Speedtech's Pro Touring C10 Project

[SRD art]

We decided to run a Spintech muffler that allows for a dual 3" in and 3.5" single outlet. A very unique combination that works great for encouraging high exhaust flow and neat packaging. It'll sound pretty cool too.

[SRD art]

Progress is really moving along. That's a good thing. This feels a little like Overhaulin' with 1/10th the amount of crew members working on it, lol! Stay tuned...

[SRD art]

Updates-

With the rear suspension now on it's own rear sneakers, we've moved onto the sheetmetal. Here the cab is bolted down and the sound deadening installed on the floor.

[SRD art]

From there the leather wrapping got done- Dash pad, rear panel, A & B pillars, and the ceiling. Mmmmm smells great!

[SRD art]

How about that reflection? Everyone that took part did an Awseome job on the firewall, great look and fit! Check out the steering shaft placement, great angle and plenty of clearance in such a tight package.

[john@thepier]

WOW!!! What type of track is this truck being built for? Road race?

[Advanced Design]

Great execution everywhere. Very nice!

[SRD art]

@ John- The purpose for our truck is more street cruiser than anything, and of course it will go to cruise-ins and some car shows to spread the word of the ExtReme suspension and chassis. It will be at SEMA this year too. The auto trans and Michelin street tires really help bring on the comfort.

The purpose of the new ExtReme chassis and suspension design in general is to perform along side the committed "race" trucks in the pro touring world- our C10 is right at home on the road course as well as it is on the autocross. This set up is perfect for folks that are serious and want to compete in events like the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge. But it will also be perfect for the guys that simply cruise or like to lay frame too.

I can't and don't want to be a sales guy here, but having seen the build from the beginning to the end I can say the design crew studied current trends in Pro Touring, they studied road race suspension design over the last 30 years, and considering too the folks that won't ever race they put together a totally new computer optimized hybrid that is right at home anywhere.

I'm the guy that does the visual design and the renderings so I think it looks cool too.

[john@thepier]

I look forward to seeing the results of the test driving that likely will follow the completion of the build and any further modifications that may or may not happen. I think its just awesome that if a person wants to, that they can put a vintage body onto a chassis that out preforms a new vehicle. John

[biketopia]

Can't wait to see this thing in person at SEMA in two months!!

[SRD art]

Originally Posted by john@thepier

I look forward to seeing the results of the test driving that likely will follow the completion of the build and any further modifications that may or may not happen. I think its just awesome that if a person wants to, that they can put a vintage body onto a chassis that out preforms a new vehicle. John

For a long time I drag raced street/strip cars, and only a few years ago I got into the Pro Touring scene. My drag Nova was a daily driver back when I was single, it's obnoxious with a big solid cam, 4.56 gears and a 4500 stall and it didn't stop or corner worth beans. Once I tried my hand at an autocross with my 79 Olds Cutlass wagon that was simply lowered with all factory components, I was hooked. That car is a completely different animal today and is a daily driver that's competitive as I hit autocrosses as often as possible. Click Here for some pics. I still enjoy drag racing but autocrossing is way more fun.

Now, with a proper Pro touring Build, like you said it can ride, stop and handle like a new vehicle with the styling of the vintage designs. I've always been a truck fan and I'm excited to see more and more products coming out that don't just lower it, but increase it's driving abilities too. I have a 77 3/4T Suburban that will get upgraded with a 5.3 LS/ Overdrive and some of these suspension parts in the near future. I'm looking forward to that, currently it's like driving an overweight wet noodle that gets 10 mpg on a good day, lol!

[SRD art]

Some updated interior shots...

Leather wrapped door tops-



Console going in-



Behind the seat area-

[SRD art]

More suspension details. Love those coated flex brake lines, smooooth!



We sent the springs from our new Viking Crusader AutoX valved shocks out for a clear red powder coat, similar to the wheels. Looks awesome!

[SRD art]

Another shot of the flush windshield.



Mapping out the body line for the very special paint job, the kind that comes in a roll...

[nlped]

Sick Build. I can wait to see it in person at SEMA

[SRD art]

Originally Posted by nlped

Sick Build. I can wait to see it in person at SEMA

Thanks Ed. You've got some cool projects underway too!

[SRD art]

The console came out great.



Anyone ever notice the lack of cool dash inserts for these C10s? We did too, we really couldn't much support there at all, so we've decided to make one that we can add to our C10 catalog.

Darren in engineering did a great job designing the 3D model from which we milled the main clusters out of billet, and the thin inserts were laser cut for a perfect fit.

[SRD art]

The concept is that the inserts can be easily customized to the truck, brushed, painted, wrapped, print dipped, laser cut carbon fiber, etc.

For our truck we tried a couple options, black and white, black and brushed, ...

[SRD art]

... and we finally decided on black with a red rim. The red is the same clear red powder coat that was used on the wheels, brakes, and shocks. The photos don't do it justice, it really is pretty. The back lit custom made gauges are from Speedhut out of Orem, UT, and look killer at night, perfectly matching the light up dials on the Vintage Air controls. Let me know what you think of the design and what we came up with for colors.

[Advanced Design]

That is a nice design and you nailed it with the black and red. Impressive work.

On a different note SRD, would you have a link to your projects? Would like to check them out, especially the 79 Olds pro touring wagon. Thanks!

[GAc10boy]

Simply stunning work! Wow

[SRD art]

Thanks Robbie!

Advanced- Taking a side road...

Speedtech's other projects can be seen on our gallery page. Some of these are customer builds but many of them were done in our shop. The name on the gallery describes whether we built them or not... Click Here

The wagon was a project I started when I went back to school in a Street Rod fabrication program. Click here for the latest pics.

I have a build thread on the wagon, Click Here It shows all the mods I did to it but I was a bit lengthy explaining what I did and sometimes how. If you've only got a few minutes I took a bunch of photos so you can scroll through those. Since the school assembly I've gone through and converted to all Speedtech suspension and Viking Crusader autoX valved coilovers front and rear. Currently I'm working on some interior upgrades, then some body and new paint and then I'm planning to shoot for 500+ ft lbs in another 406 I have waiting in the garage. It's bee a while since I updated the build thread. :/ My wagon is an evolving project, I drive it daily and as I have the funds it's a constantly evolving effort to keep up with and hopefully conquer a lot of the pony cars that are attending the bigger Pro Touring autocross events.

If you like wagons, my teenage son also picked up a car like mine. He got all my old suspension parts and we're currently working on a 5.3/4L60 swap from a 2003 Tahoe in it. Been a while since we updated his thread too... Click here

My 'Burban is an all stock 2500 2 wheel drive with a 454 for now. I bought it when my wife's 89 Caravan finally bit the dust, we were desperate and money was tight at the time. I picked it up for chump change, it had been listed on the classifieds for a long time and the price reduced. Engine, trans, and interior had been redone, and the paint too but the bad job left leprosy clear coat peeling everywhere so it was a bit ugly and I guess no one wanted it. When the wagon is finished (or close to it) I will likely do another junk yard LS/overdrive in the Burby, much like you guys did, and I want to convert it to 5 lug and drop it 6" on 20" MB old schools. For now we use it occasionally to haul the family around, the 10 mpg on the highway isn't that great, but it's fun to drive, at least for me. Would be more fun if it were dropped . Since the Burby is "so big" my wife now drives a little import wagon that gets a lot better mileage and fits in parking lots better, lol!

When I hit the lottery I'd like to build the 454 from the Burby and put it in my 74 Nova. I used to drag race a lot but since my son and I started auto crossing the Nova's been on the back burner and spare change I have laying around goes towards the wagon for now.

[SRD art]

The beginnings of our custom door panels...



Back to the paint booth to get things "wrapped" up...

We were invited to bring a car to the Super Chevy annual Suspension and handling challenge again this year and they said although the C10 wouldn't be allowed to officially compete and get reviewed in the magazine, we were welcome to bring it, along with the 68 Nova that would compete, to run some track time and compare it to the other attendees. This is what put us into major crunch time to get the truck finished. For that reason and also to simply try it out we opted to do the white portion in 3M vehicle wrap. It's not quite as smooth as a cut and buffed paint, but overall it went on well, has amazing ability to conform to the body's shape, and it really looks good.

[SRD art]

To save some time on the hood we opted to do a pinstripe instead of paint the valley red like our original plan. We may still do that later on. Is this a cool design or what? Not sure how Blake came up with the hood mod idea, but I heard it just sort of popped into his head as he drove his '14 GMC home one day, lol! It really turned out nice!

[SRD art]

Some final suspension shots...