Outlaw Taco & Heavy Chevy Builds

Well I bought a 2018 TRD Off-Road back in February, and I figured I better have a place to store all the info. I also have a 1998 Chevrolet C2500HD that I've been building for nearly five years. I got the Taco 'cause the Chevy is 2wd and now that I live half hour from work in small town Iowa I figured it's time to get 4wd and a little more efficient truck.
I'll start with the Taco; I haven't done much to the truck. Right now all I've done is added a tonneau cover, but I have some big plans. I'm going to replace the grille here in the next week or so with a prototype grille. I want to add some lighting; ditch lights, reverse lights, and rock lights to start. I think I'll add a Bussman Relay Center to control all my extra. I want to add sliders and some other protection equipment for when I make trips back to Colorado. Being an engineer and having design software for my business I plan to make most of the stuff myself.


Here's how it sits now with fresh wax


Now to the old Heavy Chevy
It's a 1998 Chevrolet C2500HD with a 7.4L and a 4L80E transmission and 4.10 gears and full float axle. It's a Silverado package, which was the high end option back then, it has tan leather interior and is a two door extended cab. This was the last full year for this generation. I leveled the front end out three years ago so I could stuff 33's under it, I did this cheaply and used a spacer — this ruined my tires. I pulled off the factory running boards first thing, got some Daytona steel wheels to add 33's, blacked out the chrome and custom painted the grille, new head unit, 1600W amp and subs, I bedlined the bed myself, and upgraded everything to LEDs inside and out – excluding the headlights. I decided to keep this truck so that I can tow heavy stuff still, and use it for some farming work when needed. I plan to take the engine out and rebuild it, maybe put a more aggressive cam, turbos, and new headers.

 

Just switched the grille out this afternoon. Luckily @customcargrills needed someone to test their product and the last thing I wanted was a Pro grille to match every other person here.

 

Added some vinyl decals

 

New bedside decals courtesy of @CBoy808
I think they turned out really well, there was only one or two bubbles but not big enough to really see. I would recommend @CBoy808 to do any vinyl work.

 

Added new wheels and tires today
Level 8 MK6 16x8 ET0
265/75R16 Falken Wildpeak A/TW3
It's been awhile since I've mount and balanced tires myself but these weren't too bad. I got the rims for $400 from DTD when eBay had 20% off; then DTD price matched the Falkens for $480. Very pleased with the look, the comfort, and the quietness. Coming from shitty Duratracs on the ol heavy Chevy these are such an upgrade. May get a set for the old Chevy.




These were in the shop today, fiance's step dad is a Porsche mechanic. Really like the dark gray one but don't like the fender flares on it.

 

I ordered a Switch Pro 9100 and decided to make the power supply mount myself. I ordered a mount for the switch itself from Mesojdm. Here is the power supply mount after first coat of paint.

I'll post the prints for this if someone wanted to make their own.

Also ended up making my own wedding ring. I don't want my fiance to spending money on some ring that I'll break or lose.

 

Here is the print for the mounting plate, if you print it off on 11" x 17" sheet of paper do not scale the piece and you can use it as a template. I used a jigsaw and a dremel tool to make all cuts. The numbers in blue are as follows: 9100 - Switch Pro Power Supply, 2508 - Blue Sea 8 Terminal Bar, 2300 - Blue Sea 2300 30A common bus bar.