Out with the old and in with the new.

[BabyBlue]

After much deliberation, cleaning spree's, cursing at cleaning the hair out of the seats and not having anything except for my brown 78' stepside to carefully haul some stuff in I have made the decision to switch back to a truck as a daily driver. As some of you may know, it is hard to find a 2wd up in NY or in the northeast period especially looking at new trucks. So I am trading in my Subaru (insurance was too expensive on the thing anyway), and selling my 71' 2wd Blazer that I picked up a few months ago to BUILD my new truck.

I made it pretty simple and will be putting a down payment to build the truck later tomorrow (7/28. I decided on a 2015 Sierra RCSB 2wd, 5.3L, SLE, Trailering package, 3.42 gears, color matched wheel lip openings and rear wheelhouse liners in the beautiful color of Sonoma Red. Truck will wind up arriving during truck month which is great timing for incentives.

I am putting the factory style 20x9" wheel on the truck....the ones that kind of look like beehives or whatever. Staggering the tires 265/45R20 and 285/50R20 Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season's. Also adding a Mcgaughy's 4/7 lowering kit with shocks....all the parts are ordered and will be waiting for the truck.

Once the 71' blazer sells, I'll add Hooker headers, Flowmaster hi-flo cats, flowmaster super 40 mufflers with a stainless 3" exhaust system, K&N air intake, MAFS, a tonneau cover and then call it good for the time being.

If anyone wants the 71' it is in the classifieds and I will give you a good deal on it, especially with all the money I spent making it more road worthy because it was for sitting for so long.

All in all, I'm gonna have the only truck in my area like it, and I'm very happy that it'll be built the way I want instead of taking what someone has on the lot.

[Low Elco]

Cool-almost bought those wheels in the 22" version.

[piecesparts]

Looking good!

2011 GMC, McGaughy's lowering kit, Azuza wheels, 5.3, EFI tune, 6 speed auto, with 3.42 gearing. Kooks headers and Magnaflow muffler going to dual rear outlets.

[BabyBlue]

Originally Posted by piecesparts

Looking good!

2011 GMC, McGaughy's lowering kit, Azuza wheels, 5.3, EFI tune, 6 speed auto, with 3.42 gearing. Kooks headers and Magnaflow muffler going to dual rear outlets.

How do you like those Kooks headers? Are they much better quality than say Hooker, Doug Thorley or Gibson? Love the truck too, I wish I could have black...I'd be polishing it everywhere I went though.

[piecesparts]

Originally Posted by BabyBlue

How do you like those Kooks headers? Are they much better quality than say Hooker, Doug Thorley or Gibson? Love the truck too, I wish I could have black...I'd be polishing it everywhere I went though.

I have never had a set of Hooker headers, in my life. I have had many other brands that were a lot cheaper. I do have a set of Thorley headers and the design work on them appears to be in alignment with the Kooks set. I got my Kooks headers from Maryland Speed and it was during their header special sale that they do annually. I got the headers, piping and cats all together and the headers are Jet coated for a lasting finish. The jet coating was at no extra cost and they saved me some cash on the whole deal. They installed easily and the fit and finish was right easy to deal with. I think that if I wanted to do the same on my Pontiac G8 and maybe a later truck, I would still go with that brand.

When I install headers, I use teflon tape on the bolts that holds them to the heads and that solves any issues of having bolts coming loose. I set them, drive for a period and reset the bolts one last time and that is all that is needed. The teflon tape will let the bolts comeout without any problem either. The headers on my 2011 have been there since the middle of 2011 and I now have over 100,000 miles on it. I purchased the truck in January of 2011.

I have a couple black vehicles and I live in the middle of Kansas, in a small rural town. The trick is to get the paint smooth and clean and then use a product that really works in all kinds of weather. Everyone has their particular brand, but I found the Wizards products do quite well in Summer and Winter. Just check with Low E above, he and I have had several together.

[hopped up]

Wow! That's a very nice truck

[Dalaigh]

Congrats on the new truck… The only thing that sucks about the 2014 Reg. Cab trucks, is the radio… No matter what level of trim you get, it's still the small 4" screen, you need to get into a double cab in order to get the 8" screen… Hope that changed for 2015…

[piecesparts]

Has anyone tried to update the air intake on a new 2014, yet? We have one that the CAI was installed and the owner is not sure if the computer is reading it right.

[BabyBlue]

Originally Posted by piecesparts

I have never had a set of Hooker headers, in my life. I have had many other brands that were a lot cheaper. I do have a set of Thorley headers and the design work on them appears to be in alignment with the Kooks set. I got my Kooks headers from Maryland Speed and it was during their header special sale that they do annually. I got the headers, piping and cats all together and the headers are Jet coated for a lasting finish. The jet coating was at no extra cost and they saved me some cash on the whole deal. They installed easily and the fit and finish was right easy to deal with. I think that if I wanted to do the same on my Pontiac G8 and maybe a later truck, I would still go with that brand.

When I install headers, I use teflon tape on the bolts that holds them to the heads and that solves any issues of having bolts coming loose. I set them, drive for a period and reset the bolts one last time and that is all that is needed. The teflon tape will let the bolts comeout without any problem either. The headers on my 2011 have been there since the middle of 2011 and I now have over 100,000 miles on it. I purchased the truck in January of 2011.

I have a couple black vehicles and I live in the middle of Kansas, in a small rural town. The trick is to get the paint smooth and clean and then use a product that really works in all kinds of weather. Everyone has their particular brand, but I found the Wizards products do quite well in Summer and Winter. Just check with Low E above, he and I have had several together.

Gotcha. Hooker is about $150 less than Kooks so I have a month to deliberate about it. I'm probably not going to be driving the truck during winter soooo, I should be fine regardless of the color that I chose. I'll have to give wizard a little try, I have a mix of meguires and mothers products.

Originally Posted by hopped up

Wow! That's a very nice truck

That's just a picture of a truck that mine is going to look like. Mine is ordered and comes in around September.

Originally Posted by Dalaigh

Congrats on the new truck… The only thing that sucks about the 2014 Reg. Cab trucks, is the radio… No matter what level of trim you get, it's still the small 4" screen, you need to get into a double cab in order to get the 8" screen… Hope that changed for 2015…

It is still a 4" screen because the manager kept asking if I wanted more than a regular cab and I kept telling them "No".

Originally Posted by piecesparts

Has anyone tried to update the air intake on a new 2014, yet? We have one that the CAI was installed and the owner is not sure if the computer is reading it right.

If you don't have an answer in a month & 1/2 then I'll let you know.

[piecesparts]

[QUOTE=BabyBlue;6785553]Gotcha. Hooker is about $150 less than Kooks so I have a month to deliberate about it. I'm probably not going to be driving the truck during winter soooo, I should be fine regardless of the color that I chose. I'll have to give wizard a little try, I have a mix of meguires and mothers products.


I had the opportunity to match up the Wizards to Mequiars a few years ago and the amount of return for the amount of elbow grease given was leaps and bounds in the Wizards house. I was on a Hot Rod Power Tour and the Mequiars people did a morning with their techs as a demonstration of their products. I was clearly surprised the difference was in the Wizards favor.

[BabyBlue]

Debadged, McGaughy's 4/7 kit installed, 20" OE Wheels. More pics to come as I just installed color matched moldings and wheel house liners. Also order Kooks Headers and Y-pipe with flowmaster series 40's.

[Root2812]

Nice truck. I just got my new Silverado on Monday. I'm happy with mine so I'm sure you are too. I did end up going with one on the lot and getting the 2014 for the truck month discounts but I got what I wanted. Your wheels look great.

[BabyBlue]

Yes, thoroughly enjoying it. I just installed my K&N filter, my weathertech floor mats and I will be getting my Kooks Headers installed this weekend with my flowmaster exhaust hopefully welded in on Monday.

Updated picture of the truck.

[Dalaigh]

Truck looks beautiful…

[BabyBlue]

Update: Kooks 1 3/4" Calico coated headers installed with Y-pipe, new MSD wires installed and K&N air intake. Pics to follow after it gets cleaned up. Video after it gets exhaust on Monday.

Originally Posted by Dalaigh

Truck looks beautiful…

Thanks!

[redracer95]

well........ we're waiting.......

[54Caddy]

Nice truck man. Planning on getting a victory red single cab mid year next year. The wheels and drop look perfect.

[Sixshooter44]

Great looking truck! How is the ride with the 4/7 kit? Also what size tires did you end up using?

[BabyBlue]

Originally Posted by redracer95

well........ we're waiting.......

Finally stopped raining and got some pics!

Originally Posted by 54Caddy

Nice truck man. Planning on getting a victory red single cab mid year next year. The wheels and drop look perfect.

Thanks. Look forward to seeing yours!

Originally Posted by Sixshooter44

Great looking truck! How is the ride with the 4/7 kit? Also what size tires did you end up using?

Honestly, seeing how they sit so high to start out with I can't feel a difference from stock. Well, aside from the front air dam scraping every now and then. Rides really nice.

Tires are front - 265/45R-20 and rear - 285/50R-20 Pirelli Scorpion Verde All Season Plus XL's.

[BabyBlue]

Last two for now

[redracer95]

that's a good looking truck you have.

[lolife99]

Very nice truck.
Would you care to say how much you have invested in this truck?
$50k+???

[BabyBlue]

Originally Posted by lolife99

Very nice truck.
Would you care to say how much you have invested in this truck?
$50k+???

Barely just crossed over $40k

[BabyBlue]

Been talking with Texas Speed, Lingenfelter and also a couple local shops. Brain storming in the works and a lot of research to get particular idea's to fruition. Looks like it's time for some more upgrades, and some tunage.

[piecesparts]

Interested to know what cam you pick and how well it works.