I figured I could start a place to document my changes and receive feedback on future additions to my 2003 Silverado. I'll start with the background and show the changes I’ve made since I bought it back in 2006. Sorry for the length but its been through a lot.


This is the first day I brought it home. A couple weeks before my 16th birthday.
Specs:
2003 Silverado work truck
4.3L V6
NV3500 5 speed
20” Wheels
Sick chrome bed bars







From there I mostly did exterior mods. I changed to wheels to 22” U2’s with toyo tires, 3/5 belltech drop, Snug top, mirrors, and roll pan. I ran this around for about two years.





My senior year of high school I got a crazy idea to swap a gen 1 small block chevy in to get rid of the V6/5 speed combo. I built the sbc from the block up with all new parts and backed it with a TH400. Also ran it with 4.11 gears and a posi unit. Needless to say, it was a fun build but it wasn’t too good as a daily driver. Here are some pics of the sbc build.








And here is a vid showing the engine bay when all said and done.

SBC Engine Bay in 2003 Silverado - YouTube

I drove that set up back and forth to school for about two years until I rolled it in a bad snow storm. Here are some pics of it the day I rolled it and when it arrived to the body shop back in Vegas.

 

The body shop had the truck for 3-4 months. While it was there I decided to have them shave the handles, tailgate, weld in the roll pan, and add a new hood. Here is the first day I got it back home.






That summer I got a hard-on for autometer gauges. So I built an autometer gauge cluster with all Ultra Lite II’s with a plexiglass bolt in housing. Was a fun project and was pretty rewarding once I got all of them to function.




From there I got tired of the unreliability of the sbc. It seemed like I had a new problem every week. While I like working on it, I was busy with school so I needed a change. To make it more of a daily driver, I bought an LQ4 out of a crashed 03 2500. It came from back east so it didn’t look too great when I got it.




Plans were to tear it completely down and do a mild rebuild. Clean up the block, change all bearing, seals, gaskets. Well that plan went down the ******* as soon as I got working on it. I thought, well I might as well throw a stroker crank in while I have it apart. Then I thought, well I might as well go all forged incase I want to go fast later down the road. So my original plan snowballed into a N/A forged 408 with LS3 heads/intake, and healthy daily driver cam. I backed it by a built 4l80e I had laying around the shop, and paired it with a 245mm yank 3200 SST converter. Here are some pics of that process.












And finished engine bay:



I fully built the bottom end of this motor to handle some power. I ran out of money by the end of the build. I threw some budget LS3’s on there and a matching LS3 car intake that I bought off eBay for $250. Besides the rotating assembly and cam/springs, everything in this engine is stock from the factory. First day I drove it, I took it down to the dealership for the tune. When I got it back from the tuner it completely ran like **** and I was pretty disappointed. I bought HP Tuners and have been at it ever since. Here is the dyno sheet from the dealership. Nothing special




So the work continues on the truck. I plan on hitting 500rwhp N/A before I put any kind of boost through it. Also before boost, I think I will play with nitrous. I don’t have much plans for that yet as my main focus is the 500rwhp mark. Right now I have an order in with Tony Mamo for a fully ported FAST LSXR. I’m hoping for another 30 hp from that. I also need to get the heads ported. I’m thinking I will go with a WCCH stage II.

Sorry for the drawn out intro but now you guys can see the mods done up to this point of the build.

 

sounds pretty BA dude looking good.

 

Here is basically how the truck sits now




Engine:
Lq4 iron block 408
Callies Compstart crank/rods
Wiseco pistons
231/239 114+2
STOCK LS3 heads and intake

Drivetrain:
Built 4l80e
Trucool 40K
B&M Megatruck shifter
Auburn Posi
3.42 gears

Exhaust:
dual 3" into a 22" magnaflow
single 4" out over the axle

Fuel:
STOCK fuel pump (don't know how that is holding up)
-6an feed to Aeromotive fpr
-6an return
42lb LS3 injectors
91 octane pump gas

Suspension:
Belltech 3/5 drop; springs, hangers, shackels
McGaughys c-notch

 

Should make for a nice combo, good story behind it also. I like the blacked out grill and front end, I think it looks much better.

 

Dude thats one bad *** truck! Love the motor build and looks like a clean truck like black trucks. Can anyone say vegas trip! lol

 

nice setup

 

Enjoyed the transition, once I even thought about a Gen I build for my ride especially since I had it to begin with. Thank god I didn't of course. Great looking truck will definitely keep an eye on the build, and on the street... Lol

 

Thanks guys!

Hivelocit: Did you get that LS running in your white truck?

 

Engine is built, staring at me on the stand. Just waiting on my harness, flexplate, and fuel pump for a full-scale install. Turbo will have to wait till the funds allow.... I'm hoping time allowing it can be up and running in the spring!