I forgot the air vents, so I put in the light gray ones from the donor truck (this has since been remedied). And the airbag cover was still tan, so I vinyl wrapped it in black. I also installed a DD Android 8.0 head unit.
Tank's '02 Z71 Tahoe Rescue
- Thread starter Tankueray
- Start date
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While replacing the water pump, I did some cleaning on the front of engine. There was about 1/8" of build up all over.
After
The truck had been sitting for less than a day and the mud daubers decided to nest on the radiator. This is the damage they can do (after I pulled the mudball off).
Yesterday I went back to the salvage yard and pulled the rear seat from the '05 and some 8-way power frames from a Yukon Denali. Today's project is getting them out of the back of the truck and cleaning them.
After
The truck had been sitting for less than a day and the mud daubers decided to nest on the radiator. This is the damage they can do (after I pulled the mudball off).
Yesterday I went back to the salvage yard and pulled the rear seat from the '05 and some 8-way power frames from a Yukon Denali. Today's project is getting them out of the back of the truck and cleaning them.
SirReal63
Full Access Member
Good job!!!
It works pretty good if you go over everything with it. The wheel wells, transmission tunnel and doors are where the majority of the sound is transferred to the interior. The roof as well, mostly for the insulation value and the radiant barrier but sound does transmit through there as we. I think I am going to do our two main vehicles this summer as well as a little mass loading. The Yukon XL is already pretty quiet but I want more and the wife's Z71 needs help.
Something else I'm researching is modifying/swapping the center console. I have two '02 tan consoles with rear audio and an '03+ tan console with rear audio. I think I want to mate up the '03 and remove the '02 ashtray/12V parts. I don't like that it doesn't use the full inner space and I don't need the rear controls, any suggestions? I haven't taken a good look at removing the amp and speaker to see what kind of room I can get yet.
We lined the garage (metal building) with the foil double bubble radiant barrier last summer, and it makes a huge difference in the west Texas heat. When the headliner comes down in the Tahoe, you can bet it's getting lined just for that reason. I wish I'd been brave enough to pull out the rear air and line behind it, but it's on the list whenever the AC compressor needs replaced.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
I had the center jump seat in my 03 and went with the 03-06 center console. It slso had the radio controls, which I pulled out since it wasn't needed. There's a cubby that goes in place of the controls that you can grab from a Silverado that has the same console. I lost alot of my pics, but if you check out my build page I posted them on there. Did you paint the new dash top, or just clean it up? Looks amazing.
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The dash was just cleaned and treated, 303 protectant is awesome, I've been using it since I restored the GTA. I really like the dark graphite from the silverado. I'll try to remember to grab some new pics of the completed dash tomorrow.
Today, I somehow managed to get the 2nd row seat and two Denali seats out of the back of the truck by myself. I knew my degree from that fancy agriculture and mechanical school would come in handy some day. Here's the back seat after I got it out and fabbed a dolly for it.
This came from the same '05 Tahoe as the leather fronts I pulled previously. I swear it was a stripper's truck...glitter everywhere. It's also interesting that nearly every vehicle I pull parts from, I find empty beer bottles or cans in. Keep drinking and driving folks, I need your parts.
Oh damn, I never bothered to check if the center plastic was there. I think I have one from a previous salvage yard excursion though.
I first cleaned them with some leftover Krud Kutter water from the last thing I cleaned, then did the seams/stitching with Krud Kutter and a toothbrush, went over the whole thing with my steam cleaner, then wiped with a sponge and clean water.
Then I went in with coconut oil shampoo (from Dollar Tree),
and finished with a soak of 303 Protectant just like I did with the dash, wiping it with a microfiber cloth after about 2 hours.
Today, I somehow managed to get the 2nd row seat and two Denali seats out of the back of the truck by myself. I knew my degree from that fancy agriculture and mechanical school would come in handy some day. Here's the back seat after I got it out and fabbed a dolly for it.
This came from the same '05 Tahoe as the leather fronts I pulled previously. I swear it was a stripper's truck...glitter everywhere. It's also interesting that nearly every vehicle I pull parts from, I find empty beer bottles or cans in. Keep drinking and driving folks, I need your parts.
Oh damn, I never bothered to check if the center plastic was there. I think I have one from a previous salvage yard excursion though.
I first cleaned them with some leftover Krud Kutter water from the last thing I cleaned, then did the seams/stitching with Krud Kutter and a toothbrush, went over the whole thing with my steam cleaner, then wiped with a sponge and clean water.
Then I went in with coconut oil shampoo (from Dollar Tree),
and finished with a soak of 303 Protectant just like I did with the dash, wiping it with a microfiber cloth after about 2 hours.
HiHoeSilver
Away!
Damn. That's impressive. Keep it up.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Just a little trivia: If you pop the headrest off a front seat, turn it over and unclip it, there's a white tag that tells you the interior leather color.
Here are the seats I pulled from the Denali. I tried to pull the top leather without cutting it, but that is a helluva job, so I organized all the gray vs. tan parts I have sitting around and washed the truck instead.
Here's the shampoo from Dollar Tree for the leather
And now I'm exhausted, so time to relax until I start again tomorrow.
Hopefully I'll get two more door panels and the wind deflectors on, and maybe start figuring out how to mount the backup camera and LED brake strip.
Still to go:
Shocks, front seats, carpet, and center console.
Suspension and alignment evaluation after shocks.
New tires, maybe plastidip the rims again.
High flow or dual exhaust.
SEM paint some interior pieces I can't find in gray.
Driving to Disneyland....
I'm accumulating a large number of tan interior pieces if anyone is looking. Let me know.
Here's the shampoo from Dollar Tree for the leather
And now I'm exhausted, so time to relax until I start again tomorrow.
Hopefully I'll get two more door panels and the wind deflectors on, and maybe start figuring out how to mount the backup camera and LED brake strip.
Still to go:
Shocks, front seats, carpet, and center console.
Suspension and alignment evaluation after shocks.
New tires, maybe plastidip the rims again.
High flow or dual exhaust.
SEM paint some interior pieces I can't find in gray.
Driving to Disneyland....
I'm accumulating a large number of tan interior pieces if anyone is looking. Let me know.
And then you have to get the clip back on, but good to know. I'm missing hog rings right about now.
Because I'm so organized I'm disorganized, I have a notebook with cross references to other models, including all the leather colors and codes, and interior RPO codes. I also have the wiring diagrams and breakouts for all the things I'm planning on modding. I'll try to remember to take a pic of it for everyone's amusement tomorrow.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Those velcro strips and plastic clips aren't bad. Headrest leather is clipped together with plastic clips undernesth. Just unclip it. Where'd you get all the info on the leather colors and codes? I'm actually looking for something like that.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Good deal. Denali rear seats should be heated. Has heating elements in them.
I'm not good at getting the plastic J-clips back together, I don't have the strength or patience to pull/push on them. The headrests and bottom seats aren't bad, but I'm soooo hating the top seat covers right now.
I research everything to extreme. I made a Word doc from all the different sources I found.
For you Tony, I walked out to the garage and got it. Here's the interior info and a few pages from my nerdbook.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Nice! Thank you. Great job. I could use that myself. I repair seats for dealers, and I have to dye the repair afterwards. Sometimes finding the right color takes me longer then the repair does.
Yes, I discovered that as I was trying to pull the body harness. I ran out of time and I'll have to go back for it later. The rear seat came from an '05 Tahoe, so it's not heated. I hope I can pull the Denali harness to get the 8-way working for my front seats and cut it for the back seats. The Denali rear seat was not great, salvage yards have a habit of throwing engine parts, like driveshafts, into vehicles and tearing the leather. If you look at the Denali front seat pics, I think it's a bit moldy too. The headrests and one armrest (so far) is good, if anyone needs Shale leather pieces. I'm not into the Denali headrest because I feel like I'll look like Princess Leia driving down the road.
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
If the mold isn't bad, it should clean up ok.
I'll keep that in mind...one of the good leather bottoms I'm going to use has a cigarette hole in it. I can do regular leather work, I've done cosplay and western stuff for years, but I've never tried upholstery. I'm actually thinking about buying a leather sewing machine (for other projects) and doing the two panels I need. If you noticed the giant orange and green boxes in the the background of some of my photos, they're laser cutters. I can digitize and cut the leather patterns pretty easily, but I only know how to sew them by hand with a stitching pony.
For the console, I don't like the round back of the '03+. The pocket is an option, but I'm thinking about fabbing something based on the '03+ profile. I don't know yet, I consider that a luxury project right now so it's just an idea floating around until everything else gets done, or I get pissed off at the seat uppers again and run out of busywork.
Oh, when we pulled the Denali fronts yesterday the pockets were filled with water. They're shale anyway, so I don't want them, but I'm practicing pulling them off so I don't mess up the gray ones I have. Maybe I'll try to rescue them and sell them later, but for now it's not high on the priority list.
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Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
Good luck. Let us know how you do. Not gonna be easy.
