Kbuskill's 2008 Burb LTZ "MOD" Thread

[kbuskill]

Just wanted to create a little suspense and start a new post as that one was getting a bit lengthy.


She fired right up and almost pegged the oil pressure gauge... lol

70-75psi cold idle and 60-65psi at idle after up to operating temperature.

Now my new "problem" was that the ECM "thinks" the oil pressure is too high so the CEL came on telling me "oil pressure sensor range" or something to that effect. So later on I swapped out the old sensor for a new one and it still had the same problem.

The more I thought about it I decided that rather than pull the bottom end back apart just to swap the high pressure spring in the oil pump for the standard pressure spring I would try something different.

I had been wanting to install an oil cooler any way so I decided to also install a dual remote mount oil filter setup as well.

I know I could have bought the factory oil cooler lines and bolted them to the port above the oil filter on the side of the pan BUT that would defeat the whole purpose of what I was trying to accomplish because those lines on that port are after the filter which means the pressure sensor has already seen the pressure from the pump before the oil goes through those lines. In other words I wanted to run the pressure from the pump through my new dual filters and cooler to hopefully lose some pressure before it entered the engine and the pressure sensor would be able to read this loss in pressure.

So I researched and assembled my parts and I finally installed it all and it turned out nice I believe. Here is a couple pics so you can see where I mounted everything.


Pic from the bottom looking up at the original oil filter location. Showing the adaptor and fittings.

And another from the front. You can see the factory oil cooler line port above the adaptor.

This is a pic of the new oil filters mounted in there new location. That is the passenger frame rail they are mounted to. Bottom of pic is towards the front of the truck.

Had to trim the end of the rock shield to gain clearance for the filters just a little.

And a pic from under the hood showing where the filters are and the routing of the hoses.

 

[kbuskill]

Here is a pic of the oil cooler to the left in the pic and the bigger transmission cooler in the center that I installed but forgot to mention. I know it's a bad pic but I cropped it to conceal another mod that I have yet to reveal in this "mod" thread yet.


While I already had the bumper and headlights out of the way I figured it needed a 42" 800W curved LED light bar behind the grill... I guess it's a good thing I ordered one and it had already arrived by the time I pulled the front end off.

I installed the light bar and went ahead and converted the factory DRL position into another parking/turn signal location and installed white/amber LED switchbacks in all 4 spots in the lower portion of the headlight housing. I installed Morimoto H11 6k or 8k (can't remember) HIDs in the low beams and some 100W high beam bulbs that have a kinda blue coating on them (I hate them just for the record). I also installed a set of LED projector fog lights... they are like a Morimoto knock off... they have a white LED halo ring inside so that is what I hooked my DRL wiring to.

Pic of the light bar mounted.

All buttoned up.

New DRL location.

Close up of DRL.

 

[kbuskill]

Here is a pic of the parking lights.

And one with the low beams.

And one with lows and fogs.


At some point in the past I did the 6 HI Mod. So here it is.


And last but certainly not least. 6 HI with the light bar.

 

[kbuskill]

Here is a pic of the switch I am using to control the light bar.

Obviously it is the factory heated washer fluid button.

As most of you know the factory did a recall on this system due to a potential fire hazard. I guess some of the heaters in the bottle under the hood would get stuck on and overheat catching the reservoir on fire.

When I bought this truck the previous owner had already had the recall done so this was a dead switch on the dash. It kinda bugged me from day one. Not that I need heated washer fluid in FL so much, but just the idea that it didn't do anything when I pressed it.

I pondered a couple of ideas for repurposing this switch... light bar, train horn, dump valve control for air ride. I decided that since I didn't have train horns or an air ride setup on this truck, yet, I would use it to control the light bar.

Luckily for me when the dealership did the recall they did it according to the TSB issued by GM. They unplugged the wiring under the hood by the brake booster and cut the plugs from the heated washer assembly and tapped up the cut ends of the plugs and plugged them back into the trucks harness. They pulled the fuse in the fuse box and that was that.

This made it easy for me to tap into the wires I needed under the hood to make the button my slave... lol

The button in the dash is a momentary switch which means if you just wired it up to the light bar you would have to hold the button in to keep the light bar on. That wasn't going to work for me so I purchased a DEI 611T latching relay and installed it between the relay on the light bars wiring harness and the plug I mentioned earlier. The 611T has many functions and options. It has the option of +/- input, +/- output along with timed latch control and other things that aren't relevant to this install.

The factory switch when pushed in sends out a ground signal so I flipped a few switches on the 611T and set it up for a grounded input and wired everything up. I reinstalled the fuse the dealership pulled during the recall because that is where I sourced the power for my light bar. I must have done my homework and wired it all up right because it controls the light bar just as I intended and the little yellow/orange light on the switch even lights up to tell you it's on.

The nicest thing about all of this is I never even had to pull the switch or get into the dash at all and no holes drilled or wires to run through the firewall. It's all factory installed wiring out to the plugs under the hood. For me it just made the most sense.

 

[kbuskill]

I also removed the "handle" on the rear glass.


And at some point I bought, painted, and installed cross drilled and slotted rotors and ceramic pads on all 4 corners. I also painted the calipers to match the rotors and painted the pads red just to spice it up a bit... but not to much... luxury remember?


Don't know why I didn't take any pics of the rears on the truck but here is a pic of them when I hung them to clean and prep and paint them.

I also installed new Moog upper control arms and new Moog lower ball joints along with new poly end link bushings for the front seat bar. I took it and got the front end aligned and had them install my new 70k mile tires I had ordered.
They are Nokian Rotiva HT in 275/55/20.

https://www.nokiantires.com/company...-versatile-driving-for-suvs-and-light-trucks/

They are a Swedish made tire and they have one of the coolest features I have ever seen on a tire. They call it DSI, driving safety indicators. Here is a pic.

It lets you know at a glance how much tread you have left... pretty cool in my opinion.

I did all the brakes and front end and tires before we went out of town on a family vacation to Ohio. I was going to be pulling a trailer with mine and my wife's motorcycles up there and didn't want to have any issues with a truck full of kids and my wife and my grandfather.

Again at some point I installed LEDs into all the interior lights and the tag lights and the puddle lights under the mirrors. So at this point everything inside and out is LED with the exception of the corner marker lights front and rear. I just feel that the standard 194 bulbs work better in those spots.

Not sure why I don't have pics of the interior lights BUT once Pete @Galante gets his installed and posts pics in his BUILD thread you guys can just check his out and you will know what mine looks like.

 

[PG01]

Nice ken. Love everything just wish i had moar time to do it.... speaking of time... you retire or something? Awful lota time on the internet there buddy......

 

[kbuskill]

Nice ken. Love everything just wish i had moar time to do it.... speaking of time... you retire or something? Awful lota time on the internet there buddy......

I was rear ended on my way home from work on my motorcycle by a semi back in Oct. So I am down for a while. Can't really say much more about it right now... so yeah, I've got some free time... gotta do something to maintain my sanity.

Even though I can't work on it right now atleast it makes me feel better getting to post about what I used to be able to do... lol

 

[PG01]

I was rear ended on my way home from work on my motorcycle by a semi back in Oct. So I am down for a while. Can't really say much more about it right now... so yeah, I've got some free time... gotta do something to maintain my sanity.

Even though I can't work on it right now atleast it makes me feel better getting to post about what I used to be able to do... lol

Sorry ken, that sucks. Hope you feeling better and glad you made it out alive...seriously... semi vs bike never ends well for the bike. Glad you’re here bud.

 

[kbuskill]

I keep forgetting.... I also did the Big 3 upgrade. I built all new cables out of 1/0 or 2/0... I can't really remember, I will have to look at the wire I have left over in the shed.

Any way I used marine grade tinned copper wire that is also shielded. I bought tinned copper lugs and self adhesive heat shrink. I soldered the lugs onto the ends of the new cables and then shrunk the heat shrink around them. I replaced the positive lead from the alternator to the battery, the battery to the mega fuse, the ground to the engine block and I built a ground from the engine block down to the frame rail on the passenger side since these trucks didn't come with one. I then repurposed the old alternator to battery cable as an additional ground from the body to the power steering bracket.

All in all I am very pleased with the out come and no more funny electrical gremlins.

The wire I used just barely fits inside the sensor on the ground cable.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I keep forgetting.... I also did the Big 3 upgrade. I built all new cables out of 1/0 or 2/0... I can't really remember, I will have to look at the wire I have left over in the shed.

Any way I used marine grade tinned copper wire that is also shielded. I bought tinned copper lugs and self adhesive heat shrink. I soldered the lugs onto the ends of the new cables and then shrunk the heat shrink around them. I replaced the positive lead from the alternator to the battery, the battery to the mega fuse, the ground to the engine block and I built a ground from the engine block down to the frame rail on the passenger side since these trucks didn't come with one. I then repurposed the old alternator to battery cable as an additional ground from the body to the power steering bracket.

All in all I am very pleased with the out come and no more funny electrical gremlins.

The wire I used just barely fits inside the sensor on the ground cable.

Ummmm..... Where the pics at, yo?!