My S-10 Project

Last time i spun my wheels,it was in a 711 parking lot and ended up with a reckless driveing ticket.coarse that was 35 years ago,it should be off my record in 7 years unless it would have been alcohal related,never leaves the record books.Good luck with the wood gas truck,it will be nice too have ready too use.

1 Like

Matt, I read the small engine threads and the Vulcan threads and have one question. What is the verdict on using the RV sliding valves in a gasifier. My tentative plan is to make the vertical stack of blowers with the RV valve at the bottom of the stack to shut off all flow after the blowers are shut down. I also have a 3 in. copper ball valve that I got for $4 that I can use. Any recommendations?
Dan

1 Like

I never ended up trying the RV gate valves. I don’t remember why we had abandoned them. For just flaring out the blower or a means of just shutting off and opening gas flows, there is nothing wrong with the PVC ball valves. For metering however, we ended up just sticking to good ol brass ball valves, couldn’t come with a better mouse trap on that one. Especially now that we have developed the electronic ones. We simply loosen them up and the servo controls them very accurately.

1 Like

What kind of motors in the s10 trucks,are you changeing the rear axels.I am thinking of puting ford 9" axel in mine if needed for gearing change since i have a few too use.

Im putting Vortec 5.7’s in them. The street truck Im retaining the stock 5 speed and the rest back. No need to change anything its good enough stock. The other one that is getting the Toyota drive train is getting the Toyota rear axle. If you can find one them this would be a better choice than the Ford 9" as they are already to size of the truck and most are stock with 4:10 gearing. They are made the same way the Ford 9" is made with the drop in punkin.

2 Likes

Ok thanks Matt Thanks,i may have a toyota out of old 1975 truck i junked when motor went too fouling spark plugs,I know they look about the same type,easy gear change.The salvage yard guy over hear has ford 9" or probbly toyota axels for it was 150 each.at barnum’s junk yard millington,mi

Hey does he have a front axle complete. Im looking for a complete assembly with rotors brake calipers and leaf springs. If you come across one I let me know. :fire:

1 Like

Not sure what you looking for but i bet he does,ask for the owner or when he is there,i dont know the new guy working there much yet.his phone is 989 871 4000.Are you looking for 4/4 s10 front axel,i am slow seeing what you are building.

1 Like

Im looking for a 79 to 85 Toyota front solid axle. The S10 was never built with a solid front axle, they only came with Independant front suspension from the very beginning. The Toyota truck solid front axle will match the rear axle of the donor truck I’m using for the 4x4 swap. The Toyota drive trains are built like tanks and are well designed and since I have one with a rotted out frame with a good working 4x4 system Im going to put it to good use. On the 2x4 build its not a big deal shoehorning in the V8 as this will be on the street turning smaller tires. What Id really like to find is a Cadillac rwd 3.6 lte with 6 speed to shove in the 2wd. It will have comparable power and get a lot better fuel mileage. :fire:

1 Like

I have a 2 wheel drive toyota front frame stub in good shape, 6-1/2"past the transmission crossover bracket-torsion bar suspension,i cut off too save the rear frame for trailer,Or are you looking for the toyota 4/4 front stub? OK i see your looking for just the 4/4 front axel.If you need the 2/4 frame front stub let me know, you can have it. it will soon have the motor out,if the flood waters dont rise.

1 Like

I need a four wheel drive front axle.

1 Like

We could pick up some tractor tubes and float over lake MI, and go get MIKE L cati,That would be neat too have a s10 front wheel drive 6 cyl,They all like there fuel though, 12 too 22 MPG anyway, rear wheel drive is better for trucks when loaded for a trip in winter time,or with front wheel drive the drive wheels get light,or loose there traction,when the weight is in the back of wagon or bed of truck.I should have saved the wiring harnus out of my astro van,it got 17 mpg every time,that would be plenty of power for wood gas s10.and not bad on gas when out of wood.

1 Like

I have written to GM on several occasions asking for a front wheel drive pickup truck. A rear wheel drive gets next to zero traction in the snow because most of the weight is on the front axle. I have heard it said that a front wheel drive truck won’t work because the weight in the bed takes weight off the front axle. First— most of the time I don’t have any load in the bed so with the engine/ transmit ion over the front drive wheels you gain a lot of traction. Second when you load the bed, there is about 4 feet of bed in front of the rear axle. Weight in that area will be distributed about 50/50 front axle and rear axle. Then yes you get a little weight taken off the front when you load the back 4 feet of bed. Get me going on this and I will have to send Mrs. Bura a personal letter. ( kidding, I tried that but she doesn’t receive mail at her house ) TomC

3 Likes

Thats right MR TOM C, the gasifier weight would help in front of the rear axel,Then the weight behind the rear axel would be less harmfull to front steer drive axel traction.still do they get that much better milege,maybe depending on the model and condition i suppose.Maybe something like front wheel drive would be easyer to get parts for as time rolls on.

1 Like

To me it is all about the traction. A truck with no load is pitiful in the snow. Most everyone pays $800 more for a truck for the 4 wd. They use the 4wd for a day or so each time it snow — until the road graders get through. That is a big expense for the little use you get out of it. TomC

4 Likes

I’m sure that some of you remember the Subaru BRAT. They were nice and light and stayed on top of the mud pretty well. There is an Aussie company selling plans and complete vehicles based on the early subaru. I bought the plans. I also bought a lot of Subaru parts and a bunch of box tubing. They have one version with a small truck bed in the back. The buggy is normally front wheel drive and engages the rear axle for 4 wd. It has front independent suspension which is super important for traction. The “Hummbug” by Rhino looks like this;

If you buy the correct year for a donor, it also comes with LOW transfer case. Good mileage and 4 whl independent suspension. Low case is important because you need some tire height for ground clearance. Something like this;

3 Likes

Looks like room for a back porch for little gasifier?That one really looks adgile,must have used some lighter tubing.

2 Likes

It has a back porch all right. I built it with 1 1/2 Sq box, about .090 wall. The roll cage is thicker. I built it longer than the plans called for.

3 Likes

Im starring this project back up. A little late I was hoping to get to this sooner, but was just unable to be in a position to get this going. So anyways, I picked up an 83’ Toyota solid front axle a few weeks ago. The guy I got this from gave me some good advise with swapping some of my existing IFS parts over this axle as well. He was pretty knowledgeable about this sort of thing. I just finished the tear down of my rotted out Toyota, cut it all a part and salvaged the drive train, steering box and linkages and few other minor things. Just chop, cut, snip, and yank really hard :slight_smile: haha. We are going to chop the frame down a bit to fit on our trailer and haul it away tomorrow.

So I should be able to begin the next phase of this project next weekend. This will entail reconditioning both the front and rear axle’s. Ill need to acquire new shackles, shocks, brakes, bushings, a set of leafs for the front axle ( early 90’s Jeep CJ) and steering components. Then we will bring in the S10 and begin swapping all this stuff over and get this part complete with all new lines installed, steering linkages etc.

The next phase after this is adapting the LS engine to the Toyota transmission and then the RnR of this.

After this a quick paint job and then we will begin a gasifier project for it :slight_smile:

So much more to come hopefully I can stay on this steady, Im very motivated to get this project complete.

5 Likes

Matt, I was wondering when you were going to get back on this project. Looking forward in following it along to completion.
Bob

3 Likes