1993 C1500 Silverado - Modernized Daily Driver

[John Young]

Progress continues! Big discoveries for today: 1. POR-15 doesn’t come out your hair, off your face or hands without taking the hair and skin it’s attached to with it! 2. If you’re installing a new Curt hitch AND drop shackles…do the drop shackles first…”minimal bolt clearance!”

All that said…progress continues!

Drop shackles are installed and the rust conversion is as complete as it’s going to be for now. 2” of rear drop will level it out a bit…looking forward to the new look with the bed back on. The drop shackles were a relatively easy mod…especially with the bed off.

Next I’m flipping ends and starting to work on the grill, front lights & wiring. Progressing towards the cab with wires and new “luxuries” that I’ll talk about later.

 

[Moparmat2000]

I cant stand por 15 maybe I'm OCD but something unnerves me about just brushing over rusty metal. I am of the strip and epoxy primer camp. But that's just me. Nice project though. Coming along nicely. Cover that por 15 with chassis black paint to extend its life.

 

[19richie66]

That looks great. Can’t wait to see what it looks like with the bed back on with the drop shackles. I pretty much have the same truck though red and white. Interior is almost new but the paint is horrible. Truck is rust free and all original. I want to do like you are and make it a nice driver. Following along

 

[John Young]

I cant stand por 15 maybe I'm OCD but something unnerves me about just brushing over rusty metal. I am of the strip and epoxy primer camp. But that's just me. Nice project though. Coming along nicely. Cover that por 15 with chassis black paint to extend its life.

If it sticks to the truck half as well as it sticks to my skin it should last a while!

 

[John Young]

That looks great. Can’t wait to see what it looks like with the bed back on with the drop shackles. I pretty much have the same truck though red and white. Interior is almost new but the paint is horrible. Truck is rust free and all original. I want to do like you are and make it a nice driver. Following along

Awesome…let me know if you have any questions. I’m taking up two stalls in the garage right now so the urgency to finish is definitely on me!

 

[John Young]

More done today!
- Installed the new Anzio headlights. Ended up tapping into the hot lead on the windshield wiper motor so the halos would function whenever the ignition is on…the instructions from Anzo leave a lot to be desired…but a little research and it ended up being pretty simple. I’ll be replacing the standard bulbs that came with the Anzo lights to match the others.
- New Park Lights from LMC along with a new grill and side markers. Unfortunately the new Auxlight LEDs for the park lights seem to be undersized for the sockets…they won’t stay engaged on the left side…a warranty call will be in order.
- Installed the headlight relay mod from LMC to keep the low beams on when I engage the brights.
- Lastly, installed an OAT temp sensor I pulled from my airplane a while back in the grill area. I’ll be installing the gauge in the new upper center console later.

Next is the differential changes…anxiously awaiting the completed bed, bumpers, etc from the paint shop!

 

[Drunkcanuk]

Looking good! See some serious tunage waiting for installation....nice.

 

[Moparmat2000]

More done today!
- Installed the new Anzio headlights. Ended up tapping into the hot lead on the windshield wiper motor so the halos would function whenever the ignition is on…the instructions from Anzo leave a lot to be desired…but a little research and it ended up being pretty simple. I’ll be replacing the standard bulbs that came with the Anzo lights to match the others.
- New Park Lights from LMC along with a new grill and side markers. Unfortunately the new Auxlight LEDs for the park lights seem to be undersized for the sockets…they won’t stay engaged on the left side…a warranty call will be in order.
- Installed the headlight relay mod from LMC to keep the low beams on when I engage the brights.
- Lastly, installed an OAT temp sensor I pulled from my airplane a while back in the grill area. I’ll be installing the gauge in the new upper center console later.

Next is the differential changes…anxiously awaiting the completed bed, bumpers, etc from the paint shop!

That looks great. I love the grille especially. I put switchback LEDs in my daily driver for the signals, and also plan to on my Silverado. This way they light up white as running lights to match the headlights, and only switch to amber when they flash as signals.

 

[John Young]

Yesterday’s achievement!
I know it doesn’t look like much of a change…but it was one of the more expensive ones. I had a local shop that specializes in differentials “Gears Unlimited” upgrade me to limited slip, 3.73 gears (from 3.08s) and replace the 30 year old bearings. It’s one of those things I chose to have a professional do…could I have gotten there…probably…but it would have taken a full weekend and it’s not something I’ve done before.
I have to baby it and vary the speeds for 500 miles then take it back in so they can check that it’s all good for another 50,000 miles.
Now…to change things so my speed reads correctly!

 

[John Young]

Today, starting the reverse install of the interior and also the extra goodies! That will include quite a bit of wiring.

With the help of my next door neighbor we got the headliner recovered and started the mods to install an overhead console, OAT gauge and the new KIA mirror with auto dimming and hone link. Also will be installing sound deadening along the way!