The Endless Possibilities of Modifying Old Chevy and GMC Trucks

One of the nicest things about owning an old Chevy or GMC truck is that you are not stuck in Concept Prison forever. You may be perfectly happy with the Turbo 350 in your truck. One day, however, the genie whispers in your ear, and suddenly you want to swap over to a modern overdrive transmission that will boost your gas mileage up all the way from 7 to 9 mpg. 

Room to Spread Out and Innovate

Unlike many other swap candidates, your old truck offers several advantages. First off, there is plenty of room for everything to fit. Next, you do not need a bore scope or a magnesium flare to see where everything is. It’s all easy to get to and not buried under a mile of octopus-like black wire looms snaking over a black engine covered in 20 years of black gunk and sitting in a black engine compartment. You guys know what I’m saying, don’t you?

The Opportunity of Making Mistakes

You can – gasp!-- take off the transmission tunnel and see everything from up on top. Try doing that in your new 24 Silverado. As you design and modify and improvise, you do not live in terror of accidentally frying the truck’s brain or pulling loose some hidden ground loop that will gremlinize the entire vehicle for the rest of eternity. 

Messing Up Is Hard To Do

There is, in short, no mistake you can make that will take the project out of your hands and put it into the hands of a sneering line mechanic down at the dealership. You cannot make an innocent $10,000 boo-boo the way you can when working on new vehicles. Well, you can, I suppose, but it would be a real accomplishment.

Change Is the Only Constant

What I am trying to say here is that you can fly with your old truck in a way that is not ever happening again with new trucks. Even if you spend months getting your new overdrive tranny dialed in, you might change your mind again and opt for a truck with an inner city anti-theft module. In other words, you get a wild hair and convert your smooth-running auto to a joyously barbaric SM 465 granny 4-speed.

With our 54 Chevy truck parts, you are always going to be the commander, not a lowly operator taking orders from an ECM if you want it to start.