Austinite's 2000 NBS Tahoe Ex-Grocery Hauler Build

[05Single]

Dats alotta lite.
Amber looks good

 

[RGA1215]

Nice truck! Those cab lights are really cool! Out of curiosity where did you find your Z71 roof rack? Also how do you like the ride with the Bilstein 5100’s and Z71 coil springs?

 

[Austinite]

Dats alotta lite.
Amber looks good

Haha, yeah it's probably too much, but I couldn't figure out what to do with those holes where the tow hooks were. Oh well.

 

[Austinite]

Nice truck! Those cab lights are really cool! Out of curiosity where did you find your Z71 roof rack? Also how do you like the ride with the Bilstein 5100’s and Z71 coil springs?

Thanks, brotha. I actually got it from a kid in town that was driving a wrecked Z71 and needed some cash for a ski trip. So I gave him my old rack and like $100 I think. I love the Bilsteins and Z71 coils, the truck rides like new. Couldn't be happier with a 240k mile truck.

 

[Austinite]

Here's the new DeeZee 3D Molded Dash Kit I bought on eBay for like $100. Overall I'm pretty happy with it. The dash part didn't fit 100%, but I think that's because I have the Metra Kit for the 00-02 Double Din. The doors and window/lock panels fit great.

 

[Austinite]

Finally did the 02 Escalade A/C Knob swap. I have the overhead front & rear a/c and the headlight knobs coming in the mail too. While I was at it I did the 08-14 shifter swap too. Pretty easy and looks great, it just moves it a little lower when you put it in drive so I can't rest my hand on it when I'm messing with the stereo now. Oh well...trade-offs I suppose.

 

[Austinite]

Installed this RoadRover Dash Cam that works through the wifi on my head unit. I ordered too big of an SD card (64gb vs 32gb) so I'm waiting on the new one to come in before I can completely test it. So far it seems like it's gonna work pretty good though.

 

[Austinite]

I'll try to post a few more front, rear, and side pics of this later, but here's a quick side profile shot with the 3" Lift Spindles in front, 3" Lift Spacers and 2" Hub Centric Wheel Spacers in the rear. I guess I'm gonna have to get one of these Panhard Bars for the rear, cause the 3" lift spacers are definitely pushing the passenger side tire out about an inch or so.

 

[Austinite]

After reading a ton of info on headers, LT and short, I finally pulled the trigger on a long tube kit with y-pipe and high flow "cats". Since this thing is more or less a budget build, I went with a cheap set of these eBay headers which apparently are supposed to be knock-offs of the OBX Racing LTs. I went ahead and bought some stock AC Delco exhaust manifold gaskets, ARP header bolts, stainless band clamps, plug wire heat sleeves, and 3 sets of those Dorman exhaust manifold repair clamps since apparently a few bolts were already broken off before I got there to break 'em myself. Anyway, other than the broken bolts the install went pretty easy and the cheap kit mounted up damn near perfectly. I already had a Flowmaster 10 Series welded up, so needless to say it sounds nasty af. I Couldn't be happier, but I guess time will tell how they hold up.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Truck is looking good. Headers look good. Wish I had the catted y pipe for mine. Looks like you're 2wd?

 

[Austinite]

Truck is looking good. Headers look good. Wish I had the catted y pipe for mine. Looks like you're 2wd?

Thanks man, and yeah 2wd so the install was definitely a lot easier. Sometimes I wish the Tahoe was 4wd, but I've had a bunch of 4wd trucks over the years and rarely engaged the front diff, so I'll take the perks of easier installs and cheaper lift kits.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I have long tubes with an off-road y. Was supposed to work for 4wd, but it doesn't. I had to remove my front prop shaft because it was hitting some of the tubes on the ds header, so now it's a 2wd.

 

[Austinite]

I have long tubes with an off-road y. Was supposed to work for 4wd, but it doesn't. I had to remove my front prop shaft because it was hitting some of the tubes on the ds header, so now it's a 2wd.

Haha, damn that sucks. That's usually how my luck goes with stuff like this too. Have you come up with a work-around or just gonna leave it as is?

 

[Tonyrodz]

Haha, damn that sucks. That's usually how my luck goes with stuff like this too. Have you come up with a work-around or just gonna leave it as is?

Gonna leave it as is. Believe me, I'm not happy about it. But--I've had it since 2012, and I've used the 4wd a handful of times. Not really needed--YET--but it was still nice to have.

 

[Austinite]

Gonna leave it as is. Believe me, I'm not happy about it. But--I've had it since 2012, and I've used the 4wd a handful of times. Not really needed--YET--but it was still nice to have.

Yeah I heard that, I'd probably do the same.

 

[Fosscore]

Like the LEDs in the tow hooks location. Which units did you use for there and for the fog lights?

 

[Austinite]

Like the LEDs in the tow hooks location. Which units did you use for there and for the fog lights?

Thanks man. For the tow hooks flood lights, I used these and for the fog lights I used these.

 

[Austinite]

Installed the 3" rear coil spacers and adjustable panhard bar from Supreme Suspensions. When you go up over 2" in the rear it can mess with the lateral movement of the tires/wheels. Mine were sticking out about an inch or so further on the passenger side and the adjustable panhard bar put it back to normal.
Panhard Bar
3" Rear Coil Spacers

 

[Austinite]

I installed this Type S LED Bluetooth Kit that has an app where you can change up to 4 zones and add extensions all over the place. I have 3 zones right now: Front Floorboards, Center Console, and Rear Floorboards. I had a 40% off coupon and a gift card at Autozone when I bought em, so I said what the hell. I have them set to a light blue that matches the gauges pretty well, but you can change the color to anything you want. Not only that, but all 4 zones can be different. (The blue and red in the pics is just to show them off better) For $30 I thought it was pretty damn cool. I might go with some puddle or rock lights one of these days.

 

[Austinite]

I added the Ford Raptor Style Amber LED Grille lights that are slowly growing on me. I wasn't 100% sold at first, but I've gotten a few compliments on them already, so I guess I'll keep em. I also added a Daystar Jeep Rocker Switch A-Pillar Mount that ended up fitting perfectly and looking pretty custom too. For anyone that doesn't follow college sports, the "Hook 'Em" switch is for The University of Texas at Austin's hand signal for Hook 'Em Horns. I ran out of ideas basically and the lights are kinda orange... I might end up smoking all the front lights to match the running?cab lights one of these days too.