Greetings everyone, Ive been a passive user of this forum for a long time, decided it was time to finally join and start chiming in, wanted to share pictures of my ongoing project, something that began as my "work truck" transformed into my expedition vehicle / offroading toy lol. Here are the specs:
- 2008 3.7L I5 4wd Z71 Chevrolet Colorado, 81,250 miles and counting.
Engine Mods:
1. custom intake with stock airbox and K&N Air Filter connected and sealed to a "Safari style" snorkel
2. Stainless Steel 5-1 header, Magnaflow high-flow cat and Borla Pro XS Muffler.
3. All Aluminum Radiator
4. Flex-a-Lite 180 E-Fan (wired with a kill switch)
5. Custom Tune with HPTuners
6. Billet Battery mount with Optima yellow top.
Drivetrain and Brakes:
1. OEM 5 Speed manual trans swap (Aisin AR5)
2. 4.10 gears with stock G80 rear LSD, currently working on swapping out my rear axle with a Dana 44 from a 2002 Rodeo, and re-gearing to 4.56 front and rear, this diff comes equipped with the Dana Trac-Lok, I plan on adding an Eaton E-locker later down the road.
3. Drilled and slotted rotors from cquence.net with HAWK LTS pads, stainless brake lines and Motul Dot 5.1 brake fluid.
Suspension, Wheels & Tires:
1. 4" Skyjacker lift kit
2. Bilstein 5165 reservoir shocks
3. upgraded Torsion Bars from the V8 Colorado / Alpha Hummer H3.
4. Custom 8-leaf spring pack with a 1" lift shackle
5. Steering Rack re-enforcement kit from Mayhem Metal Works
6. Method "Standard" 16x8" wheels
7. Hankook Dynapro MT 295/75R16 with full size spare
Armor, Lighting:
1. Custom Tube Front bumper with tow hooks and winch mount.
2. Skid plate from bumper to cross member.
3. re-enforced transfer case skidplate.
4. Custom Tube Rock sliders
5. Custom Tube rear bumper with incorporated Trailer Hitch, D-Shackle mounts.
6. 30" "Cree" LED Bar on front bumper.
7. Rigid D2 Dually "fog" mounted on front bumper
8. 40" Curved "3D" LED mounted on roof
9. Rigid Dually mounted on Tire-Gate
10. 4 "expansion" LED mini-pods mounted on Bed-Cage
Recovery & Camping:
1. T-Max EW9500 Winch with hard wired in-cab Winch controls with the Solenoid mounted in the engine bay (i can still plug in the winch control if I need to)
2. 48" Hi-Lift jack mounted to an Aluminum 48" Chest Box in the bed.
3. T-Max portable air compressor (stored in the Chest Box)
4. ARB Recovery bag (ARB snatch block, tree saver, snatch strap, D-shackles)
5. Stanley 201-piece tool set + other miscellaneous tools (stored in chest box)
6. Roto-Pax 2 Gallon water pack (stored in chest box)
7. Roto-Pax orange tool box / emergency kit (stored in-cab under passenger seat)
8. Maxtrax recovery ramps (mounted on bed cage)
9. (3) 4-Gallon red Rotopax (2 mounted on bedcage, 1 mounted on the tire-gate)
10. ARB "Touring" Roof Tent & ARB Awning mounted in the rear
11. Other camping gear: Edgestar 43qt fridge, "Aussie" Stainless propane portable grill, Coleman propane 2-burner stove, 3 folding "bass pro shops" chairs, 1 large plastic folding table, 1 small coleman folding table (mounts below roof tent), 60L portable rolling water tank, pots and pans, a good set of knifes, an arrangement of LED camp lights, flashlights, knifes... etc.
Interior:
1. Pioneer AVH-4500 Headunit
2. Focal Access Components front and rear
3. Rockford punch 12" subwoofer mounted below rear seat
4. 2 Alpine MRP amps mounted behind rear seat
5. Cobra Power inverter mounted behind rear seat
6. Complete Dynamat insulated cabin
7. Cobra CB Radio with K40 Antenna
8. Garmin NUVI GPS
That pretty much sums it all up. This is not my Only vehicle, I own two other vehicles that serve purpose as daily driver and family hauler. I also own a 1978 Land Cruiser FJ43 which im currently in the middle of completing a full frame-off original quality restoration. So this truck is my work / offroad vehicle that has been slowly transforming into an expedition / overlanding vehicle. I live in Venezuela and those of you familiar with our geography will know that we have ALOT of diversity and really nice places to visit offroad. Overlanding culture is real big here, and most of the nice places I get to visit / explore are in very remote areas where one has to be very self sufficient (i.e, 100 miles from the nearest "village" where you may or may not find gas). As of now I think Im at the end of the road with this truck, I dont see the need to mod any further, so really right now im just maintaining and enjoying what I have put together. It has been an OK vehicle, its design is far from perfect, it drives really good and it has proven to be very reliable with the proper care, although there are many areas that need attention in stock form, Ive got it to the point where I really enjoy driving and using it, but I dont think its a vehicle that I should keep on modding. I really dont think that the platform will continue to age that well to make further investment worth my time. Plans to purchase and build a used late model Toyota Land Cruiser FJ76 are in my not so distant future
- 2008 3.7L I5 4wd Z71 Chevrolet Colorado, 81,250 miles and counting.
Engine Mods:
1. custom intake with stock airbox and K&N Air Filter connected and sealed to a "Safari style" snorkel
2. Stainless Steel 5-1 header, Magnaflow high-flow cat and Borla Pro XS Muffler.
3. All Aluminum Radiator
4. Flex-a-Lite 180 E-Fan (wired with a kill switch)
5. Custom Tune with HPTuners
6. Billet Battery mount with Optima yellow top.
Drivetrain and Brakes:
1. OEM 5 Speed manual trans swap (Aisin AR5)
2. 4.10 gears with stock G80 rear LSD, currently working on swapping out my rear axle with a Dana 44 from a 2002 Rodeo, and re-gearing to 4.56 front and rear, this diff comes equipped with the Dana Trac-Lok, I plan on adding an Eaton E-locker later down the road.
3. Drilled and slotted rotors from cquence.net with HAWK LTS pads, stainless brake lines and Motul Dot 5.1 brake fluid.
Suspension, Wheels & Tires:
1. 4" Skyjacker lift kit
2. Bilstein 5165 reservoir shocks
3. upgraded Torsion Bars from the V8 Colorado / Alpha Hummer H3.
4. Custom 8-leaf spring pack with a 1" lift shackle
5. Steering Rack re-enforcement kit from Mayhem Metal Works
6. Method "Standard" 16x8" wheels
7. Hankook Dynapro MT 295/75R16 with full size spare
Armor, Lighting:
1. Custom Tube Front bumper with tow hooks and winch mount.
2. Skid plate from bumper to cross member.
3. re-enforced transfer case skidplate.
4. Custom Tube Rock sliders
5. Custom Tube rear bumper with incorporated Trailer Hitch, D-Shackle mounts.
6. 30" "Cree" LED Bar on front bumper.
7. Rigid D2 Dually "fog" mounted on front bumper
8. 40" Curved "3D" LED mounted on roof
9. Rigid Dually mounted on Tire-Gate
10. 4 "expansion" LED mini-pods mounted on Bed-Cage
Recovery & Camping:
1. T-Max EW9500 Winch with hard wired in-cab Winch controls with the Solenoid mounted in the engine bay (i can still plug in the winch control if I need to)
2. 48" Hi-Lift jack mounted to an Aluminum 48" Chest Box in the bed.
3. T-Max portable air compressor (stored in the Chest Box)
4. ARB Recovery bag (ARB snatch block, tree saver, snatch strap, D-shackles)
5. Stanley 201-piece tool set + other miscellaneous tools (stored in chest box)
6. Roto-Pax 2 Gallon water pack (stored in chest box)
7. Roto-Pax orange tool box / emergency kit (stored in-cab under passenger seat)
8. Maxtrax recovery ramps (mounted on bed cage)
9. (3) 4-Gallon red Rotopax (2 mounted on bedcage, 1 mounted on the tire-gate)
10. ARB "Touring" Roof Tent & ARB Awning mounted in the rear
11. Other camping gear: Edgestar 43qt fridge, "Aussie" Stainless propane portable grill, Coleman propane 2-burner stove, 3 folding "bass pro shops" chairs, 1 large plastic folding table, 1 small coleman folding table (mounts below roof tent), 60L portable rolling water tank, pots and pans, a good set of knifes, an arrangement of LED camp lights, flashlights, knifes... etc.
Interior:
1. Pioneer AVH-4500 Headunit
2. Focal Access Components front and rear
3. Rockford punch 12" subwoofer mounted below rear seat
4. 2 Alpine MRP amps mounted behind rear seat
5. Cobra Power inverter mounted behind rear seat
6. Complete Dynamat insulated cabin
7. Cobra CB Radio with K40 Antenna
8. Garmin NUVI GPS
That pretty much sums it all up. This is not my Only vehicle, I own two other vehicles that serve purpose as daily driver and family hauler. I also own a 1978 Land Cruiser FJ43 which im currently in the middle of completing a full frame-off original quality restoration. So this truck is my work / offroad vehicle that has been slowly transforming into an expedition / overlanding vehicle. I live in Venezuela and those of you familiar with our geography will know that we have ALOT of diversity and really nice places to visit offroad. Overlanding culture is real big here, and most of the nice places I get to visit / explore are in very remote areas where one has to be very self sufficient (i.e, 100 miles from the nearest "village" where you may or may not find gas). As of now I think Im at the end of the road with this truck, I dont see the need to mod any further, so really right now im just maintaining and enjoying what I have put together. It has been an OK vehicle, its design is far from perfect, it drives really good and it has proven to be very reliable with the proper care, although there are many areas that need attention in stock form, Ive got it to the point where I really enjoy driving and using it, but I dont think its a vehicle that I should keep on modding. I really dont think that the platform will continue to age that well to make further investment worth my time. Plans to purchase and build a used late model Toyota Land Cruiser FJ76 are in my not so distant future
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