Project: Pale Hooker (The cheap build)

12320 Views 63 Replies 12 Participants Last post by MWMa1927ChevPU, Oct 14, 2018

USNavyColoradoOwner

Discussion Starter · Dec 10, 2016

So, as many of you know, I've owned quite a few Colorados. Throughout my ownership I have gained a TON of knowledge and wisdom on the inner workings of these trucks. I dont know everything but I do know alot. I am going to be using that wisdom for my next build Project: Pale Hooker (the cheap build). I am going to build a "race" truck using only cheap parts. I use the word cheap to describe price, not quality. I am going to beg, borrow, (NOT steal), and hunt for the best deals I can possibly find. Now, my experience is in lifted trucks and off roading so I'm going to need a little help with this. Throughout this build thread I will teach you how to build a truck on a budget. Consider this the Youtube TV shows "Dirt Every Day" Cheap Truck Challenge. So, without further hesitation lets move on to the build!

Yesterday (December 9th 2016, my birthday) I bought an incredible present for myself, a new to me Colorado! This is a 2004 3.5L ZQ8 with 3.73 gears and a G80 Locker. Now keeping with the spirit of this Cheap Truck Challenge I bought the truck for only 4 grand! So, I'm already off to a great start. Here are some pictures of how she looked when I bought it.

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So, the first night that I bought the truck I contacted SuperMod and requested a tune. I still had some credits left over on my personal HPTuners account so we worked out a deal and I got the truck tuned. Once again, off to a great start with the cheap build! James and I talked a bit on the phone about where I wanted to go with the build and what my plans were and we devised a plan (which is somewhat secret right now) but I will say the suspension will more than likely stay stock. Yea I know stock suspension sucks, its all about that low-lyfe but with the plans we have for the truck James said the stock suspension is the best option.

The truck still runs a little sluggish after the tune and James said that could be because the the intake resonator vacuum hose is probably dry rotted. For now I am going to just use some Self-Fusing Silicone tape to wrap around it. I am also going to use some Lucas Deep Clean fuel system cleaner as well as clean the MAF and the throttle body. Those are the plans for today, hopefully I can get some throttle response out of it. Let me know what you guys think!

Future Mod list plan:
Ported Throttle Body
E-Fan
Resonator delete
AEM High Flow intake filter
JTR Headers
Exhaust
Hood bolt spacers
Ram-air
new wheels and tires
SECRET MOD (not to be disclosed until installed)

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Skizzo

· #4 · Dec 10, 2016

Noooo you can't has white reg cab race truck. That's my shtick! Lol

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Skizzo

· #14 · Dec 22, 2016

I would vote header over gutted manifold but if you want to do it as cheaply as possible, you won't see a huge difference between the two unless you get an equal length longtube.

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Skizzo

· #17 · Dec 27, 2016

I'll still sell you my spare OEM 3.5 head, cams, and brand new 07+ beehive springs on the cheap. You know the price, just let me know when you want em.

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Skizzo

· #32 · May 10, 2017

If you really want to improve aero on the truck, come up with some removable wheel well covers and a tear drop bed cover that smooths air flow from the cab to the tailgate.

The honest truth is that aero will do your truck absolutely no good in the 1/4 mile. If you were going for fuel efficiency or a high speed run it'd be a different story but even with nitrous you won't be hitting speeds worth worrying about aero.

If you want to go faster focus on increasing power, dropping weight, and putting that power down. Aero changes may give negligible improvements at best and just add weight.

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Skizzo

· #47 · Jun 7, 2017 (Edited)

USNavyColoradoOwner said:
I did a thing today. I saw a post of the facebook page about someone who took a motorcycle battery and rigged it up to work with the truck. His reason was for weight reduction. That's exactly what I wanted to do so I'm glad someone did it. Well in the comments someone posted a lightweight battery on summit racing which weights 7lbs lighter than the motorcycle battery and 28.2lbs lighter than the factory battery. I went ahead and bought that. It was a little pricy but I figured the close to 30lbs of weight reduction will be worth it.

lightweight battery, never heard of that. What is the brand? What battery chemistry is it? Size difference? Like an AGM racing battery?

Jaymes said:
When you feel like you've taken off as much weight as you can for race weight can you weigh your truck? I still need to weigh mine but I think race weight is somewhere in the 3300-3400 lb range with me in it.

Bone stock reg cab 3.5 should be in the upper end of that range with driver in it, I'd think. Possibly a little over 3400. Take a seat out, spare tire out and the lightweight battery you are probably looking at low 3300s with driver. Go a little crazier and strip the inside visors, headliner, back wall, door panels, vinyl/carpet floor, and sound insulation and you can probably get down another 50-60lbs possibly more. I'm not sure how thick or heavy our sound insulation is. Swapping to the AEM intake probably saved me 5-10lbs over the stock thick plastic intake. Header vs cast iron manifold might save ~10lbs. Lightweight wheels would be a nice boost.

sorry I just started brainstorming lol.

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Skizzo

· #49 · Jun 7, 2017

Jaymes said:
My title says my truck is 32xx and everywhere online says its 3303. Mine is a 2.9 reg cab with the manual. I weighed everything I took off one evening before I went to the drag strip.

I took out/off the passenger seat, floor-mats, spare tire kit, all the loose stuff in the cab, spare tire, spare tire hoist, front and rear anti-swaybars, tailgate, tailgate latch hinges, and tri-fold cover. All of that came out to 189.4 lbs. I also weighed the stock aluminum 15'' wheels last weekend when I was checking brakes. 17.4 lbs!

I'm wondering if I could get to sub 3300 w/driver. Bumpers would save a bit of weight. I probably wont but it would be pretty fun to make a reg cab as light as possible.

Definitely would be cool to see how light one could get the truck. I'd remove weight from the front of the truck as much as possible but try to keep some weight in the rear for traction purposes.

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