My new daily driver
 

After about a month of searching and research I finally found the truck I wanted. Sold my 03 Silverado 5.3L and will be selling my 08 H3 3.7 later this week.

I found a 2010 Silverado LT crewcab Z71 with 20k and a 6.2L. It's leather which is a first for me, I'm not the fancy type when it comes to trucks. Within 30 min of signing the paperwork it made it's first trip to the dump with some of hurricane Irene's gifts. The power has been pretty impressive so far but I will probably throw some long tube headers, an intake and a tune in her just for fun.

From what I've read there is little gain by doing a cat back due to the stock 3.5" exhaust. I'll keep looking to see what I find.

The 295-65-17's have a decent amount of road noise which I think a will go away by removing the exhaust resonator. Here's some pics I'll update as I upgrade( just a few quick snaps)

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...6/fa6f55dc.jpg

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Nice truck! Once you get used to that leather and heated seats you will want it in your next rig too.
I think the chevys are the nicest driving trucks on the market.

Nice truck.

Nice truck, you will love that thing. My dad has one just like it except black and his is 3 yrs old with about 210,000 miles on it now. He's in sales so he puts a ton of miles on each day. The only thing he has done is replace worn out suspension parts, spark plugs/plug wires, and fuel pump. One of the smoothest driving trucks I have ever driven.

Great way to get from A to B! Perfect color and interior combo. Adding some tint to those front window will really add to the look. How are they about taht in VA? Sounds like some good upgrades.

Enjoy it!

:captain:

Thanks, I'm going to look into tint some more today, I'll actually be titling the truck in Minnesota. I think its 37% on the sides and 5% on the back glass.

This is my 5th GM vehicle, I'll never buy anything else. I have a 70K5 blazer which was my first vehicle, it's all original I only changed the plugs, distributor cap and wires. and it runs with anything on the road.

Thanks

Thanks, I have to wash the interior out. the dealer put way too much armoral in. I cant keep my feet on the floor mats and I keep sliding from side to side in the seat. Its nothing some mild soap cant fix, or maybe I'll rub some dirt on it:rofl: .


I'm going to make my way to Virginia Speed today and see what they have to say. Shaun is a LS genius he should have some good suggestions.

This is the late model truck I have seen with room in the engine compartment. It seems as though GM has really moved stuff around and made this truck a lot easier to work on.

These pics don't show the room very well. the 2 inch body definately adds some room on top of the block....Whipple??:unibrow:
http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...6/d796bd59.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...6/107b8fb9.jpg

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Nice truck , enjoy her!

Chopped mine off just in front of the muffler and replaced with a flowmaster and a turn down. Gives a nice rumble and does diminish some road noise.

To get a 6.0 in 08 I had to get the Vortec Max package. Do the newer ones come with the 6.2 without the Max package? Thats sweet.

Nice truck! :thumbsup: Stance is perfect. Does it have a leveling kit in front?

That is a really nice truck, I've been wanting that same truck for a while. What is the option called with the painted front bumper and grille? I really like that vs the chrome. :thumbsup:

A supercharger would be really nice. But a simple cold air intake, tune and exhaust will make a decent difference. And save several thousand dollars too.
I know it's apples to oranges, but tossing a blower on can lead to tranny issues. If you are on the throttle hard a lot anyway.

I have a 2000 with the 5.3 l. CAI, tune....it does good. And with 210,000+ miles it still runs very strong. And my tranny has never had any issues. (i do not treat it nice in any sense of the word).
I like what Dodge and Ford offer, but after having all 3 and how well my chevy & GMCs have held up I can't see buying anything but another GM truck in my future.
Although a new 2wd hemi shortbed all hot rodded out sounds fun......

from looking on Chevrolet.com (in the build your own section)it says that the Max trailering package is not available with the Z71 package.

The truck looks to have a 2 inch body lift on it, they didnt say anything about it but after crawling around it I think it has one, and it does have a leveling kit.

It looks like the Z71 appearance package is the reason behind the painted grille and bumper.

Try out the build your own feature on Chevrolet.com you can spend hours on that thing, you may want to set a timer to remind you to come back to reality.

I dont think I will ever put a Supercharger in it....a couple of my buddies have them, one's in a tundra and the other in a F150 I just doesnt seem too practical.

I went and talked to Virginia Speed today....they are still out of power from Hurricane Irene so they are getting a little backed up on thier dyno work.
They are making some phone calls for me to Kooks headers to see what kind of gains I can get. We are planning on a cold air intake full exhaust with high flow Cats and a tune for now. I've been looking at trying to lower the radiator to make a custom scoop that will sit behind the grill. They said the stock box flows pretty well and adding an CAI without a scoop really isnt worth the money. So I may try to build something, its a stretch for my brain given I have never done it and I want it to look good.

I'm going to do some research to see if I can find a way to run the filter and box. Luckily for me there are tons of awesome fabricators on Lat-g that I can study. I got the idea a couple weeks back but now I cant think of what thread it was in...I think it was a 2nd gen camaro, the builder made a scoop that ran in behind the grill(don't kill me for forgetting who you are....the idea stuck that should count for something!)
:lateral:

If I remember right the Air Raid brand boxes are sealed on top. I think you could add a "scoop" or intake of some kind around the grill or headlight and make it a pressure fed system. (maybe under the bumper or between the bumper and grill?)

I have the K&N style CAI. And it did make a difference, but the top edge of the filter enclosure does not seal tight to the hood. That really minimizes any benefits I should be seeing. One thing it did was make the intake a lot louder. But only when I really have my foot in it.

I am interested to hear what they say about the headers. I have not done anything with my exhaust yet but plan to this year. I want to see what system offers the most improvements.

I found it....only mine wont be as complex or magnificent....it was Chris at JCG didnt mean to short change you on the credit.

:lol: :thumbsup:

That should do it!

So after a lot of thinking and paper design I have come up with a cross between the above design (chris-JCG) and the Spectre Proformance intake set-ups.

Lowering the radiator will require a lot of cutting re-engineering and extra work.

So I found a unit that uses a dual inlet but I really dont like the look of it so Im trying to put my own spin on the design.

My design will be two scoops I have made up that will fit in between the headlights and outside the radiator. The intake tubing will run between the lights and radiator, turn inboard and meet up with a "Y" then to the MAF and into the Throttle body. It works in my brain.

I'm going to take the scoop I have designed to a local custom Sheet Metal shop. They have all the CAD programs and we should be able to figure out a way to machine the scoop into two pieces to hold the Filter (K&N 33-2085). I left a two inch section in the scoop which should be plenty of room to machine for the filter and find a way to bolt the two halfs together. I'm planning to use steel to keep the price down, but we'll see where we end up.

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...power-unit.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...46/spectre.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...6/79f73630.jpg

http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/a...-33-2085_w.jpg

I have a couple of questions.

- How will rain effect the performance of the intake system? is there something I should/can do to mitigate any issues? This is my daily driver so not driving in the rain isn't an option.

- Is it worth it? I could just go with the a aftermarket set up but that takes the fun out of it. I am open to suggestions or any advice anyone may have I've never built an intake before so criticism is welcome