the life of Matt's Tahoe

[imi4tth3w]

2000 NBS Tahoe LS 5.3 2wd
195k+ miles


--Current Modifications--

Exterior/Suspenion:
-Storm Gray Metallic Factory Paint
-ATS Design Fender Flares Colormatching
-20x12 -44mm Moto Metal 962's in Black
-33x12.50 r20 Toyo Mud Terrains
-6" RCD Suspension Lift
-Timken Hubs
-Full Moog Steering (tie rods, pitman arm, idler arm, idler assembly)
-Z71 Tahoe Rear Coil Springs
-Ford Torsion Keys
-Z71 Tahoe Lower Valance
-15% tint on fronts and 5% on rears

Engine/Drivetrain:
-Factory 5.3l Vortec V8
-4l60e replaced at 70k before i owned it
-Black Bear 93 oct Tune
-Vette Servo
-LS1 E-Fans
-Spectre Cold Air Intake
-Throttle Body Spacer (got it free. figured why the hell not)
-DC Power SP Series 230A Alternator
-Big 3 with 1/0 and 4 gauge wiring

Interior:
-Alpine 9856 Head Unit
-Alpine Type R Components
-Eclipse XA4000 Speaker Amp
-KnuKonceptz 4ga Wiring
-Viper 5901

--Future Modifications--

HD hood
Bilstein 5160 shocks all around
Alpine type r coaxials in rear
Alpine type r 8" in factory sub location
Paint chrome bumpers gloss black
4" piaa fogs
trukool 40k trans cooler
HD2 shift kit
2500 gauge cluster with trans temp
white led interior
14 bolt 6 lug rear axle
6.0 lq4 swap
FLT level 3 4l60e
dual batterys in stock locations


----------------------
Build Thread Below
----------------------

well i'm trying to get re-interested in her. i've had it 4 years now and i'm having evil thoughts about selling her. as of right now, she's not worth much. and i've put way too much time and money into her to just let her rot and die.

she's one of the first NBS tahoes to roll out the factory. 2000 with a 5.3 and 2wd. when i got her in 2008, it was my mom's old vehicle since she bought it in july 2000. here's a picture of me and the parents WAYY back in the day.



well my mom put 118k loving miles on it and when i graduated high school, she bought a 2008 tahoe and i got her's as my college vehicle.

Started out with small mods, clear corners, lame blue lights that are no longer there, some debadging and a new rear badge i thought was pretty nifty.





custom built center console with CB radio

old system going in











throttle body spacer LOL



that was mostly done during the summer. then freshman year college mods started
black chevy emblem

vette servo

 

[imi4tth3w]

blue led gauges and green led turn signal, cruise control, and blue led brights indicator.

some projector headlights


body lift awaiting install

body lift and stock tires

8000k hid's in the projectors


summer came and i decided i wanted to get a job and work and let school wait until later. started working and got me some more mods.
tint, 20x10 gunners and 305 55 r20 terra graps, fender flares, ford keys, and a brush guard, and color matched front grill.

threw some 33 1250 mud graps and a z71 lower valance on it

got some new bumpage
rd1750.1

18" rd alpha v3 in 6.5ft^3 @ 35Hz

around now i was looking into doing a 6.0 swap but was having trouble finding a motor. then stumbled upon this

got some new moog ball joints and went to town

and eventually upgraded to some 325 60 20 terra graps and leveled the front out a bit

and thats where she sits today.

final mod list:

6" RCD lift
3" PA Body Lift
Ford torsion keys
bilstein 5100 up front
procomp basic shocks in rear
BB 93 oct tune
CAI
flowmaster exhaust dumped.
throttle body spacer
projector headlights with 4300K hids
black clear corners with full turn signal mod/ DRL delete
vette servo
tru kool 40K trans cooler
20x10 gunner 6's
325 60 20 terra graps
alpine 9856 head unit
focal A165 components up front
eclipse 6x9's rear
eclipse XA4000 speaker amp
rd 1750.1 sub amp
18" rd alpha v3
1/0 gauge wiring
optima red top
DC power 230A high output alternator
big 3 w/4 gauge
all 4 on high
color matched interior plastics
custom center console with cobra cb radio
viper 5901 alarm w/proximity sensor
13% on top of dealer tint on front, 5% on middle and rear sides, 15% on back hatch
trans replaced at 70k
fluids religiously changed
new plugs at 120k

well for the most part. those last pics were probably 1-2 years ago. haven't done much but wear and tear on her since then. now here's where i'm at.

192k miles
she was in a hit and run, and the A/C hasn't worked since. this was oct 2010. gonna call insurance and see what they say. probably no but doesn't hurt to ask i guess.
half of my leds in the gauges have gone out. simple fix
front speakers are blown/rear speakers not even hooked up anymore
lots of interior panels removed and never finished colormatching them. plan on having them done/redone by a real painter
projector light output sucks. gonna put stocks back in with normal lights.
clear corners keep falling out/broken. after the hit and run my bumper alignment is off and keeps knocking them out. need to realign bumper and re-paint upper bumper pad.
brush guard mount is broken. buddy shop can fix tab and i'm gonna have it rewelded a bit to fit better.
need to remove fender flares and re-install with 3m stick tape. they vibrate and are rubbing off paint under neath because i was in a hurry and ended up not even installing the 3m double side foam tape.
steering alignment is terrible. needs new pitman, idler, inner and outer tie rods and re-alignment. might look into a steering stabilizer as well to button it up if needed as well as a cognito idler brace. heim steering MAYBE as well but probably not.
one voice coil blown on the 18. plan to replace it with something bigger/better
needs a new box as well. specs are a bit off on the original and i've got better tools to make one now. but i'm gonna need a new box with a new sub anyways
gonna get some new stock 03-06 tail lights and have them candied and not tinted.
re-do my trailer hitch 3" higher to compensate for body lift

this build thread has also turned into my to do thread. time for bed. later guys

 

[felixgun]

The ride is looking great man. It would look even better if you color matched the bumper and got an HD hood. Also do you plan on getting the stock z71 fog lights to fill in the holes in the z71 valance?

 

[edgaranah1]

Nice truck man. And an HD hood will look killer on it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[iwaslowr]

The ride is looking great man. It would look even better if you color matched the bumper and got an HD hood...

x2 And instead of going back to stock headlights... a quality HID projector retrofit will perform best. But also costs a bit more too.

 

[felixgun]

x2 And instead of going back to stock headlights... a quality HID projector retrofit will perform best. But also costs a bit more too.

Yessss x2 on this. Or retrofit the whole Denali front end color matched with the matching factory denali projectors!

 

[1Agerry]

Nice turn over man!looks really clean!

 

[VTburban]

Love the GGW pic. Is that the one-man, six-women Tahoe special edition?

 

[imi4tth3w]

thanks for the kind words guys!

as far as the whole retro-fit/stock headlights go, if i do a retrofit, it will be with stock headlights. i also like the stock looking headlights that are black around the sides. those have a clear front plastic lens and would be better for a retrofit anyways. i looked into it with these projectors and it would be a huge headache. tried to bake em and split em but it wasn't having it.

there's a 4" piaa light i believe that fits in the z71 low valance light holes perfectly and i love the look with the piaa light grill. i just never got around to it like so many other things.

HD hood and grill are on the list as well

 

[imi4tth3w]

so this could be me getting older, but i've just been dying to get rid of the lift on my tahoe and do a 2/3 drop on tbss competition gray 22's. would be a lot of work to get it to that, but once i sell all the excess parts it could be done for pretty cheap.

so far here are the plans:

sell:
6" RCD lift (will include shocks and ford keys. for 2wd. can work with 4wd will just need to order a few more parts from RCD)
3" PA body lift
fender flares
wheels/tires
bumper/z71 valance

buy:
22" tbss wheels
285 45 22 nitto 420s
2/3 drop and all 4 shocks
SS bumper colormatched

eventually i want to fix the body/dents/repaint truck


i work at a tire shop so that will definitely help with cost as i get tires at cost and don't have to pay for mount/balance. the body/paint is in rough shape and i really want to repaint it. a good friend of mine can help me with it at his shop over time. i have another vehicle so not worried about down time.

hope to have this done by next summer. we'll see how the funds are but coming up on my birthday and christmas so we'll see.