A short story:
This is my 1999 Chevy Silverado Z71. I bought it in October of 2007 from a friend for the great price of $6000. It wasn't well maintained since he just had it sitting on the street for months. I decided to buy it and then the project began.
It started with a complete wash, detailed the engine compartment, then I lifted the body and undercoated all the chassis. Then lubed all the moving parts, removed the spare tire and carrier underneath and did some rewiring. Changed liquids to Mobil 1 synthetic and Lucas: Engine oil, tranny, difs, transfer case. No upgrades done to the interior as of yet. Performance and functionality first, bling later.
Some Mods: My wife says: "What are you doing now?"
Spectre Performance Intake with Cool Air Induction customized. Hypertech III programmer. Steel braided hoses. Truxxx 3 and 1 leveling kit. Hi-Flow cats with Flowmaster 40 exhaust with 3" pipes tucked and turned down. Just added a front receiver to accomodate my 10,000lb winch. The winch is movable so I can move it front to rear by just sliding it into the receiver hitches. Cables are pre-run so I can quick connect and disconnect when I need to. Changed dif cover to chrome. Red Top Optima battery.
Future Mods: My wife says: "You're going to spend how much?"
Denso Iridium Power plugs with MSD or Nology HotWires. Brakes going to Powerslot / Cross-drilled discs with Hawk pads. New AC compressor, receiver/dryer and orifice. Bore increase on my 5.3L to 5.7L. Heads rework and cam swap. Tranny upgrade and dif gearing. PIAA Xtreme White Plus Bulbs. Locker and Posi, Air Compressor in my bed for inflating tires, Magnuson Supercharger and Long Tube Headers and offroad cats. Strut mounts are going to get replaced and repositioned to accomodate longtravel coilovers in the front, longtravel coilovers in the rear with trailing arms. More lift with most likely a Fabtech 6" and then change my tires to 315/75-16.
Picture below: April, 2008. Paiute Mountains, Nevada.
Just leveled the truck with and Truxxx 3" rear and 1" front kit and put the wheels on. INCUBUS OFFROAD 16X8 W/ NITTO 295/75-16 TERRA GRAPPLERS.
May, 2008. Mt. Charleston, Nevada
The grille guard I used was originally for a Jeep Wrangler. I bought it for $25. I had to fab all the brackets to mount it. The Safari Rack is removable... 4 knobs and its off and then on. Lights are hooked up on a quick connect plug... I've got 10 lights on that rack. 4 facing front, 2 front angles, 2 side and 2 facing rear. I do a lot of night wheeling in the desert... It's way cool.
