1975 Chevrolet C20 Cheyenne Deluxe
Restomod
For this particular project, we had rebuilt the engine for the customer and at the time added a modern manifold, carburetor and exhaust. After a few years, the customer was frustrated that the engine did not like to start in the winter (-30’F on average) and he felt it was down on performance. Additionally, he hated how the truck bed did not sit square with the cab and the sloppy suspension/brakes made the drives ‘interesting’.
Effectively, we had hit the point of the trucks life where it would remain a weekend veteran for haul runs, or it would get some new life breathed into it. The owner wanted new life.
With that in mind, and permission to add our own touches at our expense, we tore it down to the frame. Off the frame went to get straightened, off the engine went to be built to handle boost and in came a slew of parts. Mind you, this happened over a long stretch of months… years actually, but it happened.
With the frame straight, it went to the sand blaster for cleaning and then a fresh coat of paint. The engine got a new crankshaft since the old one cracked, new pistons and rings, new vortec bow-tie large port heads, intake manifold port matched to heads, turbo exhaust headers, custom turbo adapters, downpipes, fuel system, wiring harness, etc etc etc. Effectively, everything mechanical and electrical was refurbished or brand new.
Once done, all the owner had to due was pay for body and interior. Which thankfully, was not part of our services at the time. Our recommendation was replacement panels based on a labour cost vs part cost comparison.
A very full engine bay when you begin to add components that are larger than stock, were never stock and require supporting parts.
This photo shows the additional care taken to handle all the additional heat in the engine bay. Everything near the headers required additional shielding even with the headers coated and the downpipes wrapped.
Again with thermal management. Following the OEM wiring harness leaves a lot to be desired for wire management. Tucking wires was outside of the customer's budget.
An aftermarket radiator was required to the additional thermal load from the turbos. Direct mount air filters allowed us to maintain space in the engine bay. The radiator support was cut out slightly below center of the air filters to allow fresh air at all times, especially when at speed.
The customer requested the truck be lowered since it was a city truck. To not compromise the suspension geometry, we went with 2" drop knuckles in the front, replaced all steering components, control arms and brake components.
Finally, all information is provided through the Holley EFI sniper handheld unit and a digital instrument cluster from Auto Meter
In the rear, we achieved our drop by installing drop shackles and removing 2 leaves to soften the rear end. We selected a set of dampers that maintained full range of motion but were statically shorter.