LS1Tech’s Project Ron Burgundy: The Introduction

After the SEMA Show, I went to the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational and did a story on it for 6SpeedOnline.com. I stood there, camera in hand, and thought “hey, there are a few true street cars and big trucks out here.

Why can’t I build something for this, make it into the invitational, with a lighter S10 pickup.” Well, there is no other way to figure it out than try and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce to you LS1Tech’s Project Ron Burgundy.

It was only a few months ago that my Nissan Xterra decided it didn’t like its timing belt and, well, the engine went with it. I had to find a new vehicle within the budget I could quickly come up with at the time then find a vehicle that would fit that.

So, I had $1000 in about 14 days and started looking for a four-cylinder car as I wanted something with good gas mileage. If you live in California, you know how easy that is and by easy I mean you’re not going to find a good running car for that price. You’ll be lucky to find a car that’s a roller much less one with an engine in it. Then I came across it, the perfect vehicle.

Well, ok, not perfect but it was $1000 perfect. I had found this 1995 Chevrolet S10 extended cab for $1200 in Long Beach. So, I took a Metro train and go take a look. It was running, didn’t overheat, and was in alright condition.

I decided to take a chance and say I could buy it for $800 because he mentioned that he’s had it for sale for several weeks and really needed it gone. Most were afraid of the check engine light being on thanks to SMOG and he also admitted that his mechanic couldn’t get it to read any codes.

Well, the 1995 S10 is OBD-I, but if you look at the plug it looks like an OBD-II because it has 16-pin connector instead of a 12-pin but you still read codes like you do with any OBDI – Short two pins and count the amount of times the CEL flashes. After some talking, I got him down to $1000 and I drove the truck away.

I didn’t buy the truck with the intention of turning it into a project. It was supposed to stay a daily driver, so I fixed the issue; the Ambient Air Temperature Sensor was disconnected. With the problem I thought solved I went to SMOG it and found it had a Federal catalytic converter on it instead of the California one and had that replaced for $200.

Finally, the steering felt bad and I replaced the drag link, toe-links, and idler arm. So, my $1000 truck turned into a $1300 truck, but it was still a good deal considering I got double the gas mileage my Xterra had and was surprisingly cheaper to insure.

So, a month goes by and a few of my friends who race in Global Time Attack start talking about Super Lap Battle, the finals for the GTA season. I hadn’t been booked for announcing it yet, as it was still several weeks away at the time, and I remembered a conversation Ken Suen, Clint Boisdeau, and I had last year with Jason Dienhart who owns the series.

The three of us wanted to take trucks and run them in a separate class. Nothing came of it, but the idea intrigued me again and mentioned that I might try it since I now had the truck. That’s when the amazing thing happened – everyone I mentioned it to had loved the idea of road racing a truck including a few sponsors. I talk it out with the guys here at LS1Tech and now it is an official project.

So, here are the plans for Ron Burgundy. First the goals:

1. Build a truck that anyone with some basic hand and power tools can do in their garage. This means no welding and minor cutting for clearances.
2. Install an LS-based engine that can pass CA SMOG so it remains street legal.
3. Enter into the Optima Ultimate Street Car Challenge event at Fontana to vie for a spot into the OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Invitational in 2016. I will also enter into other automotive events like GTA ProAm rounds, NASA Time Trials, and other events to dial it in up to the Fontana round.

Here is the current build plans, but these can change:

• Swap in a 6.0L LQ4 with Aluminum Heads with some computer tuning from PCMforLess.com
• Utilize a manually shifted automatic. Looking at 6L80E or other
• Swap the rear end to a full Ford 8.8 Explorer Disc Brake axle
• Utilize the leaf spring setup using slider rear links and Slide-a-Link traction bars – This may change if I can find a bolt-in three link with a Watt’s link that will suit my needs
• Swap the front spindles to a set of Forged and lowered Speedmaster Mustang II spindles with .5-inch taller QA1 rebuildable upper and lower ball joints. This also includes using SN95 Cobra front brakes
• Further improve the front geometry with a set of tubular arms from QA1 and look into the modified “Guldstrand Mod” improvement (drill new mounting holes where they mount on the chassis for the upper a-arms)
• Use QA1 with compression and rebound adjustable coil overs front and compression and rebound adjustable shocks in the rear
• Improve safety and comfort in the interior – including sound system and some other creature comforts along with a set of paddle shifters for the new transmission
• Improve aerodynamics, especially at the rear
• Reduce weight on the front end
• New wheels for the 5 x 114.3 bolt pattern and improved tires
• Repair body panels that have damage
• Swap to composite lights from later Blazer or the 97-up S10

So, as you can see we have some support already from PCMforLess.com, QA1, Optima Batteries but we’re also looking for others who can help us out to make this the ultimate bolt-on, pro-touring style S10.

If you’re interested in supporting Project Ron Burgundy, contact us and we’ll see if we can’t work with you. Not only will you get mentioned here on LS1Tech, but also MavTV since they broadcast all OPTIMA Ultimate Street Car Association rounds and that includes the Invitational.

Thanks for your Support: