Chevrolet Trucks Blog

Pimping ain’t easy. How many times have we heard that being said? In case you’re wondering, we’re not talking about the difficulties pimps and their “working class” ladies encounter. No, no. It’s about “pimping” or sprucing up your old ride and converting it into something new. Take for example what this guy from Marshall, Texas did to his 2000 Chevrolet Silverado.

Chris Redmond, a painter, has been working on his ride for quite some time now. It all started when he accidentally backed his truck into a pole. Back then his truck was just in a mild custom state, nothing fancy. That accident triggered the genius in him to redesign and refurbish the truck. To do this, he had to get some help. Since he didn’t have a shop of his own, Chris asked for a space from his good friend and owner (wow, what a coincidence) of Certified Collision, an auto shop in his state, Eric Nichols.

Once he had the space to work with, Chris started to get the parts he needed with the help of his other friend, Rob Robinson. The first thing they did was work on getting a tail gate and a roll pan. They followed it up by getting the front grille of a ‘68 Chevy truck from their local junkyard to replace the current grille the Silverado had. Once they had everything in place, that’s when they started to get their hands dirty.

Without any background on how to do this type of customization, Chris and Rob worked on removing the entire grille and bumper in order to customize the ’68 grille they got and match it with the Silverado’s front. Once they got the design specs in order, they began cutting and reshaping the ’68 grille to match the car’s curves at the front. Chris also ended up using two bed sides to support the installation of the car’s bumper. A roll pan was placed on top of it in order to have a place for his license plate. The duo finished the truck off by painting the Silverado red and black.

And voila, Chris had a customized 2000 Chevrolet Silverado that would make Xzibit and his boys from Pimp My Ride a run for their money.

Source: Sport Truck

Customization of Chevrolet trucks or any truck for that matter do not only end with manual tinkering here and there. With the advent of technology, present day upgrades for vehicles can already be assisted with a personal computer.

A 2001 Chevrolet S10 owner decided to add a supercharger in the vehicle’s heart with hopes of matching up the truck’s 4.3-liter stock. From the name itself, superchargers will help this mini Chevrolet truck to produce as much power needed. There was a downside, however, in equipping the Chevrolet or Chevy S10 with this supercharger because a technology like this needs the services of a computer. Engine gurus noted that tuning the supercharger has to be the first step before even achieving a beefed-up horsepower.

With the mystery solved, the Chevrolet truck was immediately brought to one of America’s distributor for perfect power called the Ida Automotive. The Chevy S10 owner and the Ida owner immediately sat down to discuss the procedures to be done. With much thinking, the two agreed on utilizing the Perfect Power SMT-6 piggy-back computer. This powerful computer has the ability to tune almost any engine. Moreover, this high-technology gadget can also work on three separate maps-fuel, timing, and ignition-with the capability to fire extra injectors, nitrous, or other performance accessories.

The Chevrolet truck soon hit the operating room as 271-lb-hr Pico-style injectors, a two-bar 28-psi MAP sensor, and finally an E3 spark plugs were installed and tuned with the computer. The new spark plugs of the Chevrolet S10 will produce larger and warmer spark for the supercharged 4.3-liter application.

Chevrolet truck owners may have a manly feel to it. These powerful trucks like what Chevrolet offers is not solely for the male specie no more as Mississippi native Jennifer Lacey did her own tweaking and customized the 1991 Chevrolet S10.

“I’ve loved trucks since I was a kid. This is my first truck and I got it when I was 16. I added new rims and had the truck lowered. At age 19, when I got my first good-paying job, I added an air-ride suspension and became hard-core,” said Lacey.

Showfest crowned queen Lacey wanted to improve the then beaten state of the 1991 Chevrolet S10. The almost vintage Chevrolet truck was then modified to her liking. The Chevrolet truck has been improved to look better and to run like its present day truck counterparts in the market. This transformation did not happen overnight, in fact 15 months of hard work was behind this truck wonder. Every step made has to be done properly starting from the body frame.

The modification of the mini truck all started with the then bagged and body-dropped frame of the truck. Detailing the chassis was the very first step for Lacey. In order to uplift the sagging frame of the truck, a good number of chrome, aluminum coating, and paint were utilized. The Best of Show winner wanted to achieve a clean and smooth look for the Chevrolet truck, thus a lot of the dangling Chevy truck parts were removed such as roof lines, cowl, antenna, door handles, locks, taillights, and gas door. The next step for the detailing team was smoothing out the wheel tubs, roll pan, tailgate, and front fenders. Moreover, all the cracks and seams were filled between between the door jambs, rockers, and cab. The doors can now fully open up to 90 degrees and the front full size Chevy bumper was narrowed to 12 inches to fit properly. The dragon’s fire breath-like body paint of the1991 Chevrolet S10, however, was done by the Volusia County Customs this time around.

For that tougher look for the Chevrolet truck, the team had to pick the perfect set of wheels for the Chevrolet S10. The truck now runs with 20×8.5-inch Boyd Coddington chromed tubines wrapped with 245/35R20 Nitto tires. These flashy yet tough set of wheels made this Chevrolet truck even more good looking.

Moving over to the Chevrolet S10’s interior, the detailing team went under the hood and rebuilt the truck’s old 2.8-liter V-6 engine. The old engine had to be tore completely apart and was made it into a new one geared with a lot of chrome and aluminum plates. Chevrolet S10’s engine was totally unrecognizable thanks to the paint job. With this kind of engine, the team then geared the truck with a five-speed transmission shift.

A Chevrolet truck or any truck for that matter cannot go away with just a powerful engine. A true powerful truck has to be equipped with an equally beefed up suspension system, just like what Lacey’s team did. The truck’s frame was utilized as the reservoir for the air suspension. The reservoir can hold up to seven gallons of air and two Viair 450s do the pumping.

To finish the improved 1991 Chevrolet S10 exterior and interior, the team added a clean stereo set up which can brag about its Pioneer head unit and Audiobahn chromed four-channel amp. Not only that, a single 10-inch Audiobahn subwoofer was also installed between the seats for that added rumble.

Fifteen months of hard work has truly paid off for this woman who has loved trucks since she was a kid.