Built not bought

[Aarong23]

This poor motor has no idea what it's in for

You must be registered for see images attach

Got a little sidetracked this weekend, but the goal with the motor is to get the heads off and see what the guts look like. If the cyl walls look good and mating surfaces check flat, I'm gonna put it back together with LS9 gaskets and ARP bolts, new timing chain, new seals etc. I also plan on installing better springs, rocker arms, pushrods etc but basically leaving the rotating assembly alone. I'm on the hunt for a 4L80 at the moment but will run the 4L60 if I have to just to get by- I suspect I smoked the 350. This will be a turbo build- I'm not going to run anything crazy, but I want good power with the setup and I plan on beating the piss out of it, so if it takes a year to get the money together to make it how I want that's simply what it will take.

I've driven a lot of the newer trucks (as company vehicles for various places I've worked). I like the look of the GMT400, but I also like the tech of the newer trucks. I do my own work on everything I own, and I do have an ALDL cable with TunerPro on my laptop, but there's just no beating OBD2 for diagnostics. I also owned several Cadillacs when I was younger, and the amenities of those is definitely something I miss, so I will be incorporating some form of "luxury" tech into the truck.

I would appreciate feedback on some interior ideas I'm throwing around:

1) Right now I've got a 120MPH speedo out of an Escalade in the truck with red LED's from superbrightleds.com. These things suck. I'm right outside the warranty period and the lights are slowly but surely dying. Two of the cadillacs I had were equipped with factory digital gauges, and I've thought about buying a set of Intellitronix digital gauges. Anyone bought their products, and what do you think of them?

2) I love good, clean audio. I used to be into the whole "stuff as many subwoofers in your trunk as possible" scene but then I got into SQ and haven't looked back. I'm contemplating whether I want to buy a standard double DIN head unit, or build a "carputer". I debated doing it in the 60 Special I used to own, but I got a great deal on a double DIN with nav (think I paid $200 for a high end Kenwood unit), but I have no idea where the carputer scene is at these days. I'd also like to avoid buying a separate sound processor if possible, but I'll drop the coin if there's nothing good that can be integrated into the computer itself. I need to research this more myself, as I used to build PC's as a hobby- I just haven't done it in so long.

3) I'm sorry, but I'm not paying $500 for one driver side seat on Facebook Marketplace that's already busted up. I honestly don't know what drugs some of these people are on when they come up with these prices! Say I find a good upholstery shop- what could I expect to pay for recovering four seats? My foam is good, and the third row looks untouched so I'm not worried about it.

4) Finally, my truck has ratty ass carpet. Who's got the vinyl flooring in their crew cab/Tahoe/suburban and how do you like it? Especially if you bought the aftermarket stuff-how was the fit? I've replaced flooring one time in another car I had and the fit was awful.

I'll keep this thread updated regularly as I make progress.

@sewlow is the man to ask upholstery questions on!