Keeping up with the ever-changing truck and boat scene is a miracle of time management, mixed with surges of other miracles. Boats are removed from molds with nary a hint at what lay in store, while truck parts are hitting the shelves faster than you can say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." Chris Leaming nabbed himself a brand-spanking-new '07 GMC Yukon and '06 Magic 28 Deckboat to build as a promotional tool for his budding business, XTC Motorsports. With barely anything to market for the Denali, Chris was on the phone ready to create a miracle.
A stock white Yukon doesn't turn heads any more than bad reporting on the nightly news these days, so a more aggressive stance was definitely on the to-do list. After hitting wall after wall while trying to find a suspension system compatible with the new GMT-900 suspension, Chris found a glimmer of hope with Fabtech Motorsports. The company had recently released its 7-inch basic and performance systems and XTC Motorsports jumped at the chance to do the installation, along with Air Lift rear air springs in preparation for the towing duty. The newly added height created enough room to clear 20-inch Raceline wheels with 35-inch Toyo rubber. To protect himself and others around him, Chris chose the appropriate set of Stillen performance rotors and pads to replace the stock pieces. For a little undercarriage gleam, a polished Nu Image differential cover put the stocker out to pasture.
Under the hood of the GMC is a 5.3L V-8 rated at 320 hp, but of course, that wouldn't cut it. Upping the ante, just a tad, are a few well-placed performance modifications. The techs at XTC popped the hood on the SUV and found a new home for a Superchips programmer and thermostat, an Advanced Flow Engineering (aFe) cold-air intake, and a MagnaFlow stainless exhaust. With the Magic in tow, or while just in cruise mode, the Yukon is not an embarrassment now. It's ready for anything to be thrown its way. Some chosen plastic pieces under the hood were painted white, to match the exterior, which add plenty of eye candy to a normally dull-appearing area.