Project #1524

[Graham1524]

Beginning:

Started ownership of this truck in November of 2007, it is a two owner truck that I got from my dads uncle after he passed away. He was the original owner. Before acquiring the truck it sat for a number of years and was in very rough condition. Parts were replaced and fixed as they could be and slow progress was made. Below is how it looked when I got it, most of the cladding did come with the truck.



Project goals (for now):

Build and compete in SCCA CAM class for autocross

Current upgrades:

Engine:
Stock block
4 bolt mains
Steve Morris cam
Stock turbo, rebuilt and ported by Sportmachines with the batmo wheel
Lil Brodie heads
stock exhaust manifold, ceramic coated by Swain Tech- http://www.********/forums/showthrea...hlight=brodies
JSM 3" downpipe

Intake:
Stock upper and lower intake
58mm throttle body
60lb injectors
Stock upper intercooler

Engine management:
Holley dominator

Suspension:
JSM 3 link rear with Viking coilovers
Torsen LSD front diff
Afco front coilovers 575lb spring
Bell tech rear sway bar
C5 Z06 front brakes


Future upgrades:

Engine:
Bigger turbo
Get the stock Lil Brodies worker for max flow
Headers
A/A intercooler
E85
Edelbrock lower intake/ custom upper

Suspension:
25mm base model 4x4 s10 front sway bar

[Graham1524]

Progress has been rolling along quite well so I'll add a few pictures of the progress.
New engine has been in for a little bit now and is running. Have a few odds and ends to finish up but here's a few pics from the build.

[Graham1524]

The JSM 3 link has been installed and the truck is on the ground again and sitting low, hopefully in the next week or so I can get it driving around to report back with some good news. Here is a glimpse of how it sits now, this is the most it has been together in quite a while now. It's still not much to look at but that's not been the focus in the project yet.

[Alwayswantedone]

Hey Graham what wheels are on the sy in the pics of it in the storage unit?

[Graham1524]

Hey Graham what wheels are on the sy in the pics of it in the storage unit?

They are 3SDM 0.06 wheels, they are a UK brand and seem to be big on VW's and BMW's as well. I think they fit the truck pretty great

[Alwayswantedone]

I agree. They do look nice on there.

[Graham1524]

Drove it for the first time on the new setup and everything seems good so far. Didn't have power steering at first, quick fix, just had to add more fluid. Also the dash gauges are horribly inaccurate when compared to the holley readings, mini holley dash screen will be in my future for sure.

Come to Carlisle and you should be able to see all of the shitty goodness for yourself!

[Graham1524]

Have it out and about with a few miles on it now. Had a bit of a scare driving it home and found out the hard way that the calipers had not been tightened properly. That will be fixed and then some more smaller issue, finishing the exhaust, have someone go over the tune for me, get an alignment, and get it inspected. Pic for attention, check out all of that 90's goodness!!

[Graham1524]

Been working like crazy to get this thing into shape to make it to Carlisle. Has almost 200 miles on the rebuild, got an inspection and tag. It's out getting an alignment today and should be getting a good run through this weekend before we leave Wednesday. Have run in to a few issues but nothing too serious yet.

Things I need to figure out are:
Bracket to tether the intercooler to the intake, sort of have a fix for now
Getting the tune perfect or at least good enough for a long drive
Why the radio isn't working

[Captain Morgan]

nice job man, what is the radio problem, no power or no sound?

[Graham1524]

nice job man, what is the radio problem, no power or no sound?

I have no idea, may just not be plugged in. All I've really done is hit the power button and I can hear static but the face doesn't light up. It's pretty low on my to do list.

[Graham1524]

Over a thousand miles on the new setup and it is great! The ride to Carlisle and back was nice and smooth on the full coilover suspension and we cruised most of the way right at 80 mph. So far I've been averaging 12 mpg which isn't too bad considering speed and terrain.

I was able to get the radio working, the fuse was missing so the fix was incredibly easy. However, if I plugged my phone in to charge from the cigarette lighter the fuse would blow. There was also a bit of a rub somewhere on left hand turns but we think it has been fixed. One of the fittings on the power steering box wasn't entirely tight and the long bar bracket thing for the transfer case needed to be adjusted some.

Moving forward we now have a new to do list:
Finish the tune
Find and fix all the small squeaks and rattles
Build some kind of box for the air filter to go in
Picked up an aluminum water pump that needs to go on
Upgrade the lower heat exchanger, it's definitely seen better days

[Captain Morgan]

Gonna work on paint at any point?

[Graham1524]

Gonna work on paint at any point?

I will here at some point, my buddy owns a shop and does great paint so he's going to paint it. I'm just not sure when yet

[Graham1524]

Update time since it's been a while and Carlisle is almost here again. Lots of progress on the truck because I can't seem leave it alone for long.

Big items first, I put headers on the truck, the setup I had in place worked but I could never get an exhaust leak to go away. So if you want to run Lil Brodies with stock manifolds you can, but don't. With headers on the JSM downpipe no longer fit so I had one made as well as an exhaust.

Smaller upgrades:
Aluminum water pump
Finally got some speakers in so I can have radio for the trip!
Picked up the last brand new 25mm front sway bar you could buy from GM, I could feel an immediate improvement in the front end
Aluminum lower intercooler, I bought a core a while back and finally got a frame and mounting tabs welded to it
I'm sure there's a ton more that I can't think of at the moment

Got the chance to autocross the truck and it did pretty well, this was before the tune was really sorted so it can only get better. Still have a lot to do before Carlisle so ignore that dirty ass engine bay!