xr-nut
GROUP W BENCH
Like the title says, I'm turning my daily driver shop truck in to a race truck. This thread is to serve as a q & a for the build and the race.
The race: https://sorcrace.com/
I had a customer come in a few years ago in a pantera. Cool old car. He started in about this "race" in Nebraska that he had done a few times in the old ford and once in a grandprix when the ford was broken! I started reading about it and it being localish to me thought I would try to get in. The race is in August every year, the 2nd week. Entries for the race happen on the first Monday in October, the preceding year. Having gotten to a point this year that I could race if I made the cut, I thought I would send an entry in and cross my fingers. I was told by Becky that 200 entries will show up postmarked from the 5th, then a lottery happens for roughly 100 spots. Either I got lucky or there were fewer entries this year! Anyhow, I am in!
So with that out of the way, here are the details of my truck. 2000 Silverado regular cab 2wd long box 4.8L 4L60 3.73 10-bolt. Ya ya ya, I know....who races a long box truck? me. So I bought the business back in '15 and this truck along with it. It was dd'd by my then mechanic as our shop truck/parts chaser etc. He retired in '17 and the previous owner and I went in halfsies on the truck and gave it to him as a retirement gift. He died a year later and his widow asked if I wanted the truck back. So I bought it, again. The old truck has 215k on it.
Fast forward to today and how it sits now. I had to put a frame under it, bent in half from rust going up the 2-post a couple years ago. Solid, clean rust free frame. At that point it had all the front suspension bits done. All new pre-bent brake lines from GM, all of them, front to back(I know, who would of thought theyd still be available). The new to me frame had a 3.42 rear diff so we left it alone and that's how I drove it for the last 3 years. I have done the cabs and rockers and put a great condition bed on it. The current wheels are "spares" that gm put under some of the '14 and newer half ton trucks. Free aluminum wheels with new tires are always good.
The motor: I obsessively have been reading hotrod e-zines ls articles. Watching engine masters. Watching Richard Holdeners videos. I had a game plan to net me 500ish horse power. I picked up a LQ4 from another project, for free. Tore it down, sold the heads and delivered the short block to the machine shop end of last year. He bored it .020 and tossed in some LS2 pistons. Balanced the rotating assembly.( i feel that is the best money spent on a rebuild). I picked up some LS1 heads for free(family deal) that already had the trunion upgrades and bigger/stronger springs. Had them freshened up with a pressure test, surface and valve job. Machine shop said the sprigs are good to .850 lift!
Once back here, the motor sat in the bag on the engine stand for most of this year( I got it back in March). I quietly started piling up parts to get the swap done. Trailblazer ss intake. 36# injectors. Holley 92mm throttle body. 1 7/8'' long tubes. Sloppy stage 2 cam. All GM gaskets and head bolts. cam chain and gears. You get the idea. Everything on the motor is new/upgraded. Here it is before the fateful day.
I ordered a kit from Monster to rebuild the 4L60. 2500 stall, better pinion sets, extra clutches, etc. I had been to the transmission school for GM in KC a long time ago and thought I had the memory to do it myself, so I bought a few special tools to help. It took me a couple days but I got it done. Once in though it was super soft on shifts so I pulled it and took it to a transmission builder buddy. I asked him to tear it down top to bottom and check out my work. The only thing he found was a square cut oring on the upgrade od servo was cut. One of the last things I did, I cut a seal. Doh! Easy enough fix and it only cost me $250 to check the rest of my build out. So it was back in and time to work on the tune. I used Justune out of Grainvalley MO. He sent me a "breakin" tune that we used to put a few miles on everything before the dyno runs. I put two tanks through it and took it to KC where it made 393.2 to the tires. I was bummed, I wanted to see 400hp. Justine(the tuner) asked where I got my gas, said the knock sensors where pulling timing. Looks like I make just a little to much compression now for 91 octane. He said with some 93 it would have made that 400 number and that he thought I did pretty good as most of the guys "building" 6-liters rarely make 325 to the tire. I am sure pleased with how it runs now, its nuts compared to the worn out old four-8!
So from here it race truck build time.
The race: https://sorcrace.com/
I had a customer come in a few years ago in a pantera. Cool old car. He started in about this "race" in Nebraska that he had done a few times in the old ford and once in a grandprix when the ford was broken! I started reading about it and it being localish to me thought I would try to get in. The race is in August every year, the 2nd week. Entries for the race happen on the first Monday in October, the preceding year. Having gotten to a point this year that I could race if I made the cut, I thought I would send an entry in and cross my fingers. I was told by Becky that 200 entries will show up postmarked from the 5th, then a lottery happens for roughly 100 spots. Either I got lucky or there were fewer entries this year! Anyhow, I am in!
So with that out of the way, here are the details of my truck. 2000 Silverado regular cab 2wd long box 4.8L 4L60 3.73 10-bolt. Ya ya ya, I know....who races a long box truck? me. So I bought the business back in '15 and this truck along with it. It was dd'd by my then mechanic as our shop truck/parts chaser etc. He retired in '17 and the previous owner and I went in halfsies on the truck and gave it to him as a retirement gift. He died a year later and his widow asked if I wanted the truck back. So I bought it, again. The old truck has 215k on it.
Fast forward to today and how it sits now. I had to put a frame under it, bent in half from rust going up the 2-post a couple years ago. Solid, clean rust free frame. At that point it had all the front suspension bits done. All new pre-bent brake lines from GM, all of them, front to back(I know, who would of thought theyd still be available). The new to me frame had a 3.42 rear diff so we left it alone and that's how I drove it for the last 3 years. I have done the cabs and rockers and put a great condition bed on it. The current wheels are "spares" that gm put under some of the '14 and newer half ton trucks. Free aluminum wheels with new tires are always good.
The motor: I obsessively have been reading hotrod e-zines ls articles. Watching engine masters. Watching Richard Holdeners videos. I had a game plan to net me 500ish horse power. I picked up a LQ4 from another project, for free. Tore it down, sold the heads and delivered the short block to the machine shop end of last year. He bored it .020 and tossed in some LS2 pistons. Balanced the rotating assembly.( i feel that is the best money spent on a rebuild). I picked up some LS1 heads for free(family deal) that already had the trunion upgrades and bigger/stronger springs. Had them freshened up with a pressure test, surface and valve job. Machine shop said the sprigs are good to .850 lift!
Once back here, the motor sat in the bag on the engine stand for most of this year( I got it back in March). I quietly started piling up parts to get the swap done. Trailblazer ss intake. 36# injectors. Holley 92mm throttle body. 1 7/8'' long tubes. Sloppy stage 2 cam. All GM gaskets and head bolts. cam chain and gears. You get the idea. Everything on the motor is new/upgraded. Here it is before the fateful day.I ordered a kit from Monster to rebuild the 4L60. 2500 stall, better pinion sets, extra clutches, etc. I had been to the transmission school for GM in KC a long time ago and thought I had the memory to do it myself, so I bought a few special tools to help. It took me a couple days but I got it done. Once in though it was super soft on shifts so I pulled it and took it to a transmission builder buddy. I asked him to tear it down top to bottom and check out my work. The only thing he found was a square cut oring on the upgrade od servo was cut. One of the last things I did, I cut a seal. Doh! Easy enough fix and it only cost me $250 to check the rest of my build out. So it was back in and time to work on the tune. I used Justune out of Grainvalley MO. He sent me a "breakin" tune that we used to put a few miles on everything before the dyno runs. I put two tanks through it and took it to KC where it made 393.2 to the tires. I was bummed, I wanted to see 400hp. Justine(the tuner) asked where I got my gas, said the knock sensors where pulling timing. Looks like I make just a little to much compression now for 91 octane. He said with some 93 it would have made that 400 number and that he thought I did pretty good as most of the guys "building" 6-liters rarely make 325 to the tire. I am sure pleased with how it runs now, its nuts compared to the worn out old four-8!
So from here it race truck build time.
where I found parts laying in the bottom. By that point I was dealing with a motor build/swap, a transmission build/swap and a rear end swap. I wanted to get it on the ground/off the lift and put some miles on the motor so I left that diff in the truck. Now roughly 2500 miles in, it seems to be holding together, but I know it is doomed. I have another diff just like it(hopefully not junk inside) so a swap to that would be easy. I feel like the 3.73 gears work well on what few high speed runs I have done, but I have been looking for a 4.10 rear. What is the consensus for the ratio for this race?
this is exactly why I posted here, I knew someone would have been there done that! I am entered in the 80 mph class and yes I know it is about the target time. I have no preconceived notions that I will do well, I just hope to complete it and not look like a total newb!
