The S-10 frame swap seems to be ubiquitous of late, but has anybody seen a Chevy Colorado or GMC Canyon (GM's replacement for the S-10 & S-15 - I think the names are dumb) frame swap? I passed one on the highway this week, and was wondering if any have filtered down to the hot rod community to experiment with yet. Does anybody know if they're a good source for useable 5-speeds or drivetrain components (are their rear ends identical or better than an S-10)? I poked around on Google a while back and found a few forums about them, but was on borrowed time and didn't get a chance to check them out. I assumed that because they were a fairly new vehicle that most of the folks on there hadn't done any major modifications of cut any up like we would. ~Jason
I think the colorados have struts on the front. And I think they also changed over to 6 lug axles. I might be wrong.
+ the colorado has a high offset/wide track width, youd have to cut the entire front suspension off & repace it w/ m/2 or s10 so id be a waste of time
the chassis was designed with the H3 hummer in mind first, so it is a stout one that suits it'self to be lifted rather than lowerd. just trying to get a colorado 5 inches lower than stock takes alot of work...
Do you think it would suit itself more to a tri-5 truck rather than something 1953-ish and earlier? ~Jason
i dont think it would look good for either truck bcause the high offset of the wheels would give the overall look of the truck a import car/mini truck look, to me the only wheel combo you could use would be a import custom wheel casted or billets or run caps, & to me either truck looks better with some width/dish to the wheels. im NOT saying it cant be done & set up to look good,i just dont think itll give the look you want..... or id want
not meaning to hi-jack but i was looking at my bosses exploder and was wondering if anybody has done any swaps with those frames?
I have a colorado, the front springs are above the upper contol arms, the rear is not the same a an s10 and it is 6 lug. as per the drivetrain I do not think that the 5 cyl would be worth messin with for a rod
I think S-10s and Rangers are popular because of their size and simplicity... Colorado/Canyons have a ton of "extra" bullshit to contend with as far as suspension etc... I could be wrong, it happens.
The only reason I asked was that I was curious what frames on newer stuff could be used like the S-10 ones. I'm guessing that not much newer stuff could be used, being that the truck stuff is almost all overbuilt and everything else is a unibody. ~Jason
and what about price I got an 85 s10 longbend and 85 s10 blazer both for $400. wont have into this project as much as I would have to pay for the colorodo alone. Ed ke6bnl
Ranger/Mazda look promising. Saw a jeep Panel mounted on a ranger fellow said is was easy, saw a 39 Dodge on a Mazda 3000. Early Dakota's are cheap plentiful and start with a 112 in wheelbase on the 2wd regularcab short bed. I believe the longer WB is 118.
Early Dakotas are a little widewr than s-10's and rangers. 87-90 have 4.5 X 5 bolt pateren but 91-96 are six lug. Same frame though. The great thing about dakotas is that they use rack and pinion steering and they came with 318's. So if you find a v-8 dak you would be set.
Funny that you should ask about the colorado/canyons......We have these mastered when it comes to getting them on the ground with airride. I wouldn't suggest a streetod frame swap though. They have a really wide hub to hub track width, a ton of stuff to change in the front suspension to get it on the ground, low hanging trans and gastank crossmembers. Don't get me wrong our shop manufactures ALL of the parts to bag one of these chassis, I just don't think I would be economical to use as a swap seeing as S10s and Rangers are plentiful and a whole lot cheaper to get low. Click on this link to see what it takes to get a colorado chassis on the ground at our shop: http://www.cleancutcreations.com/odarolocsyeroc.html Look around our site while you are there to see what we can do for you.
That looks pretty good for a slamed Colorado. I would like to lower mine a bit but have not found anything out yet I would be happy using. As averyone has stated, stick with the S10 chassis for swaps. If I remember right didn't GM build a '48 chevy on a colorado chassis wth the I5. It was red and on the cover of one of the truck magazines.
Clean Cut Creations, How wide is wide? For example what is the hub to hub width on the rear axle? Thanks.
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