The folks at Chevrolet Performance’s The Block came by the shop to do a photo shoot and story about our 2015 Chevrolet Colorado back in 2016. They enjoyed our take on the Colorado so much, they ran it again this year.
Read the full story below.
WORDS: DUSTIN WILSON
PHOTOS: MATT BEST
For our final story of 2018, we’re looking back to a local Chevrolet Colorado here in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is not just any Colorado, but an intense racer set up with nothing in mind but quick lap times. It’s a four-seater pickup the owner tells us will pass C7 Stingrays at your local road course. We’re of course talking about Chuck Mallett, of Mallett Performance Cars, and his supercharged V6 Colorado with over 700 horsepower.
Mallett swapped in a 3.6L V6 from a 2016 Cadillac ATS-V due to that engine already being built for boost since forced induction was his desired path to horsepower success. The engine features a forged crank, titanium connecting rods and forged pistons. Bolted to the top is a Mallett Colorado Intercooled Supercharger Manifold assembly complete with a Magnuson 1.9L supercharger, custom 64mm C&R intercooler, custom CNC-machined upper and lower 8-rib pulleys, front engine idler pulley, tensioner mounting plate, drill-less mounted aluminum intercooler tank and water pump and C&R heat exchanger. Mallett used a C7 LT1 throttle body to open up the intake side and crafted a custom air intake box. Spent gasses are expelled through a custom high-flow dual exhaust, and let us tell you, it’s a true high flow as we breathed in the sweet nectar that is 109 race fuel while moving the truck in the parking lot during the shoot.
Power is nothing without getting it to the ground. Behind the V6 is a modified stock transmission that turns a narrowed Moser nine-inch rear-end with WaveTrac and aluminum center section. The rear differential then spins beautiful Forgeline custom MS3C concave wheels – 19×9.5 front and 20×13 rear – wrapped in rear 315/35/20 BFGoodrich G-Force Rivals. And spin they do — even with all that traction. Feathering the throttle just maneuvering the vehicle in a parking lot induced rear shrieks of euphoria from the sticky rubber.
To keep contact with the road and increase lateral stability, a lot of custom work was performed by Mallett and the team to the chassis and suspension. First, ride height needed to be adjusted to lower the center of gravity while maintaining correct geometry. Custom drop spindles were fabricated with custom lower control arms up front. Custom Penske coilover shocks were also installed. Out back, the rear frame section was raised and narrowed and a custom three-link ladder system with center frame crossbar and driveline hoops were fabricated and welded in. A custom rear sway bar and adjustable panhard bar were installed to fine tune the truck’s balance on track. Mallett knew his horsepower goals, his truck’s goal weight, and worked backwards from there determining the optimal wheel/tire sizing. Knowing the size of said rear tires, Mallett took to tubbing the truck bed some four-and-a-half inches wider each side, which as you can see in the photos, isn’t even noticeable due to pristine welding and paint.
