Custom 2004 Chevrolet Colorado Performance Upgrades

After one day's work, the Colorado looked killer and our midsize truck had the curb appeal of its fullsize brethren.

In our new and ongoing series called Fantastic Four, we show you how different a truck looks once it receives the basics of customizing: new suspension, new wheels/tires, new intake, and a new exhaust system. This month we tackled an '04 Chevy Colorado in its stock glory-complete with genuine Chevy accessories like step bars, mudflaps, and a bug deflector. Being on the East Coast, this truck fit right into our "needs some help from Truckin'" with 15-inch cast wheels and a factory suspension. Bringing it out of the Dark Ages and into the 21st century, we bolted on a 4-inch lift from Rancho, new 20-inch Helo Syndrome chrome wheels with fresh-off-the-assembly-line Nitto Dune Grappler 33-inch tires, an AEM Brute Force intake, and a MagnaFlow exhaust. To accomplish this admirable task in one day, the talented team at Godfather Customs, located in Atlanta, was recruited to perform the install. Not only a leader in the mail-order aftermarket, Godfather Customs is also one of Atlanta's largest wheel and tire retailers. Godfather also sells performance accessories, suspension lifts, and lowering kits, and offer installation of the parts in its large store in Decatur, Georgia.

We arrived at Godfather Customs early Monday morning and were out the door by dinnertime-sporting a truck with a whole new persona. During our nine hours of work, the major snag we came across was the wheel fitment on the new Rancho lift spindles. The lift kit uses front and rear drop-down brackets, so the truck owner can use his/her stock control arms. But, on the kit we installed, our original +15mm offset on the 20x8-1/2-inch Helo Vibe HE831 wheels would not clear the upper ball joint base with everything buttoned up. After tracking down a new set of wheels at 4:30 p.m. (thanks to Kirk Manire at the Wheels Pros in Atlanta), we bolted on a new set of Helo Syndrome HE830 wheels with a +23mm offset, but there was still not enough clearance. The Rancho tech line was closed, so our next best solution was to bust out the grinder. After removing about an 1/8-inch off the top of the ball joint base and adding a 1/4-inch six-lug spacer, the wheels cleared with only about 1/16-inch clearance. After a slow rolling test, the wheels cleared with no problem and there was no rubbing at any speed.

Besides this one (albeit very important) problem, the lift, wheels and tires, exhaust, and intake went on with no adverse effects. For more on our driving impression and what it takes to transform your Colorado or Canyon, check out the install photos and our From the Driver Seat sidebar. If you're interested in these parts used on our Colorado, contact Godfather Customs for pricing. Also, check out next issue where we will show you four other mods that are super-easy to install, and worth every penny.

1. When we arrived at Godfather Customs in Decatur, Georgia, our project truck was stock and loaded down with parts in the bed. It's as easy as picking up the phone to transform your stock ride into a real head-turner.	2. Starting off the lift install, the crew at Godfather Customs put the Colorado on a lift, removed the wheels and tires, and then removed the calipers, rotors, tie-rod ends, sway bar, and spindles.	3. Here you can see the absence of the lower control arms (they will be reused) and the mounting points for the new Rancho drop-down brackets.
4. Rancho included everything needed to install the kit; new lift spindles, drop down brackets, track bars, torsion keys, and hardware. We also opted for new front and rear Rancho RS5000 shocks.	5. One of the features of the Rancho lift is the ability to retain the factory power steering rack-and-pinion; the factory sway bar is just dropped down to keep OE geometry.	6. Using a cutting bit, the farthest-forward lower control arm mounting point was trimmed to accept the new Rancho drop-down bracket.
7. With the help of a second set of hands, both of the heavily gusseted front and rear Rancho drop-down brackets were installed. After attaching the new Rancho lift spindle to the factory hub, the spindle was installed to the upper and freshly reinstalled lower control arm. The guys at Godfather Customs then installed the supplied longer braided stainless steel brake lines.	8. It took only a few minutes to install the new Rancho RS5000 shocks and the new bumpstop drop-down brackets. With this handled, the front end was ready for the installation of the new torsion keys.	9. The heavy-duty track bars were the next big step to perform; Rancho incorporates the front mounting points in the rear drop-down bracket. After the rear mounts were bolted on, the track bars with polyurethane bushings went right into place. Notice the cool torsion keys at the top of the photo that enable the kit to use the stock torsion bars and keeps the torsion angles factory.