Vortec Lover's '98 K1500 Build

[Vortec Lover]

Okay, since I plan to be doing tons of work on my truck, I felt that I might as well start a build thread to record the happenings. Like many of the guys on here, I am just out of school, so I don't have a ton of money to put into it just yet. As I get my pictures and stuff organized, I'll add on to the build until we get to present date and what is going on next

If anyone has ideas for new mods, feel free to speak up, because I like to hear the good ideas that anyone might have to offer!

I did not take many good pictures when I first got my truck, so you will have to bear with the terrible photos for a while.

I bought the truck from a mechanic who babied the thing to death. He kept it in a garage for ten years and only stuck on 10,000 miles during that time. (the truck had 120,000 miles when I got it.)

Here are some pictures of the truck as it sat in his yard:

Yes, very paw-paw looking vehicle, but I saw potential. It was a Z71 and that was what I wanted (everyone knows that that sticker adds at least five hp)

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Interior looked emasculate, and still does to this date- I try to keep it as nice as possible.

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[Vortec Lover]

Okay, so the first thing that I did was tell the guy that I was I did NOT want that stupid pappy topper- (maybe I didn't use those terms, but whatever) - so he took it off and lowered my price by $100- I was good with that.

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Here was my truck the minute that I pulled into the driveway with it. I was a happy kid that day. And the truck has made me happy ever since. I had been driving my folks Ford pickup, but I won't even go there. I hated it.

There was an auction in town that had a cross-over tool box, so I was like, 'what the heck', and picked it up for a pretty cheap price. Polished it up and it looked pretty good.

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[Vortec Lover]

The next thing that I did was get a brush guard- this time it was a craigslist find or something like that. It was a bear-cat to put on, but thankfully there was a truck at the junkyard that I could use for reference. Took me almost all day to put it on, and I am usually quick at mechanical things. Since I've figured it out though. I could get it on no problem- but it would just rattle around, so I had to make some extra pieces to make it solid. When I was done, I was confident that I could clobber a bear....well, maybe at ten miles an hour. Actually, I've only hit two things with my guard so far: the corner of the car wash- which chipped the cement but miraculously didn't leave a scratch on my guard. The other thing that I hit was a hawk when I was going about fifty. It jumped out of the ditch and caught the corner of my guard. It made a solid thwak, but when I got out all that I saw was a bunch of feathers plastered to my guard. It was kind of funny, because until then I was not sure what I hit.

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It was around this time that I realized that my had no growl WHATSOEVER. That stupid muffler was swallowing all of my sound. The tires were literally louder than my exhaust pipe, gravel or pavement. It drove me crazy. So, I eventually took it in to the exhaust shop and got true dual exhaust with some glass packs and stainless steel tips. WOW, that made things sound a lot better. I love that rumble that I get now instead of that pathetic little "blowing through a straw" sound that it used to make. I hated listening to the fuel-pump whining to and from work. The guy who did the exhaust said that he had never heard such a quiet truck in his life. And he was right. It was almost embarrassing. Not any more!!

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[Rewind]

I'm loving that pain scheme for some reason!!!!

 

[Chevytruck98]

Great looking truck you have there! excited to see what happens to this. Keep us up to date.

 

[Vortec Lover]

I'm loving that pain scheme for some reason!!!!

I don't know... I'm mysteriously drawn to your trucks paint scheme too!!!!

Great looking truck you have there! excited to see what happens to this. Keep us up to date.

Will do! I have lots of plans!

 

[JAW's]

Where from Iowa are you???

 

[Vortec Lover]

So, it was time to go up. I did not have enough money to blow on both tires and a lift, so I went with a 3" body lift from Performance Accessories. It went on without too much trouble besides skinning my knuckles a dozen times...I'm probably scarred for life

Now that my 245's looked REALLY dinky, I almost immediately bought some brand new A/T 2 285's and stuck them on instead. I did not take any pictures of my truck with the small tires still on- it was too embarrassing.

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Already you can see some massive improvement, despite the terrible quality of my cellphones camera.

The next thing that I did was stick on some gap guards (so that I can't see through my truck!) and knock off my pappy running boards.

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Again, a side by side comparison for people who want to know what each transition does to the vehicle's appearance. Pulling off those boards made my truck look like it got another 2" lift, but I now have to do something about my frame, which will be blasted and coated within a week if all goes well.

 

[Vortec Lover]

Where from Iowa are you???

Half-way between Mason and Waterloo.

 

[JAW's]

I gotcha... damn near the other side of the state.