Fosscore's 2013 Suburban LTZ Build Thread

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Fosscore

Fosscore

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Removed the center cowling, end caps and windscreen wipers and gave them all 3 coats of Krylon Fusion Satin Black spray paint. Looks so much better as they were all tired from the sun. The rubber on the end caps where the hood hinges slide through are a bit gummy and I cut the jagged edges straight and reinstalled them. New units are about $52 apiece. I’m all for new, but all the clips on my existing units are in perfect condition and there is no antenna hole (NBS Esky end cowl covers), so I guess I will rock these for a bit longer until the rubber just gets too bad and maybe replace them at that point. I’m the only one that is going to notice that rubber bit anyways, even if I cut it all the way out. But good for right now.

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Before and tired.
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I removed and painted the following parts:
1. both fender braces
2. the single brace bar above the spare battery tray on the drivers side
3. the hood latch release

All got fresh coats of Krylon. Hood hinge is painted in this picture.
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I added a little JB Weld plastic epoxy to a dash crack by the drivers side A pillar. I did this to the center speaker and passenger air bag cracks a few years ago, to keep them together. The wife asked me if I could replace the dash. I told her about the 1000’s of issues/complaints in this model and the dash, the effort to get a new one installed and likelihood it would do that same thing again given the history of that part. I also explained the dash cap and Dash Mat options. That dash is just a mess. Probably the weakest part of the truck in terms of quality control for a fit and finish part. So many cracks you can't see from the male or female side of the clips that just vibrate and in turn crack some more. Grrrr…. Just have to live with it for now.

There were some white marks on both of the side mirrors. Not sure where they came from, but maybe on the hauler coming across the country? Took some 400grit and very lightly fine sanded the marks off. I might tape off and paint or just use some of the Cerakote Ceramic trim coat. I was going to coat the cowling parts, but opted to paint them like I did on the NBS rear bumper trim.

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Even though I never use the cargo tie down loops, I gave them a thorough cleaning and WD40 hit to loosen them up. They could use a little paint touch up, but will need to artist brush that on.

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07Burb

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Time for a little WWFD weekend.

With maintenance out of the way thankfully, I wanted to focus on some little detail jobs to cross off my hit list. I woke up one morning and just starting making notes of all the things to get to.

After a lot of miles down in the Keys, rain, dirt roads, moving, 2 wives, 3 teenagers and a 7 year old - the interior needed some love.

Full vacuum and wipe down. Found wife’s other Air Pod. Lol luckily not sucked up. Tortilla chips and hair ties between the center console and front seats. Coffee drips on the perf seats grrrr, on the center console, dont' even get me started on the cup holders and catch all by the stereo lol, dried French fries in the seat belt holders 3rd row, a mystery brown dried liquid on the floor liners. Floor liners removed, scrubbed and hosed off. Some gooey spot on the carpet, under the 3rd row seats. Resolve carpet spray and a bit of a scrub. Mystery dried brown something in the panel cracks in the cargo area. And why do the women insist on touching every glass surface?

Moving on to the fun stuff.

Before hoisting the spare tire, I did a little clean up in the rear and touched up with spray paint some of the surface rusty spots. Still needs more attention but a good start.

View attachment 377487


Hit the spare tire with some paint to cover the rust before hoisting it back into place. I did not clean the tire and shine it up, but the thought did cross my mind lol.

View attachment 377490



Resprayed the hitch before installing the closeout.

View attachment 377489

Polished the wheels out.

Had to cover the holes in the front bumper from the Missouri front license plate (Florida is a rear plate only state). Wish I could find a close out for the front bumper, but have not seen one, if it even exists....hmmmm....

Grabbed some license plate screw caps and color matched them. Then snapped them in place over the screw heads. Much cleaner.

Polished out the front grille. Yes I hit every hole with Flitz.

Sanded a few jagged edges on the front air deflector.

View attachment 377488
View attachment 377492
It made my heart hurt when I first had to install that front plate and drill into that previously untapped license plate spot :( Front plates are so useless IMO.
 
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Fosscore

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still weird that those Timken's didn't last longer than they did! Glad it was caught, tho. Hope the Precision units last longer!!
Yeah...such a waste of perfect untouched real estate on the front bumper...but alas I pulled the inserts out and whoa!! The holes were huge so used threaded bolts with nylon nuts and had to use a big washer to keep the bolts from pulling through that hole lol. Problem solved and the Automotive Touchup paint still sprayed and colored perfectly matched even after 5 years in a can and in storage. Awesome!!
 
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still weird that those Timken's didn't last longer than they did! Glad it was caught, tho. Hope the Precision units last longer!!
Mechanic said he couldn't believe it either and they were usually the gold standard as noted on TYF. He decided to go with the Precision. Just getting a part number to post up as well for other options. We shall see how they go, but they were pretty wobbly.

Short video when in the shop for the suspension to show the wobbly front bearings.

 
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91RS

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You better buy those wiper cowl pieces now while they're still available. With the way GM discontinues everything, I'm very surprised they are still available. The wiper cowl for my 16 SS sedan has been discontinued since it was still under bumper-to-bumper warranty.
 

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end caps ...New units are about $52 apiece. so I guess I will rock these for a bit longer

Before and tired.
View attachment 377494

Even my elderly mother saw how bad they looked on mine and asked what was wrong with them! I replaced them soon after when they were $37 each. If you keep waiting, next time they'll be $75 each or gone.

The key it seems to keeping the dash from cracking at the airbag corner is to loosen the bolt underneath it a little. I've got to paint that center piece and the wiper arms on mine but have to wait until it stops raining! I don't know how you dodge all these summer showers! LOL
 

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I want to buy three sets of them, one for each truck and a spare set.
 

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