88GMCtruck's 98 Silverado Towpig Build: "Black Fox"

[88GMCtruck]

Parents 99 obs burb center did bring the suck and every single fucking bump brought on a sodasplosion if it was a can, was to the point I'd just keep it between my legs or on the center lid in a roll of duct tape but I'm still convinced obs buckets were actually designed by lazy boy for a living room, seriously one of the most comfortable vehicle seats I've ever been in.

It's true, the cupholders were pathetic at best. And yes, the seat are so comfortable, I can drive forever in this thing.

Looks awesome as usual. I forgot you had the escalade interior swapped in there.

Just the handles and trim on my stock grey door panels, plus dash bezel.

I did run across a full set of escalade seats for a good price but I didn't want to go through the hassle of trying to swap my interior out for neutral.

 

[2005_Silverado]

love your truck....keep up the good work and thanks for documenting/sharing.

 

[slicksierra]

This is awesome


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[88GMCtruck]

love your truck....keep up the good work and thanks for documenting/sharing.

Thanks! I like sharing what I've done to it, and giving others ideas.

This is awesome

Thanks!

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Finished up my speaker upgrade last night. Not sure why it took this long to accomplish, but the GM issue speakers were shot. They never sounded good to begin with... So out they came and were swapped for a set of Infinity component speakers.

Front doors were easy... Now in the rear I went a different direction. The Crewcab trucks have the same door panels as a suburban, without speakers installed. They use the same rear pillar trim as a regular cab pickup, and have 4x6 speakers in the pillar. 4x6 speakers very rarely sound good, particularly compared to components. I started out investigating and low and behold, the rear doors are already wired for speakers, in the door itself. It ends at the center pillar plug. Still made my life WAY easier.

Did a little fitting and cut the holes for the rear door speakers

Best question is where am I putting a tweeter, and better yet how am I going to do it so it looks factory..... Remember those 4x6 rear speakers..... Since the space was no longer useful, and the stock speakers are crap anyway, I "took them apart" and used the frame as a mount for the tweeters, in the rear pillar.

I'm probably going to steal the subwoofer from the 88 and toss it in there, hopefully I will be able to get a headunit sometime in the near future.

 

[DeanH1290]

That's sick placement for the tweeters!

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[88GMCtruck]

Been super busy at work lately and at home, trying to get some of the project stuff off my plate lately.

Last weekend I finally got around to a good wash for the truck, and pulled the trailer out to help a friend move.

While I had the trailer and campers out of the way the other weekend, I pulled this ol' girl out. It got a quick bath this weekend and I ran around in it some.

Sunday I performed my 0411 swap on the truck, wire by wire. I used a combination of Lextech's wiring chart and one I made myself, which was very useful in the end having both. I don't know how many differences there are in wiring between 1/2 VS 3/4 VS 1 Ton trucks, or between Small Block VS Big Block trucks, or Auto VS Manuals, but there were a few things I had to figure out and hopefully can pass on to others for future use. I wanted to get everything tidied up first, but I will get the wiring cleaned up later.

With the new 0411 came a Blackbear tune. Got that sorted out and JFC it was a night and day difference. The truck feels like it picked up 50HP. Acceleration is harder and smoother, truck revs quicker and the best part, on my initial test run, while doing a ton of screwing around and fast highway driving, got better mileage. This past weekend I ended up at 10.8 MPG which includes going over 2 mountain passes... I am willing to bet I would up that 2 MPG if I wasn't playing around while driving. Can't wait to test it out with the camper. Of course I snapped a couple picts of the truck from the outing.

Stay tuned, there are more mods in the works as well.

 

[Tylers88]

You really got my attention here

I pulled this ol' girl out. It got a quick bath this weekend and I ran around in it some.

 

[Tiki]

Heavy breathing...

 

[88GMCtruck]

You really got my attention here

Heavy breathing...

Yup, the 88 is still around and kicking. It's been parked the last few years once I bought the dually, and concentrated on other things. I'm selling my 02 so I can focus on whipping this back into shape. The last 4 years haven't been nice to it, but, soon it will be like new. Going to collect parts first.

If you haven't seen it, aside from being a SAS 8-lug truck now, it's also a 454/NV4500.

I have a lot of BIG plans for it. Once I get to it I will need to make a thread of it here.

 

[Tylers88]

Yup, the 88 is still around and kicking. It's been parked the last few years once I bought the dually, and concentrated on other things. I'm selling my 02 so I can focus on whipping this back into shape. The last 4 years haven't been nice to it, but, soon it will be like new. Going to collect parts first.

If you haven't seen it, aside from being a SAS 8-lug truck now, it's also a 454/NV4500.

I have a lot of BIG plans for it. Once I get to it I will need to make a thread of it here.

That's like the big brother of what I want my 88 to be someday, I'd like a decent 350/5speed of some sort, 6 lug HP44/14SF lowish(3-4" of lift) on 33s. Whatever happened to the Racelines you had on it or were you 6 lug then I remember following the build on GMT400, I think maybe was gmfs, but can't remember details?

 

[88GMCtruck]

That's like the big brother of what I want my 88 to be someday, I'd like a decent 350/5speed of some sort, 6 lug HP44/14SF lowish(3-4" of lift) on 33s. Whatever happened to the Racelines you had on it or were you 6 lug then I remember following the build on GMT400, I think maybe was gmfs, but can't remember details?

Yeah it was originally built with 6-lug axles, I ended up getting a CUCV 4.56 geared 14FF for it with a detroit locker (worst idea ever) and converted the D44 to 8-lug. Wish I would have left it alone TBH, the 8-lug spindles are wider up front and pushed the tires out 1.5" or so on each side, which I don't care for. I'm thinking it'll go back to 6-lug again.

 

[Tylers88]

I'm thinking it'll go back to 6-lug again.

That makes me feel better about wanting to stay 6 lug

 

[88GMCtruck]

Been getting the tunes worked out with BlackBear, this has been a common sight lately.....

My gauges finally showed up though, here is what they look like out of the box. Speedhut did an awesome job, the quality is excellent, well worth the wait.

Since they were in I had to connect everything, which I pre-wired awhile back in anticipation of this.

The boost gauge uses a electronic sender, which conveniently there was a 3/8" NPT plug in the manifold already (is something for the A.I.R. equipped trucks) so I installed a bushing and adapted it to fit the sender.

Here they are installed in a autometer dual pillar pod, painted to match with SEM.

Oh, and of course, a shot at boost........

 

[GeoffSFAs10]

very nice! everything looks clean

 

[racer36]

am jelly, and i really enjoy the fantastic work you always do. everything seems to always be done right

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[88GMCtruck]

Thanks guys!

 

[Ginger]

whats the 0411 mod?

 

[Tylers88]

whats the 0411 mod?

Newer/better PCM, not 100% sure on benefits but I think tuneability is one of them

 

[Ginger]

oh. ok. i was hoping it was something i could maybe benefit from with my 6.5 diesel.

 

[88GMCtruck]

whats the 0411 mod?

Newer/better PCM, not 100% sure on benefits but I think tuneability is one of them

Yeah, they are a very commonly used PCM from 99-08 in trucks, camaros, vans, S-series.... They have a quicker processing speed, can run tow/haul mode, dual timing tables, and coil near plug ignition systems. They are considerably better to tune. I noticed right away the throttle response difference, as well as a bump in fuel economy.

oh. ok. i was hoping it was something i could maybe benefit from with my 6.5 diesel.

Unfortunately you are stuck with the PROM computers.