2006 Duramax Build thread

[Spoolin]

Originally Posted by BajaBus

Terribly disappointed that the pics on the first pages of this thread are missing. Any chance of fixing that?! I have an '03 Express I used for carrying cargo in my old business and would love to do some of this stuff to it.

Try it again, should be fixed now. Towards the end of every month the bandwidth on my Photo-bucket accounts get maxed out and they stop working till the clock resets on the first of the month. Only way around that is to become a member on photo-bucket and I don't really feel like I need another monthly Bill.

If they don't work let me know but I just checked them out and they seemed to work fine.

[Spoolin]

Got a few updates.
Got the bumper finished, wasn't able to get many good shots of it but here's what I got...

Cut 4" off the bottom and added some side skirts:






I really like it, a lot better than the previous version that had such a large overhang and large approach angles. It woulda looked different if I had 35" tires and lifted but I'm not and so it just looked weird. So new look is a big improvement.


Next up was a LED Light Bar. It's a 50" Double row with what I believe are 5Watt LED's, but it could be 3Watt LED's. Either way it's really bright! Lol

So first up was running the wiring, I was thinking of drilling a hole into the roof and sealing it with some grommets and Silicone but after playing with it for a while I was able to instead run the wires between the door seal and the window seal. There's a space in there where it worked well and didn't impede at all the functionality of either.

I had to pop off this plastic trim piece



And then run a grabber from one side of the A-Pillar into the engine bay



Fed the wire through



And then up between the rubber seals to the roof





Next up was lining up the brackets





No going back now



Pulled the headliner down so I could scoop up the shavings and get access to the underside to affix the nut to the bolt



And here it is mounted but not wired up...







For those wondering about sealing, the kit came with a rubber pad, and I added a lot silicone to it to ensure no leaking

Kinda hard to see the silicone but it's there


This is the wiring that I was left with, and it didn't work. The leads from the light were 12 gauge and the pins for the harness were 16 gauge



Anyways, had to wait till morning till the hardware store openedI bought some bullett connectors and made it work. After it got dark I lit it up and WOW!!

Just the Lightbar and the Fogs


W/ HID's




So here is a Comparo of the light emissions...
Here are the Fog's (somewhat bright but very focused)


Here is the HID's (Bright and Wide with a nice cut-off line to not blind motorists


and here is just the LED Light bar (Brightest, and all over the place and just plain awesome!!)



That's it for now, oh actually I had a tranny cooler installed as well but no pics of that.

[BroncoHauler]

Looks great, but don't be surprised if people in front of you slow down since your van now looks like some sort of cool police van with a emergency light bar on top.


Herb

[Spoolin]

Originally Posted by BroncoHauler

Looks great, but don't be surprised if people in front of you slow down since your van now looks like some sort of cool police van with a emergency light bar on top.


Herb

That will change when I Line-X my Van!

[Spoolin]

So got another thing checked off my ToDo list. Got the Pyrometer installed.

Pulled the interior and Dog-house out and decided on using the drivers side up-pipe. Options were to drill and tap the cast manifold or weld a bung on the thinner walled up-pipes. Since I was doing this at a friends house and he had a welder...up-pipe it was since it's easier to get to.



I thought of using Grease and or a Vacuum but decided on using magnets to keep as much of the shavings from dropping inside the pipe!! :jest:







One Bung welded on...


Modified heat shield



Hooked up the pyro sensor,


MacGuivered the wires into the Cab with a makeshift grommet and using exsisting bolt holes which I have no idea what they are used for...



And then Voila, EGT working properly.

[Spoolin]

Also took some better comparo's with the lights...

Here's just the Fog's


Here's just the HID's


And then with the Light bar!!


I have to point them up a bit too, no sense in them overlapping the HID's like they are. Should project further.

[86Scotty]

Dang, I can see you from here!

Nice install on both BTW

[daveb]

I have a similar light bar and love it. It's great to run trails at night where it's brighter than daytime. I did add lights on the 45 so I can see what I'm turning into.
Your van looks great.

[Spoolin]

Thanks guys, aside from a pop-top and maybe a ladder, winch, roof rack and a paint job I'm almost done with the outside. Then I can focus and finish up the inside. And yeah that light is...AWESOME!!! I really wish I could keep it on and use it all the time but it's so damn blinding on public roads that I don't dare use it!

[Spoolin]

So another small update...
Did a shift kit with the help of a friend whose a "tranny"(the mechanical kind) expert!

Pulled the Pan off the Transmission to get to the Valve body:



Pulled the gasket off:



Drilled a few holes:



Also pulled the pump off, swapped out some springs and solenoids then threw on a new Gasket and replacing the ball bearings, well most of them:



Here's the bottom of the tranny with the valve body removed:



Then bolt it all back together, slap in a new deeper sump'ed pan...



And...Voila, all done.
Transmission oil looked good, I was worried that my transmission was starting to slip with the hot tune installed, but everything looked good and now with the shift kit I have a peace of mind that it will last. Reason for the deep pan was for added fluid/cooling for when I tow heavy.