Drive a non-beater? 97 S10

Hi all, after close to a year lurking I finally have something sort of worth adding, so per tradition, posting pictures before actually owning the vehicle..

after my mint 85k 01 Corolla got totalled in February I've been looking for a daily that can take 80+ miles a day with good gas mileage and will be actually fun to work on and drive. 4 cyl 5 speed.. 130k getting it through a friend... Yada yada yada.. lucky I found a car cheap in this mess of a market. Picking it up this weekend, will be working with a low budget 

Short term plans -

1. Learn to drive stick

2. Sound system

3. Lowering

4. Wheels

5. Leds

6. Buffing

Long term -

1. Roll pan

2. Handling parts

3. Front bumper?

4. Foglights

5. Autocross?

(Edit)

[6. Bucket seats

7. Shifter

8. Tach]

Far future - after school

1. LS Swap

I am in tech school to work on cars.. that does not mean I know what I'm talking about. Please correct me if I say something stupid. Any tips and tricks are appreciated. 

I love this generation of s10. Especially the composite headlight gmc grille. 

2.2 5 speed should be pretty bulletproof if you take care of it.

When you get to handling, i may know a guy....

Don't know how many I've actually seen with the body color for the front fascia... I've been debating a front end swap but it has grown in me so I don't know

Don't they share front suspension  parts w/ a G body?

In reply to twentyover :

Feel like I've seen something on here that implied that.. not exactly sure the extent of the parts sharing 

In reply to Gambit0117 :

Everything but the steering linkage

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

What would you suggest I start looking for parts wise as far as high priority to impact driving feel?

Tube upper arms, tall ball joints, zq8 sway bars and steering box. The biggest bang is the sway bars. 2 door second gen blazer 2wd sways are zq8 size. Grab the bilstein shocks too. 

In case anyone was wondering, the mint 85k Corolla 

In reply to Gambit0117 :

Sweet mini truck 

In reply to Angryranger :

Fellow mini trucker

*Jeep waves*

My 97 S10 build - engine swap - lowered - how not to do it........

Check out my build!  Fellow 97 S10 owner here. My thread details exactly how NOT to do things.....lol. 

Enjoy that truck! Turbo it, easy enough to do with the 2200. Have fun and never be afraid to make mistakes!

In reply to bonylad :

Trust me.. ive thoroughly enjoyed your thread. I am considering a turbo but honestly there's not much out there ive seen as far as documentation so I think is rather wait and LS swap down the line

Ordered audio from crutchfield.

Pioneer head, Polk audio 2 way deck and doors

In reply to Gambit :

I did Polk Audio speakers in my truck front and rear this last weekend. All from Crutchfield. Could not be happier !

Do a 3/4 drop.  Depending upon your budget that can be anything from 3" lowering springs with lowering blocks on the rear plus new shocks or 1" lowering springs, dropped spindles which IIRC drop you 2" more plus complete lower rear leaf springs (plus new shocks).  

When you drop the arse down by 4" you'll need to trim the bump stops as much as possible or you'll be hitting them frequently.

The good news is the truck will look fantastic.  Don't talk yourself into a 2/3 or 2/4...go the 3/4 out of the gate and you will look over your shoulder at it every time you get out.

Yep, I've owned many S-10 in my day and love those trucks dearly.  

In reply to Loweguy5 (how many cars will I buy this month before my wife leaves?) :

oh shoot.. i was planning on a 4/4. but i agree, the lower the better

Small update: 

Hand porting heads and polishing/balancing cranks at school today. Figured it was cool enough to show off. going to get the truck tonight.. will start learning to drive manual tomorrow

Love me some S10 stuff! That looks like a really clean truck. 

Personal lowering recommendation (on the cheap) is drop spindles in the front and cut 1 coil, then a 3" block in the rear and one leaf removed.  

These are great little vehicles with a ton of support - it's pretty likely if you have an issue somebody has encountered it and documented it online already. 

Not too shabby when you take the bug shield off... 

Learned to drive stick in about 20 min... Hillstarted 3-4 times no problem. Drove it 3 hours through southern Missoura no problem

Gave it a good clean Sunday, washed and drove it a bit more.. really getting a hang of stick shift, only killed it once yesterday experimenting with launching in second. Learned how to buff from my high performance teacher in December and figured I could give it a try, and I need to get some scratches out of my dad's mustang so need some practice.

Started buffing the right side.. only had the hood and fender done here

Before

After.

Used an adapter for buffing pads to a drill. Used chemical guys cut and buff 2 stage. Really quality good stuff. Worked as well if not better than the 3m 3 stage stuff I used at school

Also can a mod change it to 95 s10 in the title

In reply to Gambit :

Well, I could help if you wanted to go that route.  I researched it prior to finding out this truck was a 4.3  Appreciate the kind words!  On one hand if I could do it all over I would LS swap it. Though the way parts keep falling in my lap, I dont think I can be blamed lol.  Thanks again and cant wait to see whats in store!