Mattsred03
TYF Newbie
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2017
- Posts
- 24
- Reaction score
- 28
3 years ago today, I bought my 03 Tahoe LT. My previous car was beyond economical repair (02 Buick Century with just under 300,000 miles). My brother-in-law works for the local Ford dealership and had just gotten a Tahoe in on trade. Like new condition, 100 percent stock and only 79,584 miles on it. And when I say stock, I mean it still had the original tires from the factory with a fair amount of tread left. $8,100 out the door and an it was mine all mine.
First things first, the intake was almost immediately switched to an Airaid Jr kit. And within that first year, I replaced the breaks, hubs, tires, front shocks, water pump, belt tensioner, idler, and had the drivers seat recovered because it had a little wear mark. I also added an under seat sub under the rear seat and installed some red lights behind the rear vent cover caps so they glow red at night. I agree with most in that I don't particularly like those covers but the Escalade covers are just boring compared to the vents of the Tahoe/Youkon. So I added the lights to give it some personality. I scrubbed and polished those caps to a high shine and hit it with a light clear coat so they would stay shiney. It helps reflect the light too. I'd never seen anyone else do that before and I haven't seen anyone else do that either. So am I the only one? Maybe. I did see later here on TYF, last year, someone did that with Esky caps, but not the stock Tahoe ones. All that was done before the end of November 2015.
The next year, she got expensive. $2,200 in A/C repair, and another $1,400 to do a little transmission work. I didnt even upgrade anything. All I did was add in my ****** Max360 (hardwired in of course).
This past year, I have had some fun with her. I ended up having a dual exhaust put in tucked up high so you can't see the tail pipe. For me exhaust shouldn't be seen or heard. Everyone and their grandmother has chrome tips and loud pipes. That scene is overdone so I did something different and decided to hide the exhaust as much as possible. Super happy with it. I also hit up BBP and got a tune ordered for it. Though I must say, I was expecting a little more out of a tune. Mileage dropped and i was expecting slightly better. Seems like throttle response was all that was improved. It was so much of a problem and hassle to get things to work with my computer and then on the truck, however, BBP was willing to help the whole way through so I do appreciate that. I also added cut off switches to the radar detector, sub, and vent cover lights. I removed that worthless dash cubby to the right of the radio and put in the flush cover plate and installed rocker switches there for the cut out switxhes. Kinda looks factory in a way. I also installed an iSimple adapter so I could plug in my phone to the radio and hardwired in a charger cord with a wireless charger. The last thing I did was I added a trailer hitch because it didn't have one. I mounted the trailer lights plug out of sight behind the cross bar. I like a clean look. She did give me A/C issues again and wouldn't keep a charge. It ended up being the rear system had sprung a leak in the rear condenser so that ended up being another $950 to climate control repair.
I was about ready to look at getting modern 18" factory wheels for her, but my tour in Pensacola was coming to an end. I have my orders overseas and I am not taking that large of a vehicle to Japan with me. It sucks to know that it will just be 3 years rotting while I'm gone. My parents have said they'll let me park it at their house but dad drives a 13 Ram Laramie loaded from bumper to bumper and mom has a loaded Enclave. My poor ol Tahoe won't stand a chance to get driven. Lol.
Anyway, I write this rant to say Happy Birthday you red devil. You were built 30 November 2002 and I bought you 12 years and 6 days later. Your current mileage is 110,882 and I would argue you're in better condition then when I got you. I will miss you while I'm gone but I'll be excited to come back home and have a car with no payment. Oh yeah.
Thanks to anyone who stuck with me and read my post and my story about my Tahoe. I didn't know where else to post this where anyone might care so here you go TYF.
First things first, the intake was almost immediately switched to an Airaid Jr kit. And within that first year, I replaced the breaks, hubs, tires, front shocks, water pump, belt tensioner, idler, and had the drivers seat recovered because it had a little wear mark. I also added an under seat sub under the rear seat and installed some red lights behind the rear vent cover caps so they glow red at night. I agree with most in that I don't particularly like those covers but the Escalade covers are just boring compared to the vents of the Tahoe/Youkon. So I added the lights to give it some personality. I scrubbed and polished those caps to a high shine and hit it with a light clear coat so they would stay shiney. It helps reflect the light too. I'd never seen anyone else do that before and I haven't seen anyone else do that either. So am I the only one? Maybe. I did see later here on TYF, last year, someone did that with Esky caps, but not the stock Tahoe ones. All that was done before the end of November 2015.
The next year, she got expensive. $2,200 in A/C repair, and another $1,400 to do a little transmission work. I didnt even upgrade anything. All I did was add in my ****** Max360 (hardwired in of course).
This past year, I have had some fun with her. I ended up having a dual exhaust put in tucked up high so you can't see the tail pipe. For me exhaust shouldn't be seen or heard. Everyone and their grandmother has chrome tips and loud pipes. That scene is overdone so I did something different and decided to hide the exhaust as much as possible. Super happy with it. I also hit up BBP and got a tune ordered for it. Though I must say, I was expecting a little more out of a tune. Mileage dropped and i was expecting slightly better. Seems like throttle response was all that was improved. It was so much of a problem and hassle to get things to work with my computer and then on the truck, however, BBP was willing to help the whole way through so I do appreciate that. I also added cut off switches to the radar detector, sub, and vent cover lights. I removed that worthless dash cubby to the right of the radio and put in the flush cover plate and installed rocker switches there for the cut out switxhes. Kinda looks factory in a way. I also installed an iSimple adapter so I could plug in my phone to the radio and hardwired in a charger cord with a wireless charger. The last thing I did was I added a trailer hitch because it didn't have one. I mounted the trailer lights plug out of sight behind the cross bar. I like a clean look. She did give me A/C issues again and wouldn't keep a charge. It ended up being the rear system had sprung a leak in the rear condenser so that ended up being another $950 to climate control repair.
I was about ready to look at getting modern 18" factory wheels for her, but my tour in Pensacola was coming to an end. I have my orders overseas and I am not taking that large of a vehicle to Japan with me. It sucks to know that it will just be 3 years rotting while I'm gone. My parents have said they'll let me park it at their house but dad drives a 13 Ram Laramie loaded from bumper to bumper and mom has a loaded Enclave. My poor ol Tahoe won't stand a chance to get driven. Lol.
Anyway, I write this rant to say Happy Birthday you red devil. You were built 30 November 2002 and I bought you 12 years and 6 days later. Your current mileage is 110,882 and I would argue you're in better condition then when I got you. I will miss you while I'm gone but I'll be excited to come back home and have a car with no payment. Oh yeah.
Thanks to anyone who stuck with me and read my post and my story about my Tahoe. I didn't know where else to post this where anyone might care so here you go TYF.
