front end swap

i am doing a small block chevy swap into my 88 isuzu. i have available to me the front end of a 89 s-10 i was wondering if anyone has seen or heard of cutting off the front end with the tortion bars and swapping in the frame and all the suspension parts. any help or ideas would be greatly appriciated.

thanks mike

yes its actually very popular swap to do. There was an Amigo a looooooong time ago that was a cover truck for Mini truckin, Lomigo was the name of the truck. It had an S10 front suspension clip under it and a Gm 5 lug rear. Only way to get big rims back then, 6 lug big rims werent available. Also he was running hydraulics so the coil over set up was better for that...

thank you for the info if anyone else has tips tricks or possibly some pix it would be greatly appriciated


thanks again mike

if you were going to cut the front end out, Why not use a ford mustang II front end...Independent suspension, rack and pinion steering and eliminates the torsion bars so your headers will have more room. Plus, the ford front end is more narrow than the stock Isuzu so you can use some 5 lug 5on4.5 weld racing rims and they will fit up under the isuzu fender. also you will probably want to change the rearend to a for 9" with the same lug pattern because anything over 275HP will dicinagrate that isuzu rear...I did not go this route, but I was not planning on changing front ends, I eliminated my torsion bars and went with some qa-1 front coilovers...and on and on and on...Hope this helps...

Also, If you just want a 5 lug front, You have the option of getting some older toyota front hubs and rotors off a 1984-92. They have the ford lug pattern (5on4.5). They also will mount to the isuzu spindles. toyota and isuzu used the same exact bearings for these years, so you can use your bearings or the toyota ones...Keep in mind you will have to use the isuzu brake calipers still and make a 1/16" spacer to go between the caliper and the spindle mounting pad, But you can also use a steel washer...Hope this helps...

you are keeping the strut rod, right???? if not, whats going to keep the lower control arm from twisting front and back? nice set up, what weight springs are you running for the V8....considering the same set up with a motor that weighs 1/2 that

I'm trying to do this truck as inexpensively as possible. And I have the s-10 full front suspension, and frame available. I am also looking at putting the truck on bags in the future and s-10 suspension parts are cheap.


is there anyway you could take a pic of how far you cut your inner finder wells out?

Thanks
Mike

You would need to triangulate the lower arm.

I have completely eliminated the inner fender wells. You can see in the pic that i still have some cutting to go...The fender well is welded to the front radiator support from the factory so there is some work to do there...My radiator support was bent so I just purchased a new one...I plan on bracing the fender after a while but it is still very sturdy without the fender wells...I am using a set of 400lb QA-1 springs for mock up. I am getting ready to weld up my 16 point cage and the front struts on the cage will connect the top of the springs and the custom billet motor mounts to the frame...I will post more pics of cage when done...

Yes, I do intend on using the struts rods and the sway bars...I have recently ordered all the new bushings and have them out until the rebuild parts come in...I really like the isuzu front suspension and the way it is designed. The torsion bars had to go though for clearance issues.

I guess my pics are to big to upload...Will post when i figure that out

my truck has extesnive frontend dammage so i am cutting off the whole inner fender and support at the fire wall and was wondering what yours looked like. i like your suspension set up but all the strut rods and stuff drag in my truck and im only static dropped so i think im going to save up and buy a set of lower A type arms i saw on here.
mike