Bought a 2010 Tahoe: Build Thread

[bfonz91]

Bought this beauty and plan to make it a bad-@$$ kid hauler. Having my first kid in a couple months. I plan to soup this thing up a bit, doing budget fixes and upgrades, and enjoy every minute of it. 2010 LT 5.3 RWD, black leather, no sunroon, no air-ride, and 3.08 gears. It's got 205k miles, but is in REALLY good shape. I'm going to try to document everything here, so I guess this is my build thread.

Some of the upgrades and fixes I'm thinking:

Debadge
Tune/AFM delete
Headunit, backup camera
LEDs everywhere
Belltech 2/3
Captains chairs
Regear ~ 3.73 or 3.90
Intake/Exhaust
6.2L swap? Don't tell my wife.

 

[swathdiver]

Bought this beauty and plan to make it a bad-@$$ kid hauler. Having my first kid in a couple months. I plan to soup this thing up a bit, doing budget fixes and upgrades, and enjoy every minute of it. 2010 LT 5.3 RWD with 3.08 gears. It's got 205k miles, but is in REALLY good shape. I'm going to try to document everything here, so I guess this is my build thread.

Some of the upgrades and fixes I'm thinking:

Debadge
Tune/AFM delete
Headunit, backup camera
Belltech 2/3
Captains chairs
Regear ~ 3.73 or 3.90
Intake/Exhaust
6.2L swap? Don't tell my wife.

View attachment 263184

3.90s would be cool but I have not found a set of good quality ones in a long while. The 6.2 Sierras love 3.73 gears and if you go with a taller tire would use the 3.90s or 4.10s to make up for the taller tire.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Bought this beauty and plan to make it a bad-@$$ kid hauler. Having my first kid in a couple months. I plan to soup this thing up a bit, doing budget fixes and upgrades, and enjoy every minute of it. 2010 LT 5.3 RWD with 3.08 gears. It's got 205k miles, but is in REALLY good shape. I'm going to try to document everything here, so I guess this is my build thread.

Some of the upgrades and fixes I'm thinking:

Debadge
Tune/AFM delete
Headunit, backup camera
Belltech 2/3
Captains chairs
Regear ~ 3.73 or 3.90
Intake/Exhaust
6.2L swap? Don't tell my wife.

View attachment 263184

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[bfonz91]

The 6.2 Sierras love 3.73 gears

Even 3.73 would wake it up pretty good. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out

 

[Rocket Man]

Swap baby swap. Then throw a blower on it.

 

[adventurenali92]

Good looking tahoe! I vote 6.2 swap! Lol.

 

[Bigkevschopshop]

Sounds like someone is going to have some fun....

 

[Bigkevschopshop]

3.73 gear would be easy to obtain for sure. With the 4.whatever gear in the 6l80 would be epic anyways. I went from 3.08 in my burb to 3.42 in the new 11 denali and its a night and day difference in some ways, plus the 6.2 loves to pull torque is beautiful.

 

[Jungle Jack]

Welcome.
Mighty fine looking Family Truckster you have there.

Will be watching this thread as I am soon the replace the H/U from my 07 Denali as it lacks BT anyway. Or that is the excuse I am going with as I believe there is a $100 solution via module.

 

[bfonz91]

First upgrades:

Console organizer - best $15 i've ever spent. Also drilled a hole in the console for phone charger.
LED plate lights

 

[Geotrash]

Good job, papa! Looks like a nice ride to keep your family safe.

Oh, +1 for the 6.2 swap.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bfonz91]

Last night I got my Intune i3 Diablesport tuner. Just loaded the canned "Diablo Tune" with the AFM delete. I'm impressed. Throttle response is way better, shifts are substantial, and it is significantly more fun to drive.

I know everyone swears by the DiabLew custom tunes, and I believe it, but this was just so simple and a no-brainer upgrade for now.

Oh yeah, and while it was connected, checked for codes. I'm clean as a whistle! Woot Woot

 

[LRob]

Sub’d lookin good my friend

 

[Miami-Dade]

Last night I got my Intune i3 Diablesport tuner. Just loaded the canned "Diablo Tune" with the AFM delete. I'm impressed. Throttle response is way better, shifts are substantial, and it is significantly more fun to drive.

I know everyone swears by the DiabLew custom tunes, and I believe it, but this was just so simple and a no-brainer upgrade for now.

Oh yeah, and while it was connected, checked for codes. I'm clean as a whistle! Woot Woot

Nice work Blake!

 

[mb1500]

Sounds like a good plan, keep the updates coming.

 

[Just Fishing]

If/when you go to install a backup camera.
The plastic trim piece above the plate where the license plate lights sit.
Seen a few with this problem, including prior owner of my hoe...

Apparently they use locktite on those mounting nuts/bolts
When you try and remove the bolts they can deform the bolts in the plastic cover.

I managed to fix mine, but i have some marine epoxy i used to form new mounts in the cover.

And i approve!


I have captain chairs in my hoe, but one of the former owners decided they wanted a bench there.
So they had a custom middle seat made, and they removed the arm rests.
I have yet to find a PN for just the arm rests so i can go back to full captain chairs.

 

[bfonz91]

If/when you go to install a backup camera.
The plastic trim piece above the plate where the license plate lights sit.
Seen a few with this problem, including prior owner of my hoe...

Apparently they use locktite on those mounting nuts/bolts
When you try and remove the bolts they can deform the bolts in the plastic cover.

I managed to fix mine, but i have some marine epoxy i used to form new mounts in the cover.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll keep an eye out when I do the backup cam. Hopefully I'll get to it before Christmas!

 

[bfonz91]

Found out I had a leaky valve cover due to the busted gasket in the picture. So I decided to upgrade to the new style valve cover to fix the oil consumption issue. Hopefully this combined with the AFM delete (via tune) gives my mature 5.3 some extra life.

 

[Just Fishing]

From my limited knowledge, i think you might have had the update valve covers already?
If not, it's on my list as well.

Not to mention to the time getting the crud/sludge off of them seems worth while.

 

[bfonz91]

No it was definitely the old style. (Round hole vs rectangle hole).