V8 Swapped Mini Truck

Or something like that...

This is the story of how someone spent close to $15,000 giving a 20 year old truck legs.

The candidate? A 2004 Chevy Colorado with 340,000 miles on its 5 cylinder (yes, 5-cylinder) motor. I swapped a 5.3L aluminum block LS into the truck in the summer of 2022. My advice? Don't do it. Or if you do, at least get a 2009+ that's a nearly bolt in swap.

This swap required its fair share of interesting touches including notching the frame, welding custom AC lines, completely repinning the PCM, making a good cooling system that still fits, retubing the driveshaft, and a bunch more I'm surely forgetting.

After the 4L60 started bugging me, it got an Aisin AR5 manual gearbox. This was a good time to address the need for cooling too. These aren't show welds but I rarely touch aluminum so I'll take it.

Somehow after spending all that money, it blew up and I was dumb enough to do a complete rebuild on the engine. A lifter seized (shocker), destroyed the camshaft and the lifter bore. I had Houston Engine and Balancing press a copper sleeve into the lifter bore, then reassembled with new OEM lifters and trays.

Shortly after I sold the truck.

Godspeed to whoever owns it now.