My 97 project

[Magicmantx]

Everything is finally primed and blocked

Started with this had 3 coats of factory color.

 

[Magicmantx]

I found this 97 in Oklahoma after looking for just the right project to start with. It's a 1997 4x4 . This is a 2 owner Tahoe and both owners were from the same family. The original owner sold it to his sister and after a year she quit paying him so he took it back. he'd already bought a new vehicle and didnt need this so he let it sit for a few months until finally decicing to get rid of it. He ner posted it for sale anywhere just sat it out in his yard by the side of a highway where I came upon on it. This was an older gentelman who had all the work done by a local dealer including a complete engine rebuild about 30K ago and transmission rebuilt less than 10K ago . Lots of recipts from steering and suspension components. he seemed to stay on top of most things. After I got it I started to check it over. He already told me the AC didnt work and didnt know why. I will address that later.The drivers door window switch was bad so I replaced that. The blower motor didnt work on all speeds so a resistor replacement took care of that. It came with an extra factory radio because he said some of the lights in his didnt work. I switched them out but the replacement had lights out as well so I bought the bulbls and took the radio apart and replaced all the lights in it. He had added some cheap speakers in enclosures under the back seat because the rear speakers had failed years ago. I found some decent factory replacement at the boneyard and replaced them but the fronts arent much better so all those will get replaced with better later as well. I have already bought a leveling kit and 33x12.5x15 BFG and Polished 15x10" wheels. I forget the brand but it's the old school round hole type.It has taken me quite a while to get the 3 layers of paint stripped to bare metal,epoxy primed, then 3 coats of featherfillG2 blocked it all and resprayed 2 more coats of G2 and blocked it all again. There were only a couple of small dents to deal with but the drivers door had had a small amount of damage previously bit it wasnt bad at all must have just been rubbed up against something because you cant see anything from inside the door after i disassembled it all. Problem was whoever fixed it didnt do a great job because it was a bit wavey so I took care of all of that . Since I didn't know what color I was changing to I was very picky with the blocking to make sure it was as near perfect as possible. After looking and Looking at pics online I finally settled on solid white lol. I could have skipped alot of the work but if I had chosen black would have been a diffrent story.Regardless its ready for sealer and paint. Since I'm having to paint this in my small 2 car garage I'm having to wait for the weather to warm up just a bit. Which should be soon. I'm having a good time scrounging the salvage yards looking for the just right parts.

 

[swathdiver]

Sounds like a fun project Bruce! Do keep us posted.

If I may make a suggestion; break up your text into paragraphs so your writing will be easier to read.

 

[Magicmantx]

Finally Got some painting done.

 

[Magicmantx]

Getting some cut and buffing done

 

[Magicmantx]

Getting the shine on. Started on reassembly today starting to look like a Tahoe again.Finally

 

[drakon543]

i like that wherl and tire combo looks aggressive.

 

[Magicmantx]

Got the grille and Lights put back on and door latches.Stripped out the bolts on the passenger door handle so headed to the boneyard tomorrow for a replacement. That stupin torsion spring on the tailgate took me forever .

 

[Shaggy]

Love the 2 door tahoes! Yours looks awesome. Nice job on the paint.

 

[Magicmantx]

Finally Back in one piece. Turned out pretty good. Waiting on replacement Grille as mine is peeling a little. In this pic it had 3" blocks in the rear but I took it home and replaxed them with 2" which put me level.

 

[Magicmantx]

Next will be pull the seats and work on my sliding mechanisms they are a little tough to slide on the passenger side. Also plan to replace the seat foam on the drivers seat. Also I picked up a nice console from an expedition that I'm going to see if I can fit it in.
I replaced all the interior lights with LED's which really lights up the interior much better, replaced the crappy broken speakers with a bit better replacement speakers for now . I'll be adding a decent set up later. I replaced all the lights inside my spare radio so I need to switch that out as well as the Escalade Switch panel which has the factory fog light switch which I'll also add as well as the tow hooks I found at the boneyard for 10 dollars.

 

[Miami-Dade]

You are moving right along with your awesome Tahoe! Nice work!!

 

[Magicmantx]

I've finally gotten a few road miles on just over 200. I really like the stance and it drives good but the ride is not thrilling. Pretty sure I'm going to replace the leveling kit with a RC Lift soon. Got the console sitting in place and it will work but I need to do just a bit more trimming in the front to fit it up to the dash better. I really like the expedition console alot better than the small OEM one. So does the doggie LOL. Finally got to see the interior LED's in action in the dark. If you havent done them in yours you really should do it they are great!. I'll post interior pics next week when I get back home and do the final fitting up of the console.

 

[Magicmantx]

You are moving right along with your awesome Tahoe! Nice work!!

Thanks

 

[Tonyrodz]

How's that console coming along? Tahoe looks great.

 

[Magicmantx]

Havent gotten back to it lately.