July 16, 2023
Longtime classic truck enthusiast Mark Coleman has built countless classic cars and trucks over the years, including a trio of early Mustangs, a ’56 F-100 Ford panel truck and a ’55 Ford SuperCab, which have graced these very pages. When it came time to build another truck, Coleman took a long, hard look in his own backyard and decided that his old ’53 F-100 would be the prime candidate.
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Becky Walker, a housewife and career woman from Jarrell, Texas, has two hobbies: raising Great Pyrenees show dogs and her purple prism 53 Chevrolet show truck, appropriately named 53 PAW. About six years ago, my husband, Billy, dragged this raggedy old 53 Chevrolet farm truck home and told me he was going to fix it up for me to drive. That was the beginning of a major project that lasted over two years. We worked every night, weekend and holiday on that truck. In fact, I distinctly remember spending one New Year’s Eve, back in 2004, helping Billy change out two sets of springs.
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When you’re talking power, few know more about it than Joe Granatelli. Not only does he come from the legendary Granatelli racing family, Granatelli is a licensed Pro Street drag racer and spent time as an instructor at the Roy Hill Drag Racing School. In 1989, he founded Granatelli Motor Sports, and since that time he has been busy designing and manufacturing items that add power to your truck or car. Those items include the Big G systems as well as exhaust and other high performance systems for not only gas and diesel pickups, but also for some fast Mustangs as well.
Two of those performance items are the Fuego Tuner and Hi-Performance Coil-On-Plug Connectors. The Fuego is a hand-held computer tuner that not only adds horsepower, it allows the person to control many of the actions associated with increasing the performance of the truck. Do you want the trans to shift not only firmer but also at a different rpm than the stock unit? The Fuego is capable of doing it. Do you have bigger tires? No problem. Want to retard or advance the spark? The Fuego can do that too.
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Author What You Need to Know Before Installing a Gen III Small Block in Your Classic Truck Since the introduction of the Gen III small-block engine in 1997, enthusiasts have been scouring junkyards, local pick-a-parts and aftermarket sources such as Street & Performance and Arizona Speed & Marine in search of the perfect engine package for their older pickups. Not since 1955 has an engine sparked so much interest and captured the imagination of so many builders. The first LS1 showed up in the ’97 Corvette, which immediately became of interest to all manner of hobbyists. GM recognized this and eventually began offering these soon-to-be popular engines in crate form. By then the engines had been available in Camaros and other GM cars, and finally in the truck line as the Vortec. These engines first appeared in the ’99-and-newer trucks, and now that they are readily available and reasonably inexpensive, they are very popular for early truck swaps. Originally based off the LS1, the Vortec engines were cast iron blocks with aluminum heads and could be found in the Silverado, Sierra, Yukon and Tahoe, with the most powerful being the LQ9, which is now in the Escalade with 345 hp and 390 lb-ft of torque. While more expensive than their 4.8- or 5.3-liter counterparts, they offer increased horsepower and torque. To find out more we called a local salvage yard and learned that we could pick up a 50,000-mile, 5.3-liter Vortec and 4L60E transmission for about $1,900-$2,000. Of course, pricing will have more to do with your own location and demand, and engine mileage is usually factored in. While this example is not going to come with everything you need to complete a swap, neither will the purchase of a new crate engine. These engines do not include the fuel tank and system, the cooling components or the computer, but all this can quickly be purchased with little problem, and much of it would require some modification. If you are looking for the more powerful LQ9, expect to spend upward of $3,000-$4,000 for a good low-mileage example. Finally, the LS1 and LS6 can also be found used in the $4,000-$5,000 range, complete with transmission. If you plan on attempting to produce serious power, purchasing the LS1 or LS6 is the most popular option, as tuning and bolting performance parts on the Vortec can become expensive. If you do not feel particularly comfortable with purchasing an engine from the salvage yard, companies such as Street & Performance, Arizona Speed & Marine and GM Performance Parts dealers offer a full line of LS engines, as well as polished parts and full warranties. Depending upon what year of truck you plan to install your new engine in, the vintage can make a real difference, as there’s more to installing an LS-series or Vortec engine into a truck than simply bolting it in and hooking up a fuel line. A wiring harness, fuel return lines and a gas tank that will accommodate the high-pressure fuel system are essential. Even the cooling system and the driveshaft are major considerations. So let’s look at choosing the right engine for your application. Depending on what look you are striving for with the build, how you use your truck will play a major role in the decision of what engine to purchase. If you plan on simply updating a late ’80s pickup, or even an early ’90s for that matter, a simple 4.8- or 5.3-liter engine will work and will be much simpler than starting with, say, a late ’50s or mid-’60s truck that was originally carbureted. If you are looking for serious power output, an LS1 or LS6 makes the best choice. They also come with a warranty, and there’s nothing better with a high-performance engine. When beginning your search for a Gen III, there are a few things that might prove helpful, as everyone wants either a new engine or one with the lowest mileage possible. Consider that every engine after 2003 uses drive-by-wire, which is an electronic throttle. So while throttle cables have been in use since the engine was first introduced, GM implemented a sensor and pedal locator to apply fuel load information to the engine controller. A single sensor and electric wire operates the throttle from beneath the pedal. There’s nothing wrong with the drive-by-wire system; you just need to get all the components from the junkyard to complete the install, including the pedal and the sensor. Mark Campbell of Street & Performance informed us that the drive-by-wire works great once installed. While many choose to swap the drive-by-wire to a throttle cable, it offers crisp throttle response and a clean installation with no cable needed to run through the firewall. If you do land a cable-driven engine, Lokar Performance Products offers a stainless steel braided throttle cable and oil dipstick for these engines that helps dress them up compared to the drab OE hardware. Once you have selected an engine and transmission and have all the necessary components it is time to begin the installation. There are a lot of options for mounting these engine packages in your pickup chassis, and what you use determines if the truck is to be a daily driver or a showstopper. GM has managed to keep its front framerails and the front crossmembers nearly unchanged since the early ’60s, with the exception of various motor-mount styles. Early Classic Enterprises offers a direct bolt-in for the Vortec crowd, which includes everything needed to set the engine into place in a ’60-’72 Chevy (and GMC) pickup. After speaking with the guys at Early Classic, we learned that you can simply relocate your stock transmission mount for the 4L60E on the ’60-’72 Chevy pickup, since the new trans uses the traditional 350, 400 and 700R4 trans mounts. If you are installing the engine into the newer genre of trucks, Street & Performance offers motor-mount adapter plates that bolt to the engine and allow the use of the
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Shops such as Barry’s Speed Shop can take a brand-new, stock vehicle and turn it into a rolling showcase, and do it in a short amount of time. Many of our readers are familiar with Barry White’s “Wrecks to Riches” TV show, as well as the many technical stories we have presented on the work he has done. So when the owners of a company contact White they know they’ll get a vehicle that will attract attention, and it will be built by a shop that makes building outstanding custom vehicles its only business (well, that and being TV stars).
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Experience the remarkable metamorphosis of a 1954 Dodge pickup as it evolves from a utilitarian workhorse to an award-winning showstopper. Immerse yourself in the meticulous craftsmanship by Hot Rod Garage, featuring a Mopar 360 crate engine, custom bodywork, and a DuPont Super Jet Black exterior. Marvel at the interior’s camel Ultraleather, Budnik steering wheel, and Vintage Air Gen III system. Discover how Charles Black’s once-overlooked ’54 Dodge became a masterpiece, earning accolades and recognition at events nationwide.
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Over the past 20 years custom truck interiors have taken on many forms, and like so much of the world today, prices and costs for these outlandish interiors have reached new heights in every way. Molded, flowing consoles, leather and killer stereos have taken front row in the world of custom interiors, and gone are the old, plain, painted panels. Going to the local upholstery shop can mean some serious change in today’s market, as the price of materials and the cost of labor have risen dramatically. But leave it to truck guys to study the art of interiors to help contain the cost of a new look, making effective use of options throughout the build of a classic or a more modern truck. While checking out some pictures on the Internet, we happened upon this at-home molded kick panel build that cost under $50!
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After purchasing this ’02 Silverado, the owner was looking to gain some additional horsepower and torque through a few small bolt-on performance parts. While the truck is still under warranty, there is a large variety of performance parts that not only meet certain warranty requirements, but also do not cause any problems at the dealership. After looking at all the available options for this Silverado, it was decided that the first modification to the engine was going to be the addition of a new AEM Brute Force air intake. AEM offers a vast array of dyno-proven intakes for specific applications, including trucks such as this Silverado.
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Adding power windows is a popular aftermarket option for classic vehicles these days. Worn-out window regulators have given people problems for years, and as replacement parts have become increasingly more expensive and harder to find, it’s simply easier and often cheaper to replace the old regulators with new electric ones. In the past we had to raid wrecking yards for parts that would adapt into our vehicles, and as expected there were generally a few problems associated with doing this. First, you don’t always know the condition of the parts being used, even though they look good; and second, you would need some background in window geometry to get the job done correctly. Finally, you need a certain level of basic fabrication skill and tools, which would be more than basic hand tools. With today’s technology and the availability of well-engineered aftermarket power window kits this has all changed, as it’s commonplace for most people to go straight to a kit designed for their vehicle.
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There is no other more important system than braking, so when the folks at Baer told us at the SEMA Show that they were finishing up their latest kit—one designed to fit the Ford F-150, as well as the Expedition, Navigator and Navigator 4WD—we wanted to see one installed. Baer has been producing high-?performance braking systems since 1986. The company specializes in high-performance, bolt-on brake systems that radically enhance the ability of the otherwise stock brake systems.
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