1997 GMC Yukon Build Thread

[97YukonNZ]

Hi there my name is Tony

I have recently joined this awesome forum and am enjoying the interaction with the members I have met and made a few post's to validate others interests while having fun being cheeky.

About a year or ago a did a deal for a GMC Yukon with a guy with my 2000 VX Holden Commodore HSV Clubsport. It was running a 300kw LS1
Pushing out about 402 ish Horsepower.

Was a great car to drive but my wife Hated it!

I was too good at driving it. Sideways or very quickly forwards [emoji12][emoji110]. The down side is it was so fast to 100 kph/ 60mph beong our open road or highway speed limit and our city's roads were and still are so damaged after the earthquakes we had here 12 odd years ago that the car was getting a hiding and as we like to do a bit of camping around some of our beautiful rivers and lakes it couldn't be driven out there.

Had always wanted a Chevrolet and wanted to get a Siverado 4x4 350ci so I could put a roof tent on the back and enjoy the V8 ride n rumble at a respectable speed [emoji849]
Both on road and off.

A compromise had to be reached as my lovely wife informed me that she wasn't sleeping in no tent(her words)

So I started looking for an SUV that had enough room to be slept in and found this.
A 1997 GMC YUKON
350 Vortec 2" body lift
35" tires on 10" x 16 M/T

Our favorite colour Black!

After approaching the owner and having a look we left his house and being in the Clubbie I nailed it leaving his house and before getting home he had called me interested in looking at my car for a possible trade.

Long story short the deal was made and the relationship between Man and Truck began.

The Clubbie

The Beast

Let the adventures begin!!

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[97YukonNZ]

The truck came out of Japan. Must have cost lots to have a vehicle of that size on the road there!

Changed the tyres 1st. The 35s were hard and skated horribly on shingle so I went from a 315/7016 m/t to a 285x70x16 A/T
Made a huge difference and brought the speedo a bit closer in accuracy.

Love the gearing. Is doing 1500 rpm at 60mph in converter lock and will bust out to 75-80mph pretty quickly when you throw the hammer down.

Chopped a Fart can off the back that is now part of my smoke machine in the man cave. Have started pimping the sound system.
JVC 4 x 50 watt single din CD player with 6 pre-outs:
Factory front speakers:mids/tweeters
Factory rear speakers(they go good)
1800 watt fusion encounter 4 channel amp
2 channels bridged & running low pass to sub from sub out on head unit. Other 2 channels running high pass out of head unit rear pre-outs to 6" Focal kevlar component mid range speakers coupled with kenwood tweeters mixed through Focal crossovers(installing now)
Will go hard!

Flipping between a 10" fusion 350" watt sub(punchy) or a 15" 750 watt fusion sub(deep & rounded for drum & bass)
The 10" fits nice under the false floor I built for a bed so I can introduce noise to nature when camping.[emoji344][emoji444][emoji86]

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[97YukonNZ]

Last 2 weeks I've started giving the Suspension a bit of a refresh

Have replaced both the font and rear swaybar bushes,saddles & link rod bushes.(made a huge difference)

While under the vehicle I notice the rear shackle bushes and leaf spring bushes are perished and are on the to do list as well as the shocks

Going to lower the truck 4" rear and 1-3" up front. Along with the previous body lift,lowering it will stiffen the Suspension for better handling on shingle roads but still have enough clearance for mild off road. Rally Sport. Just need the funds for that as shipping is a killer from the states.

Here are a few random picks,others are here amongst others posts.

Catch up with ya's soon [emoji41]

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[ivin74]

Welcome to the forum
Great looking Tahoe, the exterior looks to be well taking care off. Where are you located? Australia?

Keep the mods coming, members love pictures.

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

 

[RawbDidIt]

Looks real good man, keep it going. Welcome to the forum from Texas.

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[Miami-Dade]

Nice work Tony!

 

[97YukonNZ]

Welcome to the forum
Great looking Tahoe, the exterior looks to be well taking care off. Where are you located? Australia?

Keep the mods coming, members love pictures.

Hey there
I am living in New Zealand across the Tasman sea from Australia.
Was part of the same continent some millions of years ago when Guandana land was the island of choice.

Thanks,is actually a GMC Yukon. Think someone had a liking for the chrome tahoe grill. It arrived with that ex Japan.

Is fun to drive slowly making it my own.
Cheers [emoji111]

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[Tonyrodz]

Really nice truck. In the states that would've been an insane swap! But I def do get it. At least the steering wheel is on the right side .
BTW--I'm sure you knew this, but your Commodore was stolen by American GM and rebadged as a GTO, and made into a 2 door. I sure don't know why it failed here

EDIT--Cool name

 

[97YukonNZ]

Thanks Tony [emoji16]

Yes I did know of the American version of the Holden. May have been too smaller a car in size for the American market?
Quite a tight fit and really on good for carting a couple of brats in the back.

The English also did a model they called the Vauxhall. It was either a GTO or GTS.

Saw them thrashing 1 against a Jaguar on an English beach on Top Gear
The Vauxhall wipped the Jags ass!!!

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[97YukonNZ]

I started a component speaker project the other day to fill the rear of the truck with more than just the bass from the subwoofer.

Am finishing the job today. Have decided to rewire from amp to speaker. I knew it would be laborious but damn if I'm not pretty much tearing 1 side of the truck out!

Have found it is important to take care with the plastics as they have aged and are bristling with time and sun damage.

Cant just rock on down to U Pull and look for replacement item. Gentle Ben is the way to go.

Just listening to Larkin Poe radio on Spotify. Good tunes! Cant wait to tune the stereo in when it all done [emoji41]

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[97YukonNZ]

Hey so I was going to change the Tahoe grill out as It is looking tired with broken fins and missing/worn chrome and wanted to put the correct GMC grill in in replacement.

The GMC grill is still up in the north island and the guy I'm buying it off has got back to me with shipping cost so I can pay him for it so I have decided to see if I can tidy up the Tahoe grill for now.

So today I am making new fins from scap plastic,sanding back the old plasti chrome,masking and blacking out.

Will do the bowtie at the same time as it is looking sad also.

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[97YukonNZ]

The low lights never worked when I got this beast so as a Warrant of Fitness ruling I must cover them if the dont go or take them off the vehicle.

Oh! Just found the cold air intake for the air filter.

Found a switch in the dash and some mod on the park light wiring and a relay under the bonnet so maybe a previous owner did a Bundy job that has been disconnected. Think maybe I'll go led with whole new units and wiring.

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[97YukonNZ]

Just got the spotlights out of the bumper. Both bulbs blown
Might try and resurrect them n pimp some good bulbs in replacement.

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[97YukonNZ]

Okay so painted out the Bowtie
Replaced the broken staves and masked for paint.
Am thinking satin black for grill insets.
Wifee reckons gloss like the rest of the truck.
Let's see ayyy[emoji869]

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[Tonyrodz]

Okay so painted out the Bowtie
Replaced the broken staves and masked for paint.
Am thinking satin black for grill insets.
Wifee reckons gloss like the rest of the truck.
Let's see ayyy[emoji869]

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I like satin myself.

 

[97YukonNZ]

I like satin myself.

Just so happens satin it was.
Finish looks a bit rough but the grill is a bit rough anyways.
Still' I think it is an improvement on how it looked before.

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[Tonyrodz]

Just so happens satin it was.
Finish looks a bit rough but the grill is a bit rough anyways.
Still' I think it is an improvement on how it looked before.

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Much better.
Those 2 plugs in the upper left of the pic looks like it might've had hid or led lights in it.

 

[97YukonNZ]

Much better.
Those 2 plugs in the upper left of the pic looks like it might've had hid or led lights in it.View attachment 273223

Just went down for new bulbs for the spotlights am goning to tidy a paint the shells and get the whole deal back together.

Correct! Hid and led side park lights.
Most of the interior lights and taillights are led as well.[emoji41]

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[97YukonNZ]

Okay so I was going to do this today along with the grill but what's that word? came up.

While I'm here I may as well or something.

Just cleaned up the shells and painted em.
Going to wire the bulbs in. A wee job there as the plugs differ.

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