From A Parked Project to Chassis Jail, This Chevrolet Pick-Up is Ready to Prove It’s The Best in Town
When you name your truck Bad Bad Leroy Brown, it better come with a lot of pick-up. The lyrics to the song include “the baddest man in the whole damn town” and Randy Fuller is coming with a big big block Chevrolet engine with 2 stages of nitrous on top to back up that truck’s name!
But we need to rewind a bit, and cover how Randy got to this stage with his 1984 Chevrolet Silverado pick-up; it all started with a co-worker’s purchase.
“Someone I work with bought the truck and put in a 454 big block,” said Randy. “He got it running, but the tranny leaked.” Long story short, the truck got parked and sat for four years. “I was bugging him about buying it, and he finally gave in.”
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Randy and his twin sons towed the truck home, pulled the transmission to figure out the issue, and found an even bigger one.
“When we disconnected the exhaust, anti-freeze ran out the passenger header,” said Randy. Discovering a cracked block meant more ahead, and the project spiraled out of control.
“The boys and I started to tear it apart to fix everything, one thing led to another, and next thing you know we had the bare frame sitting in my driveway.”
At this point, a drag-and-drive theme changed the direction of the project, and Randy dove in headfirst. The frame was stripped, then notched in the rear and some initial add-ons were done. Then the truck went to a chassis shop, where Randy states he lost a good chunk of money for just a firewall install, but nothing else accomplished.
Shop number two was the change that Randy needed. “I was lucky to find WASP Fabrication; they were totally incredible to work partner building the truck,” Randy explained. “Shayne, Rob and Vance were so professional. They completed the truck in 5 months, totally turnkey.”
The pick-up now packs a 632 cubic inch big block built to run on pump gas, but also features a Nitrous Outlet 2-stage nitrous oxide plate system for the quickness on track.
A Pro performance Turbo 400 3-speed automatic with a Neil Chance converter sits in the tunnel behind the engine, and the driveline ends with a Moser 9-inch rear end.
Randy stuck with the stock suspension route out back, but upped the game with Calvert Racing Cal Tracs and Split mono-leaf springs, and a pair of Santhuff shocks. The front employs a Skyview Racecars cross member with QA1 coil overs, and Wilwood brakes clamp down on all 4 corners.
“We will be running the Modified class as of now as seems to be best fit,” said Randy of his class choice for Sick Summer Presented by TBM Brakes.
His twin boys’ auto shop teacher Jesse Hackfield will ride as co-pilot, but the boys won’t be far behind, following along in a Raptor in Summit Racing Sick Ward Presented by PEAK Performance.
Written by Derek Putnam. Photos courtesy of Randy Fuller.
If you have thoughts / feedback / ideas, please e-mail us at derek@sickthemagazine.com