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    1. #1
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178

      5.3 Alice Hombre, a mild custom..

      For a backstory, one of my junior Soldiers had a pos s10 blazer her wanted to get rid of because he just picked up an equally pos’d infinity. So I told him I’d take the blazer and in trade id ‘semi-gloss black’ his infinity to make it look better.

      Long story short, I tinted all the infinity lights, sanded the car down, did some small body work, and sprayed on a few coats of semi-gloss black. The car looked pretty slick, I probably have a picture somewhere on my hard drive ill post up for reference.

      I lost money on it, but I made a young soldier happy and to me that’s all that matters in the grand scheme of things.

      So now I had a beat 4 door 2001 blazer.



      Second part of this story is a friend says some guy on craigslist or facebook ads has a hombre they want to trade. I show him the blazer, tell him of its faults, but he is happy since the truck is too small. I reiterate the blazer is a pos, and still he says he is fine with it.

      I load the blazer on the trailer, and head over and we swap titles. The guy didn’t tell me the axle in the hombre was toast, and a replacement junk yard piece was in the bed. This was fine by me, but I told him all about the blazer, and didn’t get that vital info back from him.

      Anyways, I start and drive the hombre on the trailer, tie her all down and head home. The next day I check out the truck in the sunlight. The body was nearly perfect. A few dings here and there. Interior was what you’d expect for a nearly 25 year old throw away truck. The previous owner’s mom was driving the truck back and forth to work with cold AC. When the rear axle went out, she upgraded and the hombre just sat as an eye sore.

      Anyways, it had a new clutch, new cylinder head, new battery, so in my opinion I was happy, as my job was about an hour away in rush hour traffic, so this little thing toted my big @ss to and from work with about 30 MPGs and nice cold AC.

      A new set of seats out of a 2018 toyota got fabb’d in the truck, a nice custom behind the seat box that held a 10-inch shallow fosgate subwoofer, and 2 amps, one for the woofer, and one for the mid/tweet combo in the doors and dash. So not only was I getting decent fuel mileage I could watch jenna jameson do her thing on the way and back from work on my double din head unit, and pumpin some good tunes at a respectable sound level.

      That lasted about 7 months before the head gasket went out. Luckily the man above was watching me that day, because as soon as I felt the motor lock up, the freeway opened in such a way that I was able to cruise from the far left lane all the way across the freeway to a dirt section and not cause any hiccups or accidents or middle fingers thrown at me.

      There I sat, called a few buddies and before I knew it, I was getting tugged home by a buddy who was laughing at the idea his ford was towing a Chevy home. Which I reminded him it was an Isuzu.

      For the next 3 months or so I drove my balzer to work, which is fun in its right. The blazer has a custom chassis, and sits pretty low and tucks the 33x22 mickey T’s pretty far up inside the fender wells.. One day I though I'm not putting a dime into a 4cyl 2.2 engine. It already tossed a head gasket once, so I called a customer and asked to use his ‘core’ for my build. Next thing I am ordering swap parts to get this truck 5.3 bolted into the chassis. Once I was satisfied, or umm not really satisfied with how things fit after I mocked up the engine/rad/fans I decided to move the firewall back 3 inches for more overall clearances on everything under the hood.

      Well, I'm a bit long winded here, so, in a nutshell, I’ve got about 8-10k miles on the truck now, and have started detailing some of the things I didn’t do in the first stages of test fitting and mock up. Then I left to do my service overseas. My truck is sitting at a buddy’s house, and plenty of more work is being done to it. For those whom ask, I'm 45 years old, and am an OG in the minitruck world. So, yes, I have that crap in my blood, and being an all makes, models, gear head, I tend to spend way too much money on vehicles. Sh*t, ive spent most my life possessed by the Demon Tweak, chasing horsepower and or parts for making stuff that eventually turns into horsepower. (demon tweak was a term hotrod magazine used in the 90s and it’s always stuck with me)

      Enough with the BS, I’ll post up some pictures now.

      It takes forever, because of where I'm at and internet speeds here rival dial up speeds of when I had a Commodore 64 as a kid..


      Enjoy..

      - - - Updated - - -

      The night I towed Alice home..
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Next, I couldn’t stand a weird multiple colored little ugly truck, just made it uglier. So a few hours of work, and a bunch of left over basecoat I poured into a gallon can, it turned into this look. It stayed looking like this for around 6 or 8 months while driving back and forth to my place of employment.Name:  2.jpg
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      This picture is sort of funny to me. A guy was on the S10 forums or facebook, I don’t remember which, had rust and needed a cross member from the rear frame section of an early S10 in order to pass Canadian motor vehicle inspection to register his truck. For multiple hours, possibly even a few days, I don’t exactly remember, everyone told him to just weld in a 2x3 cross member and it’d be fine, after multiple attempts of telling people he can’t do that, he needs a real factory piece of a truck, I said, f*ck it. You paypal me $200 USD right now, I’ll stay late at work, pull my bed and cut my cross member off, and mail it to you the next day. So, needless to say, I held my word, and sent him a rust free piece of my Alice to the land of the Maple Leaf..Name:  5.jpg
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      One of the doors I installed had a bad window regulator….so I picked up another pair of doors and shaved them before swapping them onto the truck. Much easier to block the body work and weld (shave) the door handles on a stand instead of installed on the truck.

      I used a Dakota Digital 6 way remote system, which open both left and right doors, and rolls the windows up and down all individually. This also leaves 2 more channels to do something else remotely operated when the need arises.

      Also at this point i found some cheap wheels with nearly new tires. The wheels aren't the ugliest, but I didn't care at this point, because they had good tires and for the $200 buying price, I couldn't really pass it up.
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      One day coming home from work, in stop and go traffic, on the freeway no less, the little 2.2 4 cylinder stalled in traffic. At the time I didn’t think of it, just figured I was in the movement, you know listening to the music, and probably just stalled it. Crank it over, it fired up, and continued on my way. Little did I pay any attention, the temp gauge was pegged in the H zone…had I noticed, the little 4 cylinder might not have given up the ghost. But a few more minutes of jammin out to some Lynyrd Skynyrd did the ole’girl in. Luckily I was at a downhill portion of the freeway and I was able to safely roll to where it sits here in this picture.Name:  hh.jpg
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      So after that, the truck was towed to my place and sat in the back of the shop for about 4 to 5 months. I needed to decide what to do with a $1500 truck with a dead engine. I could pull the head and go through all that jazz, but in the end I really didn’t want to spend a few hundred dollars on an anemic 83hp 2.2 4 banger.

      I’ve already shaved the doors, shaved the taillights added a roll pan, built a custom tailgate skin, added a custom audio system with a well-built behind the seat custom subwoofer box and amp rack. Long story short, I’m well into a fun build, just need to decide on a good course of action. I surely wasn’t planning on dumping a bunch of money into this truck….or so I thought.
      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    7. #7
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      I started tinkering with the idea of building myself a minitruck. I haven’t owned my own minitruck in many years, and being an early 90s dip**** minitrucker, the idea started growing on me. I already knew the color, and it had to have 90s ‘tribal’ style graphics with a hood mural. No 1990’s minitruck build is official without a hood mural, and it needed to be a pastel color. 1990s were all about crazy colors, and there was only one I could think of. Salmon, Coral, Pink, whatever you want to call it, it had to be done. I had a hotrod magazine cut out of an early comet hanging in my bedroom and it was that color, and I loved it.

      I went to home depot and spent an hour or so going through the color chips for house paint until I found 3 colors which I thought were right. I then went home, called my buddy fester and dug through some old minitruckin magazines and found a few trucks to compare with. Between the magazines, and the old picture I had hanging on my wall, I had the correct shade I needed. I then I sent the color to my friend Tammy to match the piece and then she added the new color to her paint line, dubbed Timeless Coral. Voila’ a 80s/90s color reborn for the 2020s.. of course I quickly had 2 gallons of the stuff shipped to me from her factory.

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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Now armed with a plan, I got to it. I always tell my customers, have a plan, stick to it, or it’ll get out of hand.

      Knowing I had a few 5.3 truck based “LS” motors in the shop, it was a no brainer, this Hombre was getting one. I needed a transmission asap. A few calls and a buddy had a 4l60 laying under a bench with unknown miles or issues. Not a big deal, I knew it needed getting built to handle some power, so a few hours later I picked it up and dropped it off to a buddy to get opened up. He ripped it’s guts out and replaced it with some good internals, and a used convertor he had from his own truck. It was a 2800 stall and was “clean, no issues, good to go..”

      I got out the hoist and grabbed one of the truck motors from the lot, and sent it over to my machine shop buddy to get some new pistons, and valve job/springs etc, all the makings of a mild 5.3 build. Once I got the motor back, I slapped it back together with new GM bolts/gaskets and I think a TS stage 3 cam. The new pistons were flat tops, and I had the block and heads shaved some to get some cheap compression.
      A set of Ebay S10 swap headers and a drive over to dirty dingo, I was nearing ready to drop in the new combo.

      Here is what some parts store 'chrome' paint can do for some clean parts..
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      I pulled the engine, and started doing some clean up. I was excited to spray some of the ‘brand new’ color I have been thinking of since I was about 14 years old, or umm, around 1988.

      Ordered up a 4/6 belltech drop kit and got to work…

      During this time also started sanding the old purply base coat off, and blocking the previously done body work.
      It was time to start bringing Alice to life (although the truck hasn’t been named Alice at this point of the build)


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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Fast forward through a few months, and got the engine in, swapped out the booster to a hydroboost system from a mid 2000s tahoe, and put a few miles on the combo.

      At this point, it’s got a welded spider gear rear 4 cyl axle (the weakest of the weak) and with future plans of possibly doing a body drop I started thinking of the current place the engine is sitting, and how far the tires will go into the firewall, which requires mini tubs.

      Remember, this was not planned, but during construction, plans get realigned to the current shiny thing at hand. Lol.

      Also you can see I have removed the entire factory wiring harness and replaced everything with an aftermarket wiring harness. In this picture I am still playing with the harness and a few other things.
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Picture from getting an alignment and another once I got the cab painted.
      I have several same age buddies that are starting to drool over this color. We all grew up together, and lived the early 90s, pastel colors minitruck era..Name:  gggg.jpg
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Here is a “current” picture of the engine compartment. You can see in these pictures I decided the fabrication needed for the minitubs and the exhaust collectors were going to need modification of the firewall, so I decided to remove almost all of it, and push it back 2 inches and use flat sheet to ‘shave’ the firewall.
      This works well, for clearance along the engine to fan to radiator clearances, and moves the engine back a bit for a bit of weight transfer off the front end.
      You can see my firewall still needs body worked and painting. I’m planning to pull the engine and getting all this taken care of once I am back home. I also have a new intake and planning on building a turbo set up for the truck.Name:  20200509_193542.jpg
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      I like the dare to be different concept, so a few phone calls and a brand new quick-change rear axle was being sent to me. I know of a red under construction extra-cab bodied full-size chevy truck with a similar axle, but I think I'm the only minitruck to have a quick change rear axle. I installed some 12 inch rotors on the rear, and am planning on doing the C6 corvette front calipers and rotors. I looked into brembo/baer/wilwood and they all just want to much for a seat of brakes. Now if I was a pro guy, I’d probably be sponsored, and well, cost wouldn’t matter, but, I'm an average joe, so I’ll use what I can get.

      The rear axle is painted body color, and a dark purple with purple metal flake. When it’s clean, not in this picture, it is a sparkle show!
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      With the truck all painted, I did a quick sand and buff on it, and called a local agency to get a girl to do a photoshoot. I was leaving in less than 2 weeks and wouldn’t see my truck for a year while I was in Iraq. Got everything lined up, and picked out a half dozen or so outfits for the girl, and went to one of my favorite spots for an auto photoshoot.
      I was a bit upset the girl didn’t show up at the correct time, and I had to deal with the sun coming up and got her squinting in many pictures. Things I can fix post shoot, but I really didn’t have the time to deal with it since time in usa was getting short for me.
      Since I left the states, I had contacted Tim and very talented airbrush artist and sent him a rendering I had drew in photoshop to see if he wanted to take on the job. I don’t think he believed me when I told him I was Iraq, and id drop off money and the parts when he wanted. It was going to be about 4 months into my tour. I called him, and started getting everything planned up, and on a set date in early nov, my hood was dropped off at his place.
      Tim did nearly perfect of what I sent him. There are a few deficiencies, but like I told him, I am going to sand the hood down and finish it my way, as there are probably 20 more colors needing to be sprayed on the truck, and the hood.
      As stated earlier, the truck when described sounds similar to Alice. LS hombre, Alice hombre. I know it isn’t perfect, but you can see where I am coming from.
      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Alice was up and running and I went through 5 or 6 sets of rear tires in a few months. This combo is fun, and just loves to kill tires.
      The interior is comprised of goodies from Billet Specialties, IDIDIT, Lokar, Rockford Fosgate, Dakota digital, vintage air, and custom built interior pieces which are stitched in a medium grey leather. The pattern and stitch-work being used throughout the interior is based on a Bugatti Chiron. Windows are all limo, and the total windshield is 35%.

      Remember, the hood isn’t completed. There are still graphics, more colors, airbrush time, pin striping that still need to be done. So in this picture, it’s shiny and looks complete, but there is still 10-20 hours of labor still needed to be done before the hood artwork/paintjob is considered complete.

      These are the gauges I’ve picked, and the intake I’m going to use. I needed a super short intake, because the stock truck almost touches the hood, and once I do the body drop, it’ll never fit. I don’t like the look of the LS1 intake, so this is the next best thing.
      My buddy takes the truck around the block and there’s a few car shows coming up he can cruise it up to. Anything to keep the motor from just sitting for the year I am going.
      Alice was built to drive, not to sit..


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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    17. #17
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      I wont be back in USA then, but I hope i can get one of my buddies to take my truck out to this event.

      www.protouringtruckshootout.com
      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    18. #18
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      Been looking at the 12 inch holley digital display, ugh, decisions decisions..
      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    19. #19
      Join Date
      Jul 2007
      Location
      nw phx
      Posts
      178
      whew... so much has happened in a year. I just found this forum again, and I'll update it in the morning.. it's getting late

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      ...life is too short, live for today, tomorrow isn't guaranteed

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Feb 2006
      Location
      Phoenix, AZ
      Posts
      215
      Country Flag: United States
      Hard to believe you have had no replies in 2 years so I had to say, "Nice work" from a fellow Phoenician.
      Looks like you might have paid a visit Speedway for a quick change rear. I still have to go there and check out their store.

      I am thinking about a LM7 with twins for my Camaro. Do you know of anyone in the valley who will sell a complete pull-out engine for a reasonable price? I cannot see paying $3500 for a complete used one.
      1970RS Camaro
      Lateral Dynamics, Wilwood, BOZE, Strange Engineering, Alston, Ride Tech, Gen II, FAST.
      Dave Cozzi

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