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Because, Racecar

Project History and Initial Build Part 1.

By September 21, 2014January 7th, 2023No Comments

So,

I have had my 2004 silverado since 2008, and it has seen quite a bit of action.

It started life as a 4.8L v8, with ~280hp give or take.

I also added a touch screen in-dash GPS / radio, remote start, automatic door locks, a CB, and some other fun toys.
It also had a 2400 watt amp with a rockford fosgate T-2.

Since, I enjoy going fast, within two years of obtaining it, I installed a supercharger on it, custom exhaust system, and blew up the factory 4L60-E on the return trip from the dyno. On the dyno, it pulled around 378rwhp from a bone-stock 4.8 with only a procharger P1SC, and slightly bigger injectors.

Video from the truck a few months later (with the still hurt transmission)

At the time- fresh out of the military, going through college, I still didn’t have the funds laying around to repair the transmission or to perform any additional work. However- I did drive the truck daily to and from college, in 2nd gear.

After two years, during a long road trip, in the middle of nowhere… I was running low on fuel and had to stop at a gas station, which resembled somebody’s broken-down shack. I only had the option of the questionable 87 octane. I only put 5 gallons in to make it to the next gas station, and was very easy on the throttle, never hitting boost.

Turns out….. That was a very bad idea.

What the pistons should look like.
#6 and #8 after pulling the driver’s side head.

As my ears have aged a bit, and I have matured a bit more, The big stereo was no longer as appealing to my senses… Neither was having a TV in my dash. However- speed and performance was still a fun topic…. So- I decided to take a radical approach to rebuilding the truck.

The first step was to get rid of the old boat anchor

Pulling the old engine and transmission out.
The new long-block was built by AES Racing, after many good reviews from ls1tech.com. A full list of specs is located on the original post here: https://xtremeownage.com/wordpress/2019/09/26/racecar-specs/

The transmission is a TCI-6x, which was built to handle 1,200hp. ttp://www.tciauto.com/tc/6x-six-speed-transmission-package-gm-bellhousing-outlawtm-shifterhtml

new engine and trans.jpg
New, Shiny parts.
Initial install of the new engine and transmission, with all of the factory 4.8 electronics.


And, lets get it fired up! This is the first run of the new combination, which still had the old p1sc bolted up, running the same tune / injectors / everything from the old 4.8.

Initial start of the new combination, with the old tune.