2008 SEMA Chevrolet Silverado HD Duramax - Bigfoot Failure




This truck is suddenly making the news, so we present you with the original article that raves about how awesome this thing is. Names like Bigfoot, streetable and paragraphs of discussion on all the time it took to build. My favorite line is " To accomplish this massive lift and four-wheel steering, a mock-up of the suspension cradle was created with cardboard and masking tape". Apparently they forgot to remove the cardboard so read on for the article, images and the prize winner of them all, this waste of money failing to jump a dirt hill your Subaru would laugh at.











Quote from the article:
While the race trucks we’re so familiar with are built from the ground up, this streetable version is based on a stock ‘08 Chevrolet HD Duramax. Midwest Four-Wheel Drive in Hazelwood, Missouri, is known as the Home of the Bigfoot, due to its involvement in the program since day one. A.J. Straatman and the rest of the crew brought the truck in brand-spankin’-new and immediately tore the suspension and steering components off. If you look closely, you can see that it has been removed and replaced with a four-link setup. Doing so required welding a massive upside-down C-notch onto the stock frame and resulted in a huge lift without it looking like the truck is on stilts.

While the 30-inch lift might be obvious, the modifications to the body are not. The Bigfoot team also scrapped the removable body panels and the interior and even sent the cab off to the stereo shop to have the console installed. While the interior bits were eventually replaced with custom panels and such, the priciest addition of the entire build would be the installation of fiberglass body panels that came to around $10,000. This isn’t so outrageous when you consider the entire build totaled $350,000. So much for being in a recession.

The rest of the loot is obviously tied up in the undercarriage. To accomplish this massive lift and four-wheel steering, a mock-up of the suspension cradle was created with cardboard and masking tape. While the cradle was being constructed, the front and rear fiberglass fenders got fitted. As soon as the cradle was finished, the axles were set up under the vehicle so the four-link could be designed and built. It took two weeks to do the truss work on the axles. As the crew completed one cradle, they designed the steering on the other and vice versa.

To modify the motor, they did an extraction that resembled Blackhawk Down and added the power-adding goodies and the tranny. After that, it was time for the paint. This part of the process proved to be one of the most difficult parts of the build. The matte clear over the Hot-Poppy Red and black has to be laid perfectly and without a speck of dirt, because if you try to buff anything out, it goes all shiny on you.

The entire process took about 15 weeks. One reason it was able to be done this quickly was because the folks at Midwest Four-Wheel Drive were able to borrow a chassis from GM in order to assemble the body for paint. It’s not every day you can just grab a spare chassis from GM headquarters, but when you’ve got a head-turning show truck to be built on deadline for SEMA, a few screws can be turned.



Source link has more pictures and all the gushing about how wonderful this truck is. Show truck? We agree.

Source: 2008 SEMA Chevrolet Silverado HD Duramax - Bigfoot Failure

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