1993 GMC 350 Pickup - Project Jake, Part II

The key to this little piece is that throttle-body injectors don't breathe from the top because the injectors are in the way. Instead, they breathe from the sides. The soup bowl merely creates a gentler radius that enhances lateral airflow, thus making more power. Simple, no?

Tow To Go
Since we plan to use our orange beast to tow trailers and act like a real truck and live up to its blue-collar roots, we needed a trailer hitch.

Perusing the pages of the Summit Racing catalog, we spotted a budget-based Class III hidden-hitch setup along with a fiberglass roll pan and a flip-up license plate assembly that was exactly what we were looking for. We also added the spare tire relocator kit, and we were ready after a few hours of effort. While we were on this utility kick, we also called Penda and popped in an under-rail, non-skid bedliner along with a set of very slick stainless steel Hide-a-hook tie-downs. Now we can tie down those engines in the bed without worrying about them sliding around.

If there's one knock on the stock GMC/Chevy 1500 pickups, it's that their stock ride height makes them look more like a 4x4. So we called the guys at Eibach for a set of their special front springs that lowered the front of the truck by 3 inches along with a hanger set out back to lower the truck 4 inches. While we were working on the suspension, we also added a set of Edelbrock's trick new IAS Performer shocks. The total installation required only about four hours on Moore Automotive's hoist. Now that it's completed, we have a truck that looks more aggressive and can actually take on the corners with more confidence. We purposefully kept the ride height out of the weeds since this would make towing or hauling heavy loads more challenging, and we're ecstatic with the results.

So far, the Jake approach has been to lean on its power-broker status by adding torque and horsepower without sacrificing road manners or economy. We've also added a tremendous amount of utility by bolting on the Penda bedliner and the Summit hidden hitch assembly. For our third installment, we've got some image makeover plans that will give Jake a fresh new look with new paint, wheels, tires, and maybe even some new tunes to go along with all that power. Stay tuned-Jake just keeps getting better.