Fastfreddys 454ss

[hutcholdschool]

Here is a photo hopefully it works. Not as collectible as your 454 but they did not make very many of them. That is why I was following your build so close, as you said in the beginning you were going to make your 454 so it could be returned back to stock if needed. It has a 2/4 drop on it now and I am itching to try something else with it.

[fredscarryall]

That’s really cool. In awesome shape. Pretty Rare,like about 1500 made.Sounds like your getting board with the look. Here’s a pic of your truck with a belltech 4/6 drop and cowl induction hood. Totally changes the look. Unless you got a lot of money sitting around. Like $4500 just for the basics to have air ride with air management . I would go to summit racing (shipping is free if you go over $100 on most items exept the hood)and get you from 2/4 to 4/6. Get it in pieces to finish off with what you already have. The only thing you got to commit to is the frame notch. I cut mine with a plasma and it’s in a box with my factory parts.A lot of people worry about it but they are strong and made of good quality thick metal For $670 total. I would get

Frame notch kit axle flip kit $260
2” drop spindles $260/ or 2” front springs for $140(if you already have spindles)
4 lowering shocks $160

Then get yourself a modern set of affordable 18s or 20s for $1000 to $1500, $400 cowl induction hood with shipping and another $200 to paint the hood. All for around $2000 to $2600. Nice part about it is you don’t have to get it all at once. Each step is an improvement.

[fredscarryall]

Got the suspension on the passenger side removed, cleaned and painted in under an hour. Hope it goes together that fast

[SCOTI]

Cool build.

Can you possibly get a better pic of the front upper Air Bar mounts & the actual center to center length of your upper bars in place?

[fredscarryall]

The bed is already on. I took a couple pics of the upper bags mounts before I put the bed on,but I can’t find them. The air bag mounts are built into the upper bar.I will take a couple shots from underneath with a tape measure and let you know tonight

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by fredscarryall

The bed is already on. I took a couple pics of the upper bags mounts before I put the bed on,but I can’t find them. The air bag mounts are built into the upper bar.I will take a couple shots from underneath with a tape measure and let you know tonight

I was wanting pics of the upper bar front mounts, possible measurement on the difference between the center line of the upper vs lower front rod end bolt, & length of the upper bar as installed on your truck.

The install instructions have a starting dimension for the upper bars. I was curious how close your set-up came to those dimension as I will be building my own upper bar front mounts (I'll be using better rod ends on the front of all 4 bars on my set-up) & the info requested will help dictate how things fall into place (your info will be used just as reference compared to my observations/mock-up).

[fredscarryall]

Finished the coolride today. Didn’t change the look. Right now I can’t lower the truck anymore without the fender sitting on the tire because of the front wheel spacers. As soon as I put in the front pro proformance front disc conversion which will bring the wheels in about 7/8 (because I had the front hub converted to 5 on 4 1/2 to get rid of the conversion wheel spacer)and roll the front fenders a little more. I will be able to lower it another 3 or 4 inches. I also need to adjust the pitman arm in the rear to center the axle and roll the fenders a little more with a baseball bat.

[fredscarryall]

Look what showed up today. I can’t beleive the size difference in the rotors. These are based off of the c5 corvette

[nuke1]

Love the truck!!!

[diveplane]

Originally Posted by fredscarryall

I worked at as a detailed for the body shop at a Chevy dealership in 1990 and drove a few 454 ss trucks. I always said to myself one day I will own one. In July 2016 I finally bought on. It is a two owner with 60,000 original mile. Don’t worry for you purists out there, every mod I have done I have kept every part. So if I ever go back to factory i can.

sweet ride.

congrats

[fredscarryall]

May go with this design for the seats and door panels

[fredscarryall]

Started on the az performance revelator disc conversion today. Didn’t like the cast grey on the caliper. So I sprayed them red, until my caliper covers get here. Not everyone needs a step by step, but it’s nice to use as a reference.

[fredscarryall]

The kit shows to remove the spindle, but I can do it without removing it. Drilled out two of the brake shield holes for the caliper bracket with a 3/8s bit.

[fredscarryall]

Tapped both holes with a 7/16-14 tap

[LT7A]

You're really gettin after it with this truck! You're putting on some nice components. If I lived closer to Gresham, I'd come help just to get a shot at using the stuff you're taking off, ha!

[fredscarryall]

Because I did an air ride with a brake upgrade. When the suspension is all the way up the flexible factory brake lines weren’t long enough. I had Some steel braided ones made the went from 25” to 30”. After a quick brake bleed.i finally got everything installed. Here’s how it looks with the front air deflector a inch off the ground.

[fredscarryall]

Next thing on my list to do is a removable wind splitter. But mine will be black or carbon fiber. With yellow fog lights. Also in the process of making a rear fiberglass air diffuser.If I get enough interest in these roll pans. I going to make a mold and reproduce them and actually make them affordable.

[fredscarryall]

Rolled the rear bed wheel openings so the the tires won’t rub. Here its fully dropped. Can barely slide a 4” tall creeper underneath. Drove it down the driveway about 50 feet and the brakes where grabbing way nicer. Couldnt go on the maiden voyage because the front air line has a hole in it.

[fredscarryall]

More pics. Went for a drive. Handles like a Porsche and stops like you wouldn’t believe. Tinted my fog lights with yellow film. Major problem now is the stock alternator isn’t cutting it. Bought a tuff stuff 250 amp alternator. I’m going to attemp a cs144 conversion.

[Tiger Joe]

So I gotta ask a couple things here.

1- no offense, but why bother with a roll cage? like I said before I owned one of these trucks and they are way underpowered. you haven't mentioned any performance mods yet, so just curious why you would go through all the expense when its not necessary?


2- you said in your very first post you would be keeping everything to turn this truck back to stock since its "collectable" but you've cut the frame and now rolled the wheel arches? seems like you've gone past the point of being able to turn back to stock?

[fredscarryall]

Since I just just dumped a bunch of money into making it ride and stop better.Thats always my start point in every build for me. Doesn’t make sense to me to have 600 horse and no way for the truck to stop ( because we all know how much these brakes suck) or have 600 horse on stock suspension and no way for the truck to handle it. The plan as far as performance is first to put a high flow fuel pump ( which I just did), rebuild and bore the tbi, bolt on procharger, install a better cam and buy some performance heads. Then have a custom chip made so the computer can handle it. As far as mods and being able to put everything back to stock. It sucks as far as having to notch the frame because you really can’t reverse that. But as far as rolling the fenders. It’s really just simply hammering in the inside lip of the fender from the poor stamping,when the fenders were made at the factory.so the tires don’t rub. Does change anything from my standpoint. I could alway bend the fender lips back, but I think that would be retarded. Then lastly the cage,thats more for rigity and some looks. Im not planning on getting t boned or have a roll over from a simple signal car road corse. If I do plan on drag racing or running a big road corse.I will have the entire cage kit. So to start out with 4 point and add the rest of the kit in to be able to pass tech as needed.

[54 jimmy]

looking good. love the 454ss trucks. looks to me like you know the rules of p (proper planning prevents piss poor performance).

[Tiger Joe]

wow a procharger? nice way to drop some serious coin there.

what are you doing for a trans? gonna stick with the 400?

[fredscarryall]

Planning on keeping the turbo 400 and add a shift kit. Then I’m going to add a bolt on gear venders overdrive. I would just have to get a shorter driveshaft. Then I have to descide to keep the 3.73 rear end ratio or go with a 4.11. It just depends on what the overdrive rpm final shift point number are. The nice part is these overdrive units can handle 1200 horse power and you can have an overdrive bolted in. In about 2 hours

[mingoman]

You have one awesome 454SS truck fred! Really enjoy seeing your work.