Building an 800hp Supercharged LS Swapped C10

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]And we'll just Yeah.

[00:00:09]Yeah. Forget Disneyland. Just build yourself a truck.

[00:00:14]>> Save money in the long run.

[00:00:15]>> Yes.

[00:00:37]Hello friends, Kevin here and boy do I have a treat for y'all today. I'm here in Gilbert, Arizona to meet up with my buddy Jason Bowman of Big 10 Garage as he recently finished this insane GMC.

[00:00:48]But not only is it a complete showstopper, but it's also a beast on the asphalt. All right, so Jason, I know you're about performance in these trucks. We did a video on LS swaps that you guys can click in the link below and all that stuff, but uh you've got something special under the hood of this truck, right?

[00:01:03]>> It does. So, this truck actually has a GM crate motor, uh 454 LSX that we bought from GM, of course. We went ahead and pulled it apart because we knew we're going to put a blower on it. So, it's got J pistons, Ki's cranks, Callie's rods. It's got a Magnus TVS 2650. Uh it makes around eight and change to the rear tire. Um so, it's it makes plenty of power to get this truck down the road and it's a good time. So, uh, another thing I wanted to ask you, you've got some boost on this thing. Uh, it's got a lot of power. You said 800 horse to the rear wheels and all that stuff, but, uh, what kind of transmission? Because that's that's kind of a big thing when you get all that power, you've got to be able to translate it to all the way to the back to the rear tires, all that stuff. And a lot of times if you have just a plain 4L60, >> that's going to blow up on you. So, what do you got in this thing?

[00:01:47]>> Yeah, so this this truck actually has a Gear Star 480. Um, definitely built to handle this kind of power level. Um, it does have a Circle D billet face triple disc converter. Um, it's uh it the shift points are crisp. It's this thing this transmission's money. But you have a new chassis in this thing uh to hold the power and all that stuff.

[00:02:07]>> It sure does. So, it has a GSI coilover chassis. Um, this is actually the only GSI coilover chassis that is outboard fourlink in the rear because I wanted this more performanceoriented. I didn't want to have big lip wheels and all that other stuff and have the have the fourlink stuff inboarded because I wanted to have that outboard plant the tire get around the corner type of deal.

[00:02:26]Um the truck is really a street truck but like we've had it on the track before and it does an amazing job out there. Um so yeah, it that that gsi chassis uh gets it its stance and uh helps translate all that power to the ground.

[00:02:42]>> Yeah. And and speaking of I mean we were at the truck track we were at Chuck Walla all that stuff. My god I just I wish that I had taken a ride with you. I was so busy shooting shooting the truck and and getting video and photo and all that stuff. But uh it looked like that was a a good time out there. Huh. It was a really good time. I cannot wait to take this truck back on the track. So um the the It's funny because I had a I had another one of my trucks out there that's on a stock chassis. Uh still supercharged, but it makes 600 horsepower. This truck obviously supercharged makes 800 horsepower. uh the the comparison between a stock chassis and an aftermarket chassis when you're riding a rail around a corner. It just the this truck feels so planted and then the other trucks like a water bed, but it's not. So, it's still still coilover truck, right? But it's just mushy around the corners. Huge believer in a nice stiff chassis that will this more modern styling uh and design to be able to handle. That steel is old. It's what 50 60 years old just completely old. It's, you know, it's it's very tired. And when you you put things on it and and add it stress and you ask more of it, you put uh performance, you put another engine, you put all these things on it, and then it's just like h it's not exactly it doesn't meet our modern expectations. But what else does this thing have? I mean, it's it's got complete independent front suspension.

[00:04:05]Uh it probably has rack and pinion uh steering, right?

[00:04:07]>> Yep. Yep. So, uh definitely uh independent front suspension, uh coilovers all the way around. So, it's right side coilovers um that are valved specifically for this chassis. Um it does have uh uh rack and pinion steering um it has so I mean the feel of the steering alone is is huge because with the rack and pinion steering you take all the slop out of the box, right? So, um there there are companies out there that you can get a good box with, but this truck uh and most aftermarket companies are going towards uh rack and pinion steering. So, uh, racket engine steering, the proper um um pressure in your your power steering, uh, along with hydroboost brakes. So, hydroboost brakes and a good set of wheelwoods. This thing's like a modern pickup truck.

[00:04:50]>> Yeah, that's what I was going to ask again was about braking cuz I mean, you got a lot of power. You got to be able to stop this thing. So, uh, what what kind of brakes do you have on it again?

[00:04:57]>> So, this is this truck is, uh, Aerolite sixes all the way around. Uh, 14s up front and 13s in the back. Definitely have to have the woe if you got the go.

[00:05:06]All right. So, having all that power and all the mechanical stuff on the truck set is one thing, but it's another thing to keep grip with the asphalt. What do you got in this thing that's helping you out? So, this truck I I typically on most trucks I'll run a triple 5 G2 because just it's such an great all-around tire. Um this truck we did the Nitto Invos. So um it's got a little um uh lower treadware number. So with that a little more grip, right? So um when we took this truck to Chuck Walla uh I I wanted a little more grip obviously. So uh these the Envos did great for this truck. So it's got 315 3020s in the back and it has a 2553520 in the front. Um, perfect stance. Everything works great.

[00:05:55]It's on a 12 wide wheel in the back.

[00:05:56]It's on an 8 and 1/2 wide wheel up front. Um, so the tread pattern's cool.

[00:06:02]I love that that invo tread pattern. Um, and like I said, the the grip is is what you need. So you have the you have the stopping power of the Wheelwoods. You can only grip those only work as good as the tires that are on your truck or your car or whatever you're driving. So, if you can't connect your brakes and the wheels to the road, then having good brakes is useless.

[00:06:25]>> Yeah. And probably Invo is a good choice for a truck like this. You're going to get uh uh more tire wear out of it, but not as much as like a race tire cuz you're probably still putting this thing on the street. Uh and then I think also the sizing also helps out with the invo.

[00:06:40]It's more perform or based on a performance vehicle which a lot of times they have staggered sizes and which I think Jason said that basically he had those those sizes on it and it kind of worked for this truck, right?

[00:06:49]>> Yep. Yep. That sizing definitely worked out for this truck and uh that like you said the the that kind of intermediate between the race tire and the just the dedicated street tire works out great on this pickup.

[00:06:59]>> Another thing I like about the tires is they're low profile to show off a bigger wheel. Uh what do you got for wheels on this thing?

[00:07:05]>> So these are American Racing VN 556s.

[00:07:07]Um, we got them for SEMA 2025.

[00:07:12]So, um, we I didn't want to do a black wheel. I was talking with Chris Plump from American Racing. We didn't want something that a lot of people had done before. So, we He's like, "Well, what about a gold?" I said, "I like gold."

[00:07:25]And he sent me a couple of samples, and I was like, "Yeah, the brighter the better." So, we ended up with these. I'm with Jason. I like gold. I think it looks perfect on the truck. Uh, which he said was called double mint at this point. So, uh, that's another thing to talk about, too, is the paint and all that stuff. This is an old truck. They don't necessarily come super clean. It's really hard to find a truck like that.

[00:07:46]And honestly, like a lot of times people buy trucks that they think they're clean, they're painted, all that stuff, and they ended up being a pile like you find rust and all that stuff. It was that the case with this truck? It >> absolutely was the case with this truck.

[00:07:58]So, this truck got a new roof skin uh because it had uh uh clearance lights on the roof that somebody had put. Um the there was rust in rockers and kick panels and cab corners. Um all so the bed is completely new. Uh the front fenders are completely new. Hood's new.

[00:08:17]Uh the the cab is basically the only original metal that was left in the truck.

[00:08:22]>> Yeah, this truck is called double mint.

[00:08:23]Uh it's obviously got a minty green color on it and all that stuff. How'd you guys pick the color? And what specific color is it?

[00:08:30]>> So, there is real no specific color on this. It was a madeup color. So, um we had uh we had 10 spray outs done and it went from highlighter green to this color and we landed on this one. It looked great. Uh it's kind of like a 50s color with a little bit more black, I guess, thrown in it, right? Um as far as the name double mint goes. So, yes, it is minty. Like the color is mint. It's got mint and then it's got the white.

[00:08:53]So, it's double mint, right?

[00:08:56]You could just call it mint at that point. The reason it's called double mint is because the truck's been built twice.

[00:09:03]>> What happened or what kind of challenges happened that you had to redo it?

[00:09:06]>> So, a couple years ago, uh, when the truck was completed, uh, it was on a different chassis and it just I kept truck was done. I'm driving the truck and I couldn't get the pinion angle adjusted. It would every time it's hitting the bottom of the floor. It was starting to vibrate. Like all kinds of issues going on. So, it I'd come back, I'd adjust it down, go drive it again.

[00:09:29]What is going on? So, turns out it was actually bending the lower forlink uh bar mount forward. So, as you're as you're trying to drive, you're trying to take your pinion and you're trying to drive your pinion up through the bed floor. And as you're doing that, you're translating that through your lower forlink bars, and you're going to try and peel those fourlink bars forward.

[00:09:47]So, uh that's what was happening here.

[00:09:49]Uh, so found the problem. We were going to fix it. Uh, and then we ended up finding a couple other problems with the chassis. It had actually twisted over an inch from front to back. We measured, pulled points, everything, measured it, and it had twisted the chassis. So, that's one chassis manufacturer. Uh now when you go to build a truck on a new chassis, nothing is going to be the same from chassis to chassis and you're lucky to get it from stock GM chassis to stock GM chassis. So obviously uh tear the truck down completely to nothing and then 2.0 double mint now uh on a new chassis finished up ready to go. Jeez, I'm surprised with all that stuff you don't call this thing nightmare instead of double mint. My gosh, that's a lot of work. But, uh, Matt, can we go for a rip in this thing?

[00:10:40]>> Let's do it, >> dude. That's what I like to hear. Let's go.

[00:10:57]Woo!

[00:11:00]Yeah, there we go.

[00:11:04]Woo!

[00:11:06]OH MY GOSH. OH, THERE'S THOSE BRAKES WE were talking about.

[00:11:12]Oh my.

[00:11:15]Wow.

[00:11:17]Now, another thing, I mean, like we're taking off in this truck and all that stuff and you've got, you said what, 800 horsepower to the rear wheels and everything. How do you keep traction on a truck? It's got, you know, less weight in the back, you know?

[00:11:30]>> S simple answer is you don't.

[00:11:34]>> Yeah. I mean, it seemed like it did pretty well. The track didn't seem like you were drifting around and all that stuff. So, I mean, >> it's all throttle modulation. Uh, like if you stand on this thing from a dig, it's going to just blow the tires off and I don't care what tires on the back.

[00:11:48]>> All right. So, it's one thing to talk about this truck and everything about it, look at it and all that, but it's a whole different thing experience and hearing it. So, it sounds great. What do you got for exhaust on this truck?

[00:11:59]>> Thanks. So, it's uh it's all a a 3-in oval uh stainless exhaust that we built.

[00:12:05]It's all pie cut exhaust because the, you know, getting a getting an oval bend is a little more difficult, and they just don't turn as fast. So, uh we did uh uh 3-in inout uh 14-in body Magnaflow mufflers in the back. This my typical placement for mufflers. And then I built some custom tips for it uh that come out next to the license plate. Gotcha. Yeah, it was like a month and a half in exhaust.

[00:12:27]>> Well, it sounds absolutely great. I'm loving the sound, everything about it, this experience. And you did some stuff in the interior here too as well. Yep.

[00:12:34]So, the interior is all custom made, uh, customuilt stuff. So, the the base of the seat is a is a slush tub seat. Uh, and then I took uh I took the truck over to a guy named Brian Klein, and Brian Klein did the interior. So, it's all Apex Auto leather. Um, it has uh heated and cooled seats. It's got vintage air.

[00:12:51]Uh, it has automatic headlights. It's got boost. It's got fuel pressure. Um, custom button steering wheel. that's wrapped in that in that same Apex leather as the rest of it. But, um, for the most part, so like it's custom, but it still kind of maintains that sort of factoryesque appearance, right? So, it kind of complements what the factory would have been, and that's kind of what I was going for. So, I I when I called Brian, I was like, I kind of want it like high-end factory. And he's like, understood.

[00:13:21]>> Exactly.

[00:13:23]Yeah. And you got, you know, a newer radio so you can Bluetooth um your music and whatnot if you even want to play that. I mean, like the Magnaflow exhaust is enough tunes to me. Uh but you got AC. It's Arizona here. It's hot. And I think this is kind of in the the home is in the desert kind of a little bit. So, uh that's kind of a must if you can.

[00:13:43]>> Yeah. Yeah. You're definitely uh you're not building a truck typically without AC in Arizona.

[00:13:49]So, here's this is an example of we're doing what? 20.

[00:13:54]>> Yeah. And we'll JUST GETTING SIDEWAYS AND EVERYTHING. WOO!

[00:14:10]OH, that's great. Oh, man. Forget Disneyland. Just build yourself a truck.

[00:14:17]>> Save money in the long run. Yes.

[00:14:23]The my oh my. This truck absolutely rips when he's on the power. Yeah, it may slide cuz yeah, we're going to break traction. It's Sorry, you just got to, you know, throttle it a little bit, you know, and just kind of get on it. That's just going to happen no matter what. No matter what tires you have. But, uh, yeah, it stayed pretty straight otherwise. And man, it rides great on the coilovers. It's nice and firm, all that stuff. Thanks. Uh, thanks Jason for uh, talking about this, giving me a ride and all that stuff.

[00:14:49]>> Super awesome time.

[00:14:54]>> Well, that just about does it for this video and we thank you for watching it.

[00:14:57]Make sure to hit that subscribe button so you don't miss a future video and we will catch you next time.