I realised that despite the large number of various threads I have here, I do not have a complete build thread. So, instead of just showing you some pictures of the finished product, I decided to compile a build thread. This is mostly for my benefit; I want a complete record of the transformation of my truck, but I hope that some of you enjoy reliving the build process with me as well.
I know I've left you hanging on some of my threads in the past, but I will see this one through to the end. Dont ask for pics of the finished truck, I'll get to that in due time.
I'll start with some background on the truck. I bought it new in late 2004. It's a 2005 model ZQ8, no options except the cruise control convenience package. Simple, and less useless shit to break.
Before I even picked the truck up, I had a stack of parts waiting on it. I got the truck on a thursday, and shortly, this is what it looked like:
That's a 2/3 drop, goodmark steel hood, and a streetscene urethane roll pan.
Around the same time came baked and blacked out headlights, a pin stripe, tinted windows, blacked out bow tie and lower grille, and a Z85 chin spoiler:
Not at all satisfied with the stance, it was time to bring her down some more. I tried several combinations of static parts, from the 2/3, all the way to a 5/6. Looking back, that was a huge waste of money, since I bought the truck knowing it would be bagged, and no combination of off the shelf static drop parts came close to satisfying my lust for lowness.
With the break-in period just barely over, and the warranty in full swing, I cut into it for the first time. I wish I had more pictures to share of this, but they have been lost along the way. I rode around with just the rear bagged for about 6 months before the front came down. The setup consisted of a 2 link with no panhard, a 5" mini-notch, SMC 1/4" valves, a single Viair 380, and RE6's and 7's. Budget all the way, I think I had around $600 in this setup. I rode with no shocks up front and stockers out back for a week, then added QA-1's up front and some belltech drop shocks out back.
Around the same time, the body mods also began. It started with a shaved tailgate and snowballed from there:
That's laying on the stocks trans crossmember and leaf spring mounts, with all of the fender wells intact.
You'll notice that at some point, I also added the SS front bumper and grille inserts, SS mirrors, and painted the hood gloss black with white stripes. I don't remember the exact timeline that I added this stuff.
Then the front came down. One of the questions I hear the most is "how low can a 355 go without cutting the fenders out?" Well, here ya go. This is laying on the trans crossmember and leaf spring mounts, with all of the sheetmetal intact. The rear fenders have been pulled slightly, but are otherwise stock. Up front, the plastic liners are gone, but the metal is stock, it hasn't even been massaged with the BFH yet. This is absolutely as low as you can go without major cutting. The tires contact the wells at the same height as the leaf spring mount and trans crossmember contact the ground.
Here's where the fun begins. Originally, my goal was to be the first body dropped 355. That didn't pan out, I had at least 3 other trucks beat me to the punch. As far as I know though, I was the first (and possibly still the only) traditional bodied colorado on (mostly) stock framerails.
I had several criteria to meet before I start this portion of the build:
First, everything had to stay under the bed, and the bedfloor had to be raised as little as possible. I use this truck daily, not only as a commuter, but also to haul parts. Everything from engines and transmissions to body parts and interior trim, so bed space is a priority.
Next, it has to be done as quickly as possible. This is my daily, and I can't be without it for long. In the end, it took longer than I had planned, but it was only down for around 4 weeks before it was back on the road. It would be a full 4 months before it was "done."
I also wanted to use as many stock parts as possible. This is both to keep the cost down and to maintain a high level of reliability. As far as reliability is concerned, I want to be able to hop in the truck and drive across the country if I want without taking spare parts or worrying about it the entire trip.
Finally, my budget for the entire body drop was $1500. I ended up spending about $1100.
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