[silentbravo]

I'm really hoping it's just a simple "attach a can and fill it" up type of deal haha

I've never done anything with the A/C except changed the high side pressure switch (which I hope isn't involved in this, because it was custom) since I've had the truck so it probably needs something.

 

[silentbravo]

Well I guess most of my towing story is moot. Put the gauges on the A/C, added a bit of freon to the system and that started to work nicely. Then I looked into the grill and noticed my winter cover still over my transmission cooler... 😳 well that was retarded. So now my story should be adjusted to this is how my truck runs up a steep grade, towing heavy, in heat with 50% of the cooling stack blocked from airflow.... DERP

Clearly I haven't been driving it enough and dailying the Tahoe since April or so, and didn't pay attention and remove that.

So the good news is A/C is probably a simple fix. Bad news is that was unnecessary stress for the truck and would have done way better with that "test". ALSO good news is that it would have to do much better in that scenario....

Also I ordered a nice all aluminum 2 row radiator to compensate for this "problem" that it doesn't even have... woo! new parts I guess? 😂

 

[silentbravo]

A/C isn't fixed. Took a ride to the next big town over and it almost immediately shut off and never came back... Hot day too, started about 92F, was over 100F until I got home. Got to experience highway speeds with windows partly down....

But the reason I took the trip was to score this great condition, color matching canopy for $200!

Have been on the lookout for a cheap nice one for years, finally one popped up. These things are ridiculous priced new and even used they are usually $500+

I ordered keys for the locks, $15, probably going to order clamps for about $30 and do a little bit of rust repair on the side door latches. Also going to run power and install a plug so the brake light and interior lights will work.

Actually this is going to work out real nice, now I have a place to put my whole interior when it gets gutted for sound deadening and speaker wiring running haha.

I think the A/C lines may have a leak, have to do some actual diagnosis on it I guess....

 

[shakenfake]

Truck looks great! You deadening the dash too?

 

[72afr]

Nice find!

 

[silentbravo]

Truck looks great! You deadening the dash too?

I won't take the full dash structure out, but the top dash panel is coming off so will probably add some treatment from the top to plastic rattly bits.

I need to reconnect the defrost tube for the drivers side, I don't think it's ever been connected because it barely defrost my side window in winter.

I pretty well know what's up with tear down on interiors now. I left no panel untouched on the 04 suburban I parted. Now I'm tearing down an 02 silverado, comes apart easily. Wiring is so much simpler on the trucks.

 

[silentbravo]

Been working on a few things.

The 5.3L that I pulled from the 02 truck I parted out is now in my shed, I will use it for supercharger mockup, especially the front accessory drive over the winter. It's a bit tight in there... but I have no other space to put it in and actually do something with it. Actually I would have "enough" room in my shed if I got all the parts installed that are collecting in there lol

I have been working on my canopy/topper/shell the last few days, getting a few things done on it to bring it back up to snuff.

The rear gas struts are weak and will be replaced, have those coming.

The locks don't work hardly at all, they need to be cleaned or replaced. I bought new keys for them but they either don't work or barely work, so i need to take them apart and see if I can hose them out to work or replace...

Going to replace the weatherstrip on back door that is rough.

After that it should be good to go, unless it's leaking inside... because I just happened to look in there one day after it rained and saw some water in bed, so it will get the hose test and probably have to silicone some bolts in the roof.

The CHML is toast, totally sunbleached so I took it off and will replace it (it was also leaking).

The interior light and center high mount brake light (CHML) wires were cut, so I ran new wiring for that (8/13/2023)
I'll make a new post for those pictures.

Also swapped out my driver seat with a power leather seat for "testing". I've been super spoiled by my Tahoe with full leather and automatic climate control (plus it actually rides smooth), and figured out that the power leather seats with the power lumbar are nicer than my basic cloth power seat. That power lumbar and the inflatable side bolsters are really supportive and I like it, so does my back.

It's just a temporary swap for now, so i just unbolted both and threw the leather seat in, no cover yet.

Ideally I would re cover the leather with cloth and add heated/cooled seat elements (already found these and it's not a hard retrofit), but that will be an expensive venture.

Besides the seat which hopefully add some comfort, I'm probably going to replace my shocks, at least the rears with maybe some of the better Fox shocks. I just have to get the sharp bumpiness out of the ride of the truck, it's like a back ache taking it anywhere. The roads are just so garbage here and HD truck with larger E rated tires, which the suspension really wasn't made to handle, just adds up to a rough ride.

I may try Sulastic shackles if the shocks don't help. Of course switching back to my winter tires which are smaller and softer will help quite a bit here soon but It would be nice to have my 33" tires not beat me up so bad.

Anyway, quick potential timeline:

Now til late September, tear up interior and sound treat/audio upgrade (not sure if I have time for this, I have a trip toward end of September and I know this will take a lot of hours to accomplish)

Winter, Mocking up engine for supercharger, hopefully collecting parts. I have a rotating assembly and other parts in mind, just have to start making calls

Spring 24, pull my 6.0, tear it down and send to machine shop for work, may let them build the short block or even long block depending on cost

Summer 24, hopefully breaking in new engine, and dialing in tune. See how it goes from there, will have to line up a real tuner for supercharger tune I think.
I need to redo my exhaust, should rebuild my transmission and get some kind of traction bar/aids before the supercharger goes on anyway so that will take some time.

 

[72afr]

Actually I would have "enough" room in my shed if I got all the parts installed that are collecting in there lol

I know exactly how this goes. I have a garage full of new or takeoff parts for my trucks/Jeeps/SxS/boat. I see other peoples' garages and ask myself why I bother keeping all of this stuff. But then I find another part and another spot for it...

Sounds like you've got some big plans for the next 6 months. Best of luck!

 

[silentbravo]

Canopy / Camper shell / Topper whateveryouwanttocallit / Leer Cap maintenance 8/16/23

The cap has a light in the back and the Center High Mount Light (CHML) brake light also, the wires were just snipped, so I ran the appropriate wires to get them connected.

First I unbundled the factory Camper/Fifth-Wheel Trailer Wiring Package. (From the Owner's manual page, 4-79)

The eight-wire camper harness is located under the front edge of the pickup box on the driver’s side of the vehicle, attached to the frame bracket. A connector will have to be added to the wiring harness which connects to the camper.

The eight-wire harness contains the following camper/trailer circuits:

Yellow: Left Stop/Turn Signal
Dark Green: Right Stop/Turn Signal
Brown: Taillamps
White: Ground
Light Green: Back-up Lamps
Light Blue: Center High-Mounted Stoplamp (CHMSL)
Red: Battery Feed
Dark Blue: Trailer Brake

I only needed Light Blue, so I extended that wire and sent it through the frame to the tail lamp pocket.

I bought a panel mount 4 pin Deutsch connector, part # DT04-4P-L012

I mounted that in a protected spot in the corner. This is a challenging spot to drill holes and put screws in, much worse with my plastic bedliner that was in the way the whole time. It turned out great though. The black stuff around it is liquid tape that I put around the hole to seal the bare metal and create a gasket for the flange.

Here is final wiring. I just piggybacked off my auxiliary panels power and ground wires.

Here is how I ran the topper harness, it's very secure.

Here is the light connected for testing, and a final shot in the dark.

The light is actually quite dim and seems a bit finicky so I will probably change it out to an LED or perhaps mount a couple LED lights in the center, we'll see. 1 working light will be adequate for a while, anything extra will be low on the list of projects lol.

I have to order a new CHML, was waiting for LEER support to get back to me but they never did... so maybe I'll just order one that seems to be right and toss it on there.

I might just order all new locks, I have a feeling they are toast, so I might have new keys for junk locks lol.

 

[silentbravo]

Started the sound treatment process. The cab is like a tin can, no wonder vehicles get damage from hail, it's thin metal.

Progress over the weekend:

Didn't realize the carpet was this nasty, coffee stains, some candy melted into it. This is all from previous owners.

Headliner down, have to remove all pillar trims, a few plastic trees in the top, grab handle on passenger side, shade visors. It won't come out because the wiring harness is glued to it. I worked around it.

Roof is clean and vibrates easily!

Now it doesn't!

One note, the only interference I had with my layout was the small strips toward the front windshield where the shade visors screw on. There is hard foam on the headliner that fits snugly to that area, so I ended up shaving the hard foam down so the headliner would fit tight again.

I was wanting to do another layer on top of all of this for heat rejection (with another product) but I think the clearances are to tight. You could probably cram the pillar trims and stuff back together with a full layer on it but I didn't want to chance it, this should be like 80% better.

Next step is to take care of some of the component wiring, crossovers, steering wheel control box, the head unit, tweeters, Amp wiring runs, etc. I obviously can't hurt the carpet anymore so i will try to leave it in place and finish up the dash wiring installation while it is there to keep the floor a bit cleaner underneath while I work.

The floor is definitely getting 2 layers though, and all the way up firewall as far as I can get. I know a lot of heat/cold enters in through the floor so I want it super insulated.

 

[72afr]

May be a stupid question, but is there enough wiggle room to get the headliner out of the door if the harness wasn't attached?

 

[shakenfake]

Did you just leave the headliner hanging or did you pull it out the cab?

 

[silentbravo]

I let it sit there resting on dash and steering wheel. The wiring has enough slack to move it around some, so it wasn't to bad to work around.

I'm pretty sure it would comes out the front door sideways if it was free.

You do have to undo the connector for cab third brake light which is a little challenging from inside, but a small pick releases the lock on the connector easily.

Also there are 4 velcro tabs in the roof that hold it in place, which are nice for temporary holding it in place when removing or installing.

 

[silentbravo]

Progress is a bit slow but I still only have about 3 weeks to complete... haha

Here are the audio goodies (the new parts at least, not counting old inventory)

Got the Kenwood Excelon DMX809S mocked up with the 2003+ dash. I installed 03+ radio cage also and bought the Metra mounting kit for the double din. That mounting kit is so flimsy... hope it stands up.

Of course the mockup picture that looks primo is blurry... I got the HVAC controls and head unit very nicely spaced out with a combination of washers and plastic standoffs. Very tiny gaps between the radio/HVAC controls and the bezel.

Now I'm into some wiring... All of this has to go somewhere.

The wiring hanging from the steering column goes into the driver's A pillar. That's 3 gauge harnesses and a tweeter. I have a bit of a mess under the hood from all my previous wiring add-ons, I'm going to have to take a look at it and see about cleaning it up or just Not. I actually bought a Weather Pack firewall connector, it has 22 circuit holes that I could take advantage of. Most of my wiring could pass through that single connector and clean up a lot of stuff. That would be a very time consuming task so I have to decide on that next.


I think I will make a dedicated post for all of this later, took a lot of more detailed pics that I can comment on, but it will take to much time to document here and now, so I will just post a few progress reports.

 

[72afr]

I've got the same Metra kit in mine. No issues over the last 3 years with multiple removals. What are you mounting on the A-pillar?

 

[silentbravo]

I made a double gauge pod for the A pillar that will have Air Fuel Ratio in one and fuel pressure in the 2nd. I'm running the 3rd harness for a boost gauge also.

I'm moving my tweeter speakers up to the pillar also like the newer trucks.

It's going to be a tight fit in there with wiring.

 

[nokuy67]

I found this thread due to the posts explaining the external cassette deck hack for a line-in audio plug. I've been trying to find a method of using a 2002 cassette deck to wire-up a BlueTooth connection - some phones no longer support wired audio connections.

Impressed with your greater journey with mods, upgrades, etc! I'm still stuck trying to get my 2002 SLT driver power seats working again, lol (probably has bad motor controller/memory board; switches & base motors check-out individually)

CGood Luck with continuing adventures!

 

[silentbravo]

Thanks, modding a poor man's budget leads to some creativity lol. I just pulled that out yesterday, installing a new double DIN head unit and speakers,etc.

The new Kenwood has Bluetooth built in 👍

 

[silentbravo]

Progress Report - Gauges installed, partially prewired, Crossovers installed, other wiring tidied up

Picture dump!

Just a bit of wiring.... got all of the gauge wires extended for power, and also terminated the signal wires (analog and serial) into a 6 way deutsch connector so I can run that separately later.

Crossovers installed and I wired up the tweeters since I got the dash and pillars reinstalled. It's a little tight to get a screwdriver in to those terminals but it's doable.

First mockup of my custom gauge pod. Made it out of PVC rings, fiberglassed and RAGE gold bondo filler. The finish isn't the best but the fit and "style" is excellent. These tuck into the pillar so much better than off the shelf designs.

I had to make custom hold down brackets for the gauges. Bent some strips of Kydex, should work just fine.

Final install (I hope it doesn't have to be removed)

I got the wiring tidied up enough under dash, now I'm moving back to floor and back wall sound treatment. Here's how it stands, ready for carpet to leave. I really hope I can clean it up.

It's crazy how thin the sheet metal is on these cabs. They're like a tin can! You can tap on most of the panels and get the "tink, tink" high pitched sound which is so easy to vibrate and let's outside sounds/heat in. I'm hoping there should be a big change in the cab dynamics for sound and comfort after this.

 

[72afr]

Looking good! I'm a fan of Polk components myself.