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Hotchkis Turns Its Suspension Talents to Tuning Street Trucks
The classic Chevy C-10 pickup is fast becoming one of the most popular platforms for street truck enthusiasts, with good reason. They’re cheap, plentiful, easy to lower, and they look sweet when laid out. (more…)
Grant Kustoms Smooth Square Body Roll Pan
One of the most popular full-size trucks to build these days is the 1973-87 Chevy C-10. They look great planted on the ground and rolling on big inch wheels and rubber. However, if you are aiming to build one with a bevy of body modifications, one of the first areas to look at is the back of the truck. These trucks have a bumper relief under the taillight that allows room for the rear bumper to hug the body and wrap around to the bedside. When you remove the bumper and add a roll pan this factory body pocket sticks out like a sore thumb. (more…)
Building a Stronger 20-Bolt GM Rear Differential
Growing up in an automotive environment, I always heard how the GM 12-bolt rear differential was the superior model over the GM 10-bolt model. When I asked why, most of my mentors treated my question as if it were a line from the Spinal Tap. “They have 12 bolts and not 10, so they’re better.” (more…)
Hill’s Hot Rods and JD Glassworks Get Fast Lane’s Smoothed Metal and Slick Interior Ready for Paint
Custom paintwork laid over arrow-straight panels really sets the tone for the first impression your truck makes on the scene. A good combination of custom colors combined with a clean graphic treatment or simple pinstripe color separation can give your truck a bold look that makes it a standout at every show. With custom paintwork the quality of the finished product is only as good as the bodywork underneath. If you want your truck to drop jaws the minute someone’s eye balls wander in its direction, you better be willing to put in the time to make it perfectly straight, or find a professional paint and body shop to do it for you. (more…)
Our ’56 F-100 Chassis Gets Z’d, Shaved, Smoothed, Painted and Assembled
On a show truck chassis suspension detail is just as important as slick paint and precision fit and finish. One of the first stories that ran on Project Fast Lane was outfitting the chassis with a No Limit Engineering Wide Ride IFS, parallel Fat Bar 4-link system and Ridetech air system. The rear frame was step notched to provide room for the 9-inch rearend to roam under full droop and boxing plates were welded in for strength and rigidity. (more…)
So where do you start, and what’s the best way to perform such a feat? We began our quest searching through wrecking yards with our trusty measuring tape, a reciprocating saw and a current tetanus shot. The primary characteristics to look for in a dash are similar width and height to the old version; this will make installation simpler.
All of you guys who have been living under a rock for the past five years; this article is for you! Some of the most influential truck builds from the previous five years seen right here in the pages of Street Trucks have installed a custom throwback dashboard. (more…)
Bringing all of the amenities of the home and office into your truck has been the goal of mobile audio innovators for decades. Modern head units are great for music and movies and navigating around town. For those looking for all of the options of a home computer as well as the entertainment of a home theater system, in-car computers were the next step. Unfortunately, they can be costly, complicated to set up and are still functionally limited. The solution of an all-in-one unit with audio, video, Internet access and more was needed. (more…)
Last month the crew at Moe’s Garage began the task of replacing the outer roof skin on our ’69 C-10 project truck with help from the folks at LMC Truck. We continue the process this month by replacing the rusted header panel and welding in a patch panel where the sunroof once was. As with just about every project, whether it be a custom truck or a home remodel, the further you progress, the more ideas you come up with. Before you know it, you’ve gone further than you had originally planned. As the tape lines may indicate, we’re taking this project one step further and chopping the top. This will solve two problems: It will level out the roof line (GM intentionally raked the roof from front to back to help with water run-off), and it will allow us to better smooth out the area where the rain gutters once were. Anytime a plan changes, you need to regroup and adjust the task accordingly. So after doing some careful measurements we were back to work, and while this may seem like a strange way to chop a top, having the outer skin off will actually help us when it comes to the final fit and finish of the roof skin. (more…)
So who do you think coined the term “shaved,” referring to, of course, the permanent removal of an OEM accessory? From what we can tell, the term became part of hot rodders’ vernacular in the mid ‘50s when customizers began to remove unsightly door handles, side trim and other large OEM bolt-on chrome accessories. Some say that the reason for shaving parts was to streamline the vehicle to reduce wind drag, creating better aerodynamics. However, many just say that the practice became popular because it made the vehicle look better, giving it style, or more of a unique look. (more…)
The planning stages for Brass Tacks have been completed thanks to the talent of Carter Hickman Designs. The K5 Blazer will be transformed from a 4WD mudslinger into a slick roadster that’s flat on the ground with street rod and salt flat-inspired styling. We found the Blazer for a mere $200 after a few weeks of searching. While we could have spent more dough finding a rarer 2WD truck, most that we did find had suspicious bodywork or had been repainted. Ours 4WD was a little dinged up, but the original paint was intact, so we knew what we were working with. However, the 4WD setup would no longer work for bringing the K5 closer to Mother Earth. (more…)
