This will be the very true story of the fails and wins of Jon Tostanoski's Street Truck Adventure. I know this is a lot of detail but if I can save just one person from my own mistakes it will be worth it. You can skip this intro to the first picture.

So in February 2018 I bought a 2001 Silverado with a LQ9 and 4L80E with 3:73 Eaton Posi 2wd with 114,000 miles after I sold my 2007 Sierra Classic 4.8 with built 4L60E and 3:23 gears with 120,000 miles work truck. I searched around and found it in AZ. I flew me and my buddy out from Seattle WA to see 2 trucks one in Mesa and one in Tucson AZ. I had a buddy in Mesa who owed me a favor and drove us. First truck was a bust so the last truck we looked at looked mint and had a nice Borla exhaust and Bloyd Coddington wheels. It had 20psi idle oil pressure and a few other signs but this was our ride home unless I got 2 more plane tickets and came home empty handed. From this moment on Jon knew he F'd Up.

The guy had the truck on empty and we didn't take it on the highway bad idea... As soon as we take it on the highway the front end is shaking bad. Stop at a tire shop and they show us he had the wheels welded together did not even try and grind the welds down. Yes every wheel was welded. I only took 2 days off of work so we had no choice but to soldier on. But before that we put on new shocks but we knew that had to be done before I bought it. I bought stock height shocks on a truck that was 4"/6" drop. Trying to drive the truck in it's sweet spot so it didn't shake the front end off. We made it to Rancho Cucamonga, CA where I bought factory wheels. In Stockton the truck bottomed out and blew the factory shocks out. AT 2am the AC pulley started squeaking bad and we cut the belt and found grease all on the back of the pulley.

We made it home and the real work was about to start. On the way up to WA the truck was making a grinding noise in 1st gear so we drove it in 2nd at low speeds. Figured it was the rear gear or the transmission only did it under power. Took it to a transmission shop and they had to replace all the gears added a Transgo Shift Kit 2 and their "heavy duty" package I told them "I want it to handle 700hp and never have to open it again." Drove it for 4 months always looking at that oil pressure. It would idle at 15psi but be at 40psi while cursing (with in GM spec) During this time I also replaced all the ball joints.

A few months after that driving to work I would hear grinding when I took left turns. Turns out one of my C Clips broke and my axle was coming out only thing holding it in was my caliper. Took it to Randy's Ring and Pinion and they helped me out and switched to a 4:11 Yukon gear with Yukon posi and redid everything. He said his guy working on it had to hammer the pin out of the locker half way cut it in half and hammer out it out the other side. Said the gears were welded together by the heat of someone abusing the truck. Was not me.

Labor Day weekend friends come over I haven't seen in a while and I take one of my car friends in my truck to show it off. I do one pull and get out and have him drive it. He floors it at about 20mph and gets to about 50mph around 4-5k rpm and it drops power and the oil pressure hits 0 as the truck shuts off. In my head I already knew and my friends have heard me tell them I think the bearings are going out multiple times. I turn the truck back on and hear a knock and the knock increased with rpm. As it is running we are looking under the truck for about 30 seconds until I tell my buddy F it get in the truck. I coast it down hill back to my place.

So right now I am in the process of putting in a turbo 5.3. As I have been tearing into the truck I found out it did not have a trunion kit like he stated and it wasn't a LQ9 but a LQ4 also found a fitting where someone had NO2 hooked up. Since I got the truck I put on Belltech Street struts & shocks, the 00-06 SUV rear brakes, rotors, and calipers upgrades. All new ball joints expect inner tie rods. I'm going to buy the whole steering rack because mine is leaking. New battery, transmission and rear end rebuilt. And did front driver and passenger wheel hubs. The wiper fluid tank was cracked so I got a nicer one at the local junk yard.

I bought a Huron Speed Hot V3 side kit with a 74mm Precision Turbo on a T4 from a member on here (CrazyOne). Engine is coming from Schwankee Racing Engines forged rods and pistons with Z06 crank short block with milled heads .020 and misc upgrades like better bearings and such.

Didn't take any pictures of me tearing out most of the stuff to get the engine out but the rest of this will be a guide to the best of my ability. If anyone sees anything on this thread they have questions about no matter how old this gets you can email me. JonToski187@gmail.com


Finally found the original post of the truck the guy had.

Found paper work for rear end work

 

Got any pics of the welded wheels?

 

Base G8 with Silverado


Dad's Best Helper

 

No I don't they are at the transmission shop for 4 months now or they tossed them. They probably still have them. I'll check.

 

she isnt ugly at least! I used to have a G8 too. Yours a GT? I had an 09.5. Kinda miss it. Mostly dont haha.

 

Only pictures I took of removing parts getting ready to take it out. You can see the NO2 fitting




LQ4!!!!

 

Yeah suckered me into buying it because it looked clean. It is a Base G8 not Base GT I had to change it in the pic.I got it for $9,000 with 38K miles. Salvage title insurance totaled it due to the floor in the trunk being cracked. I guess it falls into the category of being totaled. Runs perfect had no issues. But I see the timing cover leaking a tiny bit of oil and I am dreading changing that. It has been a good car for wifey and kids. But guess who is driving it now cause his POS truck? It has the best trim and it is a 2009.5 also.

 

Right now I have everything ready besides getting the top bell housing bolts off the block. Waiting on my valley cover lift plate to buy a cherry picker to pull the engine out. Anyone in Western WA let me rent their cherry picker? Transmission cross member is dropped with a jack and piece of wood on the pan of the transmission.

 

Oh wow "adventure" is definitely an understatement, sounds more like a Roadkill episode to me! That seller is a fk'n total douche for misrepresenting the truck especially to out of town buyers that traveled so far at such expense. So basically you bought a truck without working: wheels, transmission, shocks, differential, healthy engine, air conditioning and lied about displacement and upgraded rocker trunnion's... yep that seller is an ***

It's really a great looking RCSB but in all honesty it should have been sold only as a roller. It's gonna be badass when it's finished though!

 

Yeah I should have never bought it and him being in AZ there is no chance I would take him to court or anything like that over it. Time to suck it up and do things right. Hey the AC worked good until the grease wore off lol.