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Danielle LaLone (August Reader of the Month)
Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
In the fall of 2011, I purchased my 2006 GMC Duramax from a local farmer. The truck spent part of the winter at Dirty Hooker Diesel in Harbor Beach, Mich. While at DHD, the turbo was upgraded to a custom built Danville Performance stage 2 turbo. A DHD EGR delete kit with high-flow bridge was also installed, plus the exhaust manifold and hot side pipe were upgraded. To maximize the flow of fuel I went with bigger injectors, FASS 150 pump and a modified CP3 pump. After all the upgrades were completed, the truck went to Danville Performance where Mark Broviak programmed it with EFILive and on the dyno it reached over 700hp. In the spring of 2012, I added a 4-inch Tough Country suspension lift to the truck and had a 5-inch custom exhaust made, complete with a 6-inch chrome stack. I then had Eric’s Auto Body of Mt. Pleasant, Mich., paint the truck with House of Kolors Hot Pink Pearl. In June of 2012, I started pulling with the MTTP and the TTPA Michigan pulling clubs as well as competing at other non-club pulls. In the 12-week pulling season, I competed in 30 pulls and took first place at over half of those pulls.
Whit Pigeon (September Reader of the Month)
Gibbons, Alberta, Canada
My truck is a 2004 Chevrolet 2500HD Duramax LB7 and I’m the second owner of the truck. It came with a 6-inch lift, Halo headlights with HID's and the stereo system that includes two 12-inch subs. In the past two years I have put in an aFe cold air intake, PPE hot+2 programmer and a 5-inch exhaust. I then blacked it out and put the Rhino Lining body liner down and installed boost, pyro and rail pressure gauges.
Last winter I pulled it apart and put ARP head studs in and some 75hp DDP injectors, along with a BD exhaust manifold to balance the flow and 150gph FASS lift pump. I upsized the rims to 20-inch BMF Novakanes wrapped with Mickey Thompson MTZ 35x12.5R20 and added heavy-duty tow mirrors to it. My truck rides awesome. It's a bit rougher since putting the 20's on, but still a whole lot smoother than a solid axle. I would not trade this truck for anything! You can't help but notice the heads turning when driving it. I am currently working on upgrades to the interior and have future plans for the performance end of things.
Dylan Tallman (October Reader of the Month)
Hamilton, N.J.
My sonic blue 2003 Ford F-250 Lariat FX4 6.0L Power Stroke was ordered from Ford by my father and I bought it off him four years ago. It was completely stock when I got it and it currently has only 79,000 miles. My father helped me every step of the way and we built everything on this truck together. We installed an Icon Vehicle Dynamics 10.5-inch lift kit, 37x12.5x17 Super Swamper Vortrac tires, along with Superlift ladder bars. I did all of the Hugger Orange suspension paint work myself. As for performance work, the truck has an aluminum racing radiator, a 4-inch MBRP straight-pipe turbo back dual exhaust, an aFe stage-2 intake, an EGR delete, an XDP coolant filtration system, 6.4L banjo Bolts, and a Blue fuel spring upgrade. The truck also has an SCT Livewire tuner running the Extreme Street tune from Innovative Diesel. The truck rides slightly stiffer than stock, but is extremely stable at any speeds thanks to crossover steering. What I love most about this truck has to be the reactions I get from people because of its size and color scheme. I also get a lot of looks because I have the typical 03 6.0L turbo whistle. I have so much pride in my truck simply because it was completely done with my father; 100 percent from start to finish! Soon to come is two inches more of lift, along with 22x14 rims wrapped in 40x15.5 tires.