The One Lap Truck

wvumtnbkr wrote: I am not sure the short wheelbase trucks have the driveshaft issues. The driveshaft is shorter also. Just setback the engine and make the shaft even shorter.....

you might be right, i remember that my friend who had the truck said if we would have got the long bed it wound have a higher/no limiter because it would be a 2 piece driveshaft aka 2 shorter shafts that dont have the balancing issues.

meh, it's a non-issue. an upgraded and rated for speed shaft was not extremely expensive from what I recall...

I personally feel like the longer bed is worth it. 8ft bed to store E36 M3, or throw a sleeping bag into to sleep. (under the tonneau cover.)

I will say one thing, I think the short bed you get with the shortest wheelbase crew cab on these trucks is ridiculous.

The short bed on the standard cab should be 6.5 ft. That's long enough for me to sleep in. The bed on the CC (only one length for the 1/2 ton trucks) is closer to 5.5 feet. With the tailgate down 8ft lumber isn't hanging over the tailgate and I've yet to have something that I can't haul in the back with a little creativity.
I'm looking forward to the decreased weight and wheelbase after driving mine for 8 years and 160k miles.

I'd like to see a pop-up camper/tent rig on the back, ala Zach Bowman... would cut down on hotel fees

then it's just a matter of pulling it off before heading out on track... bonus awesome place to nap during lunch

also, I look forward to seeing this thing in the flesh! I can barely contain the squee

mazdeuce wrote: I know and like the GMT900 trucks. I also prefer the front coils to the torsion bars on the GMT800 trucks. There are a LOT of power options and people have been building LS motors for long enough now that second hand parts are getting sort of cheap. I'll be keeping AC at heat and radio and all of that stuff that makes a vehichicle livible over long road distances. There is a lot of talk about weights and driveshafts and what not on the internet. It's easy to get lost in other people's opinions of what will and will not work. I'm going to collect ideas and then ground truth them with weights and measures when I have the truck in front of me. For now I have my CCSB that I can poke around and measure and drink coffee and stare at.

You realize that torsion bars are only on the 4wd trucks and those also had the recirc ball setup as well, right? Are you building an awd track monster?

Bobzilla wrote: Are you building an awd track monster?

That is the theoretical end game, yes. Whether or not we ever reach that point, I'd like the path to be there.

mazdeuce wrote: All of the NNBS 1/2 tons had drums but it's fairly trivial to backdate to factory disks.

Not true. Any of the 1500s with the 6.2L (Denoted by the VortecMax badges) came with rear disc brakes.

Pity you didn't start this a year ago, because my co-worker was selling his '08 Sierra 1500 shortbed, standard-cab 2WD. 80,000 miles, no rust, some minor hail damage, K&N intake and Magnaflow mufflers.

mazdeuce wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: Are you building an awd track monster?

That is the theoretical end game, yes. Whether or not we ever reach that point, I'd like the path to be there.

aH... that makes more sense.

My main question is: What are you doing for hte rear suspension? truck arms? 4 link? 3link? IRS?

Trucks have been more appealing to me lately based on their relative cheapness, simplicity, flexibility, and durability. I've been rallycrossing the crap out of a Ranger and having lots of fun. I'm in to follow this build.

I keep coming back to the idea of an autox/tt truck. I almost autoxed my 93 Dakota but we ended up buying an Audi A3 just before my first season.

Bobzilla wrote:

mazdeuce wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: Are you building an awd track monster?

That is the theoretical end game, yes. Whether or not we ever reach that point, I'd like the path to be there.

aH... that makes more sense. My main question is: What are you doing for hte rear suspension? truck arms? 4 link? 3link? IRS?

All options are on the table and there is likely to be more than one iteration.

In reply to NickD:

I forgot about the 6.2 trucks. Thanks for the reminder. That's a big part of starting this thread now, gathering the collective information held by the lot of you.

In reply to mazdeuce:

That package also included bigger beefier 9.5" rear end with steeper rear gears for towing, so it might be worth trying to hunt down that whole rearend somewhere and swapping it in. Then you get better gears, a stronger rear axle and rear disc brakes.

In reply to NickD:

Thank you very much. Valuable, much appreciated information.

i know you plan on running some fat track tires while racing but if you want some cheap, good looking factory wheels for street use then you should look into de-cladded chevy wheels

goes from this:

to this:

here is my buddys truck ive been talking about, the red one

the black truck is boosted and pushing north of 1000 hp

What's the story with the wheels?
And 1000hp? Sounds just about right.

Decladding the wheels.

http://www.performancetrucks.net/forums/gmt-900-trucks-general-discussion-188/how-declad-factory-rims-515330/

Super cool. I didn't know that about those wheels. Final track wheels will be bigger but those are in my radar for regular truck wheels now. Thanks.

HUH? WHAT? WHY? I'm lost on who thought the cladding looked good to begin with. With the cladding off they look a million times better.

I think on the first race you should haul the Miata on a trailer and detach it from the truck like you're going to run it then slap on some magnetic numbers and bomb out onto the race course with the truck instead.

That first picture has me interested. Love the idea, can't wait to see how this progresses.

Also apparently you can do the same thing to some 5 spoke Chevy wheels. Turns a hideous wheel into something you might actually want (well not you but the general "you")

http://www.gmfullsize.com/threads/de-clad.220166/

Still stuck on that 19 inch wheel idea, so time to measure.
Step 1: Scrap wood.
Step 2: check turning.
Step 3: this is awesome! Step 4. Realize that I will need the same inside clearance as stock with stock arms (pretty much) and this can be calculated without hanging a tire. Stock wheels are 17x7.5 with 4.97" backspacing, 31mm offset according to the internet. A 12 inch wheel would need -26mm offset to get the same backspacing. Something like a stock C6 Corvette Gran Sport 12x19 rear wheel seems to have an offset of 59mm which is a mere 83 mm off.
Crap.
I'm clearly going to need to drink more coffee and stare at things for a while.

I normally hate seeing "that guy" do "that thing", but I'm sorry I have to be "that guy".

Did anything more ever come of this idea?