Truck builds

KOH 2012

KOH 2012 was GREAT!  We finished 12th overall out of a field of 137.  We're really hungry for a top 10 but this is our best finish yet and we can see the top from here.  We have pictures and comments on our Facebook page HERE.
There are also some good pics on our photobucket page HERE.
GoPro video of our qualifying run with a good near rollover HERE.
GoPro video of the first 2 hours of our race HERE

We'll update this page more as we go but that's a LOT of material to check out along with our build threads in some of the links below.

Pretty familiar looking racer on that poster!  This is the official course map poster from the 2011 event, definitely an honor to be on that one!

On our way to KOH 2011 we stopped by Superior's warehouse in Las Vegas to pick up some of their chromoly 14 bolt shafts.  They're awesome, Mac said they had to really work on them to make a shaft significantly better than stock and they did it. 

Here's Wally pre-running the course:

New...

Below is the build thread on Cheap Truck from our old website!

One piece of advice we often throw out for anyone building a truck on a budget is to pick up someone else's truck or even just an abandoned project.  You can get a great deal on some good parts that way, or even pick up a complete running truck that just needs some tuning to get it dialed in.  Just to prove the point, we decided to put our money where our mouth is and now we have our "Cheap Truck".

We actually had a local guy come to the shop to tell us about this truck he was selling because he was moving, hadn't used it in years and just needed it gone.  It's a '74 long bed 3/4-T with a fresh GM 350 (335hp maybe?), SM465, NP205 and a 4.10 geared 14-bolt and external hub D44.  The guy had a ton of added goodies like a Detroit in the rear, 4" stiff lift, dual batteries with isolator, MSD ignition box with a Mallory distributor, electric fuel pump and a bunch of AN lines, suspension seats, fiberglass cowl induction...

Below is the build thread on Burly Burb from our old website!

This buildup runs in chronographic order, the earliest mods at the top and the latest mods at the end.

Our green K5 has been getting a little bit biased toward trail use, so when it came time to pick up a general purpose traveling, camping, fourwheeling truck, we ended up with this '88 Suburban.  Now that 3 kids are part of the general traveling package, the full size rear doors are great to have and the cavernous interior means we can carry all the people and gear we need, and sleep in the truck too.

The overall goal is to leave it low enough to get decent gas mileage, add a little lift and a little bigger tire to help with the offroad use, and not spend a bunch to do it.
Here's what we started with:
 

Here's what it looked like a day and a half later with what we're now calling the "Stage 1" buildup:

It started out with stock suspension, a fuel injected 350 motor, TH700 trans, 208 t-case, 10 bolts front and rear and 235/75...

Below is the build thread on Wally from our old website!

Wally

Wally, our K5, morphed again. This time in response to a bent and twisted front axle housing, a desire for better side clearance, a bunch of bent up metal and of course a desire to improve performance.

Here it is on the trail in Poteau:

 

Here are some shop pics of the recent changes. Here you can see the stripped chassis with the new tube work in the previously open door areas and the raised nose.

This is the repaired t-case crossmember with the rear suspension mounting brackets. It was bent up to the point the crossmember was hitting the 205 so now it's beefed up and trussed to prevent that.

These show the new "boatside" job on the rocker area. Up to this point, the nerf bars were in the same location as they had been with the full body, now they fit the rest of the truggy much better.

Here are a couple of pics of the configuration before summer '05. After the rolls in Farmington we ran the truck a couple more times and...

Below is the build thread on Cousin Willard from our old website!

Cousin Willard

Below is the original text from the build thread copy and pasted here. Some of the text might not make much sense since some of the conversation is missing. To find the whole thread check out HERE

Also you can find the parts we used HERE

Now the only thing left in the truck is the long block.:shaking:
We actually shopped a little for this truck, we wanted the 88-98 type body style with the big block and after our recent headaches with 4L80's we really wanted the NV4500. Plus I've never wheeled a properly set up truck (low geared) with a manual so it'll be fun driving something different. We wanted a running driving truck so that we wouldn't be building an engine and transmission and we kind of achieved that.

Turns out the 454 had the standard manifold leaks and some exhaust leaks so we're fixing that. At least it's easy to just fix stuff and put it back where we found it rather than building from scratch. We are resisting the urge to add a cam, headers and custom exhaust since we have...