1989 Chevrolet K1500 "OVERKILL"

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Daniel9597

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Hello, everyone. I own a 1989 Chevrolet K1500 Silverado, with a 350 TBI motor, a 700-R4 transmission, GM 8.5" rear axle, and GM 8.25" IFS front differential. It is currently... well... lets just say in pretty bad condition. It has the typical Chevy rust, in the cab corners, rear fenderwells, and a little cancer in the rocker panels. It has been abused its whole life and used as a work truck since day one. It has roughly (I don't have an exact amount since the odometer broke about 100K miles ago) 350,000 miles on the original motor and both differentials. The transmission was replaced with a rebuilt one by the previous owners, but was replaced by a nitwit who somehow managed to mess it up, so the transmission is in dire need of a rebuild or replacement. This was my first truck when I bought it at age 15 for $1500, and have since then poured roughly $4000 into keeping in running and stupid typical teenager stuff, such as new license plate frames (That broke), Bullet-style valve stems (Which I lost), and other miscellaneous items of no important value. The only real modifications that have been done are new mud tires, new front and rear lighting, an aftermarket stereo head unit, and a throttle body spacer. I am currently only 20, but I am due to ship out to basic training for the US Army in less than a month, and decided that it's time to get serious about this, and turn this "Beast" into more of a "Beauty". It will be a slow, long build, but at the end of it this beaten down old pickup truck will be able to conquer any terrain on God's green earth, and be comfortable as hell while doing it. In the next post on this thread, I will post a picture of the old truck when I first acquired it, and tell you the plan for this transformation. Thank you to all who watch this build and to all who have given me advice about this truck before.
 

Daniel9597

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SO, let's get down to the plan, shall we? The first thing I'm going to say is that this is going to be a resto-mod, so this baby is going to be torn down to the bare bones of the frame, and even that might be getting replaced. I am going to try and make this as organized as possible, with headers before every category. We'll start with the most important part, the go-go machine. That's right, the motor.

ENGINE:
The engine is going to be the easiest part of this, to be honest. I was tempted to do many things. 6BT Cummins swap? Nah, I already have a 6BT Cummins. Rebuilt 350 TBI? Nah, that's boring. Maybe a 454 TBI swap? Better, but not big enough. Then I finally decided on what I wanted to do. I am going to take out the tired 350 TBI, and replace it with... a 2.2 Honda VTEC. Just kidding, don't worry. I'm actually going to replace the 350 TBI with a Nelson Racing Engines 572 cubic inch carbureted Big Block Chevy, complete with roots-style supercharger and blower intake. Yeahhhhhh, that gets my blood pumping. 900 HP, with a matching 900 lb-ft. of torque. That's overkill, you might be thinking. Well, just you wait, fellow GMT400 fan. This whole build is going to be overkill. It's going to get very expensive, and very badass, very fast.

Now, without further ado, let's proceed into the next subject of interoggation: the transmission.

TRANSMISSION:
For the trans on this truck, I was originally going to buy a Monster Transmission SS Extreme 700-R4. Then I kept thinking about how almost every rock climber, mud bogger, sand runner, and off-road enthusiast enjoys the feeling of running their purpose-built vehicle of dominance through the gears on the trail. Also, I thought about how manual transmissions give better control. So I did a lot of thinking, and decided on a NV4500 swap. This subject I am still open about and I can't truthfully decide on what manual transmission to choose, so feel free to reply or message me with your thoughts and opinions.

Whatever transmission I choose, it will need something to make this off-road beast actually decent off-road, the transfer case.

TRANSFER CASE:
For the transfer case, I wanted something that would handle the power of the engine, the size of the tires (Here's a hint: very big), the stress of off-roading, and that would have something for whatever terrain I threw at it. For these reasons, I decided upon an Atlas 4 speed transfer case from Advance Adaptors. This way I will have a different ratio for whatever I am doing, whether it be driving down the highway or climbing a mountain.

From the transfer case, the power must get out to the wheels. To do this, custom driveshafts will take the power out to the axles. Speaking of axles, this truck version of Hulk is going to be Straight Axle Swapped, of course. Which leads me to the next part of the tour, the suspension.

SUSPENSION:
I was tempted to go cheaper and just buy a regular SAS kit from a company such as Off Road Unlimited, but I decided that a simple leaf spring suspension setup wouldn't do the rest of this truck justice. So I decided upon a custom 4-link setup, both front and rear, designed and fabricated by a reputable off-road shop. This will be completed with dual front and rear FOX or KING coilover shocks with remote reservoirs to handle the abuse that will be thrown at this truck. The exact amount of lift is still up in the air, but it will have to be enough to clear some big boggers.

For my straight axle swap to work, I of course need some KILLER axles.

AXLES:
This is another subject that I spent a long time trying to decide on, and I still do not entirely have my mind up. At the moment, my plan is to call Currie Enterprises and order two Rockjock Dana 60 axles, complete with ARB air lockers in both axles and the best components they have to offer, including full floater kits on both the front and rear, and the best Wilwood disk brake kits they offer, I am currently planning to use a very high gear ration such as 7.38. If I decide that the Dana 60 axles will not handle the abuse, I plan to call Boyce Equipment and have two military MRAP axles built to my specs and delivered.

These axles are going to be some incredible pieces of equipment. It's too bad that nobody is going to be able to see them from the side, due to the sheer size of the tires and rims I'll be using.

TIRES AND WHEELS:
For the tires, I was stuck between two choices. I knew I was going to use 54X19.50R20 tires, but I just couldn't decide between Intero Tire's (Super Swamper) Bogger tires, and Mickey Thompson's Baja Claw TTC. Anybody that has any thoughts about this decision, please speak up and tel me your opinions. As for the wheels, I will not truly know what I am going to choose until I see the rest of the truck complete, so I will keep you updated on that decision, and anybody who has a badass 20X12 wheel, feel free to tell me and I will consider it as well.

For a truck that is going to be this good at traversing any terrain, it needs to look the part as well.

BODY AND PAINT:
I personally love the look of the GMT400 bodies, so there won't be very extreme stuff here, except for one thing. I am 6 foot 7 inches tall, and I still have 6 years of growing before I will stop according to my health physician. SO the cab of the truck is definitely going to be stretched by roughly 6 to 8 inche to ensure I have enough leg room to comfortably drive. I am going to have the body sandblasted and entirely worked over by a reputable custom body shop, ensuring they replace ALL rusted metal, smooth out EVERY dent and ding, and get EVERY body line absolutely perfect. With the body work done, we move on to the paint. I know that some people are going to hate me for this, but I am a firm believer in candy apple red. I don't care if its overused, or cliche, or whatever. The entire body is going to be candy apple red. This is going to completed by a black powdercoated set of Iron Cross front and rear bumbers, a custom grille (That is going to be kept secret until its reveal), 2017 "SILVERADO" emblems on each door, and a custom, secret rear tailgate design that will really set the truck apart. Couple all of this with shaved door and tailgate handles, shaved radio antenna, custom nerf bars that fall when the door is opened and retract when they are closed, a custom hood to let the blower show itself, and NNBS OEM heated, electric towing mirrors with turn signals, and you've got an eye-popping truck that will have people staring no matter where you are.

I'm going to need to make sure that I capture people's attention, and what better way to say "I have arrived!" than a custom exhaust?

EXHAUST:
I wanted something special with my exhaust. I wanted to be able to drive comfortably at highway speeds and not have to worry about the exhaust noise deafening me (The tire roar is going to do that by itself, so why add to the pain?). At the same time I wanted to be heard from across town, and wanted people to hear my truck and say, "Oh crap, cover your ears." Because of this, I decided I needed exhaust cutouts. For the more comfortable "cruiser" mode, I decided on Nelson Racing Engines custom headers to make sure the motor I purchase from them reaches it's full potential. From these, an H-pipe will be added, then extremely high-flowing catalytic converters, followed by some moderate noise level magnaflow mufflers. All of this will be done in Magnaflow stainless exhaust tubing. For the more agressive "attack" mode of the exhaust, there will be dual exhaust cutouts directly after both exits of the H-pipe, complete with turndowns. Through this system, I will obtain the best of both worlds: a kickass, extremely loud exhaust for when I am wheeling it off-road or I am showing some punk who has a truck bought with his daddy's money what loud really is, and a softer, more quiet exhaust note for when I am cruising along at automotive shows, taking the kids to school, and getting groceries.

With a truck as loud as this one is going to be, I want the interior to be as comfortable as a Rolls Royce. I want to be driving along the worst, muddiest trails in the country, and not even know it.

INTERIOR:
For something as drastic as the interior I am wanting, I am going to be taking the truck to a custom automotive interior shop to make sure it is done right. The interior is going to be pretty much a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado interior, with a few minor differences like custom stitching on the dash pad, custom interior LED lighting, and a custom gauge cluster that will show me everything about the engine, transmission, axles, transfer case, tires, etc, etc. This will be completed by custom leather bucket seats with a folding center console. As for audio, this will continue the "overkill" theme. Imagine 10 speakers, 4 tweeters, and 3 15" subwoofers all in the cab of a truck. Well, not really entirely inside, the subwoofer enclosures will have to protrude out into the bed. Tinted windows and custom US Army decals for the back windshield will finish off the interior.

I will need some powerful lights to make sure I can see the trails, and the cars in front of me that are too small for me to notice. So I have planned some extreme lighting for this beast.

LIGHTING:
The original front and rear light assemblies will be replaced by custom Anzo USA light assemblies, and every bulb replaced with LED bulbs. At the top of the Iron Cross bumper will be a curved 54" LED light bar, and a twin mount will be placed above the cab with two more 54" LED light bars. Two 20" light bars will be mounted in rear, recessed into the bumper. Rock lights will be placed in all four corners, and flood lights will be placed under each side of the truck, illuminating the ground when the doors are opened. All of this will be powered by a twin alternator setup, and three deep cycle Optima batteries located in the bed of the truck.

So there it is. The layout of the plan that will be implemented over the next few years. It will cost as much as a house, get less than ten miles to the gallon, constantly get pulled over, and take at least four or five years to build. But when it's finished, it will be a truck worthy of SEMA, and yet at the same time worthy of mud boggers everywhere. It will be a show truck, and at the same time it will be a daily driver/ weekend warrior. Yes, it will have it's own special spot in a fancy garage, and yes it will be washed daily. But when its done being washed, it will be driven out to the swamps and put to the test. It will be a pavement princess, and yet it will be a formidable off-road vehicle. I thank all of you who read this all the way through, and especially thank all of you who insert your opinions and thoughts into this project. I want this truck to show the world that our GMT400 pickups can be anything we want them to be, and to prove that we love these trucks. Thank you, and seeing as how it is currently 0430 here, good night,
 
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