First off I'm posting to show every some problems with these gm trucks, that at one time or another we will all have to deal with, and some of the things I've run into with my build, with that being said I don't want to be bashed for my build, I'm doing this on a budget, I'm not a millionaire otherwise I would've bought a new truck, with that being said I also have set an ambitious goal of restoring the truck(I'm kinda a perfectionist to) and making 600hp at the wheels. Background on the truck: was looking for a standard cab long box for my second truck with a duramax and had to have power Windows/locks and shift on the fly 4wd with cab lights, this proved harder to find then I thought, I spent 6 months looking between Craigslist, autotrader, and findcars almost every night, until I stumbled upon one about a half hour away, went and looked at the truck and they were asking 16800 for it, which I thought was to much, esp since there was a hole cut in the box floor for stacks, and had welded a gooseneck hitch to the frame, so I took home the previous owners name and number and called and talked to him that night, truck pulled a gooseneck everyday, but had never had a programmer on it, just exhaust. Here in iowa the standard cab duramaxs sell fast since the farmers want them, so I called the dealership back made an offer of 14700, and they took it. So I picked it up and brought it home and it was downhill from there. After having it for about 3 weeks I started to smell diesel, open the hood to find number 5 injector leaking, so called the local dealership and got a new line and fixed that. About a week later the transmission started acting up on the 3-4 shifts, which I know is common(remeber truck is still stock except 4in straight pipe exhaust, no programing either with 130k) so I babied it along for another couples weeks and hit a deer coming home from the gfs, was pissed because I didn't even kill the damn thing...... Beings I now needed to paint a hood fender and door, decided that I would just paint the whole truck, under the assumption it was rust free and that I didn't care for the silver paint to much especially since it had seen better days. This was in late august of '12, which wasn't the smartest idea either beings harvest time was coming up quick and wouldnt be able to get back to it until November sometime, so I started working on it before harvest. I ordered a new cowl induction hood for an 03-04 2500hd and the matching grill to convert it, since my 05 had the raised hd hood that I don't care for, and fixed passenger's side fender, next order was to grind the paint off the rockers and let it sit for a couple days to see if the bleed through( these trucks rust from the inside out, even above the rear wheel wells) while doing that found a big rust hole in passenger's side cab confer that the dealership tried to cover up, and made this project a lot more work. So it sat for a couple days with the rockers sanders down, and the worst news they were bleeding rust through, now truck needs both cab corners and rocker panels..... Great, then removed the flares from the box and and rust over the wheel wells, which meant a new box because it was line xd and with a stack hole cut in the floor and the big gooseneck that was welded to the frame, it was going to work. I started calling local yards and found what I thought was a good deal at $400 (most where going for $2500) looked it over and bought it, got it home and the light braces were rotted out and damn thing was full of mud, junk..... Bought 2 new skins, and went looking for new donor box at the yards, found a clean one that needed skins for $75. Had it sandblasted primmed it and am in the process of hanging new skins. Back to the rockers, haven't done a new standard cab yet, thought no big deal, I was wrong again, when I got them cut off everything was rotten, and with all the foam and crash braces it was a night mare to get apart let alone the dirt and **** packed in them. As it sits right now, pass cab corner and rockers are just about to go back on on, interior in out of the truck, and so is the rear window, box is sitting on truck just need to get pass put together so I can tack the new skins on and that will be off to get line x. I will post pictures from the start till where truck is now to and update progress.
"farm truck" build, restoring and 2005 chevy 2500hd duramax
countryboyss
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progress being made
The first one is my new cab after a good wash down, looks a lot better!
The next is the progress I have made today, we set the cab on with the skid loader this morning and I spent most of the day fitting the doors and the new gm fenders(word of advice if your diy don't buy gm fenders they fit like $hit and the quality just isn't what it once was) the passenger side did not go so well, put my door on and I was 1/2in to high after some messaging of the hinges and came down a 1/4 and im not pleased with that at all will probably end up drilling out the hinges and re-mounting them in the right position. by the end of the week would like to have everything fit and the 2 holes (one in the firewall for the clutch and the shifter hole) welded up and primed so I can get in off and have the floor sprayed with line x or rhino(my line x dealer has not been very willing to work with me on this project so it might get done in rhino.....)
The first one is my new cab after a good wash down, looks a lot better!
The next is the progress I have made today, we set the cab on with the skid loader this morning and I spent most of the day fitting the doors and the new gm fenders(word of advice if your diy don't buy gm fenders they fit like $hit and the quality just isn't what it once was) the passenger side did not go so well, put my door on and I was 1/2in to high after some messaging of the hinges and came down a 1/4 and im not pleased with that at all will probably end up drilling out the hinges and re-mounting them in the right position. by the end of the week would like to have everything fit and the 2 holes (one in the firewall for the clutch and the shifter hole) welded up and primed so I can get in off and have the floor sprayed with line x or rhino(my line x dealer has not been very willing to work with me on this project so it might get done in rhino.....)Attachments
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Things came along nicely on our long holiday weekend as you will be able to see the fenders are fit and so are the doors along with the hood, still deciding on what to do with the front bumper, (original plan was to convert to a gm ss front bumper now im up in the air about it(looking for some input). it was even nice enough that I threw the wiring harness back in and took the truck for a ride up and down the gravel just to help the panels fit and make sure the cab where it needed to be.
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With all this time to sit around and think and to look at different trucks I ran across this pearl white half ton that looked so clean and sharp may be a color change from my plans, I originally wanted to paint the truck the new chevy half ton truck color white diamond pearl coat but after seeing a couple trucks painted in that color and talking to guys who have sprayed the color I changed my mind( again seeing what you guys think about this new color idea?)
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I think it would look awesome either way on the paint. It's gonna be one nice rig when you get it back together. Thanks for posting up the pics for such an extensive build.
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This brings me to my next point about my build, hopefully im about 2 weeks away from a full disassembly of the truck which means its time for the engine and transmission to come out, ):h as I stated before id like to make 600hp at the wheels right now, now for the parts ive bought already: ppe manifolds(race set egr getting deleted) upgraded head gaskets ARP studs, sinster diesel pipe for deleted egr cooler, mbrp larger intercooler tubes, magnaflow downpipe, efi license and edge insight. Im looking at putting bigger tips in the injectors while there out, and the cp3 is going to get a "bag of parts" or a rebuilt bigger pump(I have a hard time getting rid of really good parts). Heres where im looking for more input, I haven't decided on a turbo yet, Im looking to keep a vgt setup and would like to go with a fleece or Danville modified turbo, looking for guys that have them and how they perform(would do twins in a heartbeat but im against relocating my battery to the frame would ruin the look of this truck). Last and final issue is the transmission, I originally was going to just have Goerend build one for me since they are not to far away and they are tested before they leave and have a warranty(thers about 5 goerend transmissions that people I know have and have either worked there trucks or installed for them and know there a great product)! Being on a budget makes me stingy sometimes but I know I can rebuild mine myself, there not super complicated, and would save me $2500, but no warranty..... Looking for ideas and what you guys think also here.
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You sir, are a fearless maniac who obviously knows what he's doing.:thumb:
Looking at those pictures makes me realize that living in Southern California does have a few benefits. I grew up in Michigan but rust like that is just a distant memory now. Wow. An eight year old truck with holes like that all over it? There's hardly even any surface rust on the bottom of my truck, let alone any issues with the paint or body panels.
Gar
Looking at those pictures makes me realize that living in Southern California does have a few benefits. I grew up in Michigan but rust like that is just a distant memory now. Wow. An eight year old truck with holes like that all over it? There's hardly even any surface rust on the bottom of my truck, let alone any issues with the paint or body panels.
Gar
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Gar you guys are definitely lucky in that aspect but on the other hand you have smog and inspections so theres good and bad to both. We have rust and theres nothing we can do about it especially with pre owned vechiles, this one is a prime example of abuse and a hard life, but in part gm and all auto makers are at fault they want you to buy a new vechile so they design them not to last, we have a really hard time with the gm brake lines rusting out around here thank god lmc has stainless steel complete brake line kits now! And as far as being a fearless mechanic I was working on cars and trucks when I was 8(and driving them to
) but I really missed out on the diesel craze we all love so much I didn't have the money to afford one which really hurt me from being on the fore front of anything diesel, example, last year I had a dyno bought for my shop and I didn't take it because I have no idea how to tune these trucks(even though id love to) and theres so many established big name guys doing it, so in the long run would've just been an expensive toy especially when I can just pay the big name guys a 1/100 of the price of a dyno to tune in a very short amount of time. With that being I said I do understand these trucks and have a good idea of what im doing(although do need advice and ask for opinions from time to time but the final decision is always mine) So brings me to my last part, what makes my build different is the fact im bringing something back from the dead(or rusty and neglected) and building something better then it was from the factory for sure, has it been done, probably close, but this is a full restoration and yes there are a lot of bolt on parts but just about everythings been done and proved, so that's why this build is for myself personaly.
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Ditto on the rust comments.... I live in Ontario Canada and my '03 rocker panels are in dire straits from rust.....
This is a nice rebuild -- I vote YES on the pearl white -- nice look to it on the truck.
This is a nice rebuild -- I vote YES on the pearl white -- nice look to it on the truck.
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Nice progress, Love the pics. What will you do for the trucks vin? switch the tag over from your old cab?
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The rust thing is just miserable, because of all the new safety requirements and crush zones with hardened steel makes a simple rocker and cab corner job a difficult and expensive job, its between 3k-5k per side to have it done right basically you have to take the whole door jamb area out and replace it with a new one(what a waste and poor design).
Thank you I cant wait till its finished(my checkbook says the same
) and I love the pearl white just not sure on my abilities of spraying it since its a 3 part color, but we will see what happens!
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thanks, more or less yes its a simple process but the whole dash has to be removed cut the back of the rivets off and just glue to new cab.
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the box
The first is my new box stand I built out of a old disk we were taking to the scrap yard, overbuilt but can use it for lots of projects down the road. The rest are of the box right now with a few highlighted pictures of the outer wheel wells that are junk and that you can not buy new, so I have 3 boxes for this truck and still had to find a decent set, there not rusty but need a lot of work(pics of them will be in the next set I post, im running out of time again till winter as I have already starting my silage chopping season and it wont be long and harvest will be here so just hang in there this will get done!
The first is my new box stand I built out of a old disk we were taking to the scrap yard, overbuilt but can use it for lots of projects down the road. The rest are of the box right now with a few highlighted pictures of the outer wheel wells that are junk and that you can not buy new, so I have 3 boxes for this truck and still had to find a decent set, there not rusty but need a lot of work(pics of them will be in the next set I post, im running out of time again till winter as I have already starting my silage chopping season and it wont be long and harvest will be here so just hang in there this will get done!
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