Powering our little project truck dubbed ‘The Shop Truck’ is a GM LQ4 6.0 litre engine. We snagged this motor for a song from a friend of ours who had a 2006 Chevy ¾ ton 4x4 truck sitting in his yard. It had higher mileage on it but it ran smooth and idled nicely so we couldn’t pass it up. The engine itself is bone stock and we plan on keeping it that way to keep up with the reliability we require out of this rig as we plan on making it a street-able monster. To go with all of our other custom built components on this rig, to clear the frame rails, our shock hoops and the firewall of the truck, we went ahead and fabbed up our own headers to ensure we get the clearance we need.
Behind the 6.0 litre we also kept the stock GM 4L80e automatic tranny from the same donor vehicle. The 4L80e is a great 4 speed tranny with overdrive for everyday use as it is the evolutionary step up from the popular TH400. We weren’t as lucky with the tranny as we were with how well the engine ran, so we took it over to Ivar, owner of Kelowna Transmission and auto repair just down the street for a complete rebuild.
When it comes to Transfer-case choices the options can be as vast and as deep as your pockets will allow. We thought about putting in an Atlas II like we did on our ‘Grey Cruiser’ but we feel that dollar for dollar, pound for pound, the best transfer case out there for our application was going to be the robust NP205. With a factory low gear of 1.96:1 it may not be the best set up for rock crawling right now but with a little aftermarket support we could get that down to a 3.00:1 low range, but for now, we will keep the factory gearing to maintain its street manners.
A couple of custom mounts and a cross member later, the drivetrain is in and looks right at home in our ‘Shop Truck’.
A couple of custom mounts and a cross member later, the drivetrain is in and looks right at home in our ‘Shop Truck’.
*Disclaimer, Aqualu only builds vehicles for in house abuse, we do not offer build services.*
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