Pete's (Now Nate's) 2003 Denali Budget Build thread

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kwOH

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gotta handle this before i paint!

as much as i like the honeycomb, i feel the Billet horizontal bars match the lower better and give it a cleaner look

Billet Grille

d339.jpg


cuttin'

d337.jpg


removin'

why?
i want this overlay to sit as close and flush as possible so i completely removed the bulky GMC center


d338.jpg


Installed.

d340.jpg


this is a temporary install because i need to still tape off that chrome lip when i paint it (soon)
also i wanted to check it's fitment. I may actually turn this into an insert by cutting out all the honeycomb and making brackets for it. I dig it already though

d341.jpg
Looks good [emoji106]
 

Fosscore

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Leave grille as is.

Install Whipple and associated coolers for high output performance speed mods.

cough cough...blower.







Actually....the grille looks good. We are all jealous of the Whipple, but we all love any mods. Your paint job is going to look errrr bitchin’!!
 
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Sevenevez

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yeah i hear ya man. im so close to just bein like screw it and spraying this thing. i think i got everything dialed in to the best of my amateur abilities. the inevitable spray day is just about knockin on my door
 

kwOH

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Im dabbling with the idea of making a matching lower from an old grille


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Do it! I know they made like an insert that kinda matched but covered the whole area including where the tow hooks go.
 

Rocket Man

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Do it! I know they made like an insert that kinda matched but covered the whole area including where the tow hooks go.
There was only one guy that made that- Denali Down Under was the name he went by, out of Australia. There were 2 styles- one that fit between the tow hooks and one that you had to remove the tow hooks and it covered the entire opening. I bought one of his last ones a couple years ago. They're impossible to find now. Nobody but him ever made a production lower grill that matched the Denali grill. They're pretty cool though- pull the stock plastic insert and the DDU grill mounts using the factory hardware.
 
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Sevenevez

Sevenevez

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yeah i agree. consistency. why a honeycomb upper and a horizontal bar lower???
also. if i did a billet matching lower, i would cut it for the tow hooks, so i can still pull people out of situations. form function and fashion
 

kwOH

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yeah i agree. consistency. why a honeycomb upper and a horizontal bar lower???
also. if i did a billet matching lower, i would cut it for the tow hooks, so i can still pull people out of situations. form function and fashion
Or if you ever break down, so they can pull you up onto the flatbed .
 

adventurenali92

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I'll be leaving mine as is. I have the rare Denali Down Under matching lower that I replaced the stock plastic piece with. And I need that lower one with the flow-through because that's where my Tru-Cool trans cooler is mounted since I installed my intercooler for the Whipple in front of the radiator and didn't want to triple-stack things. But yours looks good.
This!^ Lol. This is why I didn’t go the billet route with my grill. I think your billet looks great, and like you said looks good in combo with the lower stock plastic piece! I too like @Rocket Man , have a rare Denali Down Under grill that matches my upper stock chrome honeycomb. I scored mine from another member that demodded before he sold his Denali:)() but i love having it! lol. Anyways enough of my rambling, trucks look good! Like the billet in the middle of color matched grill!
 
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05Single

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Curious on the DDU grille. Is it plastic or metal?
And what size diameter are the holes ?
 

adventurenali92

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Or if you ever break down, so they can pull you up onto the flatbed .
DDU made a two versions of the full across the opening down under grill. One with openings for tow hooks and one without. Unfortunately the one that I scored is the one without openings. So I got no hooks up front. Lol. So if I need a tow he ain’t hookin up to hooks which is kinda scary. Lol. But that bridge hasn’t been hit yet so I haven’t worries about it.
 
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Sevenevez

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Paint your own vehicle in your own garage:

I will try to be as detailed as i can here, so it may be a bit boring for some of you OG's.
After all, a big part of this build is to show people that things be done all on your own on a budget and still get some awesome results.
I hope somehow it motivates other people in the future to do the same.

I have only painted a handful of vehicles in my days and my last one was about 10 years ago.

After weeks of bodywork and prep i have been watching the weather report and saw that this weekend would be ideal. I asked for Friday off work and mentally prepared myself to literally pull the trigger and commit. Many of you have seen the mockups i have been doing since the day i got this Denali so this is a bit of a Milestone for me in this build. I have to say it was VERY taxing on my body to fight through this weekend and get it done. I had a lot of help from my buddy Garett so that definitely sped a lot of the process up and i am thankful. I planned on doing it myself but even just one friend there to help hold the hose, mix paint and mask is very invaluable when time is racing.

Ok, lets get to it.
Thursday night i taped and masked everything to be able to start laying down the black.
I also had to get 3/8in pipe from Home Depot to hook up my filtration. (without it you will be spraying water drops and oil and other crap into your paint)

d342.jpg


after installing all of this i noticed my new compressor had a pretty wicked air leak right under the pressure switch, but i tested the gun with water and i made a decision to go through with it. I didnt want to push another weekend and return/swap the compressor out because the temperature was going to be 60 or less, and you need 60 degrees or above to paint as a general rule.

This is where the leak was.

d343.jpg


Moonroof, Windows, buttons, wheelwells front end all taped off.

d344.jpg


d345.jpg


Then i taped off the radius line to split the colors. This took me hours to get it all with a clean smooth curve on both sides using professional pinstripe tape then filled it with more auto body tape. I knew it would be the last color to spray so it had to stick through all my basecoats of color and double/triple taping/masking.

d346.jpg


d348.jpg


I wanted to do something different in the rear instead of a boring straight line or subtle curve so i freestyled this out by hand taping and making sure each side aligned with the side curves already laid.

d349.jpg


d350.jpg


d351.jpg


Then taped off a paper mask skirt to protect the lower from the dark black. I wanted the Bermuda Blue to be on a light base not a dark one to show more personallity in the hue(s)

d352.jpg


d353.jpg


d354.jpg


d355.jpg
 

Tonyrodz

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Paint your own vehicle in your own garage:

I will try to be as detailed as i can here, so it may be a bit boring for some of you OG's.
After all, a big part of this build is to show people that things be done all on your own on a budget and still get some awesome results.
I hope somehow it motivates other people in the future to do the same.

I have only painted a handful of vehicles in my days and my last one was about 10 years ago.

After weeks of bodywork and prep i have been watching the weather report and saw that this weekend would be ideal. I asked for Friday off work and mentally prepared myself to literally pull the trigger and commit. Many of you have seen the mockups i have been doing since the day i got this Denali so this is a bit of a Milestone for me in this build. I have to say it was VERY taxing on my body to fight through this weekend and get it done. I had a lot of help from my buddy Garett so that definitely sped a lot of the process up and i am thankful. I planned on doing it myself but even just one friend there to help hold the hose, mix paint and mask is very invaluable when time is racing.

Ok, lets get to it.
Thursday night i taped and masked everything to be able to start laying down the black.
I also had to get 3/8in pipe from Home Depot to hook up my filtration. (without it you will be spraying water drops and oil and other crap into your paint)

d342.jpg


after installing all of this i noticed my new compressor had a pretty wicked air leak right under the pressure switch, but i tested the gun with water and i made a decision to go through with it. I didnt want to push another weekend and return/swap the compressor out because the temperature was going to be 60 or less, and you need 60 degrees or above to paint as a general rule.

This is where the leak was.

d343.jpg


Moonroof, Windows, buttons, wheelwells front end all taped off.

d344.jpg


d345.jpg


Then i taped off the radius line to split the colors. This took me hours to get it all with a clean smooth curve on both sides using professional pinstripe tape then filled it with more auto body tape. I knew it would be the last color to spray so it had to stick through all my basecoats of color and double/triple taping/masking.

d346.jpg


d348.jpg


I wanted to do something different in the rear instead of a boring straight line or subtle curve so i freestyled this out by hand taping and making sure each side aligned with the side curves already laid.

d349.jpg


d350.jpg


d351.jpg


Then taped off a paper mask skirt to protect the lower from the dark black. I wanted the Bermuda Blue to be on a light base not a dark one to show more personallity in the hue(s)

d352.jpg


d353.jpg


d354.jpg


d355.jpg
That's alooooot of work!
 

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