Newbie: Looking for advice which of my S10 donors to use and direction for project

[BigTom209]

Hey guys, newbie here and I have to say I love trolling this site looking at your builds, so many ideas and amazing talent!

I've been fixing/flipping vehicles on the side for years and honestly I'm just getting tired of it, I said last year I wanted to build something for myself and started looking around the farm for any possible ideas. Well, we have (3) late 40's or early 50's GMC 3/4 or 1 tonne grain trucks in various states but cab/font end wise they are all decent. And being my father was a GM mechanic most his life I thought it fitting to build up a GM truck!

So I have the old metal, needed to figure out what I wanted to do with it. I wanted stupid amounts of power, but reliable... so I came across a 2007.5 GMC 3500HD with a 6L LY6 Vortec motor and got the whole truck cheap because it was wrecked, still drove it nearly 100 miles out to the farm though! I couldn't find a "cheap" 2WD 6L90 transmission that would allow me to use my factory ECM to control it so I sold the 4WD one that came with the truck and picked up a 2WD 4L80, may end up buying a standalone controller for it or else possibly turning it into a full manual shift not sure quite yet. I also have a Ford 9" rear end in one of the old wrecked trucks at the farm I might swipe or a good buddy of mine has a '99 Camaro rear end with 4.11 aftermarket gears he'd let me have super cheap


So... kindof have the parts for the drivetrain figured... old cabs and body parts figured... needed to decide on a frame. Of course S10 comes up right away for these trucks and this is what I am trying to decide on



At the farm we have a '93 or '94 S10 regular cab short box that has a wrecked transmission, it's of no use to anyone so free for me to grab if I want it and it was my original plan to use it but then at the local salvage center I got a deal on a '03 extended cab short box S10 with only 105K miles on it. 2WD 4.3L, runs like a champ I used it for work and put on nearly 2000 miles and it never once missed a beat. Using it for work (they pay per mile when using personal vehicles) the truck paid for itself and actually made me a few bucks so again, freebie to use.


So... I have a early 90's and a 2003 S10, neither one of them are the regular cab long box so neither is the "ideal" donor... but parts are available from both vehicles to grab so if I needed a brake master cylinder or pedals or whatever I can pick/choose from either. The 2003 is complete, running, driveable... I've debated keeping it intact and building possibly a 2nd truck using it's drivetrain as is. Definitely no where near the power of the 6L and 4L80 combo I originally was going for, but a little 4.3L for a daily putt around would likely be just fine. What would you guys go with? Just looking for opinions, no right or wrong answers I just thought maybe there was perks to going with one over the other or maybe people would recommend using the 4.3L as is so keep the 2003 for another build and throw the 6L into the old '90s truck. I also think i heard somewhere that the newer S10's had a beefier boxed in front end versus the older ones? Maybe for strength I should use the newer frame with the bigger motor?