Growing up doesn't have to suck

[BourbonNcigars]

Shooting off at the mouth- big guns are all I have.


...Wait, what were YOU referring to as "big guns"?

You posted a picture of the man, Ron Jeremy. So, you're exactly right. I think "shooting off at the mouth" and "big guns" is an apt description of what I was referring to.

 

[iamdub]

You posted a picture of the man, Ron Jeremy. So, you're exactly right. I think "shooting off at the mouth" and "big guns" is an apt description of what I was referring to.

Who's this "Ron Jeremy"? That's my selfie for my Tinder profile.

 

[Wakinvol]

I found the interior pics in my photos in my profile...if you need to see them. I was impressed with the outcome back in the day.

 

[iamdub]

I found the interior pics in my photos in my profile...if you need to see them. I was impressed with the outcome back in the day.

I like the way it blends in- really smooth looking. I'm torn between doing something similar for a more sporty feel or keeping it closer to the classy/upscale LTZ theme with a little bit of sport feel to it. My idea for this is to keep the "wood grain" theme but with black and silver burl wood (or whatever type of "wood" I'm thinking of). The samples I've seen look more like a black background with gray and silver wisps of smoke. Or I'll wrap or paint them a solid color. I don't know, I've got plenty other mods ahead of that one at the moment!

Speaking of, I've done a little something recently that I guess I should document here.

 

[iamdub]

Replaced the messy, inconvenient and broken petcock valve on the catch can with a 1/4-turn ball valve. $8 and five minutes of work will make draining it SO much easier, cleaner and faster. Plus, the red handle makes it look all high-performance racetruckish.

Before:




After:

 

[Wakinvol]

That would look good. There are days I really miss my Hoe. All my cosmetic mods plus the BlackBear tune made it really nice. I got Jeep fever and traded the Tahoe, then got rid of the Rubicon Unlimited to get a Titan XD that I still have...the auto-mod bug is terrible!!! I can't stop.

 

[iamdub]

Did the free travel mod, removed the wheel spacers and un-lifted it.

Drew a line to have a general and "safe" starting point:




Sliced it along the line but cut it again higher so it'd be above the frame rail:




Didn't touch the tank! It was annoyingly close which is what made this take so long:




Whittled it down to where I wanted it and smoothed it all over with a flap disc:




Hit it with some flat black and moved to the passenger side. That one was SO much easier since I didn't have to perform the surgery around a fuel tank:

 

[iamdub]

While I had the springs out, I compared them to the 3" McGaughy's coils and some "mystery" coils I wanna try:








I put the stock coils in, minus the 1" lift spacers so I can get baseline measurements of height, pinion angle, control arm angles, etc. Then I'll install the McG coils, ride around for them to settle in, then take more measurements and note ride quality. Then I'll swap those for the mystery coils and take more measurements and ride notes.

 

[iamdub]

Before I messed with the Tahoe today, I went to Tractor Supply to get a gallon of Klean Strip brand Premium Stripper to take another crack at getting the de-clad GMC wheels clean. I first tried muriatic acid since I read reports of how effective it was and I had four gallons of it on hand. It didn't even phase the adhesive. I specifically got the stripper from Tractor Supply because they had the "good" stuff, unlike everywhere else that had the non-methylene chloride version. I wanted to hit it with full power.

Before the stripper and after the muriatic acid:




After one round with the stripper (giggity):




After three rounds, there is just two or three areas with adhesive left. I'm thoroughly satisfied and would've done the other three wheels but it started raining and I had a ton of other work to do. At least I have a solid game plan now.

 

[iamdub]

I also came up with a way to break the beads at home so I could install the new valve stems and TPMS sensors: