lbz durahoe

[dylon333]

Finally got around to starting my build this weekend. going to start a build thread on it. Going to take me a little time to get it all on here and organized.

Started with an 07 classic crew cab long bed truck. And an 05 Tahoe z71. The truck has a 6 inch zone lift an upgraded transmission. Along with a waste veg oil system. Went ahead and ordered a 63 mm turbo, newer drivers manifold, and a pvc reroute kit. The Tahoe is a 230k mile truck that was my wifes daily driver up until a few months back when we got her a tdi cruze. So other then rusted brakes from sitting it was in pretty good shape.

Pulling the cab from the truck and body from the Tahoe.

set the body down on the Tahoe just to check it out got a lot of frame to remove

got both frames hosed off and back in the shop

poor little 5.3 that im not really sure what im going to do with as of yet

after spending a few hours of measuring, marking, remeasuring, checking, double checking and triple checking I decided to make the cut. I decided to do a step cut and then do the same thing but backwards on the other side. I cut 12 inches from the center section.

Frame is all welded back together

Cut the rear spring shackles loose and started on moving axle forward. Had to move it roughly 26 inches forward

set the Tahoe body down to make sure I got rear axle in the right spot. in the pic the axle was to far forward had to take it all back loose and move it back about an inch. but that was the end of the day on sunday and to be honest I was worn out.

We also got the new turbo and drivers manifold put on it to. So far we are about 16hrs of work deep.

 

[dylon333]

well photobucket really sucks with the water mark! Guess the mark doesn’t show up on the app just online.

 

[SmokeShow]

Cool build. It's going to be awesome once you're done! :woott:

 

[clrussell]

Kick ass and great work.

 

[dylon333]

Got some more done this weekend. I didn't take hardly any pics this weekend but ill upload what I have.

Im using a fuel cell for the diesel tank that fit perfectly right where the factory tank was. Cant use the factory tank from the Tahoe because its to wide and hits the driveshaft, and cant use the factory truck tank because its way to big. Im going to run the filler neck back to the factory filler neck location and figure out a way to have two tanks fill separately from back there. that's still to be determined. The tank mount will allow the tank to still be removable aslo if need be.

Having a custom fuel tank made for my wvo tank. I made it out of some card board to test fit everything.

I got the rear section of the frame cut off. ended up cutting off 24 inches and got the new frame support, and rear center body mounts and decided to use that as a frame support also. Then made one new shock mount for the left shock and decided to order the premade dorman mount for the right side. We also got the rear brake line remade, and got the down pipe and part of the exhaust put back on it.

Decided since it was done enough to be rolled outside it was time to clean up the garage, 3 weekends worth of work made a huge mess. took almost 2 hours to get this cleaned all back up!

Sprayed some undercoating on the frame just to make it look better. its some cheap rustolem stuff so im sure it wont last but figured its better then nothing.

Finally got the old Tahoe frame out of the way and loaded it up to get it out of there.

 

[gmc502]

cool project,,nice work

 

[Bdsankey]

I dig the project, keep up the good work!

 

[dylon333]

So I know its been a little bit since ive updated, but I got it up and running and its a blast to drive so ive been enjoying driving it!

So I got it running and took it for the test drive, I made it 3 miles and the brand new turbo spit the the inducer wheel out!

Suprsingly the turbo was not hard at all to get back out. I was concerned with the Tahoe body wasn't sure what kind of space I would have. but 2 hrs had the turbo in and out and truck back up and running. Builder thinks a piece of dirt made its way into oil and took out thrust bearing. Took care of the turbo and actually made a few upgrades to it going back together.

The driveshaft in this thing is soooo short! 35 1/2 inches from u joint to ujoint!

My hillbilly filler neck. its temporary but for now its working!

Im still getting the bumper situation figured out. Im going to switch to the hd front end and run a painted grill and painted bumper. But heres a few pictures of it!

I still have to clean up under the hood and get the wiring cleaned up and make it all pretty

I am waiting on my custom stainless fuel tank to come in will post pics when I start on that part!

 

[2004LB7]

Neat project. A little too tall for my taste but cool none the less

 

[dylon333]

Had plans of dropping it down. But the tires rub already. So I’ll just deal with the height untili wear the tires out but I was surprised how well it drives with the height very little body if any at all


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[Djm71199]

Did you need to do anything not mentioned..? How did you go about wiring in order to retain all the electrical inside? I have a donor lb7 and I want to do something similar with my Escalade.

 

[dylon333]

Yes there was a lot of wiring I did that wasn’t mentioned. But there is a right up on one of these pages that give an idea of what needs done there. I’m still fighting an air bag light. But other then that every thing is working. I had to make custom a/c lines I’ll post the pics of them when I get free time, custom fuel tanks and fuel lines, custom bumper mounts in the rear, I tried to take as many pics as I could, but also while I was working it was hard to remember to stop and document stuff, especially during wiring it required concentration.


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[Djm71199]

I appreciate it man! Wiring makes me nervous lol, I will look around though thank you! What's the rough estimate on cost of parts if you don't mind me asking..

 

[dylon333]

Pm I’ll get you a copy of the info I have. And I can try to help you out any ways i can.

You don’t want to know what I’ve got in it. I’ve got less in this build then not have in their stock Tahoe haha. I totaled the truck insurance paid out 11.5k, have owned the Tahoe for 4 or 5 years, only paid 4000 for it and put 50k on it. Then sold so many parts from it all. The most expensive part was my fuel cell at 1150, with the 800 dollar turbo in second place


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[dylon333]

Been working slowly on getting things buttoned up on it. So far I have everything working on the Tahoe except for the air bag light. I have kind of put that on back burner. I think when I changed the core support I should have kept the wiring from the Tahoe support I think it had two crash sensors and the truck only has one. but I haven't verified that yet.

I got the ac working. I used the factory lines from both vehicle and cut them all apart and pieced it together and had the local hydraulic shop crimp the fittings on and had to use 2 compression fittings on 2 lines to get every to go together. I have used these in the past without issue, but if they start leaking ill try to find a different route to go but for now that got things working and I think itll be alright. S.U.R&R makes some great repair fittings and ac line kits I just got on their website and found what I needed and the local parts store had them in stock.

On a side note, I wanted a little more bass without losing the cargo area. So I got a factory sub box from an 02 Tahoe that was in the back. I took the center console out and apart and did some trimming on it and the box and was able to get it to fit down in there. Now im waiting on my new 8in shallow subs. Putting one under the console and one back In the cargo area like the 02s had. Hopefully itll be enough to keep me happy. Iknow its hard to tell but the sub box is the black part back in there.

I finally got my new license plate too! I cant believe the state actually approved it! it took over a month to get but its so worth it! Its on the breast cancer plate for a little extra ha

I also got my rear fuel tank (vegetable oil tank) filler neck all hooked uo finally, my first attempt the hose I used kinked over and didn't work. So hopefully this setup will last a little better, its a little hillbilly but I used pvc pipe and some fittings, cant use steel due to the oil will react with it. ill get some pics of it later when im getting the new trailer hitch mounted up tmr.

 

[gmc502]

do you have a veg oil heater and controller yet?if not,I have one removed from a car.

 

[dylon333]

Controller? I just have a switch that flips the two valves. We have really dubbed down the wvo conversion from say a grease car kit.


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[NC-smokinlmm]

That license plate!:rofl: