Super Blue

[Portmod7]

Hi guys!

I've been "lurking" around for a while observing, commenting on the rare occasion that I feel like I've got something to contribute, and finally decided I would put up a build thread. I've learned so much from the people and their builds on this forum, hopefully there is some tidbit of information from what I have done on my truck that will help someone.

I got this truck back when I was in college, Sept. of '05. Bought it on ebay for 3k without looking at it in person. A buddy and I drove to Phoenix to pick it up, and was pretty happy with my purchase. My buddy started calling it "Super Blue", and the name stuck. Somebody did a little body work and paint at some point, not the nicest, but it works for what I wanted. Other than that, not too much had been messed with on the truck which was a big plus for me. I have no idea what the motor was (a smaller V-8 of some kind, may very well be the original) and a manual 3-speed on the column.

I drove the truck the way I got it for a little while. I was away at college, and left it at my parents house. But I was back and forth almost every weekend racing cars and other things. Spring break of '06 came along, and I had no plans, so I buddy and I decided it was time for a motor swap. My brother had a GM FastBurn 385 and TH350 automatic sitting around collecting dust, so I laid claim to those and swapped them in.

The truck stayed that way for the next couple of years while I finished school and continued to pursue a racing career. It mostly sat at my parents house, but whenever I would come home for a day or two, I would drive it. My wife even decided we needed to have it in our engagement pictures. The racing dried up at the end of '08, and I moved home. With nothing to occupy my free time, I decided I might as well do some suspension and drivetrain upgrades to my truck. Before I realized what was happening, I had a bare frame on one side of the shop, and all of the body on the other side of the shop. Then a racing deal I couldn't pass up came my way, and the truck sat and collected dust for two years. At the end of 2011, the racing had dried up again, and my focus has been on this truck.

I knew I wanted to lower it, and put some sort of low-profile wheel and tire combination on it. I also knew I wanted to DRIVE it when I got done, a daily driver was the plan. Because the body is straight-appearing with no real issues (except what appears to be a cheap, faded, DIY paint job), body work and paint was out of the question for me. The hardest part of this build for me was deciding what to do with the suspension. Being a race car driver and very comfortable behind the wheel, I drive my cars aggressively. Not that I speed excessively, or drive like I'm on a racetrack or a maniac, but I do take corners faster than most, shoot tighter gaps, and brake harder for shorter periods of time. So if I was going to build a truck for myself, I was going to keep all of that in mind.

Now that I can see light at the end of the tunnel, I pretty much know what will be on the truck when it's finished. Check my signature for the high points. I'm going to see what pictures I can find of the work I've done, and post them up in chronological order. Just a warning, most (if not all) of them are cell phone pictures, so they suck. But at least I've got SOMETHING, that's a big feat for me!