Lux's '01 Build

Man this build is a labor of love. The rust removal to getting rear ended and putting a new bed on, so nice to see someone love their truck like this. Been a bit since you’ve posted, but hope this things still treating you well.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it, It is still treating me well and is still my daily. Haven't done much with it cuz Ive been trying to get a new job/internship and haven't had a lot of money to put towards it. I have a few small issues Ill be fixing in the spring/summer and I do have plans for it, but everything has just been paused for now lol

 

Been awhile...
Heres a project I did in the spring, remodeling my bathroom, it took a couple weeks to complete as I was learning as I went. (Lots of pictures and off topic so I put it in a spoiler)

Spoiler: Bathroom Remodel 2020

Our makeshift outdoor shower while I was rennovating:


So unfortunately I didnt get a ton of before pictures of the actual bathroom, we had it redone 10 years ago but it was a fairly shitty job, which became more and more evident as we tore everything apart. Here is the mold we discovered when we got the tub out, there was also mold on the insulation against the shower wall and a little bit on the drywall. all the insulation was torn out and redone and any wood that was still in decent shape was bleached a ton, I had to replace part of the sub floor because it was just falling apart.
This was after we had bleached it, this piece was replaced:


We already ripped the insulation out but you can see how dark the mold is here as well as the little bit on the wall:


Replaced the sub floor piece:


Insulation put in, tub stringer attached, and levelling floor for tub (roughly levelled, we ended up putting mortar underneath as well):


Tub in place, in hindsight I should have moved the tub out to account for the half inch drywall thickness, since I didnt there is unfortunately a small corner next to the wall of the tub:


Since the tub didnt fit perfectly we shimmed the entire exterior wall out slightly, this made the cement board come down over the tub flange on the exterior wall, again, in hindsight I should have probably shimmed every wall around the tub so that the cement board would sit 1/8" from the top of the tub and over the tub flange, instead the cement board sits just about on the tub flange:


Cement board and niche installed and taped, here you can see the cement board sitting on top of the flange, rather than over it:



I had read that its good to use quick set cement for the joints, this turned out to be messy and just not very easy to work with at all, so after trying one seam with it we switched to normal tile mortar:


Redgard applied (which i still have a giant bucket of):


Now for tile, this first row was crucial so i took my time with it and made sure it was perfectly level, i was off by a hair but made adjustments by increasing the grout line ever so slightly as I went up to ensure the lines would remain level. This was perhaps the most overwhelming part, i have never worked with tile before so it was all a new experience. Yes I know, there probably isnt enough mortar under these tiles, but I think they will be fine as I back buttered them as well, I learned as I went up and the adhesion was significantly better only a few rows up.


Completed wall tile. The niche was a bit of a pain but not horrible to tile, I had thought I pitched the niche fairly significantly, but if i were to do it again id probably pitch it even more, water doesnt sit in there necessarily but it doesnt really rush out either. I also really should have made that center piece match the grout lines and kick myself for doing it that way every time i look at it. Overall for my first tile job I think its fairly decent, and the tiles are all pretty flush too:


Next up was the ceiling, I really debated on even doing it because it seemed like it would be a real hassle, but I ended up just deciding its now or never and Im already overbuilding it and had the tile so why not. I tried to kind of match the pattern of the accent, took a bit of math to center it properly but I managed. And honestly laying the tile was not that bad, it was definitely worse in my head. The hardest part was that since I was using 2 different thickness tiles I had to sink the center smaller tiles in further than the subway tiles, overall it came out nice, however if i were to do it again id have used white mortar.


Now the floor. We went with carrara tile that my aunt was getting rid of, we only had a limited number of tiles so we went to get more but turns out it was a different color, so we decided to do a border around the entire bathroom with the darker carrara in the middle. I also made sure to screw down the subfloor in areas it felt loose. Here is the floor gutted:


On top of the sub floor I laid 1/2" treated plywood and screwed down thoroughly. had an interesting fitment under the heater but otherwise fairly simple:


On top of the plywood was 1/4" hardibacker, it says you can score and snap this stuff but it was easier for me to just cut it with a cement board blade on a circular saw. I also caulked the tub to the cement board and We ended up putting some redgard in the area directly outside the tub and about 1/8-1/4" up the side of the tub (enough that it would be covered by tile and caulk) to ensure water that gets under the tile does not penetrate to the subfloor:


Tile dry fit. It was tight in some areas but I managed to get a nice pattern, we actually didnt have enough darker carrara for the entire middle and were just 1 tile short, so a lighter color tile was used under the vanity:


We moved the fan closer to the shower in an effort to remove as much steam as possible, we had issues with the mirror fogging up and the walls basically sweating every morning:


We then painted a light gray color and I did some finish work (my favorite part and I think Im rather proud of it):





The final product:




Overall I think this bathroom is well beyond the original with only greenboard behind the shower tiles and bad leaks on the corners

 

Looks awesome dude. What shower doors are those? Looks neat!

 

Been awhile. Last summer I decided to try to sound proof my truck as I was getting tired of having such a hard time hearing people on the phone while driving on the highway.

I got 36 sq ft of kilmat 80 mil and lined my doors and part of the firewall with it. Installation was pretty straight forward, I put the mat inside and marked where it had to be cut. Then I rolled it on with a sound proofing roller.

On top of the kilmat I put quietstep gold sheets that my dad had lying around at work. Its fuzzy on one side and a foil like texture on the other. I kept it pressed against the kilmat using strong double sided tape.

Unfortunately, I really didnt notice a significant difference after doing this, I still have some leftover so this summer I might tear apart my dash and do the firewall. The doors do sound more solid when closing and there is a reduction in noise from the tires. I think MLV would be a big help, I just couldnt justify the cost at the time.

 

This has been on my list for forever. Likely doing MLV floor, and regular deadening on the roof, back walls and doors. The motor is so goddamn loud.

 

Damn seeing how clean that frame is makes me jealous

 

Hi Guys!

It has been a long while hasnt it. So what happened?

Back Story

Well I decided in 2022 to go back to school and finish my bachelors. I was going to a school ~1-1.5 hours away, about 50-60 miles. My truck was my daily driver so it was under a lot of stress from such a long regular commute as I had classes everyday. At the end of my first semester (during finals week actually) I started to notice a slight misfire when I started it up in the morning. It wasnt a huge concern for me at the time as it usually didnt last very long. On May 2, 2022, on my way home from a final my truck began severely misfiring while going down the parkway. It also started making a strange knocking sound.
I pulled off as soon as I could at a rest stop. I could barely get it to stay running at this point so I had to call a tow truck. The tow truck driver called me and said it wasnt possible to pick me up off the parkway (apparently theres this ridiculous law or provision that allows only "authorized" tow truck companies to pick people up off toll roads like the turnpike or parkway, which to me just sounds like corruption but what do I know?). So the tow truck driver suggested I find an exit from the rest stop so he could get me. 99% of the time this isnt possible because the parkway is a toll road. But luckily there was an exit at this one with the gate removed. I limped out of the rest stop by starting and moving until it died then starting again. Surely this was not healthy for the truck but I didnt have many options. Tow truck picked me up and brought me home from there.

The issue

Once the truck was home I began trying to figure out what happened. Pulled out the coils and immediately it wasnt pretty. The coil had somehow melted and half of it was completely missing, as in it was not even in the spark plug tube. I can only assume it had gotten beat up and melted into the cylinder.



Then I discovered the spark plug had blown completely out of the head. I have no idea what caused this to happen but it also wasnt pretty.



The spark plug hole threads were beat up so my first idea was to bore it out and tap it for a threaded insert. It seemed to go ok and I put new coils and plugs and fired it up. It still misfired and had very low compression (I dont have the numbers anymore but some cylinders were >100 psi). At this point I didnt know what to do or what the issue could have been. I lost a lot of motivation to work on it and had gotten extremely busy between school and work.

We pulled the motor in October of 2023 to finally crack it open and go through it. Pulled the motor wasnt very eventful and nothing was really screaming at me as being the root cause of the problem. The motor sat in my garage for another few months as I was then going into another very busy school season.



Engine Work

With the motor out on a stand, I began to tear it apart. I tore the entire motor down to nothing but the block (didnt pull pistons/rings/etc). The main focus was going to be the cylinder head.



I took the head to several shops to see what they thought. I actually brought this head and a spare head from my last motor and asked for opinions on which head would be worth fixing. I went to 3 shops who all suggested that fixing the spark plug hole might not be worth it and to instead deck the other head. The last machinist I went to said he would resurface the head for $200. I tested the valves by pulling a vacuum on each intake/exhaust port and found that several were not holding well at all. I tore the head apart including pulling out the valves. I cleaned up pretty much every part I removed by soaking it in Zepp degreaser overnight.






I decided I didnt want to spend the extra $550 to have a valve job done but wanted a better seal, so I tried to lap the valves myself with just a lapping tool and grinding compound. I only got marginally better results and some valves were even worse. In hindsight, I definitely didnt lap them nearly enough and that is evident in the pictures.



I took it back to the machinist to have him resurface it and told him i tried to lap the valves. He said that was not a good idea and that the valves likely will seal worse than if I had done nothing at all I felt like a total moron standing there and I absolutely didnt have the money to do the entire valve job for $750. But the guy felt sorry for me I guess and said he would resurface and grind the valve seats/valves for $500 total. Still more than I was prepared to spend but I knew it was a decent deal so I went for it. The valves came back looking great and they sealed nicely as well so I was happy, machinist said the guides looked good too. I began to reassemble the head with the newly ground valves and new valve seals.




I also cleaned everything up. I had a newfound love of WD-40 as well. That stuff is an underrated degreaser. I tried everything to get carbon and built up shit off the intake ports and nothing worked but WD-40 worked flawlessly. After cleaning up the ports, I decided to also do some light porting and shaved down some of the casting marks. I totally recognize that this probably did pretty much jack shit to performance, but it was nice to look at lol.



After getting the head reassembled I turned to basically restoring the rest of the motor. I cleaned up the intake, throttle body, got a new water pump, new fuel filter, new seals and gaskets everywhere including new front and rear main seal, rear seal saver, and new oil pan (old one was patched with JB weld if you scroll back a bit lol). Everything else was thoroughly cleaned, painted if necessary, greased or oiled if necessary, etc etc. I tore almost everything down as much as I felt comfortable and put it all back together. I also cleaned up the block and painted it. Was going to do a new oil pump but the old one looked good.




In addition to all this, the truck had been sitting so long that it needed new pads and rotors and belts so I got those as well.

First Start

So with all the engine work done, it was time to put it back in there. We hoisted it up and then did the rear Main seal and seal saver as well as installed a new clutch with new flywheel and flywheel bolts. I cleaned up and painted the engine bay as best as I could in preparation. I also painted the motor mounts and cleaned up crusty hoses. Also cleaned up and painted as many brackets as I could.



We dropped the motor in without too much of a headache. Oil pan hit the cross member a couple times and had to mess with a combination of engine tilt and height, but finally got it mated to the trans. We put the trans bolts in and began hooking the rest of it up including the harness, hoses, bolts, brackets, etc. I wanted to pump out the old fuel before actually starting it as well so I ran a line into a gas tank. New radiator went in then filled with coolant and oil. I also pulled the plugs and coils and put some oil in the cylinders. First attempt to prime it and the starter didnt seem to wanna move. I pulled the starter, took it apart, and found nothing of note. Cleaned up the commutator and some other bits and reassembled then tested it outside of the trans to make sure it moved. Spun freely just fine then reinstalled. 2nd attempt to prime and it turned over fine. Cranked for a bit to get the fluids moving and to build oil pressure. Then hooked up the Autel to turn on the fuel pump manually to pump the rest of the gas. Luckily the tank was pretty close to empty and only had to drain about 3 gallons. Filled it with fresh gas then tried first start. Truck cranked, but gas began spewing out of the front 2 injectors. Looked to clearly be bad o-rings but they were brand new so mustve been a faulty installation. Next day I pulled the fuel rail out completely and inspected every injector and found the front 2 had pinched o-rings. I let them sit in the sun for a bit then oiled them and reinstalled carefully making sure they spun freely once in the fuel rail. Then reinstalled the fuel rail. Cranked again and this time still wouldnt start. Pulled plugs and coils and found no spark. Inspected the coil plugs and found that they werent grounding properly. Chased that around and could not find an obvious issue so began to clean the grounds up. After cleaning the intake manifold ground she started right up. Idle is high, about 2000rpm but I expect it to settle after a drive cycle.



When doing pads on the Drivers side I found that the caliper seems to have 3/4 of the cylinders seized up, so I will need to get a new caliper before she can drive again. Going to NAPA tomorrow to get one then gonna put new fluids in front and rear diff and trans.


Interior

So since the truck sat so long without being driven, unfortunately, a mouse made its way in there through the transmission tunnel. I caught the thing but not before he had pooped all over the interior. I tend to think of myself as somewhat of a germophobe so I was very upset but nonetheless I wasnt giving up on her. I tore the entire interior apart. I got a HEPA shop vac filter and vacuumed up all the loose poop and debris. I had read that most diseases from mouse poop probably dies within about a week so I didnt really feel like there was a huge hazard here but I took precautions anyway. Once I vacuumed it all up, I sprayed lysol on everything; seats, floor, dash, glovebox, vents. I then got carpet cleaner and soaked the seats and vacuumed them, then the floor and any other fabric surfaces. Then I lysoled the hard surfaces multiple times and also sprayed and cleaned with tuff stuff. Everything got multiple rounds of cleaning. I also put baking soda over the entire carpet and the seats. Any spots I was particularly concerned about got 2 rounds of baking soda and I scrubbed it in with a lysol/baking soda mixture. I also stuck a borescope down the vents to see if the mouse had gotten in there and also inspected wires, no poop in the vents and wires were all good so that was very relieving. Also painted the unpainted shifter boot surround and cupholder bracket.

 

A few small updates.

Repainted my sliders and front bumper. I was going to sand it down a lot more but sanding this thing was more of a pain than I was expecting so I just did a few rounds of sanding and decided to mostly prime over the old paint. Next time I have to do this Ill have to get it sandblasted or something. Used rustoleum primer and satin black.





I also lightly scuffed and primed parts of the front clip(?) expecting my color match paint to arrive so I could paint it. Still hasnt shown up though so I just put the bumper back on, Ill have to remove it again when it comes in. Also sanded and painted parts of the frame where the bumper mounts and the LCA's. Just trying to keep everything clean and painted to avoid rust.



Removed the pods for now as well.

My door handle also finally gave up the ghost. It had a crack in it for a few weeks so luckily I had ordered it before and had it on hand, was just waiting for the old one to quit. I know a ton of people say not to use aftermarket. When my passenger side door handle broke I replaced it with OEM but I cannot justify paying the ~$100 people are asking for OEM on ebay right now. Went with a Dorman and will see how it works out. I put PTFE lube on every moving part in there so hopefully that helps, but I think the root of the issue with aftermarket handles is just the quality of the plastic they use.

I also redid the drivers side vapor barrier with 3 mil plastic sheet since the old one was falling apart. I had some butyl rubber tape on hand as well so I split it down the middle and applied that in areas that seemed to need it or had gaps. I rolled the plastic onto the butyl rubber using the rolling tool I used with the sound deadening. Also word to the wise; order door panel clips if you intend on removing the door panel as there is a good chance they break. I had some on hand luckily. Not sure how I got away with not replacing a single one when I did the sound deadening lol, might be because I did that in warmer weather.



Next thing on my list is figuring out this loud clunk in the front end when I hit pot holes. I suspect its my sway bar. Hoping it isnt ball joints as it seems like I just put new ones in. I am also going to try to tackle some light body work. Parts of the body need attention and the rust spots seem to be growing so I need to try to contain it. Ive got some color matched paint and clear on the way. I am also going to be doing rear axle seals and wheel bearings, I have all the parts sitting in the garage I just need to find the motivation to do it.

 

Small update, pulled my sway bar out. Broke both of the passenger side bolts but drivers side came out no problem. It hasnt been connected in years and I am trying to narrow down where this front end clunk is coming from. Inspected the body mounts as well and they look ok so dont think its the body mounts. Going to check ball joints tomorrow but Ill be surprised if its the ball joints. Also discovered that my exhaust is pretty loose on the front cat and one of the hangers broke completely off.


I also finally got around to opening up my new (to me) steering rack that I bought off @dtxoreo Going to be installing it at some point. This rack has a small leak but itll be an upgrade over the old one which is leaking badly and has a badly torn boot. At some point Ill buy a brand new rack but money is tight and the rack seems worse everyday. I am sort of considering trying my hand at rebuilding this one as well. I dont think my current rack is going to be rebuildable.

 

Woohoo! Glad it made it safe, let me know if you run into any issues with it - but I bet you could rebuild it yourself whenever you get around to it!