Project GMT400 Z71 Tahoe to LQ9 Daily Driver

[CleanSilvy]

Ok guys wanted to make a thread on my first GMT400 build. Plans are a mild LQ9, longtubes, BTR stage 1 truck cam, CAI, and new gaskets/ LS6 springs. I also plan to do the GMT800 pre-05 brakes (smaller rotor) and master cylinder, and use the 4L60E that will come with the 02 Escalade LQ9 I purchased. I'll be using a Nelson swap harness (already purchased, Allen at Nelson is great to deal with) and will reuse my GMT400 transfer case. No need to make this brick any less fuel efficient than it is by converting to awd. Anyone have any idea what off the shelf GMT400 LS swap headers will work on a 4WD? I know the 2wd guys use Schoenfield but I can't get a straight answer for 4WD. So here's the story on this truck. About a month ago, I hopped on craigslist looking at $1000 cars and came across this repo 2000 Tahoe Z71. Ever since high school, I wanted one of these. I just love the Alcoa wheels, brush guard, etc. Only the rich kid parents had these things back then. This one though... was beyond filthy, wouldn't pass CA emissions, dangerous loosey goosey steering, front and rear brakes down to the metal, front end clunks, rear end whines, 3 different brands of tires, driver's door panel broke, lock solenoids inoperative, a/c warm, and 191k very hard miles at the hands of a painter who left evidence in the form of little white paint splatters all over the place. Just about the opposite of what you would look for in a driver. BUT, it ran good, tags up to date, didn't overheat, trans shifts great, and price was most definitely right :ryu-cvs-hadoken-a:. The inside looked and smelled like a family of seven was living in it who's parents smoked 2 packs a day each (hell maybe even the kids were puffing away too). I have a high school buddy who owns a shop and we tackled a bunch of the little stuff in a weekend and the rest I let him take care of over the course of a week when he had time. So far, I've done:

a/c recharged, now blows nice and cold and no leaks (at least when I do the motor swap in the weeks ahead, I know I'm starting with a functional system). The rear a/c does not work, not sure if that's a bad blower motor or?
new Bilstein HD's (originals completely blown out)
two new front upper control arms (original bushings were metal to metal)
new BFG All Terrains, stock size
new lower balljoints, inner/ outer tie rods, pitman/ idler arms, steering box tightened, alignment
new swaybar bushings/ endlinks
new torsion bar links
new front rotors, new pads, new rear drums, new shoes (brakes were 110% done, can't believe I got it home when I took it apart)
junkyard driver's lock solenoid got the locks working again
new cheapo Dorman inner door handle and bezel got the panel back on (original was missing)
3 hours of scrubbing the seats, headliner, panels and windows + cups of baking soda and charcoal placed throughout, and ammonia sprayed into the heater vents got the interior acceptable and eliminated 99% of the cigarette smell. I was worried I'd never get it out, but windex and a medium coarse bristle brush on the leather seats and side panels was really effective. For the headliner, I sprayed windex on a terry cloth and rubbed in one direction and a TON of brown crap came off.

Before pics:






I won't even bother posting a before pic of the outside pre-cleaning, but this is the result of several hours of washing, claying, waxing, and polishing. This is really the main reason I picked up this hunk of junk, because I could tell the exterior would clean up nicely.





Anyways, onto the mods. First order of business after getting the truck at least driveable (brakes) was the rear end. Leaky, whining, and gravely sounding (bad axle bearings at the minimum). Long story short, new axles, gears, bearings, seals, and a Truetrac and MagHytec cover and the rear end is silent and will provide a good foundation for some basic wheeling and towing I plan to do with this thing. And by wheeling I mean driving on the sand at the local beach where there's a lookout spot only accessible to 4wd's lol...



Fresh set off BFG All-Terrains:


The interior after a new carpet, deep cleaning, new driver's seat cushion and seat cover. I still need to source a lower dash (power outlet) panel as the previous owner had an ashtray fire and that whole area was real nasty up under the dash. Please note the white powder substance is baking soda to absorb residual bad odors!

[Blasphemy]

Wow! What a transformation!! I thought I'd chime in about the headers because I did an LQ9 swap to my 4x4 '98 ecsb truck and that thread is buried somewhere on this section of the forum. I used pacesetter long tubes because it was the closest thing I could find to what I needed. I had to notch out the frame a little bit on the passenger side for clearance but there's plenty of meat on that side so I wasn't worried about structural issues. My only recommendations are that you spring for the ceramic coated headers which cost an extra $100 or spend a significant amount of time prepping and painting the uncoated pair and then wrapping them for protection during installation and having an exhaust shop weld you a decent system to accommodate you 4WD components. I'll be following your thread, and hopefully I can answer any questions you might have