Written By Steve Baur Photography by the Author It's easy to become preoccupied with horsepower and speed. After all, that is what really gets our juices flowing, and it's a huge part of the performance aftermarket. But the older you get, the more you appreciate the amenities and increased comfort in modern vehicles. While an LS swap certainly made our subject Chevy S10 pickup fun to drive, its basic equipment left a lot to be desired. But with help from ididit, Scat Enterprises, and Thermo Tec, we're about to make the one-wheel-peeler a nice daily driver we'll fix the rear axle issue a little later. The 1987 S10 we are working with came off the General Motors assembly line with not much more than the 2.5-liter Iron Duke four-cylinder engine and stick-shift transmission. A vinyl bench seat spread the width of the standard cab truck, and there was little-to-no sound deadener or even interior panels to speak of. With a 5.3-liter/4L65E swap now providing loads of driving entertainment, and a fresh paint job making the exterior of the truck look better than stock, it was time to upgrade the interior to make it a little more enjoyable from the driver's seat. The first order of business was to replace the stock steering column with a tilt version, which proved to be a difficult task from a used standpoint. Anything you might find in the scrapyard is at minimum, 27 years old and likely worn out, so we called our friends at ididit to see if they could help. As it turned out, they didn't have a bolt-in model in stock, but told us to ship them our stock column and they would build a new tilt column for us. While ididit was busy building the steering column, we got in touch with Thermo Tec to talk about the best way to insulate the tiny cabin from noise and heat. Sure, a thumping cam and the sound of a great burnout are great, but everything else didn't need to permeate the cabin. With the truck being based in Florida, we also wanted to limit the heat transfer from the tropical climate. Thermo Tec recommended its Suppressor Heat and Acoustical mat as well as its Thermo Guard FR insulation. The Suppressor would dampen the sound and its reflective backing would also reflect some heat transfer, while the Thermo Guard would mostly mitigate the heat intrusion. The Thermo Guard could also be utilized in places where the Suppressor couldn't, such as the headliner and vertical surfaces of the vehicle. With the sound and heat insulation working beneath a new carpet, we couldn't wait to ditch the factory bench seat for something more supportive, as well as something far better looking. For that, we turned to Scat Enterprises and its Procar line of bucket seats. Procar by Scat was one of the first companies to offer quality replacement sport seats, and when we took a look at its new line of Touring Sport Recliners, we knew they were the right seats for this project. Looking more like a factory seat than a flashy aftermarket unit, the Touring Sport seat offers classy styling and great bolstering combined in a relatively svelte package, the latter of which is essential in a tiny, standard cab Chevy S10. Many of the seating options from Procar come with slider tracks, and the company also offers vehicle specific floor-mount adaptor brackets as well to make installing them a bolt-in proposition. Check out the accompany photos and captions to see how the products are installed, and to see the pretty dramatic transformation that just a few upgrades can make to the interior or your vehicle. Sources ididit (517) 424-0577 www.ididitinc.com ProCar by Scat (310) 370-5501 www.procarbyscat.com ThermoTec (800) 274-8437 www.thermotec.com