 From the firewall back, David...  From the firewall back, David made a frame from 3x3-1/4- and 2x3-3/16-inch rectangular steel. The new frame tucks nicely under the body, which prevented the need for channeling the crew cab floor. |  Even though it's a crazy-long...  Even though it's a crazy-long version of the S-10, it is built to drive. The only problem is that at a length of 19 feet, 4 inches from front to back, it takes up two parking spots. |  The LT4 engine swap was pretty...  The LT4 engine swap was pretty easy, since it bolted directly to the 4.3L engine's 4L60-E transmission. With a wiring harness and computer from Fuelinjection.com, the beast fires up with no problems. |
By gathering parts from several trucks, David Bosse created this unique version of the S-10. It happens to be the world's first and only stock floor body-dropped crew cab with a longbed S-series Chevy truck. That's a long and complicated way to describe it, but every single bit of it is true. Let's also not forget to mention that this beast is powered by a limited edition LT4 small-block engine from a rare Corvette.
David is a skilled builder and has worked on many vehicles in his Afterhours Fabrication shop in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Even though he works on all types of trucks, he loves the S-10 pickup. Who could blame him? The S-10 has some of the cleanest factory body styling for a mini-truck.
This truck started out as a '94 Super Sport edition of the S-10. David decided to beef it up with a 350-cid LT4 V-8 plucked from a '96 Grand Sport edition Corvette. In case you don't know, Chevy only made 1,000 Grand Sports, so Dave probably pissed off the other 999 GS Vette owners with his mini-truck. Once he found the engine, he dropped it in and bolted it to the stock 4L60-E transmission. Then, to get the fuel injection running, he bought a harness and a Pontiac Firebird reprogrammed computer from Fuelinjection.com. The SS truck was quick with the new motor and ran a quarter-mile time of 13 seconds.
Because David worked on the S-10 a lot, he subscribed to S10forum.com for information about the truck. He logged onto the site so many times that he became one of the site's administrators. There were some posts on the subject of a longbed crew cab, and it inspired David to attempt building one. What a lot people don't know is that, from 2001 to 2004, Chevy produced the crew cab version of the S-10 in the U.S., and for David, this truck was going to be the platform for his project. After an extensive search, he came across a crew cab with the factory shortbed from a junkyard. Of course, the truck would need a running motor, and the Corvette motor and transmission from the SS would work perfect for the buildup.
Next on the list was to find a working frame and a long bed. David found the long bed on a '98 that he purchased, took the bed off of it, and resold the rest of the truck within two weeks. Then, he got a '95 standard cab that had a blown 2.2L four-cylinder engine. Since it was not running, the truck was a perfect donor for the frame. David took the front clip, slid it in front of the crew cab, and then made a frame from the firewall back to the rear mounts of the long bed. To tackle such a feat, David downloaded the GM build sheets of the trucks on Gmupfitter.com. The website has a plethora of dimensions for any GM model truck between the years of 1999 and 2007, and it was a helpful place to start.
With a nicely built body-dropless frame, the truck still needed a good working suspension to tuck the 20x8.5-inch Eagle Alloy 025 wheels with Falken Azenis tires and raise the truck up to a driveable height. On the front, a set of Suicidedoors.com control arms and cups were attached to Slam Specialties RE7 'bags and Belltech drop spindles. At the rear, David used a Suicidedoors.com four-link lift kit with Firestone 224C 'bags mounted over the links and damped with Gabriel shocks. While working on the back, a 20-gallon fuel cell from Summit was mounted in the bed to feed the LT4 engine. With the axle attached to the rear suspension, David cut and notched the center of the cab for the custom-made two-piece driveshaft with a carrier bearing mounted toward the rear of the cab.
For the final touches, David mounted a Grant Customs front bumper and welded on a Fender Bender International roll pan out back. The engine compartment was cleaned up with a set of trailer fenders welded to the back sides of the front fenders. Because the alternator on the LT4 was a bit high, David bolted up a Goodmark cowl hood. Since David still has the short bed from the purchase of the crew cab, he plans on making the world's shortest S-10 with a standard cab. Other plans for this truck include a righthand-drive conversion and a turbo'd 2.2L motor with a manual transmission for lefthand shifting. Once these two trucks are finished, it will make for the wildest pair of S-10s around.