Thread: Stude M5 build

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Your shifter turned out great!

I agree. That shifter looks like a slick setup. Nice Job!

Thought I would show how I planned the frame change. I found a photo of a bare explorer frame and a photo of a clean stude. I used a free photo shop type software called gimp to superimpose the images to give me an idea of how the frame would fit with the truck. I planned to raise the bed up some to clear the frame humps so I stretched the bed sides a bit to check the look. I always thought the stude bed looked a little too low anyway.

Wow, that software is pretty neat. Thanks for sharing!

I went to picknpull and measured and measured but doing this helped make up my mind that it would work.

Now what is that saying " Let your fingers doing the walking to save the soles of your shoes " or something like that. That is an impressive software package.

You can download it free, I know photoshop is pricey. Took a little while to figure out how to use it, had to have a little help from someone younger than me.

Yea, that software looks very useful. I've got a very old version of photoshop that I use mostly to crop and resize pics. Even the old version is complicated to use.

WOW..awesome build,that gives me inspiration for my M5.,...wanna make me some headers for my Stude 259?...I just put my truck on an s10 shortened frame,my stock frame was a twisted mess....keep the posts coming,I love the footwell idea..can I "borrow"it?...ps, followed your build over from Truck Farmers.
regards from the PNW

Hey, very cool, glad to see another m. Feel free to steal any ideas you want. You should do a build log here. I thought about the s10 as well as dakota and ranger frames. If you were doing a chevy engine there a probably headers out there for v8 s10 swaps. Is the cab and bed all mounted?

v8nutz,

I really enjoyed going through your build page. Really nice work man.

thanks very much.

I have just dropped the cab on so so far,I want to set up the ride height(drop) so I can make sure I have clearance to run the running boards etc without:"too much" rubbing on mother earth.....the cab corners you used are they the Classic Enterprises ones?so they are crap?...if so, I'll make some jigs and make my own.I have a Stude 259 cu. I'm going to put in it...kinda funny the 4.3l that the S10 comes with is a 100cc bigger than the 259 from 50 years ago...

The corners are pretty crude, I made them work but I was sure disappointed for the price. They looked like they they they had been quickly hand hammered on a buck. they would be hard to make because of the way they curve into the bottom.
It's cool your using a stude motor.

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Haven't done much on the truck in a while but I got a new radiator for it so thought I should make some permanent mounts for the front clip. Originally it mounted by one bolt to the center of the radiator hoop but I wanted two mounts to make it a little more stable. I used some of the explorer body mounts I had. The brackets slide up and down for body adjustments.