My 2015 Tahoe LS Build...updated exhaust

[cuco]

Wanted to show off a bit of my LS build. This has not been a complicated build nor a expensive one. This is the family hauler and the grocery getter, nevertheless, by my standards it needs to be fun to drive look good while at it.



Overall I’ve been very happy with the SUV since day one although there a some things that I knew had to be changed.



Engine Mods



First thing is acceleration...I’ve had the Tahoe with a Trifecta tune since May last year. Very happy with it since it improves the ECU, TCU and even the ABS to hold back the nannies...not that I would need that last bit unless I track it (which I wont). I even asked Trifecta to increase the idle rpm by 50 since the Tahoe was having the shakies on a stand still and it eliminated the issue.



I paired the tune with a AFE CAI, that really opened up the engine quite a bit plus the sound coming from the intake is amazing. Even with the tune and CAI the truck felt a bit sluggish during part throttle and mid range power, it was better don’t get me wrong but I still had to almost floor it to even have it to shift down. Thats when I went a bit further into porting and polishing the TB. Upon doing that I noticed there is a big step in the TB right before the valve opening, that step is there to decrease the air speed coming in and keep fuel economy up. Once I eliminated that and polished the TB opening into a continuous surface the throttle characteristics of the truck changed a lot. This by far has been one of the best mods to date and it only cost me $40 for the grinding stones. The throttle responds more like a car and less like a tow truck. The kick-down is now actually responsive, finally.









Interior Mods



The LS radio sucks big time so I ended up installing a Pioneer touch screen with Carplay. Pretty happy since it cost me all about $500 with specials and that included all the interface harnesses to keep the steering wheel controls and Onstar. With the elimination of the OE radio I now had a big hole where the radio controls used to be so I went ahead and designed a lid with the chevy logo on it and had it 3D printed. Very happy with how it looks, almost like a stock part I’d say.







Exterior Mods



Started out by purchasing a set of 22 GMC style rims paired with a set of Goodyear Eagle AS tires. Next goal was to make the truck stand out from the rest so after visiting the Chevy dealer and seeing the RST models l decided that painting the grille was the best mod for me. I didn’t want to keep the LS grille so I ended up getting a very good deal on Ebay from a guy selling a LTZ grille that had been scratched by another car supposedly. Ended up painting it with Dupont base and clear on top of Epoxy primer for a quality pro finish that will last.







Im very pleased with the results so far...looks sharp and its very fun to drive.

Currently working on a custom Borla exhaust paired with long tube headers...will post details soon.

Next projects on the pipeline:
1) adding brake cooling ducts and complete brake service
2) Suspension upgrade (still thinking on what to do on this one)

 

[Tonyrodz]

Wanted to show off a bit of my LS build. This has not been a complicated build nor a expensive one. This is the family hauler and the grocery getter, nevertheless, by my standards it needs to be fun to drive look good while at it.



Overall I’ve been very happy with the SUV since day one although there a some things that I knew had to be changed.



Engine Mods



First thing is acceleration...I’ve had the Tahoe with a Trifecta tune since May last year. Very happy with it since it improves the ECU, TCU and even the ABS to hold back the nannies...not that I would need that last bit unless I track it (which I wont). I even asked Trifecta to increase the idle rpm by 50 since the Tahoe was having the shakies on a stand still and it eliminated the issue.



I paired the tune with a AFE CAI, that really opened up the engine quite a bit plus the sound coming from the intake is amazing. Even with the tune and CAI the truck felt a bit sluggish during part throttle and mid range power, it was better don’t get me wrong but I still had to almost floor it to even have it to shift down. Thats when I went a bit further into porting and polishing the TB. Upon doing that I noticed there is a big step in the TB right before the valve opening, that step is there to decrease the air speed coming in and keep fuel economy up. Once I eliminated that and polished the TB opening into a continuous surface the throttle characteristics of the truck changed a lot. This by far has been one of the best mods to date and it only cost me $40 for the grinding stones. The throttle responds more like a car and less like a tow truck. The kick-down is now actually responsive, finally.









Interior Mods



The LS radio sucks big time so I ended up installing a Pioneer touch screen with Carplay. Pretty happy since it cost me all about $500 with specials and that included all the interface harnesses to keep the steering wheel controls and Onstar. With the elimination of the OE radio I now had a big hole where the radio controls used to be so I went ahead and designed a lid with the chevy logo on it and had it 3D printed. Very happy with how it looks, almost like a stock part I’d say.







Exterior Mods



Started out by purchasing a set of 22 GMC style rims paired with a set of Goodyear Eagle AS tires. Next goal was to make the truck stand out from the rest so after visiting the Chevy dealer and seeing the RST models l decided that painting the grille was the best mod for me. I didn’t want to keep the LS grille so I ended up getting a very good deal on Ebay from a guy selling a LTZ grille that had been scratched by another car supposedly. Ended up painting it with Dupont base and clear on top of Epoxy primer for a quality pro finish that will last.







Im very pleased with the results so far...looks sharp and its very fun to drive.

Currently working on a custom Borla exhaust paired with long tube headers...will post details soon.

Next projects on the pipeline:
1) adding brake cooling ducts and complete brake service
2) Suspension upgrade (still thinking on what to do on this one)

Very nice, tasteful mods.

 

[Denali4181]

Very nice!

 

[gat0r]

nice


& if you want to lower it, reach out to Tony (Norcal SS)
he has a few options

 

[fozzi58]

Super nice. You need some HIDs or really good LED bulbs. That was what I hated about my truck the most - couldn't see at night.

How did you get the grille out without ripping the bumper off? I need to rewrap mine but all the instructions show that I need to take the bumper off and the little tabs on the fenders all rip.

 

[Ridin Solo]

Nice, looks really clean. I especially like the cover you had made for where the radio buttons used to be.


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[cuco]

nice


& if you want to lower it, reach out to Tony (Norcal SS)
he has a few options

Thanks, that's what I've been thinking, everybody talks good things bout the NorCal lowering kit.


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[cuco]

Super nice. You need some HIDs or really good LED bulbs. That was what I hated about my truck the most - couldn't see at night.

How did you get the grille out without ripping the bumper off? I need to rewrap mine but all the instructions show that I need to take the bumper off and the little tabs on the fenders all rip.

Yeah unfortunately the bumper has to come off. The good thing is that it comes off easy. Once you get the top bolts off and the wheel well bolts out on both sides all that's left is two clips that hold the bumper to the front part of the chassis IIRC.


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[cuco]

So after 3 months of interrupted welding and fabrication I have been finally able to finish off the custom exhaust For the Tahoe!


I started off by getting a set of Speed Engineering headers + Y pipe (3” diameter). To keep the exhaust tone down I added a couple of high flow cats to the y pipe. Once the headers were installed I started working on the catback. I decided on getting a 3” Borla specialty muffler similar to the touring muffler offered on the Borla-GM exhaust kit but only much cheaper. The plan was to have a good mellow sounding exhaust with a cutout valve for when a nit more fun was wanted. Once I finished off the mid section I decided on adding v band clamps to the whole exhaust (including headers) so out went the headers again for welding and fab...the wife was not impressed at all by it.








The trickiest part of this all was getting to the right level of volume and tone. With the midsection done I drove the SUV with the exhaust dumped right after the Borla...sounded awesome, zero drone on all rpms but way too loud. Then I added a straight tail pipe and got a good tone but too loud still and a whole lot of drone at 1800 rpms. Thats when I decided to add a Vibrant ultra quiet resonator at the tail pipe. This gave me a way more subtle tone at part throttle and a perfect loud tone at full throttle, the 1800rpm drone was still present though so thats when I decided on adding a 1/4 wave resonator. All of this iterating took me the better part of a month but after it all I am very pleased with the results.










PS still need to buy the cutout valve and finish off that section

 

[Tylus]

how did you blacken the chrome strip on top of the headlights?

I like the PTM grille