Light trucks any good?

I've got a '94 Sonoma.

I've won quite a few races with it, but really, are pickups any good?

They can be. I've seen more than one 8-second truck at the LVMS drag strip. And there are some small Nissan trucks that are pretty sick at drifting.

small trucks def can be. i've seen a blazer that was 7-8 sec's. throw a superchanger in and you will fly. make sure to lower it for better control.

Ah cool.

supercharger......nice. I was thinking of a better exhaust system first tho.

personally i think you're better off working on a car, but i've seen a 10 second plumber's van, so if you want to it can definitely be done.

just remember...google is your best friend when looking for parts.

Sure trucks can be great...the Lightning is a good example, a smaller truck is the Dakota R/T that can hustle.

Lots of potential with those small trucks because they're rear drive and light. Just make sure you work on the suspension (etc) aswell before you do anything because a truck is still a truck, you don't wanna have it super strong and have no grip.

or that typhoon or whatever, and the s-10 eXtreme, i heard that they are nice, but i prefer the lightning.

I gotta admit the 4.3L is not an easy engine to upgrade. Not much of a market out there for it. The high powered camshafts aren't emissions legal, I think you can only bore and stroke it out to a 4.5L and the gains aren't worth the money, neither is modifying the heads (there are no aluminum heads available). Headers will make a noticable difference though.

You are probably much better off dropping a 350 V8 if you are dead serious about drag racing. But alas, I'm messing with the V6 anyways. Best bet if you stick with the V6, a little better cam, a supercharger + intercooler, headers + exhaust, traction bars, 4.10 or 4.56 gears, and play around with the computer a bit with the Hypertech Power Programmer. You have a 94 so I don't know what exactly is available for your Sonoma, most aftermarket stuff out there is meant for 96 and up, so its probably just going to make it even harder for you.

Ah, cool.

I have a friend who works in an aftermarket shop so he'll prolly be able to find the stuff I can't on google....

So from what I'm seeing, if I make any engine mods, I need to lower it. S'cool.

The GMC Cyclone was a very fast truck (there was a Typhoon as well, it was basically a GMC Jimmy). The Cyclone was an AWD S-15 (same thign as a Sonoma, just called S-15 back then I think) that had a turboed 4.3 taht made 295 hp--they were very fast.

Trucks are excellent drag machines. They are close to the utter minimum of weight possible. Just take an old ranger or S-10 and drop a honkin V8 in, mess with suspension to get good weight transfer, and it will be REALLY fast. It is all about power to weight, and they make good sleepers too.

you have to do it just right other ways all youll get is wheal spin.

Explain doing it right I don't follow you.

To explain, these trucks are about the right size for a small block ford or chevy. They came stock with a 4.3 V6, which is essentially a 350 chevy missing 2 cylinders. So, you take the trans and motor of your choice and use a front plate mount for the motor. It will even fit almost under the hood. As for wheel spin, the trick is to use a very compliant rear suspension so as much weight as possible is transferred to the rear tires. Definitely use coilovers or some sort of 4 link setup. Or, launch on AWD, as lingenfelter's twin turbo S-10 did. That was a wild ride - twin turbos, 19 mpg, and a solid 9 secs street ride. Anything is possible!

Explain doing it right I don't follow you.


well i cant really explain it, becuase i dont know to much about it, but i was reading a review of the srt-10 ram, and they had to do alot of special stuff to it so it did not just do burn outs, perhaps i worded it wrong.

well i cant really explain it, becuase i dont know to much about it, but i was reading a review of the srt-10 ram, and they had to do alot of special stuff to it so it did not just do burn outs, perhaps i worded it wrong.

It's all in the rear suspension and tires, as prevously mentioned. Ladder bars or a four-link would be a wise decision (4-link being the best simply becuase you can adjust them).

And, if worse comes to worse, throw a couple hundred pounds in the bed and be done with it, lol.

light trucks are awesome, i put a V-8(H.O. 305) in my s-10. i havent done anything with the wheelspinning problem yet, but my 0-60 is about 6 seconds. i havent takin it to the track yet but i will soon.

i drive an sonoma, and am having a hard time deciding what to do...get a car, or throw a v8 in the noma? i think this thread helped me out quite a bit...a sleeper truck would be kickass...i think trucks do make good drag cars. just need a little lovin.

Trucks can definitely be made fast :) And there's nothing like the look on a vette or cobra owner's face when you go cruising past them :iceslolan Like others have said, you do need to address the suspension, because it's still a truck. I have the full Hotchkis kit with QA1 adjustable drag shocks, I love it, handles better than most sports cars I've driven.