Alee891's Radiant Red Build & BS

*RIG SOLD AS OF 7/2017*

I'm still happy to answer questions/discuss the build.

Past Setup:
20170429_150125 by Austin Lee, on Flickr

The Build:
The unfortunate demise of my Forester (blown engine) resulted in my hunt for a 1st gen in November 2014. At the time, I was a broke college student with barely enough funds to afford a new vehicle, let alone start modding one. I ended up finding my rig in Dickinson, ND.

I went from this blue bomber with professionally spray painted wheels:


To this:


To its current state:




Specs:
-3.4l V6
-Standard Transmission (replaced at 160,000 w/ a donor (has ~100,00))
-Marlin Heavy Duty Clutch
-Magnaflow Exhaust
-Revolution 5.29 Gears
-Rear E-locker

Suspension:
-OME Nitro Chargers All Around
-OME 883 Coils
-OME Dakar Springs
-OME DX6L Leafs
-LR UCAs
-Wheelers Extended Rear Brake Line
-Sway Bar Delete

Wheels/Tires:
-(5) 315/75r16 Cooper STT Pros
-(5) Vision 85 Soft 8 Steel Wheels
-1.25" Spidertrax Spacers

Armor:
-Trail Gear Sliders
-Adventure Offroad Fabrication Front Plate Bumper
-Custom Built High Clearance Rear w/ Swingout
-Custom 1/4" Steel IFS Skid
-Custom 3/16" Trans Skid
-Total Chaos Spindle Gussets
-Front Range Off-Road Frame Reinforcement Plates

Lighting:
-TRS Morimoto D2S
-Rigid Duallys on CBI Ditchlight Brackets
-Bean Industries 21" Dual Pattern Light Bar
-Blinker Relocate Mod
-LED Strip Throughout Sotfopper
-LED Dome/Map Lights

Interior:
-Kenwood Excelon Deck
-Alpine 1000W Amp
-Paranoid Fab 6 Switch Panel
-Uniden 520xl Pro CB
-Baofeng UV-5R w/ Mag-Mount Antenna
- Baofeng UV-82 For Outside Use
-400 Watt Power Inverter
-Ultragauge
-Custom Dog Platform For Rear Seats
-Sound Deadener
-Walmart Cellphone Holder

Exterior:
-Softopper w/ Custom LED Lighting
-Tub'd Firewall
- And Here
-Removed Fender Flares (trimmed rear 1.5", trimmed front 2")
-3' Firestik
-Wotefusi Hilux Snorkel
-And Here
-Satoshi Grill
-Trasharoo
-Debadged

Recovery:
-Superwinch Tigershark 9.5 w/ Synthetic Line
-Hawse Fairlead & Superwinch Hook
-48" Hi-Lift w/ Handle Keeper
-Hi-Lift ORK Recovery Kit

Misc:
-Bluesea Fuse Block Mounted Under Hood w/ Relays
-20lb Co2 Tank w/ Regulator & Equipment Fit For OBA
-ARB E-Z Deflator
-New Quarter Window Latches
-(1) Plano 108qt Bin Secured In Box; Toolbox

Removed/Replaced Mods:
-10" Pioneer Sub Behind Driver Seat (Removed)
-Relentless Fab Bed Bars & Yakima Roadwarrior Basket (removed)
-Factor 55 Prolink (Removed)
-(2) Plano 56qt Bins Mounted In Box (Removed)

I'm sure there are little things I'm missing, but this should get the ball rolling.

Trip Reports
Red Cone 8/2015
Wheeler Lake 10/2015
Rock Therapy 2016
Geneva Creek 7/2016
Twin Cone 7/2016
Red Elephant Hill 8/2016
T-33A Plan Crash 8/2016
Spring Creek 8/2016
Wheel Lake 9/2016
Chihuahua Gulch 9/2016
White Rim 10/2016
Yankee Hill 2/2017
Moab 4/2017
Cascade Creek 5/2017

Notable Trails
Cascade Creek
Illinois Gulch
Spring Creek
Red Cone
Red Elephant Hill
Wheeler Lake
Rimrocker Trail (RT 2016)
Metal Masher (RT 2016)
Elephant Hill (RT 2016)
Fins & Things (RT 2016)
Hell's Revenge (RT 2016)
Top Of The World (RT 2016)
Kane Creek
Hurrah Pass
Lockhart Basin
Goldbar Rim
White Rim

**The rig still doesn't have an official name... Big Red may be a winner, though**

 

The first mod I had done was the lift install. It happened about 2 months after I bought the rig, and I don't have any photos left. It was my first lift install, and needless to say it was a pain in the ass. The front passenger side took about 5 hours for the coilover and uca (I wish I was kidding) and the drivers side took about 45 minutes. I relied on the help of a local member to help with the rear install. We had to cut the eyebolts off the factor leaf springs to get them out, and installed the dakars after the dirty work was done.

Next I had @3378jakesr5 weld on a pair of trail gears sliders.




I spray painted them for easy touch ups and am happy with the turnout.

Afterwards I ordered a pair of Relentless Fabrication bed bars and installed them with an old Yakima basket I took off the Subaru.


I made a makeshift hilift mount for the basket, but eventually caved and purchased the Yakima built mount designed to work with their basket. There's also a bike rack and full size spare mounted to it.

After the first mods were done I took it out to my first CO trail: Slaughterhouse Gulch.

 

Next was time for a front bumper. I wanted to go with a plate bumper due to the 883 springs, so yet again @3378jakesr5 came through with an awesome custom built front bumper! I also blacked out the wheels around the same time. The paint job actually looks decent in this photo. It looks like shit right now...


We took the rig out with the new bumper for a shakedown shortly after. Again headed up to Slaughterhouse Gulch with a decent group of local members before the TW meetup and beers!





Went for an evening run at Illinois Gulch and ended up covered in mud.

 

Moving down to the bottom so you have a continuos build thread first page

 

Ran Redcone back in August and camped in Hall Valley for my birthday. Went out with the GFs sister and her boyfriend. All in all it was an amazing trip and I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

 

The last big trip I made was to Wheeler Lake back in October. It was an awesome trail ran with some great people. Unfortunately school and work put a hiatus on all wheeling/modding for a bit, and I'm just now getting back to the swing of things.

 

As of late I've gotten the ball rolling again.

Ripped apart dash and got the paranoid fab switch plate installed along with the blue seas fuse block and relays!




Then it was the winch, light bar, and ditch lights afterwards. Don't have any photos of the install process for any of them, unfortunately. I'll make sure to take more/better photos of mods from here on out.

 

Reserved

 

Reserved

 

Reserved

 

You settled on 4.88s and 35s?

 

Yes sir. 5.29s are pleasing, but with the long hauls I make back home, I opted for 4.88s. You may want to hop on the deal Jake can get right now! I know gears are in your near future.

 

Where did this event unfold?

 

Curious to hear your reports in case I do in fact want to go 35s later down the road. I just know there's a few people on here wishing they went 5.29s over 4.88s. Especially given the power loss at our altitude and mountain driving in general, I think it is for sure the way to go. An extra hundred or two highway RPM is not that big of a detriment in my book. I'd just put up with it or slow down a bit, but it depends on how much highway driving you do and how fast you want to cruise. Guessing you're going to regret it, but I could be wrong.

And what's the deal on gears?

 

With the price you could get a set of each and see what one you want to run

 

Out in broom field. They were all parked like that. It was half covered in snow. So I just backed into it. Right after watching a Chevy try 4 times and leave.... First try.

 

Deal on gears is Jake gets an amazing dealer discount through Revolution gears. And the decision between 4.88s and 5.29s is a lot harder than I anticipated, hence why I asked in your thread. I know elevation is a factor in CO, but I do travel elsewhere with the rig. I just don't want to be SCREAMING down the interstate. I'm comfortable at 65, but again, thats getting up there in RPMs.

 

#chevyprobs

 

I wouldn't consider ≈3200rpm on the interstate screaming by any means.