Stimulus Package: 1992 GMC Truck Revived with 383 Stroker Combo
Purchased for just $500 bucks, 1992 GMC 1500 pickup now is a muscular ride with hand-built powertrain.
It is common knowledge that the right vehicle requires the right engine. Especially if you need oomph in your ride–and of course you do. Many excellent cars and trucks come off the line with stock engines that just fall a little flat. This is especially true for many older rides. As the ticker racks up more miles, so does the wear and tear on the engine. Obviously there are a number of options to gain power, torque, and velocity. Chevy’s small-block powerplants are the very definition of muscle, with the 383 stroker a perennial favorite. But can it make a 1992 GMC 1500 pickup a card-carrying badass?
Oh, yeah it can. Recently we came across a 1992 GMC 1500 that has been resurrected with a 383 stroker and it is a match made in heaven–with just the right amount of hellfire under the hood.
Purchased by a Alston A. and his father as a project, they started out with a decidedly less-than-mint vehicle. But they had a plan to inject some serious fire.
“My dad and I initially picked this truck up in 2015 for about 500 bucks, after it had sat under a tree for a number of years,” he writes on LMC Truck Life. As their source for parts, LMC was an invaluable part of the process. “Initially we just wanted to wake up the tired old 350 with a new set of heads, cam and intake manifold,” he adds.
That 5.7L was not one GMC’s more potent engines with a fairly anemic 190 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque.
“As time passed, we couldn’t resist a throaty exhaust and a cam with a little more lift,” he explains. “Later we ended up adding a built transmission and rear end, lowered it 4″ in the front and rear, and then focused on the interior and body. ”
But Alston’s dad had some great experience in pushing limits, and the two were diving in head first.
“This truck was never intended to be a hot rod when we bought it, but we must’ve had influence from my dad’s college days of hot rodding cars, because the next thing I did was build a 500 HP 383 stroker,” says Alston.
This stroker small block combo gets outstanding output, plus it was a smart move financially. For about the same amount of money, we will take those extra cubes.
Most important of all is that Alston and his pops now have resurrected a ’92 pickup; and one with an exceedingly more exciting performance.
“I still daily drive it and it still turns heads everywhere I go,” he says. “This truck has been an amazing opportunity to bond with my dad, and I plan on keeping this truck forever.”
Photos: LMC
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