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Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
4/15/19 8:24 p.m.

Its not low enough until you risk bottoming out the water pump. 

84FSP
84FSP SuperDork
4/16/19 8:28 a.m.

See if you can find the trailblazer SS intake and throttle body.  They are the best cheap intake upgrade and regularly out low all but the highest dollar intakes.  Really cool thread here https://ls1tech.com/forums/generation-iii-external-engine/1861644-intake-manifold-flow-tests-ls1-ls6-tbss-bbk-dorman-ls2-102-fast-lsxrt-more-34.html#post20080957

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/16/19 8:22 p.m.

After I had the rolling stock that I wanted I beat the truck profusely with the BellTech stick. 

After having a whole lot of lowered trucks over the years, this one is the most dramatic dropped truck I've ever had. Getting one way down like this on 30 inch tall tires is drastic. It's all done properly and nothing rubs or hits. It turns a lot of heads.

 

SkinnyG
SkinnyG UltraDork
4/16/19 8:24 p.m.

You un-ruined the truck.  I love it!

Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
4/16/19 8:27 p.m.

Was my 5/7 estimate about right?

 

Looks RIGHTEOUS!!

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/16/19 8:31 p.m.
SkinnyG said:

You un-ruined the truck.  I love it!

Thanks man.

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/16/19 8:36 p.m.
Dusterbd13-michael said:

Was my 5/7 estimate about right?

 

Looks RIGHTEOUS!!

4/6. Belltech spindles and springs in the front. Flip kit and c-notch in the back. Belltech shocks on all four corners.

What I have learned is that while a 4/6 is standard drop on a C10 or GMT400, most guys stop at 2/4 drop on these GMT800s.

Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
4/16/19 8:48 p.m.

Is it significantly harder to drop an 800 4/6? Just wondering why they stop so high. 

Run_Away
Run_Away Dork
4/16/19 9:12 p.m.

Looks rad.yes

 

When's the VS Racing 80mm going on?

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/16/19 9:34 p.m.
Dusterbd13-michael said:

Is it significantly harder to drop an 800 4/6? Just wondering why they stop so high. 

It is harder. I had to cut the middle of the carrier bearing crossmember completely out and relocate the carrier bearing up higher (earlier generation trucks you just unbolt it and slip a spacer in there with longer bolts). And the frame notch is unusual compared to others I have used. It uses a normal outer c notch plate as well as an added inner c notch and they are spaced apart with spacers. Basically, the frame is now boxed with the notch. Not plated inside and out, it is a full box section now.  And you even have to put a little baby c notch in the bed crossmember where the diff hits it.

And the ball joints whipped my butt. Never in my life have I ever run across ball joints this stuck. I had to eventually use a 10 pound sledge hammer and pickle fork plus a torch on the spindles to loosen the tapers. Which of course, added nearly 200 bucks and waiting for a Rockauto order to the whole ordeal.

To get the camber pulled back out after lowering it I wound up maxing out my eccentrics. Unfortunately I really don't have enough caster adjustment left. So I am going to wind up pulling the upper arms back off and installing offset upper bushings to allow me to dial in some more positive caster.

But, basically, notching the frame on one of these trucks seems to scare owners. Guys will compromise with a more modest drop just to avoid the notch process.

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/16/19 9:36 p.m.
Run_Away said:

Looks rad.yes

 

When's the VS Racing 80mm going on?

I'm going to take a little different approach without using whistly things under the hood.

Patrick
Patrick MegaDork
4/16/19 9:40 p.m.

Those upper ball joints suck so bad, on my avalanche I ended up torching one out, and not bothering to do the other.  

84FSP
84FSP SuperDork
4/17/19 1:45 p.m.

I really miss lowered trucks...

Gunchsta
Gunchsta HalfDork
4/19/19 8:15 a.m.

Dang that looks good. Going to put a little cam in this one? The LS engines sure seem to be perfectly happy with a huge cam. 

thankyoubasedjosh
thankyoubasedjosh None
4/19/19 8:46 a.m.

This really makes me want to lower my truck! I have a 15 F-150 but I was always iffy about lowering an extended cab and I have never dealt with drops, only lifts. 

SkinnyG
SkinnyG UltraDork
4/19/19 10:31 a.m.

I tell you, the guys at Home Depot love loading my lowered squarebody.

IHaveNoClueWhatImDoing
IHaveNoClueWhatImDoing New Reader
4/19/19 2:37 p.m.

These IMO are the best looking Silverados, the lines are perfect, and lowering it just makes it that much better. Beautiful Truck

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/19/19 3:20 p.m.

I'm not totally sure which direction the engine will wind up going. I do have something in the works.

I did do a couple of little things to perk up the current performance though.

First, Corvette servo to make it shift more snappy. 15 bucks from Amazon.

Then I went down an expensive rabbit hole. Don't be like me.

It all started out with finding a set of 2006 model e-fans on Facebook for sale for 100 bucks (going price).

They require the larger late model radiator. So I RockAuto'd that. As well as rounding up a fan harness. I chose Nelson Performance for that.

So, out with the old  and in with the new.

I also threw a new thermostat in because the truck would never really warm up completely.

The old one had deteoriated and had a piece of old rubber seal stuck in it.

Then to make the fans operate, I licensed my ECM with HP Tuners and did all that.

Then I drove it around for a while and learned an expensive lesson. Not coincidentally, the same time GM went to efans on these trucks, they also went from 105 to 145 amp alternators. These fans are amp thirsty. 

Big and little.

 

Now it will hold full voltage at low idle with both fans running.

So, if you're keeping score, to convert to efans....

  • used fans
  • Rockauto HD late model radiator
  • Nelson Performance fan harness
  • New AcDelco alternator
  • New belt for larger alternator
  • HP Tuners 2 credits to license my ECM

I don't count the thermostat and coolant prices in with the fans since they needed doing regardless.

That said though, removing the hefty fan clutch and going efans absolutely, without any doubt, freed up horsepower. It's a profound difference. I generally poo-poo at seat of the pants HP gains, but this one did it.

Stay tuned for the next update when Cousin Eddie finds out if the Pope E36 M3s in the woods and if a bear wears a funny hat.

 

 

Gunchsta
Gunchsta HalfDork
4/19/19 3:53 p.m.

Oh man the Corvette servo, I forgot I did that to the 700R4 in my Silverado. Such a worthwhile upgrade. 

The fans and that servo probably made a pretty significant difference in the butt dyno. Plus the aerodynamic improvements you made lowering it :) 

 

Agent98
Agent98 Reader
4/20/19 7:49 a.m.

Wow that's a pile of work, how involved was it to swap out the trans servos?

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
4/20/19 8:10 a.m.
Agent98 said:

Wow that's a pile of work, how involved was it to swap out the trans servos?

Truly ten minutes total. You just pry inwards on the servo cover (I used a prybar against the exhaust pipe) and release the snap ring. Then remove cover and pull servo out. Replace old parts with new parts and put it all back into the servo cavity. Install servo cover and snap ring and you're done. Total fluid spillage was less than a paper towel worth. 

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
5/19/19 11:21 a.m.

Minor updates.

First, I felt like the aftermarket lower valence sagged and looked like a toddler wearing a wet diaper. So I texted my GM dealership buddy and ordered a genuine GM valence. I did choose the 4wd Z71 valence over the original type. Then I Amazon'd some aftermarket fog lights for the valence.

Old saggy diaper.

New GM genuineness.....

Next, I did a little ghetto exhaust work. Someone on this board introduced me to CamelCamelCamel. I had been using it to watch a muffler and a couple of Walker exhaust pieces. When the prices bottomed out I made the leap.

Much lightness was added by replacing the factory muffler with the Borla. I used my 25 year old 120volt Lincoln MIG to sew it all together. I had been saving various pieces of aluminized 3" pipe for a while just hoping to use them sometime. I salvaged a factory hanger off the OEM tailipipe (long ago removed when I did the lowering) which I bent and modified for the new application.

Typical Borla, it sounds like angels singing. In my opinion, none sound better. I outgrew Flowmaster and Magnaflow years ago.

Indy-Guy
Indy-Guy UberDork
5/19/19 12:36 p.m.

In reply to Cousin_Eddie :

Other good post with more subtle improvements.

What's this camel of which you speak?

Cousin_Eddie
Cousin_Eddie HalfDork
5/19/19 1:37 p.m.
Indy-Guy said:

In reply to Cousin_Eddie :

Other good post with more subtle improvements.

What's this camel of which you speak?

It is a website/ browser add on. www.camelcamelcamel.com . It stores your Amazon shopping cart and any other thing you want to price watch. Then you set a price that you're willing to pay for the item. When the price drops to your desired level you get an email telling you to go buy it. It also shows histograms of any items so you can see the price fluctuations over time.

Amazon prices obviously fluctuate drastically. In my case I have gotten emails in the middle of the night notifying me of a drastic price drop. You have to act fast before the price goes back up. 

759NRNG
759NRNG SuperDork
5/27/19 4:26 p.m.

With the mostess toyota in the entire universe on the front page .....what is your bottom $$$$$ on this 'silverado de eddie'????

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