THE GMC LESS TRAVELED
First of a Kind: Keith Kroll’s 2016 GMC Canyon
IN A WORLD WHERE IT SEEMS EVERYONE IS BUILDING CHEVY SILVERADOS AND GMC SIERRAS, IT’S A REFRESHING CHANGE OF PACE TO SEE SOMEONE TAKE THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED AND OPT TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF GENERAL MOTORS’ LATEST DEVELOPMENT, THE FOUR-CYLINDER DIESEL ENGINE IN THE GMC CANYON AND CHEVY COLORADO. “Everyone was doing the Sierra and full-size trucks,” says Keith Kroll, founder/owner of Offroad LED Bars (OLB) in San Antonio, Texas. He says he chose to build a Canyon because, “I wanted to prove that a four-cylinder mid-size truck could look amazing, tow most loads and still get 35 miles per gallon.”
New for 2016, the four-cylinder 2.8L Duramax turbodiesel is the engine General Motors has been placing in the redesigned Canyon SLE and SLT crew cab models. According to GM, the 2.8L is the cleanest diesel truck engine ever produced that provides an Sae-certified 181 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque, all the while delivering greater highway fuel economy than the Canyon’s gas engines. With the trailering package and a 3.72 rear-axle ratio, Kroll’s four-wheel-drive Canyon can pull 7,600 pounds legally.
Kroll ordered the truck new from the factory in June 2016 with the explicit intention of doing a build for publicity at last year’s SEMA Show in Las Vegas. “I had already ordered most of the parts,” he recalls, “before I even ordered the truck, so we definitely had a plan.” The color scheme was thought out well in advance, too, but then changed at the very last minute. Originally, the truck was supposed to remain black with the underpinnings and accessories coated green. “The Avery metallic wrap was rather a last-minute addition,” Kroll admits. “I love the lime green, so making the suspension Shocker Yellow was always the idea. But at the last minute, I saw four renderings of Sierras going to SEMA that were black and green, and I didn’t want them to outshine the Canyon.”
ENGINE MODS
Though the engine was left mostly stock, an efficient method to tap into the power plant’s hidden stable of horses is through a turbo upgrade. Kroll turned to Screamin’ Diesel Performance (SDP) in Port Angeles, Washington, for its newest setup for the 2.8L Duramax engine. The compound turbo kit includes a Borg Warner S300SX-E atmospheric turbo, all of the necessary plumbing was powder-coated, and all of the exhaust plumbing was coated in Cerakote Glacier and heat wrapped. Everything, all of the bolts, nuts, gaskets and clamps, needed to completely install the kit was included.
The result? According to dyno runs at SDP’S shop, the turbo kit upgrade nearly doubled the horsepower rating of the Canyon over stock (though they realize that anything over the 260-hp mark at the rear wheels may affect the engine’s longevity, and they suggest keeping it under control).
Exhaust gases were forced through an upgraded Diamond Eye Performance aluminum exhaust and muffler kit and a custom-made diesel particulate filter delete option. PPEI Custom Tuning provided customized engine tuning.
LOCKED AND LIFTED
To increase the ground clearance and add a much-appreciated cool factor to any truck, specifically a rarely done
Canyon, Kroll visited the crew at Bulletproof Suspensions in Mentone, California, for a 6-8inch lift kit. The Bulletproof kit is a one-piece cage with fabricated spindles, aluminum sway bar links, differential drop-downs and uniball A-arms. It features custom-fabricated lift blocks and U-bolts, impact bars, bump-stop brackets and new stainless steel braided brake lines for the front brakes.
For Kroll’s truck, the crew elected to use Option 5, which includes all of the upgrades offered by Bulletproof Suspensions: Atlas leaf springs, Bulletproof 2.0 reservoir shocks, Bulletproof 2.5 coil-over springs and upgraded rear traction bars. The 6-inch Atlas leaf springs from Atlas Suspension are a progressive pack, meaning that the manufacturer uses several (as many as 12) thin, flexible leaves to provide a specific result, in this case, lift and durability. Most of the suspension parts were coated in eye-catching Shocker Yellow.
As important as it is to make the truck go, when it comes to stopping, having quality brakes—especially when the rolling stock has been enlarged as it has—is paramount to a safe ride. The stopping duties for Kroll’s truck were sourced through R1 Concepts in Cerritos, California. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of award-winning braking systems, namely high-performance cross-drilled brake rotors and ferro-carbon and ceramic pads found on today’s quickest race cars, but it also offers packages for cars dating back to 1930.
TIRES AND WHEELS
The truck wouldn’t get very far without the rubber on the road and the wheels to hold it to the hubs. Following the lime green theme, Shocker Yellow was applied by Prismatic Powders to the Grid Offroad wheels on all four corners. The GF-4 style is a two-piece wheel, size 22x15.
Wrapped around the wheels is a set of Interco M16 tires, noted for their subtle military design of chevrons and 5.56-caliber bullets embossed around the sidewalls. Adding to the overall impressive stance, the tires measure 37x13.5r22. Keeping with the military theme, there’s a complete set of .50-cal lug nuts from V&V Concept in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
METALWORK
As previously mentioned, the black-and-green concept was scrapped in favor of a silver vinyl wrap that not only drastically altered the color, but gave it a completely new look. The work was done by the competent hands at Texas Vehicle Wrap in San Antonio using Avery’s brushed silver vinyl. This achieved two things: It changed the vehicle enough to be able to stand apart from the other black-and-green trucks at SEMA 2016, and it allowed
the working bits of this truck—which were all coated in the Shocker Yellow—to pop, forcing more attention to the truck’s underside. The sponsors’ decals were provided by Vinyl Decal Shop in Long Island, New York.
Up front, the stock bumper was replaced with the A2L low-profile bumpers from Bodyguard Truck Accessories with polished chrome skid plate and light-mounting surrounds. The rear bumper comes from the A2 series, and features 11-gauge bolt-on step pads, LED mounting points, corner steps and stainless-steel button-head bolts. It’s compatible with the Canyon’s factory hitch and offers access to the original spare tire plug hole.
Bumpers fore and aft were both made from 10-gauge plate steel with 3/16-inch frame mounts, ¾-inch shackle mounts and cutouts for light bars and fog lights. They were powder-coated black. The Canyon’s nose was also upgraded with a grille from Royalty Core. The RC3DSX Innovative grille is made with polished gloss black frame, satin black 5.0 super-mesh diamond-crimp pattern and chrome-polished T-304 raised elements on the corners and center emblem.
LIGHTS AND ACCESSORIES
The light kits are top-of-the-line gear straight from the shelves of OLB. The front bumper was integrated into the design, and features a double row 30-inch LED light bar flanked by a pair of 3-inch LED cubes. Flush in the rear bumper is another pair of 3-inch LED cubes, while a roof-mounted rack and roll bar (custom-constructed by Addiction Offroad in San Antonio) incorporates six-eight LED floodlights and two 40-inch double-stacked LED bars on the front and back.
Speaking of lights, when the sun goes down, the underside of the truck is illuminated with 16 green-hued rock lights that match the overall color scheme. The green rock lights are carried over to the bed, and all of the
lights are controlled via SPOD Special Edition eight-circuit system with a touch-screen interface.
Making it slightly easier to access the cab, a pair of Lund Nerf bars was added. The Terrain HX Extreme steps are 3 inches thick and constructed from 3mm heavy-duty steel tubing. The 4-inch drop hoop steps, as well as the main bars, are finished with a black Rhino Lining protective coating.
In the bed, cargo and gear can be accessed by the addition of Cargo Glides’ CG1000, a sturdy steel-framed telescoping platform that can slide out of the bed 75% of its overall length, all the while holding up to 1,000 pounds of payload.
Adding a soundtrack to all of this awesome is a pair of Shaft air horns mounted above the bed in the rear window crossed like a pair of bandoliers on an outlaw. The
Horn Blasters 33-inch Tug horn is powder-coated matte black.
INTERIOR UPGRADES
The original black coloring of the interior from the factory remained, but Kroll wanted an extra touch of class that would mesh with his overall plans. The seats were shipped off to Roadwire Automotive Leather Interiors in Austin, Texas, where they were covered with leather with suede inserts and matching green stitching. The center console also got a sheath of suede.
BUILD NOTES
One hundred percent of the truck’s build was planned and executed by the capable hands of the Addiction Offroad crew in San Antonio. Chris Payne managed the day-to-day details of the build, while Addiction Offroad’s Pete Alongi built the truck from the ground up. “He personally delivered the truck to SEMA and then to my driveway when SEMA was over,” Kroll says. “He is an amazing person with mad skills.”
Although Keith Kroll has had plenty of seat time in this rig and is enjoying himself, his immediate plans are to “show the hell out of it” this season. Up next? Perhaps an H1 Duramax, he says, if everything falls into place.