[woody01zf6]

I've got a bunch of tech threads to make already, but my wife found this truck in CO last summer and drove it home to NY for me. She was gettin fat and didn't want me to haul a new baby in the bed of my old reg cab 94 Z71. haha

I do miss that thing...I built it into a nasty beast in the 10 years I had it.

We got it super cheap cause the clutch felt funny and nobody who test drove it even wanted it. I didn't like it either the first time I drove it, but it only took a minute to pop the clutch return spring off the pedal and fix the feel. (It had like 2/3 dead travel and the bottom 1/3 was friction...why Chevy built them this way, I have no idea.) They said it had the hood & grille stolen a couple years ago and it looked a little worse for wear, but that's pretty easy to fix. A lot easier than finding another ZF6!

I've done a bunch of work to it now and got it lookin pretty good. Playing with the tune at the moment. But I'll add more pics here as I create some tech threads and catch it up to date. Here's a little peek.

 

[silentbravo]

What are you using for tuning?

 

[woody01zf6]

An OBDlink LX bluetooth adapter with TunerPro RT for the calibration adjustments and datalogging. The actual flashing of the PCM is done via LS-Droid with a phone. It's a fairly new DIY solution, but it's not very user-friendly. The basic functionality is there, but there are still some bugs. Sharing it now would just open many cans of worms...haha

I'll post a ton of info once it's a little better ironed out. Right now I'm trying to get my wideband to report in the PID datastream correctly. That and TargetAFR and KnockRetard are really needed for a solid tuning basis.

 

[silentbravo]

This may interest you then. Some other coding magicians working on open source flashing software, made good progress. https://ls1tech.com/forums/pcm-diagnost ... rking.html

 

[woody01zf6]

Interesting. I had read some of the earlier PCM Hammer stuff, but chose LS-Droid and haven't really looked at it since. The proprietary scanner is interesting...I need to look into that. I'd guess it doesn't function any better with TunerPro than my OBDlink since the ELM plugin seems to be the weak link...but it's worth a look. Thanks

 

[woody01zf6]

How-to posted for the front receiver:
Re-welding a front receiver to actually fit!

 

[Tatsngats]

Wow! You really cleaned that thing up!

 

[silentbravo]

My dad has a bunch of hitches I can cut up to make one, but don't need one right now. They are handy though. If I ever build a front bumper I will probably incorporate one into it.

 

[nealinator]

That is quite the transformation. These threads are so much more fun to watch the changes unfold. Good luck with the tune stuff. I left mine to the local wizzard. haha.

 

[woody01zf6]

Posted in exterior with info on the Raptor Liner:
Raptor liner on rockers, Nfabs and plastic trim

I got some Nfab nerf bars on Facebook Marketplace "for a 2006 Chevy" that I had to cut up and and re-weld to work. I realized that pretty quick that they wouldn't fit, but I had already driven 1.5hrs to pick them up and they were super cheap ($80) so I bought them anyway. I'm not a huge fan of the look, but they are nice to put the car seat in the middle...

 

[silentbravo]

Awesome work. Did you build the mounts for the step bars completely or did you cut them off some others and re weld to your new bars?

 

[woody01zf6]

The truck already had what looked to be DeeZee step bar mounts without the bars. Being from Colorado the truck wasn't rusty, but I see those DeeZee bars fall off trucks here in NY all the time. My 100lb wife actually broke one on her step dad's 03 like 10 years ago...

I connected the Nfabs to the DeeZee mounts with some 16ga stainless exhaust tubing bends. That's as thick as those Nfabs anyway - I was surprised how light duty they are. But with the mounts I put on them they're super solid. Two body mounts and one more 2in.120 angle iron mount 8in the middle. There's maybe 1/8 of flex when my 200lbs steps on them.

 

[Tatsngats]

Man, I am loving how this truck is turning out!

 

[nealinator]

What a transformation! Was that an HD hood that was on it when you picked it up? And what made you decide to go back to a standard one?

 

[woody01zf6]

Yeah. I guess the factory HD hood and grille and bumper cap were all stolen. Then the PO just put an unpainted hood on it and drove it. I was gonna repaint the HD hood, but there were a lot of dents to fix in it and I was running out of time with the little one due. I bought the half ton hood on Facebook already in the right color for $50 and sold the HD one for $75. I may revisit all that later. I have some ideas, but probably never have time for them. I still have a Camaro to finish. Haha

 

[nealinator]

I got you. Getting one already the same color sure makes it easy! And having made $25 in the process....perfect!

You seem pretty meticulous...so I assume the engine bay and interior are cleaned up nice from the pictured posted on here earlier?

 

[woody01zf6]

It cleaned up halfway decent. I guess I don't have a good picture of it really. This was when I started to install the LS1fans harness that I ended up cutting and extending. I'll shoot a better pic some time.

 

[silentbravo]

You added a 2nd battery? How is that connected?

 

[woody01zf6]

Here are a couple things that don't deserve their own tech threads, but came out looking good:

Being a designer, I couldn't stand the stock emblems. I hate chromey looking stuff anyway, but the HD bowtie is ridiculously huge, too. So I painted it orange and cut a vinyl inlay for it to reduce the visual size of it. The shiny bowties in the 2500HD and Silverado emblems broke when prying them out, so I cut 1/8" plastic at work into bowties and painted & vinyl'd them to match. I also erased the side molding and 4x4 stickers and cut my own "ZF6" stickers. A Chevy has gotta be a Z, right? I couldn't find vinyl to match the paint I had...so I just painted the vinyl itself...and it came out mint! Way better than I would have guessed...

Recently I cut some more vinyl for the back window. My last truck had a "Shark Warrior" sticker from our cage dive in Australia...and that's how the local cops (who know my wife from her job in the ER) knew my truck and to leave me alone. So I cut my own this time and matched them to the color scheme. (Plus I redrew the shark...drove me crazy that the logo looked more like a mako than a great white.) Cmon man!

 

[woody01zf6]

You added a 2nd battery? How is that connected?

It's stock. From what I understand there's an isolator solenoid or relay that divorces it from the main battery while the ignition is off. That way the 12v trailer plug can't kill the main battery.