New Guy. My Hoe & What I want it to be.

[jarydM]

Hey, Everbody new to the site & seeking some advice. Recently bought my 07 Tahoe LS 4.8L. Just hit 111K Miles, but has been in the family since it had 7 Miles. The vehicle has been well taken care of & I love it.

In the end when it's all said & done I want to have a loud, mean, Tahoe. Once I finish the most important upgrades/mods I'm going to paint her Matte Jet Black & probably throw some rims on it to fully ****** it out. This probably won't happen anytime soon but Little by little I'll get to what I want & I can't wait to finish & share it with you all. Again any and all advice is appreciated!

Welcome to the forum, its the best way to spend money. Hopefully you can find what you need, and as you get started, make your very own Build Thread, so we can follow your progress.

Good luck!

 

[Fosscore]

Welcome.

 

[Ulak34]

Hats off to both of you guys, It shows that hard work does pay off. So many times I see kids that just have their hands out for freebies from mommy and daddy, it makes me sick seeing some of the stuff these kids think they are entitled to.

Good work, keep it up!!!!

I know what you mean, I did get it at a steal of 10K, but I worked my ass off for it. I've always been a bust your back instead of taking it for free kind of guy.

 

[Ulak34]

Welcome to the forum. Much respect for putting in the work to get it yourself, you'll appreciate it much more. I had to take a break half way through reading so I could pee, but I made it back

Lol, I know it was a lot. I'm hoping in 5 years or so I can have my finished project! Once it's fully murdered out I'm thinking of badging it "Midnight Edition" Lol

 

[Ulak34]

Buy a corvette

I actually do have one, In GTA. I drive the 'Burban on there more though. Lol

 

[Ulak34]

Earning it yourself is the best part. Blood sweat and tears go into every penny that pays for my Denali hahah, and in super proud to seat that at 24 I have basics,my my dream car and it's all my own. I know the feeling! Even the smallest of mods will make it your own, and you will love that!

I hear you. When I did my K&N It felt so rewarding. Installing it myself while having a drink listening to music. Look forward to doing that more with my Hoe. Of course earning it and knowing how much work I put in to get her will always be the best feeling in the world.

 

[DenaliEd]

Welcome!! Your best bet is going to be to parse out your questions into the appropriate sub-forums on here. That way people can see what you're asking about, versus one giant batch of questions. Just don't litter the forum with 50 posts either.

My best question for you to think about is: What will this vehicle be doing? My answers might differ it's just your DD and you drive 5 miles a day to work on city streets vs if you want to build a hard-core off-road rig with the truck.

My suggestion for first things to do: Get it back up to factory standards. You mentioned shocks, it's time to address those. I prefer Bilstein over Rancho, but they're more expensive. Make sure the suspension is all up to spec, your tires are in good shape, give it some new plugs, fresh fluids all around, and just make sure it's going to be a good reliable driver. Check out this forum and see what common problems are and how to fix them.

If you're new to wrenching and working on cars, go to YouTube and check out Roadkill and HotRod Garage, Dirt Every Day on the Motor Trend channel. There are a ton of cool projects, great ideas, and just funny stuff going on in that. Check out other sites and find out what you're passionate about and start working on it. Maybe you'll find that the Tahoe is a great DD, but you really want to find a CJ-5 and go out in the desert with your buddies, or something. Do some exploring. I've been watching automotive TV since I was a kid, (back when we still had to watch commercials!) and it's what's fueled my passion for cars, as well as my knowledge.

As far as mods go, I wouldn't worry about turbos, cams, gears, etc if your first time wrenching on a vehicle was installing the K&N intake. Do the little appearance things you want to do, fix what breaks, and enjoy the vehicle for a while as-is, and as your skills and comfort level grows, tackle bigger projects, like the exhaust.

Finally, it may be cool to go on here and see that so and so did a supercharger, or this or that, but understand that their situation is probably different than yours, and don't run a giant credit card bill up to make a cool truck that your friends like. Make the truck cool, but make sure you're focusing on things like maybe finishing college, getting a good career started, buying a house, family, etc. It's fun to have a cool vehicle, but if you're scrimping gas money because you wasted it on rims or a paint job, doesn't make it that much fun anymore.

 

[adventurenali92]

I hear you. When I did my K&N It felt so rewarding. Installing it myself while having a drink listening to music. Look forward to doing that more with my Hoe. Of course earning it and knowing how much work I put in to get her will always be the best feeling in the world.

I just picked up a spectre intake from another remember and hopefully it'd going in today. Usually I do mods myself but I have clients that own a custom jeep shop and I'm doing a detail for them. He offered to put it on for me while I detail. I figured why the heck not. Lol then I know I won screw anything up haha.

 

[Ulak34]

Welcome!! Your best bet is going to be to parse out your questions into the appropriate sub-forums on here. That way people can see what you're asking about, versus one giant batch of questions. Just don't litter the forum with 50 posts either.

My best question for you to think about is: What will this vehicle be doing? My answers might differ it's just your DD and you drive 5 miles a day to work on city streets vs if you want to build a hard-core off-road rig with the truck.

My suggestion for first things to do: Get it back up to factory standards. You mentioned shocks, it's time to address those. I prefer Bilstein over Rancho, but they're more expensive. Make sure the suspension is all up to spec, your tires are in good shape, give it some new plugs, fresh fluids all around, and just make sure it's going to be a good reliable driver. Check out this forum and see what common problems are and how to fix them.

If you're new to wrenching and working on cars, go to YouTube and check out Roadkill and HotRod Garage, Dirt Every Day on the Motor Trend channel. There are a ton of cool projects, great ideas, and just funny stuff going on in that. Check out other sites and find out what you're passionate about and start working on it. Maybe you'll find that the Tahoe is a great DD, but you really want to find a CJ-5 and go out in the desert with your buddies, or something. Do some exploring. I've been watching automotive TV since I was a kid, (back when we still had to watch commercials!) and it's what's fueled my passion for cars, as well as my knowledge.

As far as mods go, I wouldn't worry about turbos, cams, gears, etc if your first time wrenching on a vehicle was installing the K&N intake. Do the little appearance things you want to do, fix what breaks, and enjoy the vehicle for a while as-is, and as your skills and comfort level grows, tackle bigger projects, like the exhaust.

Finally, it may be cool to go on here and see that so and so did a supercharger, or this or that, but understand that their situation is probably different than yours, and don't run a giant credit card bill up to make a cool truck that your friends like. Make the truck cool, but make sure you're focusing on things like maybe finishing college, getting a good career started, buying a house, family, etc. It's fun to have a cool vehicle, but if you're scrimping gas money because you wasted it on rims or a paint job, doesn't make it that much fun anymore.

I appreciate this. A lot of what I posted is things that are not 100% necessary and I do know how to differentiate. Suspension and Mechanical things are the first that I will tackle as that's what'll keep her going. Tires are good but I have already started saving as I'll be buying my first pair this summer.

I would never run up huge debt. I've never had bad credit and don't ever want to. As I stated I know that I'm young but I have learned from others and listen to my elders and peers. I understand that I need to pay my bills and take care of my family & self before having certain luxuries. Plus I would never do something to impress others, I want my Hoe to look how it does for me. I could care less what my "Friends" think.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll make sure to check those channels out & see what I can pick up!

 

[Ulak34]

I just picked up a spectre intake from another remember and hopefully it'd going in today. Usually I do mods myself but I have clients that own a custom jeep shop and I'm doing a detail for them. He offered to put it on for me while I detail. I figured why the heck not. Lol then I know I won screw anything up haha.

Always better to let some experienced people do it! Plus I think that's cool. You guys are kind of bartering. Way to be!