The Woof's 2o11 Colorado

The object of this exercise is to take a boring compact/midsize 4 cylinder truck, and turn it into something a little nicer to look at, a little nicer to drive, and a little more capable of doing what I need it to do. In other words, the truck that the General should have sold me.

This is the unit. The first things I did was have the windows tinted.

I didn't really need a new truck. But I took a much closer job, didn't owe anything on my high mileage 06 Canyon and GM was having a huge sale on remaining 2011 models. I really wanted a silver one, but was willing to take a black one for the $10,000 discount. It's a 4 cylinder, 5 spd. Not bare bones, but not loaded. It has things I'll never use, like a built in cell phone, and air, but you take what you can get.

I also installed a hitch, in case we get the travel trailer we've been talking about.

What I really wanted was to do something about the exhaust. It had an annoying bit of resonation, or drone when it was new. Something my 06 never had. It wasn't bad, but it bugged me nonetheless. I figured a change in muffler might help, and might make it sound a little better at the same time. Since I didn't want a truck that sounded like a Civic with a fart can, I did a bunch of listening on youtube, and settled on a Flowmaster. The one I used was not ideal, but I got it cheap, so that made up for it.

Check out the size of that stock muffler (the FM is one of their biggest ones)

It worked. The drone was gone, and the sound was actually pretty good. The vid doesn't do it justice. I got a lot of comments. All of them positive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGP5M1ivi-M

I got the tint guy to do the running lights.

And after numerous attempts, I did the rear ones myself with nite shades. The curve was too odd to take the tint without wrinkling. I didn't tint the reverse lights because I live in the sticks and have a long driveway that's pretty dark at night.

Too bad Flowmasters are junk. It lasted about a year, then it started rattling inside once it got hot. I cut it open and found 3 welds with no penetration on one side. So I opted for a Hooker Aero chamber, because I saw it in a muffler comparison test, and thought the design looked interesting.

This one sounded good too... for a 4 cylinder truck. The sound is actually quite a bit deeper in person. The Aero chamber is a very well built muffler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toYKd_Nu3g4

I've put the Aero chamber on a couple different vehicles. Never been disappointed.

I like the truck.

I did a search on the Colorado forum, and asked a few questions about lowering, and was offered a set of 2" lowering springs for the cost of shipping. The springs are from Canuck motorsports, and their prices were good, so I got some lowering blocks as well. Everybody said I should go 2/3 with the drop, but after seeing a lot of drops like that, i thought too many of them looked too low in the back, and opted for the 2" blocks. As if the customer service wasn't bad enough, my blocks arrived without any of the hardware. When I called them, they told me it wasn't possible, but they would look into it anyway. The shipping doc. showed the weight as lower than it should have been, so they admitted they were wrong and shipped the hardware. My advice? Find somebody else to deal with.

The springs and the blocks seem fine so far.

The truck handles much better, rides at least as well, if not better, and drives a lot more like a car.

At the same time, I saw a Tekstyle roll up tonneau cover for sale on Kijiji for $100. It was new in the box and looked like a good deal. When I looked at it, it wasn't what I was expecting and almost walked away. I figured for $100, if I didn't like it, i could always resell it, so I scooped it. I'm glad I did, because I'm very happy with it. It turned out that the guy with the cover for sale was also a land speed racer, and we've competed at some of the same events in the past.

We got stance.

Some performance next.

Looks good! I don't like trucks that sit level, a little bit of rake looks good.

Built in cell phone? That's still a thing people do?

I always love small trucks and this looks great!, will be following this build.

mndsm wrote: Built in cell phone? That's still a thing people do?

probably a blue tooth option?

Datsun310Guy wrote:

mndsm wrote: Built in cell phone? That's still a thing people do?

probably a blue tooth option?

Well, it has bluetooth, but there's definitely a phone in there somewhere You can see the antenna for it on the passenger side roof.

That's all I know about it. When the 90 day trial ran out, I never used it any more. Come to think about it, I don't think I ever used it once I was out of the dealer lot.

In reply to Zomby Woof:

OnStar phone?

For sure it has something to do with Onstar, which I think is a great service, but not for me.

So I wanted a little more power and maybe a cold air intake sort of thing, but didn't want the noise, or the $300 price tag. So I looked for a way to improve the stock intake. I didn't have to look far.

It's a 185 hp 4 cylinder with a 76 mm throttle body, and this is the intake snorkel in the air box (beside the one I bought to put in). Yes, I dropped it and it broke.

How well do you think it breathed through that little 48 mm port? Not very well.

The snorkle snaps in place, so I imagine the 5.3 l version of this truck probably has a bigger one that might pop in. Unfortunately there aren't any of those in the yards yet. So I bought a 3" speaker port to replace it.

A little work on a scrap piece of lexan and I had a new snorkel

It snapped right in place.

I had to cut it back so it didn't hit the filter

Installed in the truck

And icing on the cake. $30 K&N off ebay

I'm assuming the drive by wire was set up to work around the little snorkel. Light throttle application isn't as snappy as it was, but quarter to half throttle acceleration is WAY better now. In fact, it pulls so hard at about half throttle, it feels like it did when it was wide open before. This worked so well, that I kept taking the truck out that night just to see if it really did feel that strong, or I was just imagining it

In reply to Zomby Woof:

Sounds like it's time for a tuner or just hack the ecm. It IS a GM product, how hard could it be.

nicksta43 wrote: Looks good! I don't like trucks that sit level, a little bit of rake looks good.

I agree 100%. A little rake is just right.

I was never a fan of lowered trucks, but as long as it stays functional, it can really improve the look and handling.

In reply to singleslammer:

You'll have your answer tomorrow

The intake worked well, but this mod so far has been the best.

This

Is better than this...

It wasn't cheap at $300, but it's definitely a limited market piece, all SS, and very well built.

Power is much better, and where it used to feel almost like something was holding it back before, it revs freely, and pulls hard. The 5 cylinder guys have done back to back dyno testing with just removal of the pre-cat, and found 15 or more HP. I bet I'm pushing 200 HP now. It sure feels like it.

The only problem is, when you remove the pre-cat, you remove some muffleage. That nifty Hooker Aero chamber was no longer doing the job. Now it's starting to sound like a Civic. Revs out pretty good though. Yes, I had to find a temporary spot for the second O2 sensor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBWEtAq6aZE

I put a Dynomax super turbo on, and it's not bad, but it's not great either. I think when the weather gets a little better, I'll try a Cherrybomb elite. Kind of a Flowmaster style, large case muffler to make it sound a little less like the 4 cylinder that it is. If you're keeping track, that will be muffler #5. Hopefully it's better built than a FM.

It's getting there.

Being a GM, I can access the stock ECU with HP tuners. A good friend of mine specializes in tuning both MS and HPT. He tells me there's lot's of potential in there, and he knows how to find it

One more mod to go, though before the tune...

What's the curb weight on that wee beastie? I always thought the 4 cyl/5 spd would be a fun truck. Did the really put a 5.3 in them? A single cab short box with a 5.3 would be charming.

I'm a ford fanboy, but I remember driving one of these in a 5cyl when I sold chevrolets for two months and thinking, wow this is a lot better to drive than the ranger. I really liked the seats too I remember, for a truck. I will be following this since I have seen some cheapie stripper ex fleet ones for sale lately.

Nitrous? New rear end? Turbine engine?

mazdeuce wrote: What's the curb weight on that wee beastie? I always thought the 4 cyl/5 spd would be a fun truck. Did the really put a 5.3 in them? A single cab short box with a 5.3 would be charming.

Never available with a v8 from the factory. IIRC the 5 popper is the big one. Not to say Chevy people/someone didn't swap in an LSx about 4 seconds after they got it.

Available with a 5.3 in the ext cab, and crew cab only. Too bad, it would make for a fun truck.

If you could get the 5 cylinder with a 5 spd manual, that's what I'd be driving, but they discontinued that option after 07. I think curb weight is about 3400 lbs.

Zomby Woof wrote: Available with a 5.3 in the ext cab, and crew cab only. Too bad, it would make for a fun truck. If you could get the 5 cylinder with a 5 spd manual, that's what I'd be driving, but they discontinued that option after 07. I think curb weight is about 3400 lbs.

5.3 as in v8? Color me interested in a Chevy Colorado, of all things.

Yes, 5.3, 300/320 V8 I looked into it when I bought mine, but there were no discounts on those, and that auto thing again.

The H3 and Colorado/Canyon shared a chassis and the H3 got the 5.3 in the Alpha model.

What about the Inline sixes from the Failblasers? 275 hp.

My dad had a H3 with the smaller 5 cylinder. It felt to me that it had too much truck for that little engine. Especially when jumping out of a 4.0 XJ and into the H3, all the snappy spoiled me.

Colorado got the 5.3 as well

5.3 Colorado test

ZW is correct, 5cyl 5sp option was available then went away.....I at least got to beat a few at the strip with my 4.3/5sp s10 before I sold it. I still like those too.

So it looks like I'll get a chance tomorrow night to get the final mechanical piece of the puzzle done. I picked this up a few weeks ago from a guy in Michigan. It involved a 4 hour road trip, border crossing, and lunch at Taco bell, but the price was right at $250.

Low mileage Z71 rear end with 4.10 final drive and Eaton G80 locker diff.

The housing and axles, being a Z71 are 2" too wide, but I had no intention of swapping the whole rear anyway. It's much less work to just swap out the pinion, and carrier. This should give it a lot more snap out of the hole, and help a lot with towing. The addition of the header and exhaust made a HUGE difference in the way it revved. I can imagine more gear is only going to make it feel that much better.

Now I need to to something about rubber. I have been looking for aftermarket rims, but haven't seen anything I like for the right price, and have no interest in dropping $1200-$1500 for tires and rims. In the meantime, I've grown to like the stock rims, so I think i'll stay with those for now.

Stock rubber is 215 70 16. My options for tire upgrade, are (IMO) 235 60 16, or 235 65 16. The 60's are 3/4" smaller than stock, with the 65's being about 3/16" bigger than stock diameter. Not sure if I can get away with a smaller tire in the looks department. The stock ones are about as small as I'd want to go, I think. Any ideas?

Zomby Woof wrote: Stock rubber is 215 70 16. My options for tire upgrade, are (IMO) 235 60 16, or 235 65 16. The 60's are 3/4" smaller than stock, with the 65's being about 3/16" bigger than stock diameter. Not sure if I can get away with a smaller tire in the looks department. The stock ones are about as small as I'd want to go, I think. Any ideas?

I would concur, for a truck you dont want to go smaller, I'd go with the slightly larger 235/65/16 I put smaller tires on the Colony Park because they came with the new wheels but I can't wait to wear them out, just doesnt look right.