Tweet
I bought this truck on a whim. It was a trade in at the dealership I worked at, and was slated for a date with a wholesale auction. 4.3 V-6, NV4500 manual transmission, regular cab, longbed. Basically the antithesis of anything popular. It was between this and a Mazda B4000 extended cab. When it came time to pull the trigger, I decided on the GMC for a few reasons:
1) Parts availability. Not that the Mazda was bad, but a full sized GMT-400 platform is simple, durable and cheap.
2) Ease of V-8 swap. I'm fairly mechanically adept, but I lack time in a big way.
3) GM interchangeability.
4) Stick shift. I know modern automatics are superior, but for ease of the V-8, I preferred the manual.
This truck reminds me of the sport trucks that were the street heroes of my youth in Central Florida. The sport truck movement inspired me to modify my first car, a 1995 Nissan Hardbody, which ended up with nearly 400 bhp from a Japan-sourced SR20DET engine that came from an early 90's Silvia. Since then, fast trucks have fascinated me, as they blur the line between function and form. I hope to replicate that with this, in more of a shop-truck style format.
The plans for this turd are to address the ride height first. I plan to try out the new Street Grip suspension from RideTech, While doing that, I'm going to swap the truck to 6-lug so I can recycle my 20" American Racing wheels that were on my K1500 Yukon, shod in 275/40/20 rubber. The wheels are currently black with machined lips, and will either be brass, or charcoal. I'm undecided yet.
As far as the aesthetics of the body and garbage clear coat... not going to bother. I'm going to use this like a truck. At most, I'll roll a bedliner inside the box.
For the power plant, I'm not going LS, even though it's probably the most bang-for-buck option. I'm going small block, and here is why: Air conditioning. I know that you can put A/C on LS engine swaps, but refer back to the lack of time. I run a dealership, and have two small boys at home. I don't want to fool with swapping accessory drives, and searching for a belt. Plus, I put a new alternator on this bucket just last week. My goal is 400 horses to the wheels, or some reasonable facsimile, nothing astronomical. Enough to play, entertain myself, and haul more crappy cars home if I so choose. Case in point, the wife's MG Midget.
I'll post as I do things, but it probably won't be a rapid build. Ideally I'd like to have it ready for Power Tour next year to long haul.
Here's a brief article on the truck itself https://bangshift.com/general-news/b...khorse-pickup/
1) Parts availability. Not that the Mazda was bad, but a full sized GMT-400 platform is simple, durable and cheap.
2) Ease of V-8 swap. I'm fairly mechanically adept, but I lack time in a big way.
3) GM interchangeability.
4) Stick shift. I know modern automatics are superior, but for ease of the V-8, I preferred the manual.
This truck reminds me of the sport trucks that were the street heroes of my youth in Central Florida. The sport truck movement inspired me to modify my first car, a 1995 Nissan Hardbody, which ended up with nearly 400 bhp from a Japan-sourced SR20DET engine that came from an early 90's Silvia. Since then, fast trucks have fascinated me, as they blur the line between function and form. I hope to replicate that with this, in more of a shop-truck style format.
The plans for this turd are to address the ride height first. I plan to try out the new Street Grip suspension from RideTech, While doing that, I'm going to swap the truck to 6-lug so I can recycle my 20" American Racing wheels that were on my K1500 Yukon, shod in 275/40/20 rubber. The wheels are currently black with machined lips, and will either be brass, or charcoal. I'm undecided yet.
As far as the aesthetics of the body and garbage clear coat... not going to bother. I'm going to use this like a truck. At most, I'll roll a bedliner inside the box.
For the power plant, I'm not going LS, even though it's probably the most bang-for-buck option. I'm going small block, and here is why: Air conditioning. I know that you can put A/C on LS engine swaps, but refer back to the lack of time. I run a dealership, and have two small boys at home. I don't want to fool with swapping accessory drives, and searching for a belt. Plus, I put a new alternator on this bucket just last week. My goal is 400 horses to the wheels, or some reasonable facsimile, nothing astronomical. Enough to play, entertain myself, and haul more crappy cars home if I so choose. Case in point, the wife's MG Midget.
I'll post as I do things, but it probably won't be a rapid build. Ideally I'd like to have it ready for Power Tour next year to long haul.
Here's a brief article on the truck itself https://bangshift.com/general-news/b...khorse-pickup/
Comment