Project : BluePrint

[blurred]

Alright, was finally able to make it over to my buddies in put in the tube notch.

Another friend was able to come over and help me take the bed off the truck on Friday.

Was able to drive around without a bed for a day...


Over at the buddy's house, parked in the garage.


Everything getting lined up and marked.




cutting the bumpstop brackets off.


Torching the frame up.





Tidbit of grinding.


Makin them beads...





doneskis..


and with some paint.





Then I get home and I unload a portion of the truck. My son finds the jack and decides his "beebee" requires some work, so up on the jack it goes...


Then he has to go for a ride or three.


And then back to work on "beebee"





And I am sure my neighbors don't enjoy seeing my truck sitting in the driveway like this, but it's a sign of an auto enthusiast. :lol: They just don't get it.



After that was taken though a friend stopped by with his family on their way home and helped me sit the bed back on the frame. Much thanks to them for that too. No way I could do it alone...

So yeah, next step is to get the shocks in, install the 3" blocks in the rear and then the front and rear shocks and get an alignment... Getting there...

[blurred]

And I was finally able to make a little more progress...

[blurred]

Umm.. well, mightaswellupdate...

----------------------------------------------------------------
November 29th 2012
Picked up a wiper cowl and was able to install it. Also was able to get the blue munchkin in it's home in the new truck as well as cleaned the engine bay.









And Logan decided to park his cars in the garage where they should be. :lol:




-----------------------------------------------------
December 5th 2012

Decided to play with a 7D that I was able to get my hands on. Attempting to learn the camera in a short amount of time, here are a couple shots I was happy with.

[dubstance98r/t]

love the truck dude, my truck has a similar colour, havent posted any pics as there is a mountain of parts sitting at the end of my bed waiting to be installed, that way when i do have a build thread there will be lots of start to current changes and progress.

how do you like those belltechs? im still debating on shocks for my set up, have been looking into qa1 double adjustables, belltechs and a few others...

have you considered colour matching the door handles?(they almost disapear) i did the same thing with my cargo light, and i candied out my reverse lights(not really concerned with the police on that one)

[blurred]

Hey hey, a reply!!


The Belltechs are still sitting in the garage unfortunately. However, I do know they will be infinitismally better than the oh-so choice stock springs and shocks I have on the truck now.

Planning to toss everything together, then pull the stock ones out, put these in and see just how much drop I am able to net with it. If it is not enough, then I will be picking up a set of 2" balljoints to get where I need, especially since I can adjust the spacers on the front shocks up to 2" either way.

I debated doing the brake lights all red too, just can't get myself to pull the gun since I haven't really seen it done on the Colorado. I probably will at some point in time. They need sanded anyway, so really, why not?

Handles and mirrors (I have some SS ones) will be colormatched. Unfortunately a majority of this truck needs to be repainted as the paint condition is beyond my ability of repair (read that scratches through the paint and really heavy swirls from years of neglect and chips) so I honestly plan to just spray everything all at once with the same color, of course.

[HooWybrow]

I really enjoy this truck, have always wanted to see one modified.

I'm a GM tech, see these a few times a week, although not Xtreme's. Assuming you've got something planned for that humungous transmission crossmember? I can definitely see that playing a part in getting stuck in various situations.

Keep it up, sir.

[NorCalFocus]

Seeing pics of your kid makes me miss mine being that young.

Keep up the good work man. I'm really enjoying seeing something different done.

[blurred]

Appreciate it.

And yes, that transmission crossmember is going to go. There won't be anything hanging under the frame after I am done with it.

Fortunately and unfortunately, that is sitting in the garage right now.

[blurred]

Updates...


12/16/2012
And I played with the transmission today, also seafoamed the truck.

Transmission is shifting smooth and the truck is running a little cleaner. Yup.

finishing everything up, ready to drop it back down.


just another shot of that shiny pan.


and all wrapped up and tucked away for the night.



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12/19/2012
Got a little more work done today, and what a pain in the ass. FYI, pick up the low pros that mount under the truck. :lmao:

Problems we ran into:

Exhaust was in the way but was able to get everything bolted up and fit back without any rattling. Granted, a portion of the exhaust is butted against the crossmember, but it shouldn't do anything. Will probably give it a tid bit more clearance.

2. Dude cut the gas line (return) accidently while grinding, so we got some fuel injection line and replaced that section.

Other than those two things, it was pretty simple and straight forward.


On to the pictures.

cutting the brackets (after the sawzall)



Removing most of the bracket:



grinding off what is left:



My side complete:



Doin work son.




Welded up and painted.. Happy with this, very.




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

12/31/2012
Alright, so this was how the truck sat for a couple months:



stock up front, 2" blocks in the back.


Then, an impromptu mod meet happened with just a test fit. Paul (a friend of mine) came up here to help me see where I was with the Belltech coils and the shocks. Well, the second I dropped the truck on the new coils and shocks I knew that it was where I wanted to be. Any lower and I would be scrapping all over the place. If anything, these will settle down a bit and be perfect.












The final drop once both sides were setup.









So now the current setup is Belltech 2103 coils and the 9507 Street Performance shock kit (front and rear).





Dropped the passenger side approximately 3". I am now sitting at 26" all around. Had to use all four of the spacers on the drivers side just to keep it level with the passenger, which has none.

Will be getting an alignment tomorrow morning. Might stop on the way home and snap a couple photos if I am able.

[LethalEthan]

good work! Love those nissan wheels.

[Yogi_Bear]

This is great, love those wheels

[milano_red]

Looks awesome man!

[rice4life]

Happy 2013!

I hope this year brings lots of mods and more great updates.

[blurred]

Thanks guys, appreciate the responses.

And here's an update for the first day of the year, wish it could be a better one. :facepalm



Well the alignment place was a bust today. Only one open.

Backstory time!

Yesterday, I called, lady told me to bring it in before 5 so the tech could align it by 530, which was what time he got off work and that it would be $75. Okay, no biggie.

I get there just before 5 after wrapping the front end up. The boss tells me they don't have time to do it and that the lady didn't know that the alignment tech had to leave in 10 minutes. He also said, (after looking at the truck) that it was really low and that it would be tough to align in that short of time, so bring it back tomorrow (today) and they will get it up there and align it, IF they can align it. I assure him, I am not that low and that it can be aligned.

I show up today, no customers, awesome. They go to pull it on the rack and the gas tank crossmember catches. They are worried that they will rip the E-brake cables and a gas line (a tag was hanging down low and they didn't know what it was.) I assured them it wasn't a gas line, but still, the E-brake cable is in there. Damn.

So I tell them I have block and boards, could easily put that between the tire and the ramp and get it high enough to clear.

Then they start talking about some wing things that are on each side of the rack so the tires don't fall off. Tell me they are too tall. I look at those and tell them it will clear, easily. They then tell me the truck is slammed. I assure them, it will clear.

So, the boss then tells me "Well, if we are going to get into laying down blocks and whatnot, the lady told you the wrong price. You have a specialty vehicle since it's been lowered. That will cost 99.99 to align. That's the right cost for it."

My response was "Well, that answers the rest of my questions about this shop. Thanks for your time, I'm out."


Made some phone calls and drove around for about an hour and couldn't find any other shops open..

So no alignment. Punks.

Going to go to my old shop since they are good about doing shit and working with me.





Oh, and I stopped and took pictures.

[LethalEthan]

I don't know how it is for the rest of you guys, but it blows my mind how shops around here charge more for an alignment on a truck (where you really only align the front wheels) and less for a car (where normally you'd do all 4). Last time I checked most local places want 89.99 for a truck, and 69.99 for cars.