The Build of My $200 Dollar Truck

[laidbackbigun]

Modshop sells tailgate skins.

 

[Shebrolet]

loving watching your progress with this truck. Looking fantastic!

Curious what exhaust you used with the 5.3 swap, was it a challenge to fit? Stock manifolds? Headers?

 

[mattbrat004]

I found a cheap Taiwan tailgate for now, I bought it for 50 bucks and it was 20 mins away. Since it was an el cheapo tailgate it needed some massaging into place. Once that was lined up, I put the handle flip on.

As for my current exhaust set up, I have stock manifolds into a 99-07 off-road y pipe, then dumped under the bed with a flowmaster copy. The exhaust fits terrible, and is definitely temporary. It leaks a bit for scraping on the ground. It's about 3-4 inches off the ground with the y pipe.

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My project for this weekend is replacing struts on my daily.

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[mattbrat004]

Primer today. Used panel bonding adhesive along with 8 tack welds on the handle filler.

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[mattbrat004]

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Prep for texture coating

 

[Shebrolet]

lookin good!


I was so inspired by this build thread, I finally pulled my dented, peeling, ugly tailgate off and am getting it painted. Lol.

WIsh I could say I'm doing the work myself, but I have no skills. Benefits of working at a collision repair shop and taking excellent care of my guys.. they'll take care of it for me since I'm unable.

 

[Dgonz]

lookin good!


I was so inspired by this build thread, I finally pulled my dented, peeling, ugly tailgate off and am getting it painted. Lol.

WIsh I could say I'm doing the work myself, but I have no skills. Benefits of working at a collision repair shop and taking excellent care of my guys.. they'll take care of it for me since I'm unable.

Yup, I believe that moral should be held up to all companies large or small. Take care of your employees, they take care of you, after all if it wasn't for them you can't make any money !! You are doing a great job.

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[Dgonz]

Now this is a mod that i cannot stress enough to do if you work on anything at night. This is the LED light mod, made popular by a Gearhead4life on youtube.

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I could swap a motor in with those lights going.
Now before i swapped the motor, i got rid of the old steelies, and got a set of 2010 camaro rims.

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Now you will need 4 5x5 to 5x4.75 1.5 inch wheel adaptors to run these wheels. All four corners will need to be trimmed or rolled to get these to tuck.
Back to the engine.
The 4.3 came out easily. ( A big thank you to @Dgonz )
I sent that motor off to a better place.

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Hey dude. Your truck is looking great. One day I will spray mine the right way with the original dark blue color.

I have a question. My brother just bought the identical same GMC truck like yours but in red. He did a 4/6 drop but with the front he did spindles and Springs. He will be using Camaro SS wheels also with the same 1.5" spacing. I don't know if that's too low and the sidewall will rub against the fender more than my set up did, and I only had a 2" spindle drop. What is the advantage with the lower control arm set up?

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[mattbrat004]

the lower control arm setup i used was mostly because my ball joints were toast. also, by using the lowering control arms, i didn't have to grind away at the lower control arm to avoid a 15 inch rim rubbing on the control arm. I believe with the camaro rims you don't have to worry about it because they are 5 inches larger than the 15s
sorry for the late response...life doesnt stop for nobody. make sure he rolls those fenders good. mine rubs a little with two passengers in it but its not too bad. but i really don't want to use these adapters anymore, i plan on auto-crossing in the future and don't want rims flying everywhere.
@Dgonz

 

[Dgonz]

the lower control arm setup i used was mostly because my ball joints were toast. also, by using the lowering control arms, i didn't have to grind away at the lower control arm to avoid a 15 inch rim rubbing on the control arm. I believe with the camaro rims you don't have to worry about it because they are 5 inches larger than the 15s
sorry for the late response...life doesnt stop for nobody. make sure he rolls those fenders good. mine rubs a little with two passengers in it but its not too bad. but i really don't want to use these adapters anymore, i plan on auto-crossing in the future and don't want rims flying everywhere.
@Dgonz

Sorry fir the late response. Yes I agree about the adapters if u decide to autocross in the future. Your truck is coming out beautiful, keep it up [emoji106][emoji106]

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