anyone here know anything about doing SFA conversions?

[boostedEG]

title says it all. im thinking bout doing one and could use some pointers.

[smithz]

Brandon knows how to buy a completed one... :D

[boostedEG]

lol, well thats not in my plans, but if he wants to chime in i'd be curious to know what kind of vehicle/axle/suspension setup and how much it was.

i have a 2wd 91 S-10 that i was planning on just dropping the body onto a K5 blazer frame, but after doing some research that seemed kinda ghetto, and K5 frames like to crack near the steering box. and thus the need for a SFA conversion...

just because of simplicity/cheapness i was thinking about doing a dana 35 from a cherokee. the axles are dirt cheap, and im told the steering linkage bolts right up to the GM steering box, as both GM's and jeeps use saginaw boxes (infact a TJ or similar box bolts right to the S-10 frame). and i feel confident that i can mount the buckets for the cherokee coil springs and control arms myself. so the dana 35 setup just seemed kinda cheap/easy, but its weak and i want to run 35"-38" tires.

if i dont do a dana 35 for any reason, then i will just go all out with a dana 60.. but i dont know how to do the steering linkage, and i would want a 3 or 4 link setup with coil overs, and that gets very pricey...

any suggestions?

[smithz]

I wouldn't count on either option being cheap or easy. I doubt that the steering linkage will "bolt right up" regardless of the fact that it's using the same steering box. They may make it easier, but not easy. Remember you are custom fitting together two things that weren't made for one another. I would pretty much guarantee nothing is going to bolt right up. Unless you are buying a kit or something like that, you are going to be customizing pretty everything.

Hopefully Brandon will chime in, because I'm sure he researched how much work it would be to do it himself (and does a fair amount of fabrication) and decided it was better to just buy one that is already done. crxrocks (Terry I think is his name) in here also did some crazy fab work by blending a cherokee and a toyota pickup. You can always ask those guys.

[Kwando]

check http://coloradok5.com/

[i drive crap]

Yeah, there's lots you can do to strengthen the K5 frame that would be a shit ton easier than a SFA swap into your S10, plus if you ever needed parts, it's way cheaper to buy blazer parts than it is to buy frankenstein parts. I did a SFA toyota swap, and tons of shops have a weld in kit to swap an axle into it, but I don't know about an S10. Oh, and I think a Dana 60 is going to be way too heavy for your stock s10 frame anyway. Look into a dana 44, or a toy 8" (will be fine with 35's and your v6, 37's will probably be a bit big for either though). If you absolutly want to run 36's or bigger, run the K5 frame and bolt in a 14 bolt/ dana 60 from a 1 ton pickup. Everything will swap except driveshafts, and you can get the stockers shortened at front range driveline...

my .02, put a small block in the s10 to drive and find a good full size blazer to wheel.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/category2_10001_10002_29139_-1
everything you need to swap in a small block into your s10

[Brandon]

Brandon knows how to buy a completed one... :D

I'm sorry, was yours independent when you bought it? :D

I would go atleast dana 44, and even then, 37s are about the biggest you should run with a 44.

I would just suggest reading up on the s10 forums and see what other people are doing. If you have any specific questions I'll try my best to answer them for ya.

[boostedEG]

i have read up on many S10 forums. they were the ones that said a dana 35 is "almost" bolt on.

I'm sorry, was yours independent when you bought it?

nope, 2wd. i could find a 4wd frame for fairly cheap, but i didnt think it would make any real difference if i was doing SFA.


(will be fine with 35's and your v6, 37's will probably be a bit big for either though).

my .02, put a small block in the s10 to drive and find a good full size blazer to wheel.

its already got an IROC TPI in it.... its not quite running yet, got some wiring issues, and i was thinking bout going back to TBI just to get it running sooner, but i dont know yet. if i get the TPI running it wont be long till it has boost.
oh and i have had a K5 before, and a 95 silverado, and a 94 2-door tahoe. i got tired of fullsizes, too big and bulky, i loved my ZR2 though, never should have sold that. anyways, i decided i wanted either a tacoma or S10, and i already had the S10 sitting in my back yard so here we are.

maybe im just gonna have to do the K5 frame under the S10... :(

[boostedEG]

I wouldn't count on either option being cheap or easy. I doubt that the steering linkage will "bolt right up" regardless of the fact that it's using the same steering box. They may make it easier, but not easy.

well according to the S10 guys a TJ steering box is a direct bolt-on for a stock S10. they use them for the tighter turning radius. it bolts to the frame with no problem, and to the stock S10 Pitman arm. so everything must be pretty similar on the two chassis. and from what i have read the steering linkage from the cherokees really does just bolt right up.

[boostedEG]

maybe im just gonna have to do the K5 frame under the S10... :(

i think i will look into this a little more now that i have been thinking about it. as this would allow me a lot more options for T-cases, including double T-cases. and dana 60's with a passenger side pumpkin are hell of a lot cheaper than the ones with a drivers side pumpkin.

[i drive crap]

yeah, double cases would be cool with a 203/205, or even a 205/205 combo, or just get a 4:1 kit in one 205, and yes, passenger side front pumpkins are way easier to come by. Good luck on the TPI. There's lots of gremlins in that factory injection system, although a good boosted LT1 will be plenty of motor for that s10. You'll probably need a new rear for that if you keep it 2wd too. The 7.5" 10 bolt is notoriously weak.

Oh, and you could just build a full size blazer based buggy, no body panels to jack up, and the longer wheelbase will get you over some stuff that the >100" wheelbase rigs have troubles doing.

Either way, good luck!

[boostedEG]

yeah, double cases would be cool with a 203/205, or even a 205/205 combo, or just get a 4:1 kit in one 205, and yes, passenger side front pumpkins are way easier to come by. Good luck on the TPI. There's lots of gremlins in that factory injection system, although a good boosted LT1 will be plenty of motor for that s10. You'll probably need a new rear for that if you keep it 2wd too. The 7.5" 10 bolt is notoriously weak.



yeah the TPI i have is MAF, and im sure you know it sucks balls, so i was planning to run it on megasquirt. if i do the megasquirt it will get boosted with an HX-40 right away, i figured that would be good for a 4x4 with quick spool and tons of low end torque.

funny you should mention the LT1 thing... i have a FULLY built 383 LT1/LT4 setup, with an HX-55 waiting for that one. i havent decided what i want to put that motor into yet, if i find a good deal on a 98+ 2wd S10 i might do that. but thats WAY down the road



Oh, and you could just build a full size blazer based buggy, no body panels to jack up, and the longer wheelbase will get you over some stuff that the >100" wheelbase rigs have troubles doing.

Either way, good luck!

nah, i want a regular body on it. vehicles in general arent any fun if you cant fuck around on the streets with em too.

[i drive crap]

nice! gotta love the LT4 top end. Looks badass with the red plenium. And a stroker to boot. awesome. And you can't beat megasquirt for a cheap EFI set up. Best of luck man!

[Nick_S]

Sounds like its gonna be a sick set up Jeremiah, need any help hit me up im down to give you a hand.

[boostedEG]

cool beans nick, i'll let you know, its a rather slow moving project though

[02dc5]

not sure if its been mentioned yet, but the dana 35 is a rear axle. the dana 30 is a front axle. they are found on all jeeps (cherokee (xj), grand cherokee (zj and wj), wrangler (yj and tj) ) and are driver side drop. not sure if they ment dana 30 when they were telling you what axle to use. they are decent strength for the size and you can beef them up pretty easy. i was running 35's on my cherokee and i had the stock dana 30 up front with beefed up axle shafts and u-joints. honestly, a dana 60 is probably to much axle for the setup you're looking at and unless you shave it, its going to hang pretty low under the truck (pumkin is the lowest point on a truck). if you dont want to/cant do a D30, i would go for a D44. both are REALLY easy to find out at pull-n-save or any other junk yard.

HTH

[boostedEG]

yeah your right about the D30. forgot the fronts weren't D35's

and i knew they were on all the jeeps, but i dont think the ZJ and WJ would fit easily like the xj, and yj's supposedly do... and correct me if im wrong but the Tj's should have D44's right?


also the mid 90's and up (ZJ's?), grand cherokees had some weird axles that actually still had CV joints that slid into the axle tube. they are not nearly as desirable

and the yj's were leaf sprung, right? that makes them less desirable.

thats why everyone says to use the XJ axles.... i believe the TJ will also work just fine, but they are harder to find, and a lot more expensive from what i understand.

[Dave_L]

The only jeeps that come with the D44's are the Rubicons. All other jeeps, at least the wranglers, come with a D35 in the rear and D30 up front. As far as which jeeps are more desirable, it's all personal preferance. The most common one is the TJ bc of the coils up front but the YJ's can be built pretty cheap. Do a SOA (spring over axle) lift and you get about 5" of lift with your stock leaf springs so they'll flex pretty damn good. Throw in some new axles while your at it and you got yourself a pretty gnarly jeep. The TJ long arm lifts can get pretty expensive. Just my .02.

[02dc5]

if your looking to do coils up front, do the D30 out of an xj. the axles are REALLY easy to find and are very cheap or even free (i might have one laying around actually). as far as doing the solid axle conversion cheap, leafs are the way to go. its very easy and inexpensive to set up the front with leafs rather than coils and if you go with long leafs up front, it will flex better than you might think.

and to clearify my last post, i ment a D44 out of a ford or chevy full size truck. like Dave L said, the rubicon's are the only newer jeeps with a D44 up front (some xj's, tj's, and zj's had D44 in the rear) and the rubicon front axles are not a whole lot stronger than a D30 (they use the D30 knuckles with stronger u-joints) FWIW