Almost done stripping the S10

Usually when I get a project car the gas in the tank is of questionable age. I drain it into containers and wonder what to do with it. I mean who ever has to get rid of gas ? It's a real problem, because I don't want to put it in the tank of anything I own, but I can't just dump it either. So I have all these 2 liter soda bottles in the garage filled with gas, and I don't know what to do with them.

Rich told me he had just put gas into the S10 recently before I picked it up. He wasn't kidding. There was 3/4 tank! Cha-ching! I drained probably 12-15 gallons of fresh liquid gold from that thing. Filled my 2 portable cans, and I put about 5 gallons into my car too. Bonus.

I got the cab loosened from the frame after a couple more hours. 2 body mount bolts needed to be torched off. I broke a couple more sockets too. BAM! Cracked socket. Craftsman too. I know they're free replacement, but I don't want to waste time and have to go all the way there. I'll work around it for now.

I rigged this up. It's a lifting strap, connected to a 2 x 4 through the cab, lifted by my engine hoist. I must say this worked exactly as well as I had hoped. Easy.

Here's another angle. I have the hydraulic clutch cylinder out. That is going to be so easy to retrofit. It's like a brake cylinder with one plastic line. Simple.

So by the end of today, Saturday, May 24, this is where it stands. The hoist made it easy to drop the cab onto my open trailer. Done. Probably did 6-8 hours today. I have about 20 hours total into the demo. Don't know if I'd do this again. This is not as simple as the 60's and 70's cars I used to do. Either this is tougher than it used to be, or I'm getting old. Or both.

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After this photo I took the exhaust off, the fuel tank out, and some miscellaneous brackets and lines off. I have the brake and clutch pedals out. Boy was that a wrestling match. Brutal.

What else...seats are out. Wiper motor and mechanism out. I'm saving lots of miscellaneous small stuff on the chance I might need it.

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I think the wiring harness is a no-go. The majority of it is still stuck in the cab. I have uncovered so many sensors and plugs, wires and connectors. I mean it is crazy what is on a modern vehicle. I did a preliminary schematic during the week, and it doesn't look too complicated to start from scratch anyway. Probably still be better than reworking the monster harness in the S10.

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I am making a bracket to hold the transmission in place for when the motor is pulled. Then I'll pull the motor and whatever's left that has to go. Almost done. It's been a lot of work, but I keep thinking how nice it will be to have that modern drivetrain, brakes, and suspension in there. Ahhhh.

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My hands are beat. Just cut up and skinned to all heck. It's been a long time since I've done this. Broke some tools too. And there's a couple of parts I couldn't figure out how to take off. Still got time for another try though. I'm tired. Looking forward to relaxing at Wilcox tomorrow.

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PS: To take a break, I mowed my lawns. My MTD riding mower threw the deck belt off, and I can't get it back on. Does anybody know how to do this and can tell me or show me? Yes, I know, how surprising, it's broken again.

Swine mower.

Still stripping the S10

I took a half day from work Friday and got some time in on the project. Here's the handsome devil gettin' ready. The camera adds 10 lbs. At least. You can see I have the front sheetmetal clip loosened here.

It may not look like much, but the manual steering box came this week. Thanks Rich!

By the end of Friday I had the front clip off. I have been doing a lot of wire labelling, but I don't know if I'm going to use it. It's a pretty complicated harness. Hard to see but I had to cut the front bumper mounts off the frame with an oxy-acetelene torch. I bought a torch rig a couple of years ago, and it has come in very handy. I literally don't know what I'd have done at that point without it. The power brake assembly is just lying on the tire, but it is all there and ready for reuse.

Here is what the interior looked like by the end of Friday. Steering column is out. Didn't get hit by the airbag. Lots of the dash is out, but the harness is sort of literally built into the dash. Don't know how I'm going to get it out, and the remainder of the dash is very difficult to remove. Kind of tough going in here. I have probably 12 hours into demo at this point. Seems like I have a lot done, but it seems like it has been a lot of work as well.