I’m back with an Esky this time

Thanks guys. First reaction was wanting to hang someone by their toenails but I realized who it was, tried to put myself in their position and it was weird how it was just like a deep exhale and.................let it go. I may have shared a milestone for me here. I don’t normally turn the other cheek so easily. But you know what, it actually felt good. Getting soft in my old age. No screw that, I’m blaming it on the holidays. Hahaha


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Passenger side done.









Trim piece on lift gate is next.


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Snowbound said:

Thanks guys. First reaction was wanting to hang someone by their toenails but I realized who it was, tried to put myself in their position and it was weird how it was just like a deep exhale and.................let it go. I may have shared a milestone for me here. I don’t normally turn the other cheek so easily. But you know what, it actually felt good. Getting soft in my old age. No screw that, I’m blaming it on the holidays. Hahaha


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Click to expand...

Blame it on wisdom.

Opinions. She never liked wood trim and I’m trying to give her options. What do you think?

Here’s factory





Here is some silver/gray carbon fiber





She wanted to see it in black.





Any thoughts?


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I like them both. Are you going to do all of the wood in the interior? If you do it all, I think if it's in silver, it'll be too bright. Silver is good if you're just doing a few accents. Imo, black would look better through out the interior--classier for the Esky.

Tonyrodz said:

I like them both. Are you going to do all of the wood in the interior? If you do it all, I think if it's in silver, it'll be too bright. Silver is good if you're just doing a few accents. Imo, black would look better through out the interior--classier for the Esky.

Click to expand...

Yeah, she wants to get rid of the wood. My buddy came by and he hates both. He told her it’s a Caddy, it’s suppose to have the wood grain. He doesn’t even agree with blacking out the chrome. Told her it’s suppose to have bling, don’t make me take this Caddy away from you. Haha. So now she’s thinking she don’t like the carbon fiber but the wood does make it look more classy. Great!! Now I don’t have to tear the interior apart and wrap everything. But that can change by 2mrw.


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I'm not a fan of wood grain but I understand it's place in classy/upscale vehicles. Solid colors tend to make it look more "base model". My compromise is to wrap the wood grain parts in mine with a black and silver burl wood. It'll look like wisps of smoke against a black background. Keeps it classy but makes it cooler. Of course, this is always subject to change and I may end up with something "plain" like gloss black.

I like it in wrapped gloss black. Looks good againt the other piece thats silver.

I’d hate to go thru all the trouble of removing the parts and wrapping it just to get it back together and it looks too “over the top” if you know what I mean. I’ve been trying to find pics of someone who has done it already.

With the holidays upon us and having to cover vacations at work it’s gonna be a little while before I can get anymore done on the Esky. I have some other things that need to get done here as well.

My truck bed is in dire need of repair or replacement. It’s about gone above the wheel wells and the flares are one high pressure car wash away from flying off. So I’m most likely gonna buy a clean takeoff and paint it.



I started sanding down the inside and slapped some POR15 on the rear of the bed floor to seal up some surface rust and was gonna cut in some panels above the wheels but it will be faster to just get a replacement.



I have this CJ7 that I was gonna drive this winter but it needs some attention. I have a replacement floor for the rear along with some inner fenders because it’s been poorly patched by previous owner. I was gonna hit that and start driving it.



I still need to do some wiring and put the water pump and pulleys back on it.



I also have a few parts coming for the LS engine I’m building for the Formula. I need to get back to the machine shop to get rotating assembly balanced and I wanna talk to them about drilling and tapping the block deck for 1/2” head studs or just o-ringing it. I believe I stumbled upon a secret that GM didn’t want to get out. I guess I can share because I already got mine. I’ll try to make it quick. The iron 5.3 block I’m using will have forced induction so I’m trying to make the bottom end as strong as possible. The genIV rods are ok, I know people using them with good luck. The next step up was what I was looking at and going to H-beam rods. They are like 7-900$ for a set. I looked into the 6.2 LT rods because they are supercharged and figured they would have to be more stout than the genIV stuff right? Yes, they are. BUT!!!! GM says they are 6.125” long rods. The 4.8,5.3,6.0 all use a 6.098” rod. Well that sucks because I can’t have the top of the piston sticking out the cylinder, I don’t want to buy custom pistons and move the pin up into the oil ring lands. So what I did was get ahold of a single used LT rod and guess what? They aren’t 6.125”. They are 6.098”. Hell yeah!! Got me a set of new LT rods coming for the low price of $140. All 8!! So I ordered a set of coated pistons for a genV 5.3 because the space in the piston where the rod goes has a taper. That taper is needed because the top of the rod is fat on the bottom side where the pin goes thru. The only downside that I can see is you cannot use a standard king bearing for a sbc. The tabs on the bearings are in different locations. Which kinda sucks because I like to order my bearings based on my measurements because I like my clearances to be what I want. I don’t go by spec. But anyway, here’s a pic of the LT rod so you can see the taper at the pin. These rods are suppose to be good up to 1500hp. The question is, will all this balance out to where I need it. I’ll hopefully know soon enough. And I also drilled my block for piston squirters so I want it hot tanked and fluxed.



So in my non existent spare time I need to get the Heep on the road and find a bed for the truck. I was hoping to grab one before Xmas because that’s when I usually get the best deals but I haven’t seen any that were worth getting. I may have to take a ride to Tennessee where I seen one that is already dark charcoal metallic. But it’s hard to tell from pics what kind of shape it’s in and I didn’t want to message the guy and ask for a bunch of pics until I’m ready to make the trip.

For now, hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. If we’re lucky Santa will bring plenty of cool parts and/or tools. I hope any of you that are traveling stay out of harms way, I’ve seen too many avoidable accidents here lately and that’s no way to spend the holidays.



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Snowbound said:

I’d hate to go thru all the trouble of removing the parts and wrapping it just to get it back together and it looks too “over the top” if you know what I mean. I’ve been trying to find pics of someone who has done it already.

With the holidays upon us and having to cover vacations at work it’s gonna be a little while before I can get anymore done on the Esky. I have some other things that need to get done here as well.

My truck bed is in dire need of repair or replacement. It’s about gone above the wheel wells and the flares are one high pressure car wash away from flying off. So I’m most likely gonna buy a clean takeoff and paint it.

I started sanding down the inside and slapped some POR15 on the rear of the bed floor to seal up some surface rust and was gonna cut in some panels above the wheels but it will be faster to just get a replacement.

I have this CJ7 that I was gonna drive this winter but it needs some attention. I have a replacement floor for the rear along with some inner fenders because it’s been poorly patched by previous owner. I was gonna hit that and start driving it.

I still need to do some wiring and put the water pump and pulleys back on it.

I also have a few parts coming for the LS engine I’m building for the Formula. I need to get back to the machine shop to get rotating assembly balanced and I wanna talk to them about drilling and tapping the block deck for 1/2” head studs or just o-ringing it. I believe I stumbled upon a secret that GM didn’t want to get out. I guess I can share because I already got mine. I’ll try to make it quick. The iron 5.3 block I’m using will have forced induction so I’m trying to make the bottom end as strong as possible. The genIV rods are ok, I know people using them with good luck. The next step up was what I was looking at and going to H-beam rods. They are like 7-900$ for a set. I looked into the 6.2 LT rods because they are supercharged and figured they would have to be more stout than the genIV stuff right? Yes, they are. BUT!!!! GM says they are 6.125” long rods. The 4.8,5.3,6.0 all use a 6.098” rod. Well that sucks because I can’t have the top of the piston sticking out the cylinder, I don’t want to buy custom pistons and move the pin up into the oil ring lands. So what I did was get ahold of a single used LT rod and guess what? They aren’t 6.125”. They are 6.098”. Hell yeah!! Got me a set of new LT rods coming for the low price of $140. All 8!! So I ordered a set of coated pistons for a genV 5.3 because the space in the piston where the rod goes has a taper. That taper is needed because the top of the rod is fat on the bottom side where the pin goes thru. The only downside that I can see is you cannot use a standard king bearing for a sbc. The tabs on the bearings are in different locations. Which kinda sucks because I like to order my bearings based on my measurements because I like my clearances to be what I want. I don’t go by spec. But anyway, here’s a pic of the LT rod so you can see the taper at the pin. These rods are suppose to be good up to 1500hp. The question is, will all this balance out to where I need it. I’ll hopefully know soon enough. And I also drilled my block for piston squirters so I want it hot tanked and fluxed.

So in my non existent spare time I need to get the Heep on the road and find a bed for the truck. I was hoping to grab one before Xmas because that’s when I usually get the best deals but I haven’t seen any that were worth getting. I may have to take a ride to Tennessee where I seen one that is already dark charcoal metallic. But it’s hard to tell from pics what kind of shape it’s in and I didn’t want to message the guy and ask for a bunch of pics until I’m ready to make the trip.

For now, hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. If we’re lucky Santa will bring plenty of cool parts and/or tools. I hope any of you that are traveling stay out of harms way, I’ve seen too many avoidable accidents here lately and that’s no way to spend the holidays.



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You stay safe as well! Merry Christmas.