Introductory Post: my 2011 SSV (build thread + pic heavy)

[Rich_SSV]

Hi everyone, been lurking here for a while reading up and learning as much as I can.

As I make progress on my SSV I figured an introduction post was in order and what I've done so far.



Here she is the day I brought her home.
2011 SSV 4WD, about 110,000 miles on it.

Ex-RCMP K9 unit. Picked it up for a very good price at a federal surplus auction.

Was missing the rear seats and door cards as it had the K9 cage prior to decommissioning.

Drives straight and quiet and was serviced very regularly by a local dealer.
Engine bay is spotless and I was stoked to find dual batteries:



(More in a moment)

 

[Rich_SSV]

Came with the tow package from the factory, and the brushed aluminum trim was trashed and had holes in a few spots.
First thing I did was order a wood trim package off eBay (mainly for the DIC).





Installation was a breeze, of course.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Of course when I got it on the road the day I bought it and started using the HVAC, it became very obvious it was a K9 unit.
It just stank of dog.

But I kinda expected that.

I bought it knowing full well I probably was going to have to rip it apart to clean it up... but it was the perfect colour for me and had 4WD. Plus being a K9 SSV instead of a PPV meant that it probably wasn't beat on quite as much as a PPV (and it wasn't white and covered in sticker residue).

So I ordered up a gallon of Nature's Miracle enzyme dog spray and while I waited for it to show up, I started taking stock of what I'd got myself into:



She's a ten-footer. Some very small stone chips on the nose of the hood, and a tiny tiny rust spot at the bottom left of the hatch glass. I'll get those sorted after the winter.



Dog hair and slobber and grime literally everywhere! I am so happy disassembly of the interior was pretty straight forward.

 

[Rich_SSV]

I probably could have knitted a sweater with the amount of hair I found inside this thing.





Time to really go to town and start scrubbing.

Advice: invest in a really good pro-grade spray bottle to distribute the enzyme cleaner and a good stiff nylon brush to scrub.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Every surface got vacuumed, sprayed, scrubbed, wiped down, and sprayed and scrubbed again. I really only wanted to do this once.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Normally this stuff would really be gross... but after having a kid a year and a half ago, nothing really bothers me anymore.

(And I just remind myself that this K9 was out there chomping on the biggest s***stains around, which always makes me smile)

Speaking of the kid, he loves this thing.

 

[Rich_SSV]

No door cards made it stupid easy to go to town on these on both sides (which were stupid grimy from the dog and the rear windows open all the time for ventilation.


Popped off the dummy window switches that were tied-off inside the door and wow: the dielectric grease they apply at the factory still looked and felt like it was applied yesterday, not 9 years ago.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Found myself some door cards off a crashed Ambulance/Paramedic Tahoe and fitted them along with the vapour barrier foam and installed rear speakers that weren't there anymore.

Left side rear speaker was plug and play, right side I can't get any sound out of no matter what I try. Ah well.

 

[Rich_SSV]

More scrubbing. This thing's probably never been this clean since it left the factory:

 

[Rich_SSV]

With everything in the back scrubbed up and no longer smelling awful, I scoured my local Craigslist and FB Marketplace for a set of rear seats.
Got a really good deal on an unused rear cloth bench out of a 2017 PPV (and seatbelts to go with them, obviously).