jtlichty's 97 RCSB Z71

[jtlichty]

It's taken me a while to compile all of my pics into my photobucket and it's still a work in progress but here is my truck. I figured it was time to start my own thread to follow all the changes I've made to my baby. So, here it is. My 97 Reg Cab Short Box Red Z71 Silverado, from purchase to present. Hopefully keeping up with this post won't be as long of a process as starting it. Comments welcome!

Here are a few of the Dealer pics from when I bought it:

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[jtlichty]

The first thing I did to my new truck was remove the stock stereo and cd player and put in my stereo system that I removed from the 97 bonneville that I traded in on it including: Sony head unit/cdplayer, Dual amp, and Dual 12" sub behind the drivers seat in a custom built box.
After that here is the first exterior change I made:

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[jtlichty]

The bowtie and corners were both coated with Plasti-Dip and my next changes soon followed. I cranked the torsion bars, removed the clear from the stock rims and polished them, installed Truxedo Truxport cover, installed a LED light bar, painted the hubs and underbody black, restored the trim with Turtle Wax trim restorer, cleaned up the headlight and parking light lenses with the 3M headlight restoration kit, installed Sylvania Silverstar high and low beam lights and white parking lights,
and clay barred and waxed the whole truck.

Here are some pics of the trim restorer.
Before:

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During:

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After:

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Here are some pics of the headlight restoration.
Before:

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After:

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Here are a couple of pics of the new lights/cleared lenses.
Before, with old lights:

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After, with new lights:

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And, here is a pic of all the changes thus far together:

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[jtlichty]

Sorry some of the pics are so huge. Haven't figured out how to make them all the same size, but it does help show the details of the changes a little better! More to come soon!

 

[jtlichty]

Soon after I had the windows and back windshield tinted and then I came across a set of 17x9 Pacers on CL for $300 that only needed a little bit of polishing.

After a little love from Mother's Mag Wheel Polish:

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Then found a set of LT 285/70R17 Cooper Discoverer ATR's on CL and talked the guy down to $25 bucks because of the condition. They were almost shot but I couldn't wait to get the rims on so I mounted them and put em on knowing that I'd have to replace the tires soon. I have no patience!!

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[jtlichty]

Later that summer I had the tires replaced with Firestone Destination A/T P285/70R17's and had the Pitman and Idler arms replaced. About an hour after I picked her up from the shop from getting this done I drove it 4 hours to the family lake house hauling this pig for the last half of the drive.

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[jtlichty]

Here are a couple of things I've fixed over the last year or so in the midst of all of the exterior changes.

My steering was a little squirly at low speeds and I was told I needed a new steering angle sensor so I replaced that. Here is the only pic I took while I had the steering column dropped during the sensor switch:

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$25, problem solved!

I was also having issue with my headlights not switching from Hi to Lo properly so I picked up a new headlight switch at the local junkyard and replaced that as well. The new one matches the rest of the interior so much better!

Old:

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Both switches:

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New:

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$10, problem solved!

Both of my door handles were cracked/broken and starting to seem like I might pull them right off when opening the door so i picked up a couple of those at the junkyard as well. I don't have any pics of the new ones but I painted them with Gloss black paint and I think they look much better. Here are a couple pics of the cracked door handles and the process:

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$20, problem solved!

I also had a set of brand new pioneer speakers for the doors laying around so I threw them in while the door panels were off.

 

[eric.s.t]

Nice truck!! so clean! I wouldn't change a thing now! Their so hard to find untouched but almost original. Real nice job man

 

[jtlichty]

Nice truck!! so clean! I wouldn't change a thing now! Their so hard to find untouched but almost original. Real nice job man

Thanks!

 

[jtlichty]

Last summer I added a couple of chrome tips and polished up the rims some more and did a little photo shoot. Here are the results:

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Me and a couple buddies also did a little catfishing on the mississippi river this summer!

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And here's one of mine and my buddies trucks at the softball diamonds.

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