Nick-otine's Build Thread

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Nick-otine

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Hey everybody, for those that don’t know me, my name is Nick. I've had my 94 Chevy pick-up for a few years now, and figured why not make a build thread of my progress.
Feel free to post questions, comments, advice, etc. Just remember that I’m by no means an expert, and am learning as I go. So please, correct me on any of my information that I may have wrong.

It all started in late 2010, my senior year of high school; my cousin (a used car salesman) told me there was a Black 1994 Z71 Chevy on his lot that he HAD to get rid of before the end of the year. Only catch was that it was a 5 speed. Now, I had driven stick shifts here and there, but was absolutely no pro. So the next morning my dad, uncle, and I made a trip up to the lot. When we got there this beaut rolled up.
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Only a few bad parts including a rusty passenger fender, random primer patches on the bed and of course high miles. So after the initial look over, My Dad and I took off for a test drive. It was everything I had been looking for, minus the 5-speed, that was just an added bonus. I was able to talk my cousin into letting me to take it home for the night to rethink it over and make sure this was what I wanted to go through with. The next morning came, went straight to the bank and took out 2600 in cash, I had made from working at the local McDonalds. Then off to the dealership. After the longest minutes of my life, I walked out of there with the keys TO MY TRUCK!!! I was pretty freaking excited and proud of myself for working my butt off for this beauty. And so the journey began.
Truck Specs at time of purchase:
Year: 1994
Make: Chevrolet
Model: K1500 Extended Cab Short bed, Z71 package
Color: Black Exterior, Gray Interior
Engine: 5.7 350 TBI
Transmission: 5 speed with Overdrive, NV3500
Transfer Case: NP241c
Rear End Ratio: 3.42
Mileage: 206,000
Wheels/Tires: Stock saw blades, and Michelin LTX M/S 265/75R16
Factory Dual Batteries
And lots of add-on accessories..

First thing I did to the truck was take the front mud-flaps off, that rubbed with stock 265’s.. As well as the tonneau cover, turned around and sold it for 50 bucks.

Now back before the truck, I had the Honda civic and was quite into the "car audio" scene. Basically, I knew my way around audio systems. So a couple of the first mods I did in January 2011 was a new Alpine headunit with a complete system and a cb radio a little bit later.If I remember correctly, First system was 2 12” Alpine Type X in a sealed box on the back seat, with a 2500 watt Crunch Class D amp. That amp had always given me problems, even before my truck, and blew a few caps and transistors inside. I needed money anyway so I sold the Type X’s. And replaced them with a single 15” Powerbass ported box, powered by a Crunch 1400 watt 2 channel AB class amp, with an old 3.5 Farad Cap I had lying around.
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Originally had pics of dual whips for the cb, along with pics of the original sub/ amp systems, but got lost after my old HDD died on me. Sorry haha

Quick story: A good long-time buddy of mine also bought a truck, about a month before me in November. Ironically, his was a Black 1998 Reg cab Short bed Z71 Chevy.
Bad Pic but you get the idea.
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Pretty much out the gate we started playing around and wheeling our trucks.
First stuck pics: yes, I high centered in a church parking lot.. :rofl:
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About this time is when the truck earned the nickname “Black Betty”, according to an ex anyway.
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^Actually just recently found this several months ago, obviously not my handwriting.. :lol:


March 2011, Dad and I found an in-bed tool box on craigslist for 100 bucks. Dad paid for it and said it was a birthday present. We bolted it to the bed and “de-badged” it.
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In early May 2011 a few weeks before graduation, I noticed on one leaf spring pack, the eyelet had been broken and caked with rust and crap, so I took advantage of the situation and upgraded to brand new 5 leaf 3/4 ton springs that my uncle hooked me up with.
Only pic I could find, Old 4 leaf spring pack:
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A few weeks later on the way to my graduation ceremony, my clutch went out. Luckily, 'Betty' chugged along and made it to the school. After the ceremony, I grabbed a few of my buddies and we pushed her up on the empty work trailer my uncle just happened to bring. Talk about a memorable graduation..
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That next Monday, we took it to a shop to get the confirmation and a quote. It was indeed the clutch assembly. Because I did not feel comfortable enough with my mechanical skills at the time to do a clutch replacement, it ended up costing me a good portion of my graduation money.
Lesson learned: Don't ride the clutch while doing burnouts.. :idiot:

It took me a little while to get used to the new clutch, it released so much higher than what I was used to. But I got it down shortly so I started working her and we started playing again.

First Muddy Pics:
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In the Fall 2011 I started college and of course took the truck came with me. I was constantly the “DDD” for my college buddies and so I took the 15” sub and amp out.
A couple months after moving, the starter decided to give out on me at Walmart, so I had to replace the starter and slave cylinder in the parking lot.. lots of fun..


Christmas 2011 my parents…errr I mean Santa got me a Garmin GPS. I put it in the cubby that replaced the factory stereo.
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Late 2011/ Early 2012, I decided to pursue the previous owner’s accessory-*******-ness and bought a cheap chrome grille guard, I scored on craigslist. I had to make custom brackets to mount it, weren’t perfect but it worked. No pics sorry.
The truck also hit a sweet mile-marker around that time.
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Early summer 2012, I added 5000K HID Low beams. Painted the grille guard black, added a couple off road lights with 3000K HIDs.
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Dad’s 2wd and My Truck, courtesy of google earth lmao.


My Truck’s accessory list at that time:
-Grille/Brush Guard with lights
-Cheap plastic grille mesh inserts
-Bug Shield
-“Smoked” Rain Window guards
-Nerf Step Bars
-Cb antenna
-Cheap tail light covers
-Rear mud flaps



Later that summer, I cut my exhaust off and ran around with open manifolds for a good few months.. Yeah I know not smart, but hey I was a dumb teenager and thought I was hot stuff. Anyway before school started the truck got dual exhaust with a new crossover y pipe in and a y out of the cat, to a couple of cheap glass packs, as well as a couple chrome tips.
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I also built a new box for a couple competition style 12” PBX’s Dual 2 ohm, the first real subs I bought back when I was 16. To power these bad boys, I bought a new Hifonics Zeus series 2000 watt class D amp. At the same time I upgraded the amp wiring to 0awg, with a “custom” 175Amp fuse block, and replaced all 4 factory speakers, which had been blown for a while. Replaced 2 Rear speakers with 4x6 Polk Audio Coaxials and 2 Dash speakers with 4x6 Polk Audio Components. I also took this opportunity to replace my sagging headliner at the same time.
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I also replaced both front CV axles, and got a brand new fender from LMC truck. But I didn't have the money at that time to get it painted, so I threw it on the truck anyway.
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September/ October-ish 2012. I decided the truck reminded me too much of a “ricer”, plus I needed money. So I flipped the grille guard for $150 which is double what I paid for it, and kept my off road lights.
I then did the 4 High Headlight mod as well as the Big 3 upgrade with left over 0awg.
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(Recently took the red wire off)
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Thanksgiving day 2012, I got into my first accident, pulling a trailer from my uncle’s land across town. I was about to pass over a main highway when a lady in a Ford Taurus pulled out right in front of me, heading to the on ramp. I slammed on my brakes and swerved to miss her, but I still nailed her rear quarter panel, with the front passenger side of my truck. Thankfully, nobody was injured just shaken up.
As you can probably tell, My truck drove away from the scene, Her car did not.
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Around this time, my buddy with the 98 got some new wheels and tires. So he sold me his old ones for $200. They were 16” NBS Tahoe wheels, with 265/75R16 Firestone Destination ATs.
I was planning on getting new tires soon anyway so I put the two of the tahoe wheels, with the most tread, on the rear, and the two of my old set on the front, to get me through the winter.

Truck then reached another milestone:
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So over the next several months, I started collecting parts. In the meantime, I was still beating on it and playing in the snow just about every chance I could. :badidea:
Obviously I learned I probably should have chilled out for a bit. On a local private trail, I hit a low hanging tree branch that punched a huge hole in my windshield, Duct-tape to the rescue on that one. Thank freakin goodness no one was riding with me.
That very next day, I had a major snow-nut accident where I busted both rims on the Passenger side. Luckily, one wheel was still holding air, since I only had one spare at school. I also realized shortly there after, I did not have 4wd.
These extremely regrettable decisions and memories played a major role, in the life lessons, I quickly learned.
#1 Lesson Learned: Do not drive while...less coherent..

Just A Few Aftermath Pics… :Stupid Me:
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After the snow melted I went and checked things out. Here's a couple things I found.
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Roughly March 2013: After the recent incidents, my truck seriously needed a whole lot of love and work. So I crawled under it and started checking things out. I figured out I didn’t have 4 wheel drive due to all of the bolts on the driver side CV axle had either sheared off or backed themselves out. So I just threw a few bolts in that were long enough to sick out the other side and put lock nuts on, I just wouldn’t use 4wd.
The truck needed an alignment terribly and ball joints replaced. Being down at school, I didn’t have the proper tools (grinder, air hammer, etc.) to replace the factory ball joints. There was no way my truck would have made the trip back home, so I sucked up my pride and paid a shop to replace them. Well a few days, multiple alignments and $600 bucks later, I had my truck back. It still wouldn’t drive straight and the positive camber was freaking terrible. I was just tired of dealing with them so I let it be for the time being.
About that time, I scored a “broken” 4 channel Alpine MRV-345 amp on craigslist for $25 bucks. Originally for a school project, however to this day, I have yet to find the ‘broken’ part of it. haha


April 2013: As if my truck wasn’t looking rough enough, some idiotic (probably drunk) college kids decided it’d be a great idea to steal the alpine head unit and a couple tools out of my truck. Obviously, I was pretty pissed the next morning when I went out to my truck and found it gone. The kids that did it were apparently amateurs because they left the wiring harness for the head unit. Not to mention the subs and amp sitting on the back seat.. Whatever though, I replaced the unit with a cheap pioneer spare unit I had from and upgrade in a friend’s car.


Later that month, I obviously needed the extra cash. So I sold and installed my subs and amp to a buddy from college. Sold for $275 + Install $25. Ironically, the install was in a Honda civic of the same year I had.

Early May 2013: I finished gathering parts from the junkyard and craigslist to replace the grille, filler piece, bumper, and passenger side fender. I was just anxious to get it looking somewhat decent again so the fender was not painted.
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Couple things to notice. As you can see the front clip just wouldn’t go back together quite right. But it didn’t bother me much. I was just happy it didn’t look like complete s*** and it wasn’t about to lose pieces going down the road. Also this is when I really noticed that the passenger wheel seemed to be pushed towards the rear about an inch.

A month or so later, I started working construction for my uncle. So along with being my DD, it also became my designated work truck hauling all sorts of building supplies and what not.
Late July 2013, I was hauling a few window wells to the jobsite, when my truck just died on the highway. I coasted over to the shoulder. Started her up again, and barely made it to the jobsite. Right when I was pulling up it died again. Then it for sure wouldn’t start again. So my uncle came and flat towed me back to my house in town.
I replaced the fuel filter, fuel pump and sending unit, cost me $200. I’ve read most people suggest taking the bed off, but I ended up dropping the tank to replace it. Wasn’t too bad. Thankfully, I only had about 7 to 8-ish gallons of gas in the tank.
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Couple weeks later, I then repainted the ‘CHEVROLET’ letters on the tailgate.
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I know I went a bit overkill with the tape, but I didn’t want to deal with overspray or bleeding through.

After the touch up:
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Around then, I traded a JL CleanSweep, I had from back in my car audio days, with a guy on the good ole Craigslist. I walked away from the deal with a couple JL audio TR690-TXi 6x9s plus $50 bucks.
I then built a box for under the back seat for them and hooked them up to the 4 channel Alpine.
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August 2013, my dad and the same cousin who sold me the truck, hooked me up again, this time with a set of 20” NNBS LTZ wheels, for… Let’s just say CHEAP. Haha
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Painted the Bowties:
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About that time I sold the 3 NBS Tahoe wheels I had left for $75 bucks. Also, got two more stock ‘saw blade’ style wheels for $25, at a local antique mall.

At this point I really liked the look of my truck, and also having two sets of wheels. However for me personally, there was just too much rim and not enough tire. And I really needed money anyway so I ended up selling them for a decent profit later on in the year.


October 2013, a buddy and I were walking through the junk yard and found a 14 bolt SF 6 lug, in a 93 GMC 2500, with 3.73 gear ratio. We didn’t have time to get it that day before they closed, and I had to go back to school and work the next couple days. So a couple buddies pulled it for me, I paid them back $100 plus a case of beer. Then, a couple weeks later, a couple of us went back and pulled the front diff out of the same truck. I paid $60 bucks plus a $15 core. (pics later on)

I also found a 93 Jeep XJ steering shaft, paid $15 bucks for it.

November 2013, I found another prize in the junkyard.
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A month-ish later, several of us went back and pulled it. Cost me $80 plus $10 core.
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For those of you who may not know, that there is a NV4500, basically a heavy duty 5-speed that has granny low first and overdrive 5th. This is the earlier version produced in (92?)-94, so it has a 6.34:1 first gear ratio. At that point, I wasn’t sure what my plan with it was exactly, whether I going to flip it or rebuild/swap it with my old worn out NV3500. The latter seemed more sensible and bada**, but was to be decided later on down the road.
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About now, give or take a month or two, I bought a couple subs and box from my buddy so that he could continue to fund his engine build. Subs aren’t anything fancy just some 10” Kicker CVRs dual 4 ohm, Box was custom made for a single cab truck, and also came with a couple 4” Polk coaxials..
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Somewhere in here I also modified and added a full length Overhead Console with a Driver Information Center and 4 spot lights, from a 01-ish S10 Blazer. The DIC only had the Temp and Compass functions. Since my truck is OBD1, it worked out in my favor. I currently don’t have any pics but I can add some if anyone is interested.


January 2014 the truck rolled a quarter mill:
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Also around that time, I got around to throwing the XJ shaft on.
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Jan or Feb 2014- Finally got around to the axles, I started with the front diff. We replaced all 3 bearing sets, both seals and sealed the case with gasket maker.

Then in early March 2014, it was onto the rear. The gears were fairly clean for the most part and the axle itself only needed a few things done. Besides a real good cleaning, one of the brake drums needed to be turned and of course the infamous G80 needed attention.
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So I took care of those two cross pins on the G80 with a cut of wheel.
I then went on to wire wheel and grind it clean. Threw some primer, few coats of rattle can black, and a couple coats of clear. Not the best paint job, but it’ll do. Still planning on replacing the bearings and seals, I just haven’t had the chance to.
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About that time, I went to the junkyard again, found a decent black passenger fender and a smoothie front bumper.
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A year after the shop replaced all the ball joints and the alignment, most of them were worn again. So I opted to replace all 4 ball joints, inner and outer tie road ends on both sides, and the lower control arm/torsion bar on the passenger side. Thinking that would fix the whole wheel being an inch towards the rear and all. So I was planning to get this accomplished over spring break.
Couple problems I ran into. First was the pass side hub assembly needed replacement desperately, decided to replace both sides to be safe. Second was after I unbolted the pass side lower control arm, it came to my realization that there was definitely something funky going on with the frame.
At this point I admitted my buddy Jeremy was right, and that I needed to get it to a frame shop. So back together it went. After quite a bit of persuasion with a come-along wrapped around both torsion bars, we finally got the old LCA bolted back up. Finished it up with all new ball joints, new TRE's and new hubs.

The next day I went and got it half-a** aligned, so that I could at least drive it to back to school.

4/14/2014, I dropped my truck off at the frame shop to get estimate number 4. This guy said he’d beat everyone else’s quotes. So that’s where I’m at as of right now. Patiently waiting to get the frame all straightened out.


Near Future plans after frame work:
-Pass Fender-Smoothie front bumper-94 & up GMC grille with billet bars-Maybe Core support if needed.
-Swap front and rear axles
-Exhaust.. Headers probably shorties, replace/ or gut cat, and a new muffler....have yet to decide exactly.
-NBS Silverado Brake master cylinder swap and RWAL delete
-Ultimate TBI Mods and custom salad bowl mod
-maybe Demold side trim??
-20% to 25%-ish Tint all the way around, minus windshield.
Just to name a few… :cool: haha
 

98_k1500

strange noises are normal
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Nice truck man, if you still have that nv4500, she needs to go on your "future plans" list. Sounds like you bout got figured out what you wanna do with it. On my truck, that was the hardest part.
 

SCOTTYINWV

si vis pacem, para bellum
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Thanks fellas glad to be here!
This truck has played a massive roll in my life and I felt the need to share.

Haha hell yeah man! :cheers: She get her name from the song?

Haha yessir. It came on when I was puttin a ricer in it's place and it just clicked with it :lol: :cheers:
 

98_k1500

strange noises are normal
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Write up says those are aftermath pics of the snow-nut incident. It is indeed bent lol.
 
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