Photos by Patrick Hill
Blowing the Dust off of Our 2004 Silverado Project
Billy Mattull’s 2004 Chevy Silverado, Project Blue Magic, has been put on the back burner for sometime as we’ve been wrenching away on other project cars in our fleet. However, readers have been sending us tons of messages asking about it, so we’re kicking it back into the ‘in progress’ lineup, and Project Blue Magic is back on the to-do list. It seems appropriate that to kick-off our recommitment to the truck, we give it a little makeover to get the ball rolling.
This street/strip truck with 5.3-liter engine was previously equipped with a K&N cold air kit and homegrown nitrous kit with 150hp jets before we started doing updates as a project truck. Once entering the project car roster on GM-EFI, it initially got a set of 8mm red ignition cables, JBA shorty headers, and catback exhaust system all installed and tuned by our friends at AntiVenom Performance. This bumped the RWHP to 267 horsepower and 310 lbs-ft of torque (without the spray), and it was on to the next modification, the cam.
Since the stock cam usually runs out of power between 4,500-5,000 RPM, Brian Tooley Racing spec’ed out a great camshaft for this nitrous equipped truck. AntiVenom Performance was again on hand for the install, and the truck’s RWHP jumped to 318 horsepower and 311 lbs-ft of torque.
That brings us up to speed on the performance modifications of the truck, which we didn’t change much about in this round of work; the truck did get an upgrade to Pertronix long-tube headers from the previously installed shorties, but this update is about looks.
To give the Silverado a sleeker street look, it got a paint matched front bumper and mirror caps. It also got a gray lower valance added to the air dam, and factory 4×4 valance option. Project Blue Magic also now rolls on a set of 20×9” wheels, borrowed from a 2015 Silverado, and are wrapped in meatier 275/40/20 tires. The changes are subtle, but we think they made a huge difference with just a few tweaks.
Elizabeth is hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
