misterp

Good move, at least they can't steal your tailgate!

LOL you're welcome! I like the VHO's, very nice trucks, and very hard to replace. I mean, let's be honest we all know they don't hook worth a crap, but still nice trucks J/K had to get an AWD dig in there! Bakko is a very, very rough town; you gotta watch it - they'll steal your chit. And remember this, many times the thieves usually DON'T live in the same town as the victim; they will come from LA or Fresno or the desert or anywhere in-between to come 'shopping' in your neighborhood. IMO, the pic you show is your truck begging to be taken. That truck can be gone in 45-seconds, SEEN IT DONE: man #1 uses screwdriver to bash in door lock cylinder, gains entry into cab, pops the hoodlatch, then uses screwdriver to bash out ignition lock cylinder man #2 uses cordless drill to quickly unscrew the two 80-pin connectors from the PCM, and attach them to his own security-disabled PCM, and closes the hood man #1 uses screwdriver to start the truck, both ride away. How to thwart this - buy a kit to fortify both door lock cylinders buy a kit to reroute the hood latch cable, and fortify the hood latch so it cannot be jimmied install a fuel pump kill switch Even doing all this (WHICH I WOULD RECOMMEND) this still doesn't protect you from thieves busting out the window to gain entry to the cab (add a car alarm glass-break sensor & fuel cutoff?) or from them using "Option #2" i.e. they tow it away with their own tow truck. The only sure protection is to garage the vehicle. With the pic you have shown, even if they don't steal the truck itself, you are BEGGING to have your tailgate, taillights, and mirrors stolen - all of which can be done in less than a couple minutes and will cost almost a thousand bucks to replace - this happened to my mom in Mesa AZ at 5pm in broad daylight on a well travelled street by the meth addict living across from her house. Any way you go, this is going to cost you $$$ - an IMO that "loss prevention capital" can be spent in one of two ways: Buy shelving materials, or lumber, and/or etc and organize what you have stored in that garage to make room for your truck, or install a hidden kill switch - I like the suggestion of the RFID keyfob fuel pump cutoff, I think I'll do this to my own truck!! I am *sure* you can make room for your truck in the garage Don't make us come craigslist all your stuff for you lol You talk about the low cost of living in Bakko - don't forget to figure garaging your vehicle into that! Mr. P.

Looks good!

Because months later when you have to pull the Taylors off the spark plugs, the boots stick to the porcelain so bad that you end-up destroying the wire in the act. Since Taylor's products came out in the early 90's I've NEVER been able to save all eight wires when changing plugs, they just fall apart in your hands; however they do carry spark well and resist heat very well... I just don't expect to be able to reuse them. MSD + sleeving FTW. Mr. P.

Yeah I hear ya; I've got half a mind to rig ...something... to preserve the factory sight covers when the day comes and I switch manifolds. Mr. P.

I'm thinking we'll keep that one "in the family".

Put your money into the turbo, even on a bone stock motor. After all the trouble for camming, valvetrain, etc the truck will run in the low-14s... on a bone stock motor with decent turbo, low-12's. Better buy a hardened transmission first! Mr. P.

Better have more security than that; two guys with a large screwdriver, cordless drill, and extra PCM can be gone with your truck in 45-seconds. That's too nice a truck to lose. Mr. P.

I still dream of driving up there for the Lebanon Valley meet. Miss You guys, great time and great memories. Mr. P.

??? Why does that sound so familiar... #3 DEI SSS, was that a truck I saw in Kansas City 2-3 years ago, owned by a site member?

Good to meet you Alex - too bad there is so much distance, sounds like you would have fit right in "under the carport". We'll have to meet-up next time I'm in socal. Mr. P.

Thanks for the love everybody! I pulled the images down from the how-tos, because I don't have a web server to host them from. Sorry. You still doting on that wife of yours? I hope?! Yeah I know, my ears were burning! Torrent E-Fan Kits - it would take A LOT of convincing to make me do another run of efan kits; they were/are a labor of love. Glad you still have yours and enjoy them! Hey Nikko - saw that you might have actually fallen in love?! *gasp* Yeah gotta add you to my xmas list! Everyone in this thread go ahead and friend me - www.facebook.com/SSPEDN Mr. P.

Build #6: lasted 3-years behind a daily-driven 12-psi, until the "indestructible" 4340 chromoly output shaft exploded. Upon teardown the 3/4 clutch was showing "typical" wear, but only in the center 1/3rd of the frictions. Hmmmmm.... Build #7: has been in the truck almost a year now, with every "trick" known, plus a couple experimental ones. It is coming out for inspection to see how the 3/4 clutch pack has held-up during this last year of service, but I am sure that we positively conquered the issue - it HAMMERS into 4th with authority under WOT.

eBay or Craigslist - search for "DL3 mirror". I got a salvage housing for about $300 bones, I don't know what the glass is running for these days but they are not cheap. Mr. P.

Thanks Gents! You're welcome! Not sure about more how-to's... the last time I turned a wrench was over 2-years ago. Need to go check them for rust. Mr. P.

Tease. ;)

Assuming the motor makes the same power (or more?) after the TB swap - any change that lowers boost while maintaining output power is A Good Thing, it means that the engine is making the same power with much more efficiency; IATs should read lower as a result (also A Good Thing) and lower IATs are very important with today's fuels, also the improvement in manifolding should allow a change to a more aggressive pulley (more boost!). But, just because one changes the TB doesn't necessarily mean the compressor will deliver more air to the engine - hence the complaint that spending $400-500 on a TB swap did not make the truck faster at the track. To deliver more air to the engine, you need to speed-up the impeller (i.e. smaller pulley). What your friend should have done after the TB swap was to get a pulley a couple sizes smaller and get the boost back up to 12-lbs - this would almost certainly guarantee that the blower is delivering all the CFM it was designed to do. More CFM + more fuel = more fire! Remember, air is "stretchy stuff". Mr. P.

Would you post a close-up pic of the installed lights with the power OFF? (What do they look like with the power off?) Love the color of them! - Thanks - Mr. P.

Performance shafts are a must in the 4L60's in these heavy trucks; the vehicle weight is the deciding factor reliability-wise. And for $2500 I would have expected the unit to have come with an aftermarket output shaft in the first place. "toning your tune back" - yeah you're going to need a fair amount of torque management, with that converter you've got installed, a good converter not only increases the launch RPM but additionally multiplies torque even more going into the transmission (i.e. has a higher stall ratio). Mr. P.

This might be late advice but: if possible, use the long 4" accuseal clamps on the slip joints of those collectors, or they'll leak like a bastard later! Mr. P.

The LS motors were specifically designed by GM to cruise at 1800-2100 RPM for best mileage & emissions... of course that doesn't matter now that you've CHANGED CAMS! You need to find out now from Comp what the recommended cruise speed is for that cam, and consider it in the equation. Look: what are you really asking for here?! If you truly desired a maximum performance effort vehicle you would have already gotten the 4.56's on the way to your doorstep!! So why are you hesitating, are you afraid that they will make the truck slower? or that they are going to make you regret the mileage? or that you will regret always driving around town at 3500+ RPM?! If you put the 4.56's in, you are basically deciding to make the truck "purpose-specific" i.e. a Saturday night special hot-street & track use vehicle. If this is what you want, and you're ok having 15 highway MPG then no doubt do it. I've done the same on past vehicles, and did not regret doing so because well I'm a throttle junkie that way. But, and I'll quit "couching" my answer - I would highly encourage the 4.30s, especially given the fact you've already got so much damned converter in the truck! The goal is to make the motor spend as much time in it's RPM "sweet spot" (dictated by the cam profile). So log a couple runs, and LOOK at the RPMs the truck is operating at while doing a pass... then you can honestly decide, do you need an additional 200-RPM, or 400-RPM, or 800-RPM etc and that will dictate how much more gearing you need. It's been 3-years since I've been at the track, but to my memory the 2WD trucks that were converted to 4.10s actually ran SLOWER than the trucks with the 3.73's! Point is, I would find a knowledgeable resource and get a plan on what tire/slick you are going to use to actually USE that gearing, and what (if any) rear suspension assistance will be needed as well. You might find that in order to utilize all that gearing and keep from blowing the tires off it might require a set of cal-trac bars or ... ??? ... 2WD trucks have a very tough time with traction. Also, future truck "direction" should also be considered; if you are using forced induction or nitrous in the future, 4.56's will be overkill IMO. Unless you can justify a solid reasoning why, I would recommend against the 4.56s. But we'll still love ya the same regardless of your choice! Mr. P.

Track or street or mixed use? What RPM do you want to see at the top of 3rd gear at the track? What is the HP/torque curve of your cam, etc? Do you care about mileage? I have 4.10s with 30" tall (shorter) tires (so it's the same 'effective ratio' as if I installed 4.30's with keeping the stock 32" tires); truck cruises at 2500-RPM @75-mph now, mileage took a 1-mpg hit. I love it, I would not go with 4.56's, I think that is too much gear for a street truck - if it's a "purpose-specific" truck then do the worksheets and determine the rear gear you need the right way. Mr. P.

:O and all this time I thought you went completely off-grid!

Hello everyone - been awhile, hope everyone has been well these last several years. Hello Shaun. Disheartening to read this is still an ongoing problem here. Thank you for the gratitude, it is sincerely appreciated. It makes me very happy knowing that you have found some growth and fulfillment through your car crafting pursuits, and I'm privileged hearing that the sharing of my own enthusiasm for my life's hobby was inspiring to you. I'm glad to see that you were able to make your truck your own; a real man tailors his life to suit himself, because he knows that what counts isn't necessarily how "luxurious" an item is, but rather how well it fits him. Kudos. Yeah, maybe. Maybe not. (Depends on what year Vette we're discussing?!) OTOH, if I read a member saying their 5300-lb AWD truck beat a Lamborghini Gallardo onto the freeway from a 15-mph roll as they were driving back to the office from lunch with their boss in the passenger's seat... hmmmmmm... personally I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss that story! Speaking for myself, of course. LOL yeah, all my fault I'm afraid! And I can fix that whole "middle east problem" too! I'm just bustin' on ya, I genuinely thank you for the very kind words. But the reasons I decided to go "off grid" had to do with factors affecting all of us on this site for the many months preceding. My "truck life", as well as Dan's (Sprayed99) got very dysfunctional for lots of reasons and factors - some of our own making, some of others' making; in the end it was necessary for us to detach from that dysfunction. We literally could not go on living the way we were at that time, our "involvement" took a large personal toll. Thanks, I can say with clear conscience that Dan and I did truly try to help, from a good place. About that decision to give you guys my phone number... The breaking point for me, was sitting with my fiancé (at the time) on a Friday night at 11:35pm and the phone ringing, with some random person in Wisconsin (wtf?) on the phone that I have never heard from before (or since!) in a panic: "DUDE *sigh of relief* am I SO GLAD to get you on the phone - I think I just blew the head gaskets on my Yukon, what do I do?!" And I was nice and spent until past midnight explaining that he needed to check the fluids and find a competent local mechanic since this wasn't something I could diagnose from 5 states away.... It was at that time I realized that at midnight there are better things to be doing with my evenings (like making love with my fiancé!) and this also underscored the fact that several folks in the truck hobbiest community were in fact time and resource leaches. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "man, can I give you $100 and a six-pack to help me tune my truck" .... and I'm sorry fellas but a six-pack is a pretty insulting offer to someone that will have to spend the WEEKS living in your project to tune it correctly. I came to quickly realize that there are two kinds of "automotive enthusiasts", those that genuinely LOVE car crafting and grow and learn from it as a life's pursuit and in turn give back, and others that pretend to love car crafting to use as a guise to get free parts and labor to accomplish the 4-wheeled rolling billboard used to advertise their ego. And Dan suffered at least 5x worse than I did (he's a giver in that way). So to the anonymous person here who passed my phone number to some completely inconsiderate looser in Wisconsin - thanks for the education in personal boundaries, and for freeing me from those who don't have them. Hi Kevin! Just wanted to take the moment here to say Hey! ----------- Quoting Tony Robbins: the quality of your life is the quality of the people you have in your life. And sss.com might be "virtual" but we all know that before long everyone here has an impact on everyone else, we all become a meaningful part of each others' lives - sometimes positive, sometimes negative - there are folks I've met here I never want to part from for the rest of my life, and there are others I've met here that frankly are so dysfunctional I never care to meet again, a couple even so far as to say virtually. This isn't a biggie, such is life, if nobody hates you then nobody loves you either - but what made the site so special in those first few years was not that we all bought the same truck, or were gearheads, or were all hard-working middle-class men with families - it was because ALL of us GREW personally from our involvement with each other; we were better for being a part of this site and the brotherhood that developed. And we recognized it at the time, but looking back now I think we still took it for granted. I'm active on FB, but I control my "personal circle" a bit more closely now. Dan (Sprayed99) and I haven't spent as much time together as we used to, but we're still close and he's the closest thing I've had to a brother. We still have our personal automotive projects and tinker at times, and I know that after a while we'll be back in the garage building something loud and seriously scary. I've already made the personal decision to build a Texas Mile car, when life budgets finally allow (it might be a couple years off). But in the meantime - I'm happy living a much more balanced life, and the truck's not for sale. If you want to friend me on FB, by all means send me an invite - I find that I enjoy staying in touch that way. Mr. P.

"runs like a beast" Uh-huh. I'll forgive a little creative advertisement; but the important thing he doesn't tell you is that it won't stop because the crappy stock brakes are woefully insufficient for wheels that heavy. Mr. P.