1990 454SS

Jim Dickie
Northern California

Final assembly: Fort Wayne, Indiana
Exterior: Black, Fleetside
Interior: Garnet Custom cloth
reclining high back bucket seats

68,000 miles

I bought my truck new in January of 1990 at Tri-Valley Chevrolet in Livermore, California. It was one of two on the lot, and I chose the one that hadn't been test driven by others because it didn't have the rear tires torn up. What I didn't tell the salesman was that my buddy Dave and I had driven the other truck the week before and had hazed the bejeezus out of the tires.

Current mileage on the truck is 68,000. It is my daily driver and weekend toy. Actually it's the best toy I've ever had, and it will be an on-going project. The first 6 years I owned the truck, I lived on a ranch and it had to earn its keep there. Consequently, it's in need of a cosmetic cleanup to remove a few minor dings, and a fresh paint job to make it shine again.

Modifications To Jim's Truck:

• BellTech 2-4 drop kit.
• Gaylords fiberglass bed cover.
• Auxiliary fan moved to drivers' side to accommodate the transmission cooler.
• '91 SS dash. This looks so must better than the original '90 dash.
• Stupid plastic stuff in the right front fender removed to improve the intake air flow.
• 454SS logos on the doors (these replace the C-1500 logos).

Engine Modifications

• Feuling "Centerfire" aluminum heads w/ aluminum roller rockers and Manley valve springs.
• ARP head bolts.
• CompCams 264HR hydraulic roller cam.
• CompCams hydraulic roller lifters.
• CompCams roller cam button and roller thrust bearing.
• CompCams True-roller timing chain set.
• Manley pushrods.
• Edelbrock Multi Point Fuel Injection intake manifold, port matched to the Feuling heads.
• SLP adjustable fuel pressure regulator.
• Edelbrock TES headers.
• Dynomax 3 inch high flow catalytic converter.
• Flowmaster CAT-back system.
• GMPP distributor.
• MSD 6A ignition module.
• MSD "Blaster" coil.
• Accel 10mm ignition wires.
• Custom made 56mm throttle body w/ air horns.
• K&N air filter.
• Edelbrock aluminum water pump.
• MAX-Cool aluminum radiator.
• 180 degree thermostat.
• Underdrive crank pulley.

*** Read about Jim's Throttle Body modifications here ***

Transmission Modifications

• American Eagle overdrive. (This thing is bullet proof, it's been in the truck for over 10 years now).
• B&M street performance shift kit.
• B&M auxiliary transmission cooler mounted in front of the radiator.

Future Modifications

• Air Ride Technologies air suspension system on all four corners. This will make the rear suspension a 4-bar system.
• Custom chip to maximize the engine performance.
• Chevy Impala SS wheels.
• Rear roll pan w/ hidden hitch.

It has been a wonderful relationship for over 11 years now and this truck has been absolutely bullet proof. I attribute this to two things: 1) The American Eagle overdrive, and 2) the underdrive crank pulley. These two changes, which I made over 10 years ago, result in the engine turning fewer revs at highway speeds, and thus the engine accessories also turn much slower.

I'm still learning about the Feuling heads, but I will say this; for a daily driver street truck, they are great. The performance improvement in the RPM range that you see for everyday driving is truly impressive. On the highway, it's merely a matter of a light pressure on the throttle and you have passed everything. And the frosting on the cake is that the fuel mileage has increased by about 20% to boot.

The final bit of improvements I need to make to the engine combo I have is to get one of the professional tuners to play with it for a week or so to optimize the chip parameters. This is so the computer doesn't have such a tough time controlling the fuel delivery. Right now, because of the 264HR cam, the engine only pulls 15-16 in. Hg vacuum. And that is right at the ragged edge of driving the stock computer crazy. As I said, this truck is an on-going project and I will probably never quit playing with it. What a great toy!