Colorado2500's 1989 C2500 ECLB Build (The Little Big Truck)

[95C1500]

I love this truck. Keep up the good work

 

[Colorado2500]

lookin good. Put some wax on those shocks to help keep them looking new. I have 5100 bilstiens so I rub them with steel wool then spray them with silicone and they still look brand new 30k later.

Thanks for the tip. What kind of silicone would you recommend and where could I find some? Also, just on the shock body I'm guessing...?

 

[SkyHighColorado]

Thanks for the tip. What kind of silicone would you recommend and where could I find some? Also, just on the shock body I'm guessing...?

Mine are that brushed metal look so I don't put wax on them I usually just spray them with quick shine in a can. But you can use armorall wheel protectant and brake dust repellant. Many products out there are silicone based so I mean you could even wipe them with wd40.

 

[Colorado2500]

Alright, got my tax refund, and already got my order from summit racing for some exhaust parts!

1. Flowmaster scavenger collector to replace the factory collector on the stock y-pipe as it is very restrictive
2. Catco catalytic converter to replace the factory pancake cat, which is old and fairly restrictive
3. Rust-Oleum exhaust paint to coat all the welds, new and old on my exhaust
4. Stickers, because why not
The truck should sound better, louder, meaner, while improving power, but I'll let y'all know how it works next weekend when I put it all on the truck.

 

[Colorado2500]

Here's the fun stuff!

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Summit is fantastic, I ordered Friday evening and its here Wednesday.

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Can't wait to put it all on, I mean, I can hear the awesome already, and I can taste the horsepower.

 

[Colorado2500]

That exhaust setup that I was planning on doing, didn't work at all, because that would make way too much sense.
Basically I didn't check and measure as much as I should've, so nothing fit and I ended up returning the parts.
After the huge fail, I decided to just take a step back and rethink/refocus what I'm doing with the truck.

 

[Colorado2500]

So here's the plan:
What I want is an adventure/moderate offroad truck that is still very streetable.

For Drivetrain:
-More power, so I'm thinking of doing so more mild mods to the 350 and just keeping it going because I want to see if I can get 300k out of it before it needs serious work.
Eventually though, I will go to a gen 3/4 vortec, probably a 5.3 or 6.0
-For transmission, I'm still undecided about if I want to stay automatic and get a built one, just or swap in a manual.
-The rear end is pretty solid, and it already has 4.10 gears, but it needs a locker real bad, I'm thinking a powertrax no-slip or a Detroit.

For Suspension/Steering:
-Full steering rebuild with new tie rods, idler, and pitman since I'm pretty sure it's on all stock parts still and they're pretty worn.
-New servicable ball joints and some polyurethane control arm bushings to replace the stock ones.
-XJ steering shaft swap to tighten up the steering
-RCX spindle lift, but instead of using a rear block, I'm going to do a ORD 4 inch shackle flip and use their u-bolt flip kit to correct my upside down stock u-bolts. The truck since its a 2500 has a taller and nearly level ride compared to a 1500 and I've noticed the rcx kit makes the front ride higher which I don't like so I'd want to raise it equally.
-After the lift, upgrade to 33s
-New wheels at some point, not sure if I want to go to 17s or stick with 16s yet.
-Eventually, a solid axle swap, but I don't have any details of what I want to do yet
-RWAL delete to improve the brake pedal feel, and brake performance
-Braided SS brake lines to replace the stock rubbers, in order to improve the line strength and brake pedal feel

Exterior:
-Needs a truck bed toolbox, in black, so I can get all of my tools and such out of the back seat.
-Needs a black grille so I'm thinking for now just plasti-dipping the stock grille and later getting just a new repro sport model one.
-Repaint the diamond plate bed rails with bedliner or something more durable than just the black paint I have now
-Paint the leading edge of the hood with like bedliner when I get rid of the surface rust and to give it a textured surface
-Demold the rockers and coat them with bedliner or like line x
-Custom rear bumper with tire carrier to increase departure angle and have a place for rear recovery points and put a spare tire
-Tubular front winch bumper, probably just the buy the ORD one since its almost exactly what I'm looking for.
-Some offroad lights on the front bumper, 4 I'm thinking
-Upgrade to the LMC quad headlights and get led taillights and park lights
-Get some factory fender flares
-Needs a new windshield, current is cracked
-Replace the clear, leaky, sliding rear window with a tinted one piece window
-Maybe some trimming for clearance around the tires, or a body lift

Interior:
-New headliner, right now it sags pretty bad so I have it stapled up
-New seats, probably some corbeau suspension seats and some kind of center console
-New dash/gauge bezel as mine is cracked up
-Better head unit, more speakers maybe amped, bigger sub and better wiring
-A pillar gauges, and more accurate gauges like for oil pressure, oil temp, and water temp
-Different steering wheel, I like the stock wheel design itself, but I'd rather have a smaller and softer to the touch wheel

*This list is just to help get my ideas down and keep track of them, so it is likely to change and such.

 

[Colorado2500]

Took off my front sway bar, I want to redo with new bushings and repaint it here soon.
For now it should be fine, the truck rides pretty much the same with it off and I don't go racing, so it'll be fine with it off for now.

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Also, I removed all the dangley rubber guards that hang down from the front inner fenders that surround the front suspension. They were rubbing the paint off my upper control arms and annoyed me whenever I had to work around there.

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I'm going wheeling and shooting out in the desert this weekend, so I'll see how the truck does, and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

 

[Colorado2500]

Did a little wheeling/exploring and shooting this weekend, and the truck did pretty well.

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[twomanymontes]

Beautiful scenery! Wish I had trails like that around here.