Steve, my 1995 K1500 Cowboy Cadillac.

[MIHELA]

So I've been on this forum since it started, and it's about time I made a build thread. My truck has seen a lot of changes since I got it.
I purchased this truck back at the tail end of Cash for Clunkers back in August of 2009. We needed a truck to do stuff for the house and move things around, etc. I wanted something that I could take remote camping sometime in the future. This truck was less than 3 grand and a little rusty, but it was a custom conversion done by Starline Customs out of Utah and had wood accents and aftermarket seats. Z71 350 with a 5 speed. It fit the bill perfectly, so we bought it.

 

[MIHELA]

The first thing I did was get rid of the vent visor (there was only one) and the Deflectashield. I'm not an old man just yet. Too bad the screw holes were already all rusty.

 

[MIHELA]

I did the TBI mods and installed cluster LED's little cosmetic stuff in the first year I owned the truck. Then in April 2011 my alternator died and I did the first real modification. I installed a CS144 in place of the old CS 130. I also installed new intake gaskets.

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[MIHELA]

Installed a HID kit a month later and became that guy.

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[MIHELA]

Well a few posts in and already screwed up my timeline. In late 2010 I picked up a 14 bolt SF and installed it using an ORD Ubolt flip kit. Apparently I never took pictures of it. Used a Hummer H2 diff cover and installed new brakes on it. I figured I could get by with the brakes that were on it buy the shoes were bad enough that it blew both cylinders so I did it all.

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[MIHELA]

For quality of life I installed some bed tie downs. They come from 800 series and newer trucks and were a serviced part for some reason even though they were spot welded in. I just made a template and drilled some holes and dremeled slots and riveted them in place. Still one of my favorite mods, the bad is damn near useless without them.

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[MIHELA]

Tie downs, being useful. This in when we moved to our current house.

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[MIHELA]

June of 2012, I installed an electric fan from a Ford Windstar. I built a harness that used a weatherpack relay mounted on the fusebox and powered off of the auxiliary stud. It was wired hot at all times and switched on and off by a thermostat switch installed in the passenger side cylinder head. This will be important later.

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[MIHELA]

The electric fan worked great, but would always come on a little bit after the truck was shut down due to heat soak, so I added a circuit inside the fusebox to power the relay in run only. I think I have pictures somewhere, but it's pretty straightforward. This setup was in place for quite a while and a similar setup is still in the truck today.

 

[MIHELA]

After we moved and settled in to our new house and scraped a little money together, I decided to tackle the worn steering and suspension in the spring of 2015. I replaced the pitman and idler arms and all 4 shocks. I got a set of Bilstien 5100s. Not trusting them to not bottom out in use, I decided it was time for a small lift, so I bought a shackle flip from ORD and cranked the front end a little more. I had a plan to correct the front geometry.

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