2006 Duramax Build thread

[Spoolin]

Originally Posted by shenrie

well freaking done! looks phenomial man!

out of curiosity, how long did the second one take you?

and np on the vht stuff tip those turned out real nice too btw...

Thanks!! Really looking forward to trying them out at night! Hopefully tonight when it gets dark!

So the first one took me 80-85% of the time to figure out how to make it work, so probably 16-17 hours over 2-3 days. The second one I was able to do in 2 hours and then it took me an hour to mock them up, diss-assemble them, clean them and then re-assemble them for the last time before install. Every set of headlights will be different but now that I know how it all works and what it takes to do this I could probably do another set for this van in 2-3 hours and a set for any kind of headlight in 3-4 depending on how much fab work would be required. Most of the time was spend figuring out how to make it work, the rest was just trying to make my ideas work.

[Spoolin]

Daylight pics...





Lights on...if you stand above the cut-off point of the shroud you can't/won't be blinded by the HID's:



Below the line is another story! Lol



Back with the tinted taillights



7-pin towing plug installed:



And my Trailer brake controller:

[larrie]

I am constantly amazed at he creativity and skill of the people on he forum. Well done.

[shenrie]

^^^ tenfold!

it all looks really good man. nice finished product. subtle overall, but effectiveness im guessing is waaay better for night vision. the lights in my tl are the same style, and they work so well it still amazes me when i drive it. seeing the perfect cutoff line still just baffles me, lol.

[Spoolin]

So it's been a while since I had the opportunity to work on my Van at all since I was working overseas for a while, however I do have a small update,
Got the Banks IQ to monitor engine performance, so far so good. Have a couple issues with it but overall works great and it's awesome to be able to read all the engine parameters when necessary. I have had two issues so far with it, first being that the IQ doesn't like to turn on and off with the Key on switch. I have to disconnect it from the OBDII port and re-connect it sometimes 3-4 times before it gets a hard link and starts transmitting engine data. Second smaller issue is there are some bad pixelations on their screen. I called them and they are aware of both of the problems and informed me to just sent it back in for a new one. Not a hug problem but still kinda sucks.

Anyways, I ordered a bunch of parts
-Tranny cooler
-Shift kit
-Deep Pan
-Kennedy Lift Pump
However I just had shoulder surgery and won't be able to install them for a little while. However I did get some new seats and for those I couldn't wait to install them so I did that today...

Here are the two seat bases...
One on the left is for the drivers-side and the one on the right is passenger with 360 swivel.


Drivers seat:


Here's where the adapter plate bolts onto the seat base...

And then the seat pedestal that I swapped off the stock seats. It's needed to clear the airbag sensors that are underneath the drivers seat, passenger seat not such a big deal but you would be riding low without it!! Lol


Side by side comparo of the seats:


Quick view of the front with the seat pulled, you can see the sensors underneath the drivers seats as well as the seat belt sensor. Which reminds me I had to swap those over onto the new seats. No biggie, pretty simple.



And here's with both seats in and hooked up:







Passenger seat turned 180 and at a 120 to face the driver. I can spin the seats ok but its easier to do it with the passenger door open so doing so while moving won't be possible.







I haven't used them much but so far they are super super comfortable and the arm-rest is real nice after having driven so long without one!
Anyways, that's it for now.
I'm gonna get a little metal work done tomorrow and if it goes well I might paint the van afterwards. I have this stupid idea for a paint job...won't say anything until it's done just in case I chicken out and don't do it!! Lol

[Spoolin]

Making some changes...

Took the bumper off and cut-off about 6" off the bottom so it doens't have the buck-tooth look anymore, and plan on filling in the sides of it so it's more rounded up front.



Making some changes to the hood as well, thought since it was a D-max...it needed D-max louvers and badging. Also plan on cutting the front of the hood up to allow more cleaner-air into the air-box.



Mock-up:


Also got a bunch of goodies, might install it next week if my shoulder doesn't act up:

[buckkiller]

Looks great keep it coming.

Buck

[Spoolin]

Originally Posted by buckkiller

Looks great keep it coming.

Buck

Thanks, not sure how it will all turn out but keeping my fingers crossed!


But got the bumper almost finished:

Mock-up




And finished product, still need to prime it and paint it though...

[shenrie]

^^^ very cool!

[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.