OEM+ Interior Upgrade Project (Escalade/Audio/LEDs)

I am going to use this as a bit of a working thread to post about some of my interior updates since I wasn't able to find a great reference all in one place. Hopefully will be a great place for others to chime in as well. The idea is to stay as subtle and OEM+ as possible.

My truck is a 2000 Tahoe Limited. The interior in these is slightly different than the standard SUVs in that it is 2-tone and got the 120 mph aqua-backlit cluster. Mine was also optioned with the cold weather package that gave it heated seats. Interior RPO code is 13I, and the lighter grey is the same as the standard grey GMT400 interior.

Escalades have a different interior color than all other GMT400s. It's a lighter, warmer color than the light grey and is less yellow than the common tan interiors that many of the 1995+ trucks have. It's possible to dye everything, but that's a lot of work and often doesn't turn out all that well.

Yukon Denalis also have a unique interior, but it is the same grey base color used on more common trucks with darker graphite inserts similar to the Tahoe Limited. The seat fabric pattern is unique, and Denalis don't have wood trim inserts in the doors or the dashboard gauge bezel. However, they do have wood trim on the console and the window switches. I believe it's a different color than the Cadillac wood, and the insert for the console of course does not have the "Cadillac" script.

Both the Denali and the Escalade came with a lighter colored steering wheel that, in general, does not age well. The Cadillac version has wood inserts, and they are slightly different colors. Both also came with the Bose stereo, which uses unique speakers that are both a different impedance and a different size relative to standard GMT400 SUVs.

The "upgrade" parts I'll be adding to my 2000 Tahoe Limited are

• Wood door trim strips to the doors
• Wood inlaid dashboard surround
• Wood front door switch clusters
• Escalade console
• Escalade subwoofer, assuming it doesn't interfere with the shifter
  
• Updated sound system (components/amp/HU)
  
• Interior lighting to match the aqua-colored Limited cluster
• Power outlets/integrated inverter
• Rear sleeping platform

Maybe more as we go. We'll see.

This is the truck in question. It's used as a race hauler to get me around the country with a dirt bike on the back. I generally sleep in the back, and put in at least hours a day behind the wheel to the races that are further from home.






The G80 locker makes it surprisingly capable off pavement as long as it isn't muddy. I really don't miss 4wd much and at least so far have never actually gotten stuck. It does tend to 3 wheel quite a bit though, and definitely is more "good enough" than actually "good".

One of the things I did that I forgot about until just now was lowering the driver's seat. I cut 1" out of the seat brackets on both sides, parallel with the floor to maintain seat angle, and welded it back together. After trimming the bottom off of the plastic beauty panel, you really can't tell I did anything. Being 6'4", I always have the seat adjusted as low as it can go. Now, I have some room with the adjustment so on long drives I can change the angle of the seat bottom without raising the seat up to keep my back from getting stiff.

The modification doesn't really work on the passenger side. The transmission tunnel stamping is offset to the passenger side, and the seat rail already basically sits on the carpet. Any height reduction would have to happen in the seat base itself, and that's more work than it's worth to me.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a before picture, so all I have is the passenger side for comparison. I know, it's dirty and my floor mats don't fit:


After. Super hard to tell because the trim panel is so tight to the carpet, but it's an inch!:

I love those wheels, those are the factory ones correct? Id like to snag a set some day

24 Karat Brown said:

I love those wheels, those are the factory ones correct? Id like to snag a set some day

Click to expand...

Yep, they are 1994-1996 Impala SS wheels. Direct fit, no spacers or anything. They are 17x8.75ish, et+6 offset. 275/55r17 tires all around. The center caps are from a Chevy Venture minivan.

gearheadE30 said:

Yep, they are 1994-1996 Impala SS wheels. Direct fit, no spacers or anything. They are 17x8.75ish, et+6 offset. 275/55r17 tires all around. The center caps are from a Chevy Venture minivan.

Click to expand...

I plan on getting a set one day but they're hard to find for less than $500

24 Karat Brown said:

I plan on getting a set one day but they're hard to find for less than $500

Click to expand...

I got these a long time ago, from a somewhat sketchy looking tire shop in Chicago. They had them sitting on the street corner with a bunch of other wheels and a for sale sign. They're not in the best shape cosmetically, but they are straight and the price was right.


A few pics of doing the rear door cards with the Escalade wood trim. My phone was dead so no pictures of the process, but it's very straightforward. The wood trim is held on to the door card with 2 M5 bolts and 3 plastic studs with stamped nuts. I have pics from doing the fronts; they are the same way. Unscrew the hardware and the wood comes right off. It might be stuck on a bit, seems like the adhesive holding the door card insert on also sticks to the wood a bit. Mine took some doing to take off. Carefully measure the bolt locations, drill holes (carefully!!) in your door card, and you're good to go.

The rear door skin plastic shells were actually identical between my Tahoe and the Escalade, aside from the speaker mount. Same color and everything. The only difference was the upholstery glued on top. The front plastic shells are different.

The speaker actually mounts to the door card in the rear, which is not a great design but I didn't feel like going to the trouble to give the speaker something more rigid to mount to. More rigid mounting = more responsive speaker though, so there is definitely an opportunity here from a sound quality perspective. The stock speaker uses plastic expanding rivets, which are fine, but I used threaded clip nuts and screws on mine. Space is very limited behind the speakers, but I was able to fit a set of Polk Audio DB652 6.5" 2 way speakers back there. I used XTC foam speaker shrouds both to protect them and to have some kind of a soft buffer between the speaker driver and the door. I trimmed a hole in the shrouds to pass the wires through, and to open up the air space behind the speaker. The stock speakers have a foam strip glued to the back that achieves the same spacing effect.

I have a lot more pictures from doing the fronts, I promise! For the rears, I only have before and after. You also get a sneak peek at my sleeping platform.





Passenger side got some sunlight. I'm really happy with how it looks in breaking up the door panel, and it's even better with the doors closed. Adds some warmth to an otherwise very visually cold interior.

Quick comments on interior paint. Lots of threads out there with various paints suggested, but I struggled to find part numbers. Sewlow also has a thread that goes through interior prep as well; it's a great reference. As with anything paint-related:

• Prep is everything
• Take your time. Do it right, once.
• Try to stick with one brand. You might get lucky and others will be compatible, but if not, you have to start over.
• Prep is everything

I'm not going to go through all the prep stuff, since Sewlow did a better job than I ever could.

I used SEM paint. First a note on adhesion promoters: yes, this is important for a durable finish. There are a few versions available from SEM. I initially bought 77723 because it came up in a thread here, but it turns out this is primarily for use on thermoplastics. I used it on some door handle surrounds and it worked, but it's really not the right tool for the job and I have no idea how well it would hold up long term or in high-wear areas. Our GMT400 interiors are made mostly of some type of ABS, which is a different chemical structure. SEM specifies 38363 Sand Free adhesion promoter for our plastic.

One side benefit of this is that you can chemically weld our cracked interiors back together with some success using Acetone. It's a bit of a messy thing but can be a useful option to have in your back pocket.

For my RPO 13I interior, 15393 Medium Grey color coat seems to be the best match.

I was also curious if I could find a match for the darker grey on the interior, in case I wanted some contrast on the center console. 15303 Graphite seemed like a good option there.

I did not use a clear/top coat. Just my personal decision on that one. Gloss looks cheap in an interior, but I could see using the matte clear top coat if you wanted to.

SEM paint is available through Oreilley's if you run out or buy the wrong thing like I did and don't want to wait on an internet shipment.

Here's a comparison. The left is Graphite, the middle is Medium Grey (painted over the Escalade light tan), and the right is an unpainted surround. Medium grey is slightly less warm than the stock color, but in the shadows of an interior, it's a pretty darn close fit and you'd never notice unless you were looking for it.



Graphite is a darn close match for the dark grey on the door handles. The dark grey inserts on the Limited/Z71/Denali seats is a little bit less blue and isn't quite as dark as this paint. The dark grey insert on the gauge cluster surround trim is only slightly darker, is also marginally less blue, and is less shiny than this paint. The seats would be a noticeable change. If you painted the whole inner contrasting part of the gauge trim with a matte flattener on top, it would be pretty darn close to stock.

I'm not keeping it like this as I don't care for how it looks, but was a good way to compare.

looking good so far.

have you thought about the chrome handles from the Escalade/Denali?

Love the information on this thread! Great build and very detailed so far.