Kurt's 96 Z71 Build

[Kurtz71]

Hi everyone, I'm pretty new here and after lurking around for a while I decided to make my own thread for my truck. It's technically a one owner truck, my parents bought it brand new back in 96 and I gave them cash for it but still in their name. The only purpos the truck was bought for originally was to tow. They put 80k towing miles on it. So my father ordered it with the 14bolt SF and the heavier duty leaf pack. A couple years into ownership my dad and grandfather (head tech at local GM dealership) installed a K&N intake and Gibson 3" exhaust on the truck for better performance under load. My dad always said he should have bought a 3/4 ton truck. He never really cared about trailer weight ratings the truck came with and just towed whatever he had to. Most of which were boats, including a 31' weighing 10k lbs. Which was towed from Florida to Connecticut and then around the local area to the boat launch. Naturally the trucks transmission didn't like the weight behind it and my father went through 2 factory spec trannys before having a heavier duty towing oriented transmission built for the truck.

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What the truck looked like when I bought it.
Since I've purchased it, the truck has had more cosmetic modifications. The first thing I did was getting a set of Dick Cepek DC-2 wheels 16x8 -12mm offset.

 

[Kurtz71]

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I think the new wheels gave the truck a great stance compared to stock and I love they way they look with my color truck. It's unique around my area.

 

[Kurtz71]

The next step I made was buying Anzo LED tail lights and parking lights along with LED dome lights from LMC truck

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The next thing I did was tinting the corner lights in the grille.

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In my opinion this makes a huge difference in the way the truck looks from the front. The orange doesn't stand out as much and it also somewhat matches the parking lights.

 

[Kurtz71]

I went a while without doing any modifications but then decided it was time for some more little things. I got a GoRecon 3rd brake light

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This product is super high quality and looks great in my opinion. It is a little pricy but I think looks fantastic and also has LED cargo lights which are a great upgrade over factory. Right along the same time I also got these cool vortec badges because why not right.

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[Kurtz71]

I had been having a problem with fogging headlights in this truck for years. No matter how many times they were completely dried out the moisture would come right back so it became time to get some crystal housings from Rock Auto and GoRecon Xenon bulbs. There is a slight difference at night in visibility (which is absolutely terrible even with the new, better bulbs) and they look amazing in the day.

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Side note* the grille on this truck is one of those bad repro grilles with the messed up bow tie area where the bow tie sits on top of the grille instead of within it. Soon after doing headlights I got a used tool box from my grandfather and put that in because winter was coming up and I like to have some extra tools and a jumper box with me just in case

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And then a pic with my grandfathers 6.5td dually (fully loaded with leather) and my truck. Just cause

 

[Kurtz71]

Nothing was done to the truck this winter once it started snowing. There was lots of hauling stone

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And also a lot of drifting at the local park

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we tore this place up the night before, but don't worry it's just a parking lot. Also some snow driving too

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Once the snow stopped I purchased and installed a Painless Performance 4hi mod. The instructions were fantastic and for someone like me who is less than confident with wiring it was a walk in the park.

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There is a huge difference at night, I think everyone should buy one of these kits for their truck.

 

[Kurtz71]

Two weeks ago I decided to take off the chrome wheel well trim and the mudflaps. I was ready to make the truck have a more streamlined look.

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And of course it snows some more after having almost a week of Temps in the 50's.

 

[Kurtz71]

I finally took my truck off-road for its first time ever!!! Never been once in its 20 years. I dont like to beat on the truck so it wasn't a hard trail by any means but still fun and with great scenery.

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She got to stretch her legs a bit too.

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And quite possibly the dirtiest she's ever been. After going through some water holes that were easily 2 feet deep, I'm surprised the truck wasn't muddier.

 

[Kurtz71]

This week was full of changes and upgrades and I was equally excited about every single one of them. I had thought about doing most of these things for the longest time now so why not do it right. First up was installing a .50 cal bullet antenna which is nothing big or expensive but looks great and actually has some meaning to me. Some might think it's trashy but I do a good amount of shooting and am on competitive teams so the bullet holds value to me.

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Also the same day, right after this picture was taken, I got my windows tinted. 20% on the front windows and the rear glass. And 25% over top of factory tinted glass on the extended cab windows to try to make it blend. The extended cab portion is darker than everything else but still looks good regardless. And the guy did a fantastic job for a good price too. If anyone lives near me and need their windows done I would recommend GPC tinting in Branford CT.

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I think I definitely need a 20% strip done on the top of my windshield too.

 

[Kurtz71]

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Next came a radio and door speakers. The radio I actually installed the same day as the tints were put on and the speakers were done 3 days later because the door panel had to be taken off and I didn't want to risk messing up the tint by hitting it with the panel.
First a picture of the factory radio

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Then one of the radio I got. An Alpine UTE-52BT

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And then a pic at night

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And also the speakers I got. Kicker 41KSC654 6 1/2"

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I got everything here from crutchfield. It was great because they included everything I needed to mount the speakers and radio. I watched a YouTube video on how to do them and it was quick and easy. That's saying a lot coming from me because I have the tendency to be scared of even the simplest of wiring tasks.