changed. 

Does anyone have any other ideas as to why it might be doing this despite it working on the same set up a week before?

On another note everything except the engine is done and ready to drive away just need the stupid thing to run.

Does it have spark?  If not, find out why.  If it does...

Is it getting fuel to the carburetor?  If not, why.

Air and proper timing are the two next on the list...but you're most likely to find it's lack of spark or fuel causing your problem.

In reply to ClemSparks :

Hmm good question... I was fairly certain it was getting spark but I'll definitely check that that would make sense.

And yes it is getting fuel to the carb I can see the bowls fill up.

Thanks for the ideas!

How did you adjust the valves? It is very easy to over tighten them and hang a valve open once the oil pressure comes up. Loose valves will not cause any problems under no load, just a little noise. Check your timing with a light, about 10 to 12 btdc should get you started. Your close, it's the little things now.