strutaeng's 04 2500 4x4 project Suburban

[strutaeng]

Well, it's time for me to work on this project. I bought this truck like 3 years ago and it's been just sitting. It's a 2500 LQ4/4L80e/NP246/4.10 Suburban LT.

There are some details to fix:
Smashed hood/clearcoat peeling on the roof
Cluster has battery drain
Rear fuel level switch I think fails because I get an intermittent zero fuel gauge and light on.
Really dirty carpet. I took off the seats and I'm pretty sure the previous owner hauled gravel on this thing, LoL. I ordered the rear carpet.
Needs new tires.

The good: engine/transmission/TCase and everything seems really good. It's got like 168k on it.

Goal is to make it a reliable weekend camping rig, with maybe some modifications after that. Maybe a little off-road capable rig, ARB lockers, something like that. Thread is to document progress and motivation Wish me luck!

 

[tuckerrnr1]

Sounds like a worth while project. Looking at the carpet, you sure that wasn't involved in a homicide?

 

[Bigburb3500]

I’m here for this. I had one of these with the barn doors! 3” lift and 33” tires too? Right??

 

[strutaeng]

Sounds like a worth while project. Looking at the carpet, you sure that wasn't involved in a homicide?

That's the same thing my buddy asked me, LoL.

IDK. It looked like oil, then when I put purple power it turned like reddish. The guy I bought it from said it was his Dad's and he was like a hobby farmer/rancher. Maybe a dead goat or pig? LoL

The new carpet arrived in the mail today...

 

[strutaeng]

Not much progress. I laid that carpet down and there's no holes for the seat mounts and seems oversized. I thought it was a drop-in? I'll mess around with it some more this week.

I looked at my roof and it's pretty gnarly. My hood I had sanded with some 600# a few years ago, but it's been sitting outside. I need to take another look at that.

I bought 2qts of basecoat and 1 gallon of clearcoat from local paint store. I think my plan is to sand with DA 320# (maybe rougher grit if the clear starts coming off easily?), spot prime the bare metal with etching aerosol primer, seal entire area, basecoat and clearcoat.

 

[strutaeng]

Not much progress with the days getting shorter. I sanded and primed the underside of the "new" hood yesterday evening.

I also replaced the little struts for the rear glass because it wouldn't stay up. Baby steps...

 

[strutaeng]

I sprayed the base and the clearcoat. I actually bought a cheap Iwata-knock off from Amazon Prime days for $60 and tried it and I hate to admit but it literally blows my older HVLP (CA Technologies) and another HVLP from HF that's like $120 out of the water. Very good atomization.

I'll post the link later, but it's called R500.
AEROPRO TOOLS R500 LVLP Air Spray Gun with 1.3/1.5/1.7mm Nozzles & Air Regulator, A610 Paint Guns Automotive, Car Paint Gun Sprayer, Paint Gun for House Painting, Car, Furniture, Varnish and Top Coat https://a.co/d/iHSd3ET

 

[strutaeng]

I had also sanded my headlights up to 2000 grit sandpaper and shot them with the clearcoat. My markers were very yellow and I wasn't able to remove all of it. I may buy new ones.

 

[nsogiba]

Good to see you on here. You are probably best off just getting new headlights and turn signal lenses, they're under $100 all in on Rockauto. I just did mine and it looks like a new truck up front.

Keep posting the updates!

 

[strutaeng]

Not much progress. I did get the carpet in. I painted the rear plastic panels because they are all scuffed up. This Duplicolor spray bomb is actually pretty good color match.

I ordered some 2k sealer from Amazon. I went to Summit Racing over the weekend and of course, they are out of the medium temperature activator. I was going to buy some black single stage black for the roof rack, but just decided to skip the Summit stuff altogether. I'm just going to get any generic black base and shoot it with the 2k clear when I do the roof. Hopefully this weekend.