Project: Quickshift (2005 GMC Canyon)

[MattO]

Lastly came my invite to this year's Truckin Magazine Throwdown event. This is a magazine shootout style event that I have attended twice in years past and it is one of my favorite events to run. My friend George Dias (pro71bird) also received an invite (he placed 2nd overall last year) and so I knew that not only would this be a great event, but I would have to step my game up if I was going toe-to-toe with George.

In addition to the cooling system upgrades, I decided to take the plunge into water/meth injection and installed a Snow Performance Stage 2 Boost Cooler system with a 625ml/hr nozzle.



The install is still a bit rough and will be cleaned up later this year.

I also wanted to get more power and response form the truck, so I went back to the dyno and worked with Mark Romans and Don at Motor Machine Super Shop to get the truck to perform it's best. Well, while we started turning up the boost, the engine started acting funny, so we kept it turned down to the 12psi I had been running forever and focused instead on getting better mid range and throttle response.

Then, as the event drew closer, the weather started to turn on us. Rain was predicted for the day of the event, so in addition to asking the great men and women of Lat-G about how to adjust my driving and chassis setup, I consulted my friends at Naake Suspension about how to help the truck stick in those conditions. What I came up with was a new design for the rear wing I had built with American International Manufacturing in Woodland. They were the one's responsible for helping me with my previous design and they were a pleasure to work with on this new part as well.



The new design basically cut the rear wing into thirds, raised the outside portions, and left the middle at the original height. Then the 2" radius seen on the original parts helped create a smooth transition between the sections. I don't have cool numbers to show everyone, but I can tell you it did make a huge difference.