[bk2life]

We talk a lot about S trucks in here. Of course, this is an S-Series Forum, but not every day do some of us only drive our S trucks. Approximately April of 2020 I bought my self this Silverado from the local auction. It was hit in the rear, and the driver’s rear frame rail pulled down about 12 inches.

When the vehicle was hit in the rear, it was pushed into something, possibly a freeway barrier, along the front passenger fender.

I won’t post the buying price, but with buying it, fixing it, and now having all the modifications done, it’s still way cheaper than you can buy a similar used truck.

So, here are a few pictures:


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[chevymec]

Did you do the repairs? I've never been keen on body work, guess that's why I'm a mechanic.

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[bk2life]

Drove it for a few months until Uncle Sam sent me overseas. Well, while I am over here, and my truck is 8k miles away, I am now having installed a 4/6 drop kit, 24 inch wheels and had all the chrome removed. Since the rear was damaged, I ordered a grant kustom roll steel pan, had the rear taillights and the third brake light tinted. Also, ordered 1 7/8 full length headers and Y pipe with high flow cats that’ll mate to a MagnaFlow Off-Road Pro Series cat back.

the truck is currently in the shop getting a texas speed cam swap, dod/afm delete and all the parts that go with it such as oil pump, new lifters, springs etc. The shop will be installing the drop kit with the new wheel/tire combo, full exhaust, pulling the heads and having them checked out/valve job/resurface if needed. Afterwards, or wed, it’ll be going to the dyno for full tuning.

The entire windshield has 45% tint on it, with 5% limo on the other 5 windows.

That’s about it for the outside, but in the future will be adding some red graphics, and a few red touches on the interior to tie the outside into the interior of the truck.

Not looking for a racetrack, but a nice sport truck. To me the 2014/6 body style was the last good looking GM truck, before they went to the new weird import looking front end.

 

[bk2life]

I was able to replace the fender with a GM part, thanks to my dealer discount, it was actually cheaper than the aftermarket fender. I fixed the drivers dings on the fenders, rock chips and dent on the pass side of hood where the fender rolled it over.

I cut off the rear frame rail and grafted in a new one.

Got it in the booth, and sprayed it with my trusty $9 harbor freight purple HVLP gun. Same gun I used to repair Last Look, Funktastic, and the bleu SEMA truck.

Found a decent bed from craigslist, and put the truck all together.

Then left the country. LoL

 

[bk2life]

This I think is july 26th, the last time I saw my house, until I get back home.

 

[bk2life]

Since I have been gone, I have ordered and received all my parts, exhaust, drop kit, wheels, tires, paintable grill and headlights, roll pan, etc..

I also had the truck dropped off at a local body shop to have the dings in the bed sides and tailgate removed, and the bed repainted. –which is fun coordinating that from Iraq.

I will install the roll pan when I am home, and blend the lower portion of the bed sides. I do plan on adding some red graphics to the cab and bedsides at a later date, so I won’t reclear the entire bedsides when I paint the roll pan.

 

[bk2life]

I got bored and ordered this steering wheel. Not sure how it looks in person, but the pictures are kinda cool. It's black and red. Which goes well with how I’m doing the truck

 

[MyWorkInProgress]

Is the redline steering wheel a direct swap? The one in my ‘16 is getting a little tired after 444k..

 

[bk2life]

I’ll post up some pics from the shop, and after the dyno tune, I’ll post up the dyno chart as well.

I will most likely pull the transmission to have it upgraded and install a looser convertor. Again, not expecting a race truck, just want to make sure all the ducks are in a row.

 

[MyWorkInProgress]

Hard to tell it’s still kinda dark, but she’s thinned out pretty good up top.

 

[bk2life]

Is the redline steering wheel a direct swap? The one in my ‘16 is getting a little tired after 444k..

It’s supposed to be a direct swap. Built off a real steering wheel base. Obviously I don’t know anything about the install, it’s still 3 months until I see my truck again.

 

[bk2life]

The truck is running and went to the dyno on Wednesday. The owner of the shop doing the work for me is driving my truck home tonight to put 50 or so miles on it to make sure there are no leaks and the AC is working. (2014/5 models had issues with bad ac condensers, so I had it replaced while it was apart getting the cam swap)

Since the heads were off, I’m having the guy driving it for some heat cycles to make sure there are no issues. I personally know him so it’s not like some random person is driving my truck around.

The shop thought the new exhaust was going to be super loud, but they have been pretty surprised. It’s got a nice mild idle, you can hear the cam, and it does get nice and loud when you step on the go pedal.

Lastly, this was no race truck, just a nice cruiser.

The pictures are some upgraded discs that use the factory brake calipers but add bigger rotors which are slotted and drilled. More of an esthetic upgrade since I’ll have the big open wheels on there now, stock brakes always look wimpy.

 

[bk2life]

DYNO RESULTS
For comparison a stock 45k mile 14 Silverado, 5.3 L83, made 281/313 on the dyno.

Mine made 385/391 which is a gain of +104hp and +74tq.

 

[chevymec]

Thats a nice gain!

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[bk2life]

Thats a nice gain!

thanks, truck is back in the shop getting lowered now.. I should have pictures soon

 

[bk2life]

The new wheels and tires are here...and the drop is being installed. Should have some pictures soon. Next will be painting the chrome bumper, adding the painted grill, swapping out the old non projector headlights to the new quad projector headlights from RETROFITSOURCE, and painting the rear tailgate handle. That will almost be it for the outside of the truck. I say almost, because I still want to add some graphics, a few dings in the rear doors and strip the roof as it was showing signs of breaking down.
The interior will get some red accents, and some katzkin seat covers with some red in them.
Planning on doing some audio upgrades, and still up in the air on the Linksys head unit.



The front of the truck is lowered, they’re working on the rear, but I didn’t order a C-Notch.. oops. I bought the entire lowering kit, but it didn’t come with a c-notch. Wth? So they’re sourcing one locally to finish the lowering job, then getting it aligned, and then I’ll have a buddy go pick it up for me. I’m still nearly 2 months out from even being home to see or drive it.

The next thing is the big brake rotors from Baer. The 24s are an open style wheel, so the brake rotor upgrade will need to happen to look right. Ugh. Money pit. J

 

[bk2life]

Truck is being picked up from the shop this weekend. Dropped, 24s, aligned, ready to rock. When I get home, I've got to fab/install the Grant Kustoms 3 piece roll pan, and then I'll be ready to add the graphics. I'll post pics as soon as I get some...

 

[nfamus10]

You are making more progress out of country than I do with the truck at my house 24/7 hah. Gonna be a sharp daily for sure.

 

[Rhotpursuit]

You are making more progress out of country than I do with the truck at my house 24/7 hah. Gonna be a sharp daily for sure.

I'm not sure how he does it...

 

[bk2life]

You are making more progress out of country than I do with the truck at my house 24/7 hah. Gonna be a sharp daily for sure.

I'm not sure how he does it...

Thanks guys. It’s pretty simple, when I have ‘downtime’ there isn’t much to do here, so either I order parts, or I contact places that can do the work. I’ve had shops blow me off because I tell them I’m in Iraq, and I’ll have the vehicle towed to their shop and they don’t believe it. So, they don’t get me money.

I’ve also had 3 serious job offers for when I return because of it as well. It’s been a real shitty tour here, too many incoming rockets, several people have lost their lives because of it. So, build my trucks to take my mind off of things.

My hombre rendering is almost done, and soon, I’ll get the cab pulled for the last of the modifications, and ‘bed line’ the underside of it.