Classic truck enthusiasts have a bunch of ways to build a pickup project. You can restore it, returning your old truck to brand-new condition with all original or reproduced parts. You can preserve it, keeping it stock, but letting it grow old gracefully with patina'd paint and other signs of age. Or you can modify it as a hot rod or custom, replacing stock components with newer ones — like the vast majority of the trucks featured in CLASSIC TRUCKS.
The trucks built at Delmo's Speed and Kustom in Burbank, California, don't conform neatly to any of the above build methods. Del Uschenko builds trucks meticulously, paying attention to engineering and style. Engineering takes the form of excellent performance and safety — through the use of quality components and workmanship. Style is more subjective. Del likes to keep the sheetmetal in preserved condition — contrasting the time-worn "survivor" façade with updated elements like modern suspension parts, 22-inch smoothie wheels, low-profile tires, and a modern drivetrain.
It's not unusual to lift the hood on a weather-beaten vintage C10 from Delmo's and find yourself staring at a brand-new 500-horsepower LS3 crate engine with electronic ignition, power steering, and air conditioning. Up to date on the inside, classic on the outside. See the CLASSIC TRUCKS profile on some amazing examples of pickups built with the Delmo treatment.
Del has been continually working to improve the style of his trucks, particularly in the engine compartment. Knowing that a lot of Chevy truck owners like the performance and reliability of LS engines, but consider its high-tech looks to be a mismatch in a traditional truck, he decided to create a way eliminate the compromise between classic appearance and optimum performance.
"It was not so much an inspiration as much as the fact that there was a lack of this type of thing in the market. I couldn't find what I wanted. Everything available was either overdone or something I'd seen a million times. I had to create something that was new and that fit my style."
The "something new" that Del created is called the DEL S3. It starts with a fresh-out-of-the-box Chevy Performance Parts LS3 crate motor, and continues with some carefully chosen components to give the engine the looks of a traditional small-block.
"The first thing I do is strip the coils, the coil brackets, the intake, the oil pan, the exhaust manifolds, and the water pump. Then I get the engine on a stand and prep it for paint. The engine gets painted a factory color — blue or orange or green — then I start to assemble the new parts.
Those new DEL S3 parts consist of:
Holley 4-barrel throttle body
Holley LS3 intake manifold
Holley fuel rails/injectors
Delmo's DEL S3 valve covers
Delmo's valve cover adapters
Drive Junky serpentine drive system
Delmo's has partnered with Drive Junky, which provides the serpentine drive systems designed exclusively for the DEL S3. Zach Schary from Drive Junky pointed out that this particular system mounts the A/C compressor low and (almost) out of sight. The alternator is relocated forward of the passenger-side head (which is positioned about 1 inch further back than the driver-side head). This — combined with the fact that the hoses from the compressor and water pump exit in one spot — keeps things compact.
Delmo's Speed & Kustom offers the DEL S3 as a complete drop-in turnkey engine complete with the items listed above, plus a low-profile oil pan, and plug wires — or as a component package for use on your own LS3 engine.
01-02 The Delmo's Speed & Kustom DEL S3 engine is created from a Chevy Performance Parts LS3 crate engine.
03 The first step in the process is removing all the external components that don't fit the traditional look Delmo's wants to achieve. The engine is painted a factory color. Coils and LS3 valve covers are replaced with old-style valve covers. Delmo's modifies original 327 valve covers (not reproductions), blasting them, adding air breathers and PCV valve holes, painting them, and adding the distinguishing DEL S3 plates.
04 These valve cover adapters are machined in-house specifically for the DEL S3 conversion and come with spacers and fasteners. They fit straight-hole and staggered-hole bolt patterns, so the customer can use other old-style valve covers if they prefer.
05 For easy installation, the spacers and adapters are mounted on studs installed into heads.
06 Factory LS3 gaskets are used on the underside of the Delmo's adapters. On the top side, it's whatever gaskets correspond to the valve covers being used.
07 The DEL S3 swaps the LS3 fuel-injection Holley EFI components. The Holley universal four-barrel 1,000-cfm 4150 flange throttle body, LS3 single-plane mid-rise intake manifold, and LS Hi-Flow EFI fuel rails provide the general appearance of a four-barrel carburetor setup.
08 A vintage-style air cleaner like this one (not provided) also contributes to giving the DEL S3 the appearance of a small-block engine.
09 The DEL S3 serpentine drive system is manufactured for Delmo's by Drive Junky. The components are offered by Drive Junky in this black anodized finish or polished. "I generally run black components because it looks more stock," Del said, "but you could go with polished to five the engine that '60s show car look."
10 Drive Junky offers the system with a stock truck damper or the ATI Super Damper like the one used on this DEL S3.
11 The drive system uses 6061 aluminum CNC machined brackets and ARP fasteners.
12 This bracket mounts the alternator high on the passenger side and the A/C compressor down low.
13 "Our high-performance idlers are all built in-house and are good to extreme rpms," Zach from Drive Junky told us. "They have twin 20,000-rpm bearings with a stainless steel axle."
14 The power steering system features a pump from Jones Racing Products, a fabricated aluminum tank with a machined aluminum cap, and a Drive Junky 6061 aluminum pulley.
15 The cylinder head on this side is slightly rear in position from the opposite head, which makes it the ideal location for the Powermaster 150-amp one-wire alternator.
16-17 Mounting the compressor low like this keeps it out of the way, keeping things compact and uncluttered looking. It also minimizes vibration.
18 The low mounted compressor keeps the hoses near the hoses from the water pump, another advantage, making it easy to run all the hoses through the inner fender. "If you've got a hot rod and you want to run a full accessory kit, but don't want to see a bunch of stuff, it's perfect," said Zach.
19 Del Uschenko from Delmo's Speed & Kustom with a fully assembled DEL S3 engine.
20 This 1972 Chevy C10 built at Delmo's is the perfect application for a DEL S3 engine. Maybe your classic truck is too.
