The preparation that goes into SEMA-bound vehicles goes way beyond the skin-deep appearance of flashy paint and chrome. The '09 Chevy Silverado extended cab that we found in Stillen's Costa Mesa, California, performance garage had already come back from the body beauty salon, but its next modification would certainly blow away its peers at the most celebrated auto show of the year.
The guys at Stillen chose Magnuson because of its great low-end power, instant boost response, beautiful appearance, and available 3-year/36,000-mile warranty. Magnuson delivered a freshly designed prototype blower to the Stillen techs with most of the necessary parts, an instruction manual from the last generation GM MagnaCharger, and a phone number that would connect us to Magnuson's product designers in case we ran into any problems during the installation. The phone number proved to be of utmost importance since there were a few hiccups along the way, but we were dealing with a prototype here. A few bumps in the road were to be expected. After having to make a few calls and requesting a few different parts, the MagnaCharger test fitting party was a success. This Chevy was in for a treat since no other '09 GM truck on the planet has been equipped with the new MagnaCharger and Truckin' went along for the ride as Stillen's master technicians, J.C. Majul and Sam Camarillo, transformed the stock GM truck into a rolling rocket.
 After the negative battery...  After the negative battery terminal was disconnected and both the ECM and TCM modules were unplugged and removed, J.C. was now ready to perform major Chevy surgery. The factory engine cover was yanked off and thrown in the recycle bin. |  J.C. loosened and removed...  J.C. loosened and removed the clamp at the throttle-body and MAF sensor locations. A loom clamp from the upper radiator hose and PCV vent hose from the passenger side also had to be removed before the air intake assembly was ready to be taken out. |  The throttle-body was removed...  The throttle-body was removed from the intake manifold, which will later be installed on the new, polished MagnaCharger. |