Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

silentbravo's 2001 GMC Sierra 2500HD

Jump to Latest
92K views 367 replies 43 participants last post by  RedSLEd  
#1 · (Edited)
Bought the truck Sep. 2015 with 115k~ miles

Mod List below

Wishlist: Completed in Green
Audio overhaul: New speakers front/back, amp, double DIN conversion with Kenwood multimedia head unit, sound deadening
Electrical: New HO Alternator, Big 3, rear backup camera, maybe a front security cam, adding steering wheel audio controls, maybe 2nd battery, extra backup lights + switches, auxiliary gauges
Performance: E-fans, custom tune, Long tubes + full exhaust, Airaid MIT, and beyond?
Extras: Wheels, tow mirrors, AMP Research steps

Updated Wishlist (and goals for completion 2023-2025)
Performance: Rebuild engine Spring 2024, Full exhaust Spring/Summer 2024, LSA supercharger Fall/Winter 2024???
Suspension: Track bar of some sort, New shocks higher end Fox or better?, Coilover front suspension (torsion bar delete) 2025+
Maintenance: Rebuild 4l80e transmission for big power Summer/Fall 2024


Updated Picture from 2023
Image



Updated Picture from 2020
Image


Here She Be When I bought:
Image

Image
 
#2 ·
Floor mats
Nothing too special here...
Preview of gallery image.

Husky Front floor mat Drivers

Preview of gallery image.

Husky Front floor mat Passengers

Preview of gallery image.

Rugged Ridge Rear Floor mat

Husky looked tough, and had a lot of space for collection plus good price. Fitment is decent, I like them.
Rugged Ridge for the rear had looked to have the best capacity to hold stuff and cover most of the floor. Fits alright

I did the 4 Hi / 4 High / All on / All lights on mod tags: silverado, sierra, tahoe, yukon, 2000, 2001, 2002, 00, 01, 02, NBS, New Body Style
I used this guide, which was very good.

Here is the driver's side light removed, high beam plug on left, low on right
Preview of gallery image.

P1020803

4 high 4 hi all on light headlight lamp mod

Some tools I used and hardware. Also used some electrical tape, power drill and some sandpaper not shown.
Preview of gallery image.

P1020805

4 high 4 hi all on light headlight lamp mod

Self tapping screw, electrical washer (terminology?), and the bit of wire to splice in
Preview of gallery image.

P1020806

4 high 4 hi all on light headlight lamp mod

Ground spot sanded clean of paint
Preview of gallery image.

P1020807

4 high 4 hi all on light headlight lamp mod

Ground attached here
Preview of gallery image.

P1020808

4 high 4 hi all on light headlight lamp mod

Taped up the wires a bit, and then tucked them away.
Preview of gallery image.

P1020809

4 high 4 hi all on light headlight lamp mod

Love it so far, lights up much better. :D
 
#6 ·
Going to post up maintenance as well, probably boring but will be a nice way to keep track of everything done for future reference.

March 10th~

Cleaned the throttle body, no telling when it was last cleaned. Discovered the truck has one of those amazing +4mpg +20hp/tq throttle body spacers* (see disclaimer below)

Seems to run a bit better now :D Used nearly a whole can of the cleaner on it.

Before
Image

Image

Image

Image


After
Image

Image


*complete lies
 
#7 ·
Installed the Airaid Modular Intake Tube (part# 200-912) over the weekend. At least it looks way cleaner than elephant nose factory one :D

Factory under hood (+ extra Dirt)
Image


Factory intake tube uninstalled
Image

Image


Airaid Box
Image


Instructions were good + stickers
Image


Here it be with clamps and rubber fittings installed, ready to plug in.
Image

Image


Installed
Image
 
#8 ·
April 2016
Installed a pocket in place of the cassette player. Was about $10 shipped from ebay, surprisingly made in USA.
Image

Added a Bass Bobble head that I have had for a long time, never wanted to add it to my previous vehicles since they were all interim :lol:
Image

Also replaced cabin air filters. They weren't OEM at least but they were clogged pretty well with dirt and other junk. No pics for that.

May 6, 2016 - Cleaned Engine today
Before
Image


Image


Image


After
Image


Image


Image


Tomorrow or soon will be new intake gaskets and possibly knock sensors/harness if they are totaled out.
 
#10 ·
I was actually thinking about how it needed a bit of rubber mat or something in the bottom to keep stuff from slipping about. If I ever find something appropriate I may toss it in there.

I've got some more pics to add for my intake gasket replacement, maybe today or tomorrow. Nothing to amazing (well increased MPG is), but catching up on maintenance on this at least.
 
#11 ·
Intake Gasket Replacement 5-7-2016

Determined that intake gaskets were likely shot with my 2 bank lean codes, so I replaced them along with PCV valve and made the water dams for knock sensors. I don't think this motor was ever cleaned (before me), beneath the intake wasn't really that bad looking considering, and both the knock sensor hole were fairly clean. The back one was full of water because I just washed the engine a few days before, but once I sucked the water out and pulled the sensor it looked perfectly fine. I opted not to replace them since it doesn't look like they were subjected to water and the harness looked fine. We'll see if that was a poor decision later on... lol

Good news is that it no longer has the stumble when I first start it up, feels like it runs a bit stronger and better MPG :eek: ! (TBD how much exactly)

Not bad looking considering 111k+ miles and the amount of grime I cleaned off the outside of the heads
Image


The ports looked horrible though, and some reason a bunch of oil dumped from the intake after I removed it... Catch can may be needed here.
Image


Old gaskets, I think these are OEM. The gasket was compressed completely flat with the plastic shells around them, definitely bad.
Image


Little bit of grease here :D
Image


Eww
Image


Tools, New throttle body gasket, pcv valve, misc
Image


Scrubbed my intake, at least the outside is really clean now
Image

Image


Clean enough to eat off of!
Image
 
#12 ·
Changed plugs and coolant 7/16/2016 - 7/17/2016
Did a coolant flush, quite a lot of water/coolant left over to dispose of...
Ended up flushing it clear with hose then put a few gallons of distilled water through it and flushed out that, topped off with Dexcool/distilled. It wasn't super dirty after all but still used some Flush anyway.
Image


Do these look bad? :roll:
Image


Check out the gap lol
Image

New AC Delco Iridium plug vs Original (suspected) AC Delco plug with about 115k miles

BTW after plug change, truck runs like a beast now. Same (or better) power comes in 200-300 RPM faster now = less pedal goes faster :D

Got my Opt7 C2 22" LED Light bar from Amazon 7/19/2016
Cost $58.49
Install pics to come. Discussion thread/unboxing/first impressions here > OPT7 C2 Series: 22" LED Light Bar Unbox/Impressions

Teaser
Image
 
#15 ·
Luckily it looks like they all just sheared off the bolt heads and have shank sticking out, so as long as I can get the rest of them off without breaking I'm hoping it won't be to bad. Worst part is probably the disassembly and working in a really tight and awkward space.
 
#16 ·
Time to catch up on some updates/fixes.

Fixed Passenger side, broken exhaust manifold bolt 10/12/2016

This was a major pain, ended up taking 3 days in driveway.
Image


Everything started out OK until I used a fancy locking tool to clamp on the stud and sheared it right off.
Broke down below the face of the head, and that's where it went downhill.
Image


So I spent about 4hrs welding onto that broken stud inside, various ways, with, w/o washers, and nuts but couldn't get the welds to stick.
Image


Dad had to rescue me, spent the next day drilling out the bolt larger and larger, slow work to get an EZ out in it. Luckily that worked out great, didn't even mess up the threads in the head.

I put it back together the next day with the GM studs and some locking nuts. Hopefully they will come out easy for a future long tube upgrade.
Image


I haven't even bothered with the driver's side, it has 2 broken. Sounds like a spring/summer job lol :D
 
#17 ·
Mounting Auxiliary Switches into Overhead Roof Console

May as well update on this, WIP mod. I am using https://otrattw.net for the switches and hardware

My first order from them included:
SKU Product Item price Quantity Total
12015869 Packard 630 Series Terminal 18 to 20 gauge x10 = $1.80
12015870 Packard 630 Series Terminal 14 to 16 gauge x28 = $5.04
VM6-01 Six Position V-Series Switch Holder = $9.50
VHP-CAR V-Series Panel Plug x3 = $4.05
12084224 Packard 630 Series Terminal 12 gauge x8 = $2.32
VRT-CAR Actuator Tool = $2.65
VCH-01 Eight Terminal Rear Connector Housing Black x6 = $4.20
Image


I will get some fancy LED switches for the panel as I get the money to add new mods.

The V-series switch holder is nearly a perfect fit for my console.
Image

Image

Image

Image


So my first thought was to build a small backing plate out of Kydex to fill in the edges. I hadn't worked with Kydex before so I bought a couple sheets from ebay for around $10
Image

Image

Image


Spent about 20-30hrs to get the piece molded into its final form. Lots of trial and error working with the Kydex. It's cool stuff and I got a perfect matching color.
Here is what the final piece ended up as, and how it would have fit.
Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


Finally after so many attempts to remold it and not being quite the right size one of the legs broke. I basically have determined that the angles are just to extreme and this thing is way to complicated lol. So at the moment the project is in limbo but I believe I will get some black silicone and glue in the plate from the sides since it is a really tiny gap there. If that turns out then maybe I will layer the top and bottom and glue it in completely. I was trying to create a removable piece in case I wanted to go back to factory but for the amount of time to get a Kydex piece to fit and look good it won't be worth it. It was a good learning experiment and fun to play with Kydex though.
 
#19 ·
This is the route I'm going for switches in the small overhead console.

Mines on hold as well, to cold and rainy and windy and rainy and cold to do my soldering under the hood to wire it up to my AUX fuse box.

Preview of gallery image.

Kydex rocker switch panel

Preview of gallery image.

IMG 20160921 193733848 HDR (1)


What about making a flat cover panel and siliconing it in from the back side. It would be easy enough to cut it lose and scrape off the caulking to return to EO.
I don't like the idea of cutting my truck up either, although that tends to make these kinds of mods a bit more complicated.
 
#20 ·
Jasen said:
This is the route I'm going for switches in the small overhead console.

Mines on hold as well, to cold and rainy and windy and rainy and cold to do my soldering under the hood to wire it up to my AUX fuse box.

Preview of gallery image.

Kydex rocker switch panel

Preview of gallery image.

IMG 20160921 193733848 HDR (1)


What about making a flat cover panel and siliconing it in from the back side. It would be easy enough to cut it lose and scrape off the caulking to return to EO.
I don't like the idea of cutting my truck up either, although that tends to make these kinds of mods a bit more complicated.
Click to expand...
The piece I made was sort of a cover panel with extra flanges for attachment. Unfortunately this switch plate is so exact fitting that the corners go almost all the way into the corners of the console opening so it wouldn't be much of a plate as it would be 4 separate pieces. That's why my original piece broke, the corners ended up being like 1/16" of material and finally after reheating and stretching to much one of them broke out. For your smaller switch a panel would definitely be the way to go.

If it was possible to still find the factory blanking plates for cheap I would have just cut up one of those.
 
#22 ·
No pickNpulls closeby, some day I'll have to go raid a big one for some various goodies lol. for now.... more mods to post!

Installed my Bilstein 5100s in the front 10/30/2016
Part number: Bilstein 24-186735 - These are the ones you use for a front end level, 0-2.5" lift
Image

Image


Installed the Bilstein 5100s in the rear 12/3/2016
Part number: Bilstein 24-186742 - These are the ones you use in the rear, 0-1" lift
Image

Image

Image

Image


Probably my favorite mod to date. Truck rode really horrible, and my road to town/work is really bad as well. Tons of potholes, woopty doos, a few new seams now that they "fixed" some spots...

My front driver side shock was completely shot and many times on the road the front suspension would bottom out and hit the metal stop, rough on everything including the back. I installed the fronts first since I found a good deal for them, and it was an amazing change. All but the very worst was tamed down incredibly. There was still one spot where they repaired half the road, seemed like a 2" dip across the road which I could feel pretty good but all the other bumps and jumps were toned down a lot.

After the fronts were installed, I did notice that while breaking the nose dipped a lot so that told me the rears were also likely to be trash. When I uninstalled the rears the top 4" of their compression was basically zero resistance, so they weren't doing much either with my stiff 3/4 ton suspension and nothing in the back. Installed the rears and noticed even more of a positive difference. Now I can go down my horrible road and not even notice it is horrible. That final seem that was still noticeable is basically an afterthought now at any speed.

Funny I had shocks pretty low on my mod list, but they shot to the top after a while... :lol: Now with the total package :cool: everything is firmed up, even heavy breaking the nose dips very little and control is better all around. These will be a top mod for a while to come, may be unseated by my custom tune but I love them for sure.

Installed new AC Delco battery 11/10/2016
Part number: 78DTPS - AC Delco Professional Dual post battery
Image


Mine was getting a little weak. I was fighting some strange startup issues which I believe were actually a bad ground, but once the cold weather hit I was getting some slow cranking as well. Figured it was time to not get stranded and upgrade. About a month before this, I added a new ground cable to the block. It's not in it's permanent home, I actually plan to just eliminate the factory ground and use the new one. It is a 2 AWG wire, connected to the side of the block in an empty hole and to the battery with I believe it is a torque converter stud ground down a bit shorter to fit the terminal on the battery :D I had made this addition before I had the new battery so it had to go on the same bolt as the factory ground. The extra ground did seem to help with the crazy electrical issues too.
Image


I have another mod to post, but will have to be another day.
 
#23 ·
Disabled Automatic Headlights 12/31/2016
Last mod of the year. I like my auto headlights about 90% of the time, but its a pain that I didn't have full control over them. Also the override (push cargo lamp button 4 times) doesn't work on my truck so I was really at the mercy of them. I followed a tutorial from another site, here DIY: Automatic Headlight Switch Install. Rather than just wire the 1.5k Ohm .5watt resistor in permanent I also decided to install a switch so I can retain the auto functions or change to manual at any time. So far its working great. This time of year it's dark when I leave work so starting up the truck the headlights would come on. It doesn't matter so much that I have a new battery but that extra few amps of draw from the lights when starting in the dark/cold later on could be the difference between a start or no-start. I'll describe my pictures as well so this should be like a tutorial if anyone else wants to do it.

Materials:
Simple on/off switch
Bit of wiring
1x 1.5k Ohm .5watt resistor

Tools
Electrical tape, utility knife, wire strippers, butt connectors/solder/soldering iron, heatshrink, flash light

Here is the pack of resistors I got at local Radio Shack
Image


Here is a picture of the BCM from below the steering column under the dash. We will be working with the Purple connector, so you need to remove it. First you remove the blue keeper, and then the purple connector will come out. The blue keeper is already removed on this picture, but you can see them on the next 2 connectors to the right.
Image


You will have to remove some electrical tape from around the wires, to give room to work with them. Here I have already spliced in the resistor and switch, soldered the connections.
Image


Here are the wires we are connecting. First wire (White wire), skip the 2nd wire (Grey wire), and connect to 3rd wire (Grey wire).
Image


I put the resistor inline with the Grey wire. Doesn't matter which direction resistor goes.
Image


Here is the switch panel I made from some kydex, put a simple rocker switch I stole from a computer PSU. White and Grey wire (with inline resistor) go to the switch.
Image


Liquid taped around the soldered connections.
Image


Taped everything back up like it originally was.
Image


Here is the switch plate installed.
Image

Image

Image


Plugged the connector in and seems to be working great. This mod should apply to 99-02 trucks, maybe tahoe/yukon as well. Going to leave some search engine tags below here.

Tags: NBS, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 99, 00, 01, 02, silverado, sierra, chevy, chevrolet, gmc, headlight, head light, switch, disable, remove, off, automatic, auto, ambient, light sensor
 
Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra Forum
posts
1.5M
members
232K
Since
2009
A forum community dedicated to Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Vortec 5300 5.3L V8 Exterior - Body - Frame Suspension - Steering ⛐ Electrical ⚡ Uncategorized Truck Topics 🛻