2004 Colorado 5 Cyl, 5 speed, Mini Atlas Build

As most may know Calvin has the 4200 atlas motor under his wing and has made strides in power and testing with them. This was my biggest motivator to go with the baby atlas, the 3.5 5 cylinder. I wanted a 3.7 but the 3.5 was the only one offered with an AR5 5 speed behind it. 

Picked up this gem yesterday and this will be my build platform for the foreseeable future. it is a 4x4 and a 5 speed. Version 1.0 involves a standard ebay/amazon turbo kit which is under 1000 bucks. I will be using the stock setup on version 1.0. stock sealed motor, stock fuel pump, stock injectors, etc. hoping to make around 400awhp, at least thats the goal. 

version 2.0 will most likely be a megasquirt and fuel system upgrades. the time for that will depend on version 1.0 longevity and fun factor lol.

Nice score, that is a unicorn truck.

I'm curious what is the BOM on your "standard ebay/amazon turbo kit"?

I think I knew you were looking for one of these. I'm interested to see what you do with it. 
 

It reminds me of my 3.4 Tacoma, TRD supercharged, 4x4, 5 speed. By comparison, it only made about 250 hp, but it was a lot quicker than it was supposed to be.
 

I used to launch it in four-wheel-drive, then pull the transfer case shifter to two high as soon as the clutch was out and the truck was moving. I had to be fast, and coordinated, since it ran through first gear extremely quickly. 

In reply to maschinenbau :

Thanks! It was very difficult to locate one. And i learned quick that these are very rare. So im super grateful to have it. 

The turbo kit is supposedly a bolt on kit, im sure modifications will be required. But there is a 5 cylinder turbo manifold. An intercooler and piping. The turbo i mentioned, although it has an internal wastegate, so most likely will run an external gate. I will have to make my own exhaust. And tuning is the biggest challenge, but doable. 

In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :

Thats awesome. I love those setups. Been lossely looking for a trd blower for my wifes 4.0 tacoma. 

Curious why you’d use MS instead of the. Stock Computer?

In reply to Mr. Peabody :

There is a lot involved with tuning the stock computer and although it can be done and i plan to do it for round 1, it has its limitations and draw backs. The megasquirt would be used for finer tunability and making more power. 

The stock ecu has no way to rescale the spark or fuel tables. So you have to trick it into doing what you want. It will work, and its been done, but compared to a MS it is not ideal. 

Nice build. I really love these trucks. Version 3.0 can be LS swap when you've broken too many 3.5s. 

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

haha, i dont think ill break THAT many, or any at all if im lucky. I think it will surprise a lot of people.

I didn't think MS could support odd numbers of cylinders.  Regardless, I look forward to seeing how this goes!  I love a built up Atlas!

I'd consider spending the extra time and $ to ring-gap the pistons - only because that's what my YouTube heroes do. 

Its been a while but here is an update. Went to the dyno to get baseline numbers before we throw the kit on. 

Cool!  I've always thought Colorados were good looking little trucks. 

So slammed on a nice suspension and wheels?  Vision for the finished project?

I had the same truck though an auto. Local guy tweaked with HP Tuners and I had an intake and a 3 inch catback. Sounded legit!  Love it! Cant wait to see more!

I looked for one of these back when I wanted a manual 4x4 mid-size truck and they were really hard to find.  I don't think the 3.7L ever came with a manual from the factory or they were even more rare.  I ended up with a Frontier instead and it has served me well.  I'd much rather listen to your turbo I-5 though! 

In reply to 84FSP :

I am not entirely sure yet. version 1.0 will look exactly like it does now. so pretty much a sleeper. idk what route i want to go with it beyond that. it will really depend if we hit our power goals. if it falls well short, the truck will most likely get a small lift and be a trail rig. 

In reply to Nitroracer (Forum Supporter) :

In the colorado you are correct, they never put the 5 speed behind the 5 cylinder, but i believe they did in the H3, but still very very hard to find. 

A little update as i still am planning to put the turbo kit on. Actually sooner than later now. 

The fuel level sending unit had been bad for almost my entire ownership and i knew i needed to upgrade the fuel pump anyway, so i purchased a new Delphi fuel pump assembly and a walbro 255 pump and married them. 

Now the gauge works and ill have plenty of pump for the 400-500hp i want to make on the setup. 

Definitely interested in the tuning on this, as im in the early planning stages of a low budget turbo 4200 swap into a 49-54 chevy.

So calvin has been a tremendous help on this front. The early year colorados use a P10 ecu which allows access to pretty much everything such as injectors, timing, etc. Just not the VVT. Later years it was the inverse. Tuning this will be done via HP tuners and is no different than tuning lets say a c5 corvette for example. 

You could use a stand alone and piggy back the stock.ecu to run vvt which i may do down the road. But if it works fine, makes the desired power, and runs good. Ill probably leave it as is. 

Thanks for the update. Fuel pump is certainly a great place to start.

What ever happened to this build? Do you still have the truck?

maschinenbau said:

What ever happened to this build? Do you still have the truck?

I'm pretty sure his auto adhd kicked in and it's long departed.

I sold this one specifically but am still going to build one. Just want a regular cab.