'08 All Wheel Drive Denali
 

I'm not sure if this project fits in great around here, so just let me know if you guys want to see more of it and i'll keep posting pictures...

I consider it the "family" car that everyone would love to have! An all wheel drive brand new Denali with a Supercharged 6.0L and big wheels.

This was our 2009 SEMA project and made it to the show (not quite finished). Since then, we've been working on all of the details to get it right and get it the way we want it before re-painting it and going for SEMA again this year!

Here's some pics of it:

What we started with

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall02.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall01.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall03.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall04.jpg

Here's some more photos starting in on the fab work.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall09.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall08.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall15.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall06.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall22.jpg

Rear suspension and framework...

BIG notch for the 34 inch tall tires!

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall23.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall24.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall25.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall28.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall26.jpg

LOVE TO SEE MORE PICS! :D

wow-some serious work on a new rig- can't wait to see how it sits

More rear suspension

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall21.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall30.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall31.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall34.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall35.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall36.jpg

i love this truck! been watching it on streetsource. go ahead show everybody the rendering!

I'll get to the rendering in a bit...One of them at least...

I forgot to mention that we tried to keep every OEM part on the truck. We re-used the factory electronically controlled shocks which change the valving depending on road conditions. There were (and still are) 3 computers that control just the chassis on this vehicle.

The only good suspension we could fit in the back is a 3-link with a panhard bar setup because we wanted to keep the gas tank in the stock location. To keep cutting to a minimum (I really tried even though it's VERY cut), we actually designed the panhard bar to run around the upper 3-link bar. We chose to go with a panhard bar over a watts link as it provided us a better roll center since it is a top heavy SUV.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall32.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall37.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall38.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall40.jpg

Post it up!

Darren

Should be pretty cool. I like what you had to start with too! :thumbsup:

Are you using some stainless steel?? I see the pretty blue/gold color cant really tell from the pics.

Also when making suspension parts like the ones your doing do u have to use
chromoly??

Awesom build btw.

jr.

We didn't use any chromoly, just DOM tubing. The plates are all cut from PNO Sheet, .125 and .1875.


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall48.jpg


The pannard bar looks really goofy outside of the vehicle. The upper link bar runs through the big hole in the bar.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall44.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall45.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall46.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall47.jpg

Cool stuff, keep the updates coming. :thumbsup:

Nice! Awesome Fab work and welding!! :thumbsup:

I know what DOM tubing is bu what is PNO sheet?

Thanks!

Darren

:thumbsup: sweet rig

I guess its sometimes stated as P&O, stands for Pickled 'n oiled. Basically Hot Rolled sheet or plate that comes without the mill scale coating and such. It provides a better finish and makes it easier to powdercoat or paint once finished building.

Here's the way we kept the stock electronically controlled shocks on the rear.


http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall49.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall53.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall58.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall55.jpg

Gotcha. Thanks!

Darren

We made the bars with the airbags actually run off of a cantilever to make the truck ride nicer and to keep everything well under the floorboard in the back to minimize the cutting we had to do.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall43.jpg

Everything is TIG welded and it was a real pain to get into some of these places, but the alternative choice of taking the body off I'm pretty sure would have been a bigger pain...

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall52.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall51.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall56.jpg

We've been busy around here and haven't had a lot of time to update this. Anyway, here we go.

Here's a piece we built to hold the front suspension. We built all new a-arms and altered the stock spindle to get more travel. This piece we built to recess in the framerail to be able to accomodate a longer upper control arm which is also holding the airbag since we have front axle shafts to avoid.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall65.jpg

All of the front pieces back from powdercoating:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall64.jpg

Pick of it all installed:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall68.jpg

Rear frame all finished and wheel tubs done.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall70.jpg

Painted the entire underside in a light texture coating.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall76.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall77.jpg

There's a nice contrast between the two frame and body now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall78.jpg

Gas tank built from scratch with all of the evap stuff from the original tank. We decided to keep everything GM put in the car, that way it's as close to "stock" as possible. We even re-used all of the plastic lines by heating them slightly, bending them and letting them rest in their new form. If you have a lot of patients, it isn't that difficult to do.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall73.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall74.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall75.jpg

Rear pieces back from powdercoat.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall72.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall79.jpg

Gas tank mounted...

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall80.jpg

Lots of clean work going into this thing.

What are you using for bearings in the shock rocker arms?

Very nice Robbie. Should be a fun project when complete.:thumbsup:

The shock rockers arms are using bronze oilite bushings from McMaster.

The interior cut up. These were the worse cuts in the whole project for me. I dreaded cutting all of the interior panels and plastic. We've formed a speaker box that comes off of each side and is open down the middle. The speaker box covers up the wheel tub and fits up snug to the factory plastic.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall84.jpg

Machined a piece to run all of the wiring through now. You can see the huge hole that was used before. We filled the hole in because we needed the clearance for the tire. We needed a really large hole to fit all of the large plastic plugs through that plug into the fuse box.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall86.jpg

Looks good ! Very simple and clean. When I say simple I know it aint easy. :thumbsup:

This build is in Street trucks right? I love that mag... you are doing some nice fab work...:thumbsup:

great work! where will it be parked at sema? i'd love to get an upclose look at it.

Yea, Street Trucks did all of the tech on the suspension (front and rear) and exhaust. We're also in the process of doing a couple more articles with them on this car.

We had it thrashed together and at SEMA last year. This year we're taking our time with all of the little details on it so it won't be at SEMA this year. We're planning to debut it at the GNRS in Pomona in January.

Brian Stupski from PCK Studio has been doing a few different paint rendering idea's for the truck. It's going to be completely gutted and re-painted black. The OEM black paint leaves a lot to be desired.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...enalicomp2.jpg
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...nalicomp15.jpg

We're trying to keep it something real simple and minimal yet something the owner wont grow tired of quick...

Robbie the second paint scheme is cool

It'll be similar to that layout for sure. We're leaning towards brighter colors in the orange/yellow/copper tones.

This is how it looked last year at SEMA.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall89.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall90.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall91.jpg

SICKNESS Robbie! That looks killer.:wow: :thumbsup:

Rendering #2 gets my vote. Can't go wrong with the orange & black (GO GIANTS)!

Thats some great fab work!

Awesome work - can't wait to see more!

Our friends at Magna Charger gave us an offer we couldn't refuse...and over 500 h.p. with all wheel drive sounds like a blast!

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall96.jpg

Since there aren't really going to be any body modifications to the outside of the car (with the exception of a couple things that will most likely go un-noticed), we decided to focus a lot of effort under the hood to really give people something to look at. Started by making up some inner fenders:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...alismall98.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...lismall100.jpg

Everything is made to bolt on so should anything ever happen it will make it easier to work on and/or replace things.