In military terms, "blackout" is often referred to as "darkness resulting from the extinction of lights, as in a city invisible to enemy aircraft." Although Jason Walker's all-black truck could be considered another type of a blackout, if he was trying to go unnoticed, he failed.
This beautiful truck gets plenty of attention on the Texas streets as Walker's daily driver hits the road each day on his way to work. But you don't have to be a diesel addict to appreciate the hard work that has gone into his 2005 LLY GMC.
Walker didn't waste any time upgrading his truck after he bought it brand new in November 2004. The first thing he did was have it lifted with a Full Throttle 9.5 lift kit.
"When I was 10 years old I helped my uncle put a lift on his brand new '81 short bed Chevy pickup and since then I've always wanted a brand new truck with a lift kit on it," explains Walker. "I've been wanting to do this for almost 30 years now and I finally got to do it."
Walker makes his living as a mechanic, which he has been doing for over 20 years, but you wouldn't have to dig too deep to learn where his love for fast trucks and his need for performance come from. Walker's favorite uncle, Donnie Lung, was a big inspiration to him early in his life.
"When I was a kid he was always telling me drag racing stories and all of this cool stuff, so performance was etched in my mind at an early age," says Walker.
The truck was bought in 2004 and that Christmas the proud owner went to his grandma's house and his uncle was there. When his uncle Donnie saw the truck, he ran outside and the two played some old tunes like they used to listen to years earlier.
"Everyone was having a Christmas party, but we were out cruising around and having a great time. But that was the last Christmas that I had him," says Walker. "He had some bad health issues all of a sudden and passed away unexpectedly."
But his favorite uncle's memory lives on with this truck.
Getting Started
Walker had a vision for how he wanted his truck to look and he didn't waste any time getting started on the modifications that after nearly seven years he's still perfecting.
"I've eaten ramen noodles to get through the agony of a big truck payment and to do the things to my truck that I wanted to do," says Walker. "The lift is a Full Throttle with traction bars in the rear and I have nothing but good things to say about Full Throttle. I hear all these horror stories about people lifting their trucks, but you can drive this truck down any bumpy road and it won't squeak, rattle, knock or anything. It drives like a brand new truck still."
Other key upgrades include Iron Bull front and rear bumpers, plus the 5-inch dual pipe stacks that he made himself and painted black. The LLY has a Banks intercooler with 3-inch boost tubes that he's been very pleased with overall.
"I think Banks has the potential to build a lot of cool hot rod stuff, but they tend to lean towards the stock truck crowd in my opinion," says Walker. "But their intercoolers that they sell and the way they test the air flow and all of that is great. Their R&D stuff is top notch; they just don't make any turbos. I bought their intercooler and I think it really lowered my exhaust temperature a lot and I'm extremely happy with it and if I had to buy another one would."
Always Improving
The engine is equipped with an ATS Aurora 5000 (A5K) turbo kit, exhaust manifolds and up-pipes with 40 percent over injectors. The heads are ported with a SoCal Diesel spring kit and the head studs from ARP are holding them down.
"SoCal Diesel is top notch," says Walker. "Guy Tripp designed a five-axis machine just to build all of their great stuff. For him to be nothing but Duramax, the Duramax Team wins!"
For towing, Walker has been really happy with the Fleece Performance tap shifter that he can now drop it out of fifth gear and get it into fourth a lot easier.
"Before to get it to come out of fifth gear I'd have to basically put it on the floor and black smoke everyone," says Walker. "So with the tap shifter I just push it down one time and it's really that simple."
Tuned In
Dustin Mintern who owns Diesel Addiction out of North Carolina did the tuning on Walker's truck and this is who he continues to go through for other parts and mods.
"I like dealing with Dustin," says Walker. "With other places you can never get them on the phone, but I'll call him at his shop on a Sunday night and he'll stop tinkering and he'll help me out. He did my EFI Live tuning and he has it making 600 horsepower at the wheels on a stock Allison tranny!"
When it came to finding the right rims, there wasn't anyone besides KMC Wheels who Walker even considered. There were several models that he really liked, but because he wanted to black everything out he went with the 20X10 XD Series Wheels with 38x15.5 Toyo MTs.
The rims provided the blackout look he was going for and he couldn't be happier or more proud. He credits his girlfriend Sarah Palla for her understanding and support as he's worked toward building the ultimate dream truck, one paycheck at a time.