Blurred's 04 Tahoe Z71 build - Mr. Greenly Greenerson

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New to the forum so no one really knows who I am here. So, I am going to go on a couple tangents to give a little history to this thread and perhaps help people understand the mindset behind my modifications...

It all started in 1984... Just kidding.

I'll jump a couple years ahead. In April of 2006 I picked up my first new truck, a 2006 GMC Canyon Z71. This would be the first vehicle I extensively (IMO) modified. It had about 10" of lift on it with 35s wrapped around 18s. The interior was completely redone in charcoal leather with black ostrich inserts and a custom console that went from the front of the truck to the rear. After a while, I got bored with it and sold it.




So I was still in love with the midsize pickup and didn't need anything bigger, plus, I wanted to try my hand at a lowered one.

I purchased a 2007 Colorado Xtreme and wound up pushing my capabilities with the build. I wanted something different than the run of the mill lowered Xtreme so I cut down a a Silverado SS bumper cover and fit it to the truck along with built a "deep dish" grille from a stock one. I further push the limits, I combined the offroad flares for these trucks with the Xtreme flares to give it a wide-body stance. The interior was once again customized to hold a full set of seats (front and rear) from a GTO and those were wrapped in black and brown along with a custom console built that flowed a little better with the interior.






Then, my wife and I had twins, pushing the kid count to 3. Unfortunately, I was not able to fit two car seats and a booster seat in the back of the truck, so I had to sell it and get something bigger. Now I had a reason for it.

Off to finding the right vehicle for me. After searching for a while, I found a Medium Green Metallic 2004 Tahoe Z71 with a few modifications. After speaking with the owner, I decided to make the 2 hour drive to look it over and pick it up.

While looking it over, I found that it had no front drive-train... but that wasn't a deal breaker since I knew I could find it and replace it. Plus, it was listed under "retail" so I was happy with the purchase.

I got it home, then did some work to get the paint cleaned up and see exactly what this thing needed.




Paint correction process seemed to work well and the paint looks friggin great on this thing.



Interior is the tan with captain's chairs in the second row and third row. Works perfect for the kids and dog.



So now, my next build starts from browsing this forum, I have an idea which direction I am going...

 

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You will notice with this build, if you watch it, that I am sporadic with my modifications and usually have a couple irons in the fire at the same time. I never really focus on one aspect and flip flop from performance to suspension to aesthetics to whatever, sometimes covering several areas at the same time.

But now, I have begun acquiring the parts to make this thing mine.

The front drivetrain has already been replaced and works perfectly. Put in (some new, some junkyard) hubs, cv axles, differential, front drive shaft, yoke and all the assorted odds and ends that are required up there.




The lights on the front of this thing were shit and housed enough water to turn them into fishbowls so that was one of the items on my list of fixes.



So, I pulled the projector lights from the Colorado's headlights (these were on a buddies truck that passed away some years ago and I wanted to keep running them on my Tahoe, so begins a retrofit) and picked up some new headlights for the 'Hoe. Here's the current progress:



I pulled the lens off the new headlights and began cutting and fitting



And not the final setup, but the idea as to how this will look in the end




I fit a set of sequential turn signals and rewired the front end of the 'Hoe so that the turns were also the DRLs. So, during the day, it lights up across the front lower headlights in amber. When I hit the turn signal, it blinks from inside to out. I'll get a better video and some photos in a bit of that.

click the photo for the video of these in the stock housing

 

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And currently, I scored a great deal on some wheels I was looking at. I had been debating on running a set of 24" GM replica "Snowflakes" but decided on these wheels since I really haven't seen anyone running them, plus the deal was too good to pass up.




The plan is to wrap them in 305/35 General Grabber UHPs and drop this thing 3/5 with Tony's kit.

I may take these to a shop and either have the brownish gunmetal covered with some silver vinyl or just have them painted, still unsure how I want to go about doing this as I'm not sure I like the gunmetal color with the green of the vehicle.

 

[about20ninj45]

Damn man, you hit the ground running. If you don't mind me asking, where did you retrofit the sequentials from? Can't wait to see what you do to the interior!

 

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The sequentials came from the old Colorado. After doing some reading on here and seeing that the plugs on these vehicles basically suck, I figured that I would just wire in the Colorado's plugs so the wiring was simple; brown to brown, blue to blue, black to black.

I then had to fit the new bulbs to the housings by doing some simple trimming so they accept them.

The kit I used is pricey but the guy that builds them knows what he's doing and had great customer service.

Damn man, you hit the ground running. If you don't mind me asking, where did you retrofit the sequentials from? Can't wait to see what you do to the interior!

 

[blurred]

Here you go... here's a link to the kit: http://www.355nation.net/forum/supe...-dssld4-wssld4-assld4-sssld5-kits-prices.html


Also, here's the back of the housings that I trimmed. I cut the openings a little wider (where the blue marks are) and trimmed the inner stop a little bit to accept the bulbs. I was able to install the bulb and turn them to lock still and the things are in there nice and snug.



And a better video. Disregard the side turn bulb. That will be rewired to be a running light and replaced with an LED when I get some time/weather. If you cover that up, you can see the sequential lighting in all it's fantastic glory...

 

[about20ninj45]

Nice job, I remember some guy made a plug n play board for the sequentials but it was for a trans am taillights. Im looking to do this for my led taillights on my Yukon.

 

[OHSIXX]

Great start so far! Will definitely keep an eye on this thread.........

 

[NathanJax]

Welcome to TYF

Great start! Looking forward to seeing this be built!

 

[Pockets]

I really like the wheels you got.

That blue Colorado is sick! How did the black one run out with that size tire?

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