Just some thoughts from an old man.

I’m going to assume that the truck is intended to be a daily driver?

It’s also going to be used and learned on by a new 16 year old driver.

As parents/grandparents/mentors and instructors it’s pretty easy to lose sight of the skill level and abilities of the new driver and end up building more vehicle than they can safely handle. It’s real easy to end up building something that is more suited to our skill level than theirs.

That being said I think my approach would be to turn this into a truly long term project where more power is gradually added over time as your sons driving skills develop. It also ends up giving you more quality time with your son down the line as the mods are made.

As usual Richards suggestions are all good but it’s something that can be done over time as skills and funds permit. Personally at this point I would concentrate mainly on just plain reliability.

In that vein (and budget) rather than heads right now I think I would probably look more to the hydraulic roller cam Tech suggests. Basically build a good foundation for the future mods. The next area I would consider upgrading would be the gears in the rear end and that will depend in large part on the tire size your running.

Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents.



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