98 k1500 Project Daily Driver

[RHGuyettejr]

I figured that I would start a project thread so that I could have a place to post any progress on my truck as well as document what was done. I will start by saying this is far from a custom build or restoration, but more of a project to keep me occupied. I purchased the truck a year ago with 120k on the motor, as it sits now it has 140k. It is a 98 k1500 8ft bed with a 305 vortec.

Here are some pics of the day I brought the truck home.

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The first thing that happened was the alternator went when I was about 30 minutes out of town, had to keep hooking up other batteries to get it home and got that replaced the next day. After this I got new rear tires, 4- new tie rod ends, did the front brakes, purchased a new OEM bumper for the rear, sold the ugly toolbox and purchased new shocks for the front because the old ones were shot.

After all the general maintenance was done to get the truck up to snuff I added in some strobe lights in the high beam headlights, and some grille lights, and wired up a scanner inside as well. While I had the grille off to run all the wiring (which is hidden inside factory wire looms) i decided to black out the grille.

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Next I installed a new head unit and some speakers, nothing too fancy.

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Shortly after this the truck developed an exhaust leak in one of the manifolds because it had rotted through, I was going to go with headers, but because this is a daily driver I figured the cast manifolds would hold up to the winters better and replaced it factory, however the Y-pipe was gone too so I did pretty much the whole exhaust except for the tailpipe, also threw on a flowmaster super 44.

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Once the exhaust was fixed The ABS started to engage at low speeds and thanks to everyone on this forum I diagnosed it as the front hubs and purchased these and threw them on, these are the old ones.

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My tax refund bought me some line-x and a new bed cover as well.
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I also did a tune up, all in red of course

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Finally I replaced the blower motor resistor so the fan inside the cab works at all speeds. I tripped an emissions code about a week ago for emissions leak and replaced the gas cap, but haven't cleared the code to see if that is what it was, but this is next on my list.

I also drove a few hours away and picked up some new used wheels for the truck which I am in the process of having powder coated.

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Oh yeah forgot to mention I pulled the receiver hitch off the back, sandblasted it, then smoothed it out with some body filler and painted that so it wasn't all rusty. My future plans include some better tires for the new wheels, a cab visor and cab lights, probably some running boards to save it from the winters up here and some fender flares so I can run a wider tire. I also want to re paint the truck with a charcoal insert down the middle similar to the previous body style paint schemes. I am mulling over a 4" lift, but have not decided if I want to yet, which is why I am holding off on buying new tires. Hopefully you all like it so far, here are a few more various pictures I took during the time I have owned it.


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[survivorcamaro]

Solid truck man. Good looking too and can't wait to see more work. Keep it up.

[old chevy man]

Nice looking truck man.

[RHGuyettejr]

Thanks...


Just drove a little ways today to pick up a sunvisor I got a good deal on. Just need to prep and paint it, also calling the scrapyards tomorrow to see if there are any trucks with OEM flares I can nab. Also going to be buying the cab lights to put on before the visor goes on, probably going to get the ones with black lenses so you cant see them in the day.

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[Skeezy1]

Nice touch with the grill. *thumbs up*

[RHGuyettejr]

Just smoked the tail lights, I need to buff them out to shine them back up but this is what it looks like for now.

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sorry about the picture quality it is from my phone.

[RHGuyettejr]

Just went and buffed them out, they look ten times better now.

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[RHGuyettejr]

Had to get new tires to pass inspection, so figured I would do wheels at the same time. I also installed some OEM bumper guards.

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[hokeplaya05]

nice truck man. im in greenfield nh. havent seen someone who is so close to me on this forum

[RHGuyettejr]

Thanks man.

[98BlackSierra]

Looks great bud. I'm a little iffy on the bumper guards, but the rest of the truck looks awesome. I like the wheel choice too.

[RHGuyettejr]

Thanks, I wasn't sure about the guards at first, but they have kind of grown on me. Regardless I didn't need to modify the bumper so if I don't like them I can just take them off.

Tonight I just got done adding some marker lights in the rear, truck looks much better at night now.
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[mcrisby]

What color wire did you have to tap into on the tail lights to light up those lights you installed? Looks pretty neat !

[RHGuyettejr]

I actually tied into the plate lamp power, I am not sure what color though because my truck has always been oil undercoated, so both wires were black. I just tested them with a 12 volt test light with the light switch in the on position.