How One Canadian Duramax Turned Into a Full-Blown Science Project - AI

This is a shorter, more artificially intelligent version. With less details.

It all started innocently enough. A clean-title, 2007 GMC Sierra 2500HD Classic with 172k miles—“seemed decent,” which is how every tragic automotive love story begins. The truck was born in Canada (uh oh) but looked solid enough for its new Oregon home. It came pre-spiced with some budget bolt-ons: a Rough Country lift, a mystery tune, a five-inch exhaust loud enough to call the moose home, and an AFE intake doing its best impression of filtration.

Phase 1: The Responsible Owner Era
Like any good gearhead pretending to be an adult, fluids got flushed, bolts got replaced, and the carpets got swapped. Then came the “minor electrical issues” — power seats that moved only on alternate Tuesdays, seat heaters that ghosted their job, and a climate control system with commitment issues. All got fixed. The truck started feeling like ours.

Basic mods followed: HSP traction bars, a FASS lift pump, some Banks goodies, and a few tuning upgrades. It was all very “reliable daily driver with a little attitude.” Emphasis on was.

Phase 2: The ‘Unintended’ Build
Then the HSP guys entered the chat. What began as “freshening things up” spiraled into “let’s replace every single visible component with billet or ceramic-coated art.” Cue the HSP Deluxe Max Air-Flow kit, billet valve covers, ceramic manifolds, and a 66mm Dan’s Diesel turbo that looks like it belongs on a small aircraft.

The plan? Pull the heads, do the gaskets, button it up, and call it a 200,000-mile build. The problem? Canada strikes again. That block-off plate EGR “delete” finally blew out like a party balloon at a six-year-old’s birthday, about 4 months ahead of schedule.

Phase 3: The Deep End
January 2025. Authority Diesel opens the hood and finds corrosion, seized injectors, a scored cylinder, and a turbo more roasted than a Thanksgiving turkey. Suddenly “head gaskets” turned into “new short block, injectors, CP3, trans, and... well, basically a new truck.”

The shopping list became a symphony of billet and forged insanity:
S&S 100% overs, a 10mm pump, Callies rods and cam, Wagler springs, billet caps, girdle, Goerend converter, thermal coatings everywhere. It’s a Duramax now built for Ragnarok.

Phase 4: The Glow-Up
As of now, the frame’s off getting powdercoated, every bolt is being replaced like it owes him money, and everything that can be made pretty is either Silk Satin Black or Chartreuse Sherbert. Even the fuse box cover is flexing billet.

The wiring’s being redone, the fuel system’s going full AN, and somewhere in all of this, Sam probably forgot what it’s like to have a running vehicle.

More to come. For now, Bed.