Kbuskill's 2008 Burb LTZ "MOD" Thread

[kbuskill]

Is that Dorman Tee metal too!??

Yes... it is cast aluminum, as opposed to the plastic Y-connector found on the factory hose assembly... that's why I am replacing it as well, to get rid of all the plastic fittings.

 

[89Suburban]

Yes... it is cast aluminum, as opposed to the plastic Y-connector found on the factory hose assembly... that's why I am replacing it as well, to get rid of all the plastic fittings.

That's pretty sweet I didn't know they made them.

 

[kbuskill]

That's pretty sweet I didn't know they made them.

I didn't either until I started this quest to get the heater core Tees made by Gruven... that's when I found it.

 

[Rocket Man]

Received my Gruven heater core T-connectors and Dorman Y-connector today...

Its gonna be next weekend before I can get them installed.

Even Dorman knows to use spring clamps. I can’t believe Gruven sends those crappy screw clamps for the price they charge plus the one end of their tee doesn’t have a barb. I expected more from them.

 

[kbuskill]

Well 3 of my 4 new wheels and tires arrived today... Fed Ex says the 4th will be delivered tomorrow.... crazy, but whatever.

I decided I didn't really like having a "brushed aluminum" looking center cap on a chrome rim so I decided to see if the factory Bowtie center caps would fit the new wheels.... sadly they wouldn't just pop in because they were ever so slightly bigger in diameter.

So the modifications started...

Center cap from new wheels... "Brushed" looking...


I removed the metal cover from the plastic underneath by prying the tabs back...


I discovered that the Bowtie is removable on the aftermarket Bowtie center caps I bought when I lost one of the originals... not sure if the originals are the same or not...


I had to remove all the tabs seen here from the rear of the Bowtie caps...


I then drilled a hole in the center and ran I screw through the center...


Continued in next post...

 

[kbuskill]

I then drilled two holes on either side of the center hole of the Heavy Hitters center cap to allow room for the two pins that hold the Bowtie to the center cap and placed it on the back side of the Bowtie cap...


Then I placed a washer over the hole and secured it all together with a nylon lock nut to clamp everything together...


This is the Bowtie cap from the front. You can see where I counter sunk the screw head slightly...


Then I reinstalled the Bowtie to hide the screw...


Then I installed the new custom one off CHROME center caps onto the new wheels to see how they looked and fit...

Unfortunately it was after dark by the time I finished so the pics didn't turn out the greatest but I will get better pics in the day time...

Continued in the next post...

 

[kbuskill]

Here is a pic of the wheel sitting in front of the truck before I modified the center caps...

I hadn't even fully unwrapped them in this pic... lol

And here is a couple of the crappy, after dark, pics of the new modified center caps...




Like I said... not the best pics but I think they turned out fantastic.

I realize that 99% of the population will never even notice that the center caps are different from what came on these wheels...

BUT...

For the 1% of us gear heads, I think this is a cool mod because I know if I saw these center caps I would automatically associate them with factory/OEM wheels... and it would drive me nuts trying to figure out what vehicle the wheels came on from the factory.... LMAO

 

[Rocket Man]

Nice work, great attention to detail.

 

[kbuskill]

Nice work, great attention to detail.

Thanks.... I will definitely post some better pics once they are installed... probably gonna be this weekend if everything goes well.

 

[Sam Harris]

Here is a pic of the wheel sitting in front of the truck before I modified the center caps...
View attachment 226014
I hadn't even fully unwrapped them in this pic... lol

And here is a couple of the crappy, after dark, pics of the new modified center caps...
View attachment 226015

View attachment 226016

Like I said... not the best pics but I think they turned out fantastic.

I realize that 99% of the population will never even notice that the center caps are different from what came on these wheels...

BUT...

For the 1% of us gear heads, I think this is a cool mod because I know if I saw these center caps I would automatically associate them with factory/OEM wheels... and it would drive me nuts trying to figure out what vehicle the wheels came on from the factory.... LMAO

That’s awesome. Waiting for the daylight pics.. [emoji16][emoji106]