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Would I do that? Actually Rob was the first one I thought of when I saw th big / skinnies on it.

I would agree. Do you have a picture anywhere of Rob's truck to scan in?

-BP

Here is Rob's truck. 2nd annual Canadian Truck nationals in Ottawa. 2000 if I recall.



And here is Rob after a day of HARD drinking.

After taking a load of scrap this past weekend, I had the opportunity to get on the scale there with the S10. With me in it, and about 7/8 tank of fuel, the truck weighed in at 3840lbs. Not exactly a lightweight. Take me out and it would be 3670, and take 10 gal of fuel out and it's down to 3600. Either way, race weight is pretty close to two tons...

That just tells me the 4.3 is working harder than I thought it was. I figured around 200lbs less than this.

Cool to know though.

-BP

Holy cow -- literally. That thing is heavier than my Chevelle. I guess that surprises me for some reason. Makes you wonder what one of those extended-cab 4wd pigs must weigh.

-Dave

If you have enough horsepower, you can move anything.

The differences between this and a regular S-10 that make it heavier:

-Big fat sway bars in the front AND rear
-16 x 8 wheels plus wider tires vs skinny 15's
-Big trailer hitch
-Tonneau cover
-Spray in bedliner
-ALL options available including PW/PL, CD changer, power heated mirrors, leather steering wheel, factory fog lights

I think it would be possible to shave a couple hundred pounds and still have a V6... but then it wouldn't be so nice either. I think I'm about a set of headers away from being in the 14's, which is respectable for the 4.3. But it is a porker, for sure.

-BP

I found a set of SS S-10 wheels on Craigslist for $60 so I bought them, as I've always liked these wheels, and that was cheap. Only problem was the center caps, that were supposed to be chrome, were real faded and beyond polishing as they're plastic. I got a tip from GM about some wheel paint that matches factory alloys pretty well. Look below for the results:









-BP

The can says "track tested". Will that make it faster than chrome ones?

You know what they say..."chrome don't make it go".

-BP

ttamrettus wrote:The can says "track tested". Will that make it faster than chrome ones?

It increases a vehicles maximum ballisticity.

At Carlisle I bought a Pypes brand exhaust tip in the leftover pile for $10. Since I was never too thrilled with the way the end of my exhaust looked before, I thought this might make a nice upgrade. And since I can "weld" now, it was a do-able project. A week or so ago I bought a decent looking Milwaukee sawzall from work, knowing I would be doing this little project and I'm sure many more in the future.
So with a little cutting here, a little welding there, and a quick paint job, the new tip is installed and looks pretty good. Here's a few shots of the changeover. It looks better in person IMO.















-BP

What's the shiny grease-looking brownish blackish stuff on the exhaust pipe from the weld on back? It is also on the rear of your traction bar.

Fresh paint... it's a flat black, but I painted it about 2 minutes before I took the pictures. Just didn't come through in the pictures too well.

-BP

So the next project for the truck is a set of headers I bought on ebay a few months back. These are JBA cat forward headers and were listed to fit my truck, so I figured I'd find out. Things look pretty tight in there, but I was able to pull out the factory exhaust manifolds without having to lift or tilt the motor. I did have to remove the steering shaft, and will have to reinstall it while the header is loose, but after a test fit (the pictures you see here), it looks like they will fit just fine, and should line up with the existing Y-pipe (already redone).
Next time in the garage, I'm going to pull these back out, clean up all the surfaces, remove any non-essential emissions equipment (on the header already for a different application), and reassemble hopefully for good. I also need to get some header bolts, or some round allen head bolts.
I've also already tightened the gap on my spark plugs. I've replaced them awhile ago, but after hearing GMJohnny talk about his experience with Hutter Racing, I narrowed my plug gap from what was over .055, to .035. I will also install the new 8.5" plug wires acquired at Carlisle. These look like they will fit well.













-BP