Right, but two things on that:

1). Most of the GM's and some of the Dodges I've seen on this site are not exactly stock looking ( your sig pic is a case in point ). I'm not saying that's a bad thing, but 9 times out of 10, someone will have some kind of clue as to what's up with your truck (be it a lope from cams or the rumble of the exhaust).

2) You may find this hard to believe, but there are tons of people out there that have no idea what a Lightning is. Just about everyone I've ran on the street had no idea what I had. They thought it was just an F150 with a body kit.


I'm not saying that L's are the end all of performance trucks. Some of you guys with Radix'd 6.0's would put up a very good fight for even some of the modded ones. I'm just saying as far as bang for your buck, they're a very good base to start from if you find the right deal. As an example, even with the money I've dropped into mine, I've only got about 22K tied up in it, price of the truck included. Once I get everything dialed in, the truck should be capable of high to mid 12's. We'll see what happens, I may need to get the driver mod in order to see that from it, lol.

 

yea crabhartls1 or however you spell it, lol. my truck can have its bad days, and its damn good days. i think part of it, when my truck runs cold it drives different. although i keep havin problems with my lifters goin out. i cant wait till the middle of next year because even tho i just put a new engine in it i want something stronger, so i think ima go with a 383 stroker. a lot more power a little more reliability and for abt $2600. i kno i want the banks tt but they want to charge me $11000 for the engine, then to get it installed i have to take it to someone they do work with so the warranty stays in. it would end up runnin me abt $14-15000. thats too much. for right now i wanna get spray put on it but ive never worked with spray except for on my dirtbike. what should i put in it and it still be safe, 75 or 100 shot? or what?

 

A couple years back I actually was looking at getting a Lightning. I have seen them for 17k-24k used, however to me it just wasnt practical. Where I live 4wheel drive is almost a must for a daily driven truck. Myself for a daily driver I also require a extcab. These are the reasons I turned away from the lightning. I wanted something that I could drive year around with no regards to road conditions and I wanted something that could hold its own while having 4 people in it. This is where I came about with the combo that I have now.

 

I almost purchased a lightning over my dodge, but then I came too!!lol No but they are a good deal for the $$$$$!!

 

A 383 is definitely a good idea, they make great truck engines given where they usually make their power.

I dunno about the banks TT, an awesome setup to say the least but for the price i think you'd be happier with a blower, just because there's less things you have to worry about, less to break, and your powerband stays smooth without expensive tuning. But that's all up to you.

Most modern V8s can handle 100 shots very well on stock internals, usually without even replacing the fuel pump. I'd go with a wet setup, just because there's less margin for error. If you get a 383 custom built however, and you want to run it boosted all the time, go with all forged internals. That way there's a good chance you won't have to worry about stuff breaking once you jack up the boost.

Hope this helps and good luck on that 383!

 

About the whole "sleeper" argument,

I consider any truck that is fast to be a sleeper. To me, fast lightnings are even a shocker, and by that i mean, running 12s. Just the fact that the vehicle is a truck is enough to make anyone in a car think you're driving a slow vehicle. They're heavy, not aerodynamic, have horrible traction problems, etc. So when a truck starts running 13s, you pay attention.

Doesn't really matter how it looks. If a truck had a body kit, a loud exhaust, and wide tires, i'd still think it was slow until it proved me otherwise.

 

I really like the Lightnings I was super crazy about them when I was in high school. I almost bought a brand new one back in 01 when they got the upgraded power. But the Sales guy didnt want to give deal and was selling it to me at sticker. Then I realized i wasnt going to be able to afford the payments no matter who much of a deal I got.

Now that I look at Im glad a waited becuase they go really cheap used compared to brand new. I like the lightnings and I still want one. But for now my 03 silverado will do just fine!

 

how is that cheaper than buying a used 99 or so silvy? (under 10k around here) swapping forged internals (under 2k) and slapping on a supercharger (under5k for the fancy lookin polished one)??????????

 

You wanna go that old, I've seen 99 L's go for 12 to 14. It's all preference.

 

You just never know what you are going against on the street. Stock L's are hard to come by. You just slap a new pulley on an L and really start killing. People never think of trucks going fast. Hell a lot of them don't know what an L is. Even more don't know what an SRT-10 is. I killed a stock 04 Cobra. When we stopped at the next light, he asked me what kind of engine I had.

Smoke