Everyone needs a truck. At least that's what I told myself...
For the last decade I have owned a string of Hondas, and have greatly enjoyed them. If Honda made a proper truck I might just own one. Some of you may have followed my previous build thread "Improving an Appliance" where I began chronicling the motor build for my '99 civic sedan. I'd like to pick up where that thread left off. Some of you may remember I bought the truck, and a week later bought a 2000 Accord for $150. Long story short the Accord will soon be properly fixed and I'm selling both of my Hondas and building the W/T.
So! On to the Work Truck. The truck is a 2006 Silverado WT. 128k miles, no carpet, manual widows and locks, 4.3L V6, 5-spd trans, and a 4,200lb curb weight. For a long time I have been looking for a regular cab short bed silverado. I hadn't intended on buying one this new, but people wanted too much for older clapped out trucks and I got impatient. I also got a great deal on it since it had a few problems. The blower motor didn't work, most of the gauge cluster lights were burnt out, and the clutch felt funny. I talked the guy down to $5500. Here are a few pics from right after I got it.
The first mods were a $75 eBay intake, and a Thrush Welded muffler. (which is a copy of the Flowmaster 40 series). This only served to make the truck louder and make the engine bay look cooler. There is really no helping the 4.3 motor since the main restriction is in the heads.
A major reason for buying this truck is that LS swaps are insanely easy. My eventual plan is to pick up a junkyard 5.3 and rebuild/overbore it with 5.7 LS1 pistons, a cam, and long tube headers. Since the truck is the only of my 4 vehicles that is currently road-worthy the engine swap will have to wait. (Ironic since my other 3 are Hondas) With that in mind I turned my attention to making it look like a performance truck. (Ricer, I know...what can I say I'm a Honda guy, lol)
My first modification to that end was to add 2" drop shackles
Next I paint matched the front grille with some Dupli-Color Perfect match.
Then to go full ricer I cut one coil from the front springs. That same weekend I replaced the shocks/struts.
I used Gabriel Hijackers in the back, so I can add air if I want to tow or haul stuff, and Gabriel Ultras in the front. The price was like $20 a side in the front, but it's kinda bouncy. I will try better quality struts up front soon and see if that fixes it.
When my tax returns came in I decided to splurge a bit. I ordered 20x9 GMC Denali replicas, and some Toyo Proxes in the factory size, 275/55/20
You may notice the driver's side is about 1/2" lower than the passenger side, according to the forums this is commonly called the "chevy lean" I'm not sure how I will address this, I may cut a bit more off of the passenger side coil. In the back I plan on adding 2"drop hangers to even out the stance some. The only other mod that will be happening soon is the addition of a Suburban sway bar that I scored for $25 at the local yard. I may then add a larger aftermarket front sway bar. Stereo upgrades will be happening soon, but that's boring.
That's about it for now. I'm happy with the looks, it rides decent and gets me to work and back like I need it to. I have to fix and sell 3 Hondas, get a reliable DD, and then this will get a v8 swap. I hope you guys like it!
Looks great, you really don't see too many newer regular cab, short boxes anymore. I was just wondering a few days ago whole looking at cl, how bad one of these is with the v6 and an auto.
In reply to nepa03focus:
An auto could be OK with the right gear. Mine is 3.23, which is terrible. I have to shift into 4th on hills on the interstate.
This is Cool. I love simple trucks. There are so many outrageously lifted monstrosities in my corner or rural/suburbia that I get happy whenever I see a truck like yours.
In reply to BlueInGreen44:
Thank you sir! There are lots of lifted trucks around here too. Rockstar wheels, 33's etc. I call them mall crawlers.
I just ordered 2" drop hangers to even out the back some.
In reply to AntiArrhythmic:
Looks fantastic - the rims are a nice touch
In reply to TIGMOTORSPORTS:
Thanks!
I just found out I will have to notch the frame with the hangers. Rear will be a 4" drop total. So expect some pics with the bed off pretty soon! I have to say I'm a bit intimidated by notching the frame.
Notching the frame is nothing to get worked up over. A good kit includes a paper template that you lay against the frame (with locating marks on the template to get it properly positioned) and mark for the cutting. Other than that, a good drill bit is your friend to drill all the 1/2" holes. I always use a nice new step bit for the drilling. Home Depot sells an Irwin brand step bit that goes from 0 to 1/2". The cool deal is you just blow the drill bit all the way through without having to worry about drilling to the proper step on a larger step bit.
All of that said, I have put literally many dozen BellTech notches in. They are the industry gold standard. My current truck is getting a McGauhey's brand notch (due to logistics at the time when I ordered the parts). I ordered it and opened the box to see what I was dealing with and the instructions say to "center notch over axle" for positioning. No template like the BellTech includes.
In reply to Cousin_Eddie:
I was thinking of going with McGaughey's notch kit. Or possibly the DJM, although McGauheys seems to be higher quality. Belltech is a quite a bit more expensive.
Edit: I just ordered the DJM notch kit. $109 shipped from Summit.
The McGauhey's is very, very high quality. It appears every bit of as good as Belltech. I used to work at a place installing Belltech so that's what I'm familiar with. They give you a paper template with holes in it that line up with existing holes in the frame. You just line them up and scribe the cut lines. McGauhey's didn't include any of that. It's absolutely no big deal of course. You can usually use the original bump stop as centerline to judge where the notch needs to go.
