Introductory Post: my 2011 SSV (build thread + pic heavy)

[Rich_SSV]

Hi everyone, been lurking here for a while reading up and learning as much as I can.

As I make progress on my SSV I figured an introduction post was in order and what I've done so far.



Here she is the day I brought her home.
2011 SSV 4WD, about 110,000 miles on it.

Ex-RCMP K9 unit. Picked it up for a very good price at a federal surplus auction.

Was missing the rear seats and door cards as it had the K9 cage prior to decommissioning.

Drives straight and quiet and was serviced very regularly by a local dealer.
Engine bay is spotless and I was stoked to find dual batteries:



(More in a moment)

 

[Rich_SSV]

Came with the tow package from the factory, and the brushed aluminum trim was trashed and had holes in a few spots.
First thing I did was order a wood trim package off eBay (mainly for the DIC).





Installation was a breeze, of course.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Of course when I got it on the road the day I bought it and started using the HVAC, it became very obvious it was a K9 unit.
It just stank of dog.

But I kinda expected that.

I bought it knowing full well I probably was going to have to rip it apart to clean it up... but it was the perfect colour for me and had 4WD. Plus being a K9 SSV instead of a PPV meant that it probably wasn't beat on quite as much as a PPV (and it wasn't white and covered in sticker residue).

So I ordered up a gallon of Nature's Miracle enzyme dog spray and while I waited for it to show up, I started taking stock of what I'd got myself into:



She's a ten-footer. Some very small stone chips on the nose of the hood, and a tiny tiny rust spot at the bottom left of the hatch glass. I'll get those sorted after the winter.



Dog hair and slobber and grime literally everywhere! I am so happy disassembly of the interior was pretty straight forward.

 

[Rich_SSV]

I probably could have knitted a sweater with the amount of hair I found inside this thing.





Time to really go to town and start scrubbing.

Advice: invest in a really good pro-grade spray bottle to distribute the enzyme cleaner and a good stiff nylon brush to scrub.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Every surface got vacuumed, sprayed, scrubbed, wiped down, and sprayed and scrubbed again. I really only wanted to do this once.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Normally this stuff would really be gross... but after having a kid a year and a half ago, nothing really bothers me anymore.

(And I just remind myself that this K9 was out there chomping on the biggest s***stains around, which always makes me smile)

Speaking of the kid, he loves this thing.

 

[Rich_SSV]

No door cards made it stupid easy to go to town on these on both sides (which were stupid grimy from the dog and the rear windows open all the time for ventilation.


Popped off the dummy window switches that were tied-off inside the door and wow: the dielectric grease they apply at the factory still looked and felt like it was applied yesterday, not 9 years ago.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Found myself some door cards off a crashed Ambulance/Paramedic Tahoe and fitted them along with the vapour barrier foam and installed rear speakers that weren't there anymore.

Left side rear speaker was plug and play, right side I can't get any sound out of no matter what I try. Ah well.

 

[Rich_SSV]

More scrubbing. This thing's probably never been this clean since it left the factory:

 

[Rich_SSV]

With everything in the back scrubbed up and no longer smelling awful, I scoured my local Craigslist and FB Marketplace for a set of rear seats.
Got a really good deal on an unused rear cloth bench out of a 2017 PPV (and seatbelts to go with them, obviously).

 

[Rich_SSV]

While I waited for a replacement bottom bumper trim to arrive (which just did the other day, still need to install), I poked around Amazon and found this front air deflector for (no joke) $25 because it was "significantly scratched and damaged" and had packaging damage.

I get it and the scratches? It's scratched up plastic protection film they put on the air deflector. Peeled it off and it was good as new. Thanks, Amazon!

 

[Dantheman1540]

Nice work so far I like the aggressive tires on steal wheels.

My neighbor is a K9 officer and his tahoe smells like a kennel 24/7. Did you get the smell out 100%?

 

[Rich_SSV]

Meanwhile, I ordered the proper V620 front seat socket off of Amazon (yes I know I could have used a regular metric socket, but I'm a sucker for buying new tools). It took a few days to get to me...

Now that it arrived, it was time to tackle the front seats and below.

As expected: more crud and hair and grime.







Holy cow, does dog hair ever stick to the greased-up seat tracks.


EDIT: apparently I can no longer add more posts to this thread. I'm guessing I hit a spam limit and can't add more replies (which is odd because I can still edit and create new threads).

 

[Kee Fuller]

Nice build and nice clean up.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Nice work so far I like the aggressive tires on steal wheels.

My neighbor is a K9 officer and his tahoe smells like a kennel 24/7. Did you get the smell out 100%?

100%? Naw. But it’s barely noticeable now. Once I pull all the seats again and pull up the front rubber floor (I was only able to peel it back in sections and am not happy with how well it turned out), run a couple cans of vent/AC cleaner through the HVAC, and then do the cabin filter retrofit (which I have, just haven’t installed), it should be like 98% or better.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Oh yeah I'm sure the cabin air filter and HVAC cleaner will help a ton. Nice work and nice thread.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH, and it looks like you will be a participating member, and that's great!

Outstanding cleanup job on the truck, as well.

Since I take my two 90+ lb White Shepherds with me just about every time I take my truck out, it is generally loaded with dog hair. But I don't care, as they are both ecstatic whenever I take them out for a 'ride'. At some point during each ride, I open all the windows and the sun roof, and part of the dog hair (but certainly not all of it) simply flies out the window and makes the local birds happy for nest building.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Alright! It appears my posting ability is okay again (apparently what happened is a rare bug/glitch and they're still trying to sort it out).

Last pics for now.

Being an ex-LEO vehicle, the driver's seat cushion was understandably thrashed - duty belts aren't gentle on seats.
I found another ex-Ambulance Tahoe that had good seats and picked up a replacement non-airbag seat with a good seat bottom.



Did some Googlin', watched a YouTube video, and I was really stoked at how easy the seat bottom swapped over. Gave everything a good wipe down and scrub while the seat pan was accessible like that (and it also let me clean up the rails and such from the top side).







It's the little things, right?

Still to do:

- swap out the rubber/plastic "bargain" steering wheel with a leather variant with radio controls (just need to find the time).

- give the steelies a good sand, prime and spray with matte black paint (maybe gloss, I haven't decided)

- reassemble the interior "walls"

- clean the HVAC system

- install the cabin filter retrofit

- I have considered putting in rear captain's chairs, but I'd want them in cloth so I'd have to find me some more front seats and see about swapping over the upholstery, which seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Rich_SSV]

Welcome to the Forum from NH, and it looks like you will be a participating member, and that's great!

Outstanding cleanup job on the truck, as well.

Since I take my two 90+ lb White Shepherds with me just about every time I take my truck out, it is generally loaded with dog hair. But I don't care, as they are both ecstatic whenever I take them out for a 'ride'. At some point during each ride, I open all the windows and the sun roof, and part of the dog hair (but certainly not all of it) simply flies out the window and makes the local birds happy for nest building.

Thanks for the welcome!
If I had a dog or two (life and work travel make that an impossibility right now), I wouldn't have gone to this depth of cleaning for sure.

 

[jatPPV2012]

Welcome to the PPV club. Nice ride! Looks like you got a lot of stuff done! Just got my 2012 PPV a week and a half ago. Got some things I need to do to civilianize it. Did the DIC bezel swap. Getting ready to do the center bench seat install and steering wheel swap. Waiting for my 3rd Row seats to arrive!