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The White Whale Build Thread

116K views 641 replies 34 participants last post by  novaman64 
#1 · (Edited)
So never did a build thread for my old truck, but figured I would do one for the new truck, not for you, but for me, so I know what I've done to it. After dumping money into my LB7 I know what I want to do to this truck, in what order....

First off, a tribute to my old LB7, she was a amazing truck, I beat the piss out of her and she just kept going, super strong, a pure and simple workhorse.

02' Silverado 2500HD CCLB 4x4 had EFI Live built trans tunes controlled by a Edge Insight CTS (tuned by Kory - PPEI), Magnaflow 4"-5" Turbo Back, Magnaflow DP, S&B CAI, PPE Boost Valve, Airdog II 165gph, BDS 4.5" Lift, Deaver 2" Mini Pack, Kryptonite UCA's, Fox 2.0 Shocks, B&W Turnover Ball Gooseneck, Tekonsha P3, Dmax Store 1 Piece Driveshaft, PPE Stage 5 Trans, Russell SS Brake Lines. Tragically, a combo of crazy rain, tires needing replacement, and me being on the race tunbe (forgot to turn it down when it started raining) ended in it being hurdled over the center divide and landing on its side. Insurance totaled her out. Please a moment of silence, RIP 12-15-2016...



That being said, cant be without a truck, need something to put hay in and haul the livestock around with. So the hunt began for a CCLB SRW, I was looking for a LBZ or LMM as I wanted something without injector or headgasket issues, and something with a Allison 6 speed. Ended up finding a white, with black interior LBZ, fully loaded LMM in Seattle, WA, after some haggling with the dealer, got down to 25k (they were asking 28k). Hopped on a plane, and 14 hours later she is home....



Need to get get weighed, VIN verified, smogged, then go sit at DMV so I can pay my taxes and registration and get my plates....


So, a list of whats going to get done over the next month or 2
-Lift pump (pulled my ADII 165 off my LB7)
-Mount my toolchest in the bed
-Pull the flares off and hopefully keep them off depending on how the paint looks, if not paint them white
-Remove some of the badging and moulding
-Paint rear emblem on tailgate
-elevation (trying to decide if I want to throw my Kryptonite UCA's on it and level it, or through 2" blocks on the rear and a Cognito or BDS 4" lift on the front) that would give me perfectly level stance and flat CV's (not to mention I have my brand new Fox 2.0's that I pulled off my old truck with the same setup)
-wheels (hate the wheels on it), and I had bought brand new SOTA SSD's for my LB7, totaled it the day before I mounted them, so they are sitting in my shop and would look great on this truck
-Nictane adapter so I can run CAT filters
-Buy a VIN license, get some mild stock trans tunes, block EGR, remove cat and DPF (will need to put it in every other year for smog)
-Replace headlights with LED's
-Some Weathertech floormats
-Replace the nerf bars with N-Fabs (i bought a set for my LB7 and they arrived the day I totaled it, so will exchange for ones for this truck)
-Fluids, treat her to Amsoil full synthetic (front diff, read diff, transfer case) flush coolant, dump and fill + filter on the trans, just got her oil changed so im ok there...
-3 pod pillar gauge mount (EGT, boost and oil temp)
-backup camera (makes hitching up the bumper pulls so much easier)


And other stuff thats planned-
-Front bumper, I did a Road Rhino WIY on the last truck, debatting between that or a Trail Ready, love the look of the trail ready, but they are $$$$$
-Built trans
-air bags
-onboard compressor
-weld up a headache rack
-most likely replace the rear bumper with something heavy duty


And build/VIN Info...

How she sits currently...



 
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#5 ·
Looks good man, to bad you can't pull the lift off the LB7. It may be damaged though.
 
#9 ·
So, got the boring part taken care of. Went and got it smogged, weighed (7,340lbs with almost no fuel in it), then brought it down to DMV so they could check the VIN and so I could pay all my taxes and fees on it; my wallet is $2,500 lighter now. :(

Stopped by the dmax store on my lunch break, chatted with the guys over there about the new truck, made an appointment to have them install a Cognito 4-6" lift on it, so Feb 1 I will be sitting level and have some ground clearance. Planning on going with the standard kit now, and depending on how much I drag the torsion bars will upgrade to a NTBD later ($500 from Cognito).

Tomorrow will head to the tow yard that hauled my old truck from the crash and pick up all my crap from them, including my 1 piece driveshaft, Fox 2.0 shocks, toolchest, old GN hitch and lift pump... Need to get the bed Line-X'd then will mount my tool chest in it. Depending on what the weather does (and how much I drink on New Years Eve) might try and get the lift pump in it at some point this weekend or Monday since I have it off.
 
#11 ·
#12 ·
Thanks, thats good info on the headlights...

Really like the NBS interior better? I like the looks of the dash and the tap shifter, but seats arent as comfy and it feels cheap and rattles...

My old truck I had the Road Rhino WIY bumper, not really thirlled on fit and design so prolly wont use them again, not sure how I feel about the Move WIY bumpers either. I really like the Trail Ready bumpers, think they look fantastic, they are just pricey. Might just fab up my own....
 
#14 ·
So its going to be like second Christmas.... Using my OT money to buy some gauges. Just ordered Autometer pillar guage pod for 3 gauges, and Autometer Sport Comp II gauges for EGT, boost and oil temp. Will prolly try and mount my old Edge Insight somewhere as well, just not real thrilled about its reliability. I had 3 EGT sensors go bad (non expandable). Figured I would go with analog gauges, but will be nice to use the Insight for desired FRP vs actual, engine temp and the tranny to see what gear its in and if its in lockup or not. Can have it display trans temp as well so can have trip meter or something else on the DIC....

Now I need to figure out what color my pillars are and try and match the paint... Black interior and dash but the pillars and headliner are super light in color....
 
#16 · (Edited)
Picked up my stuff from the tow yard that was pulled out of my old truck. Plugged in my Edge Insight, and checked the balance rates...



All I have to say is wow. I dont think my LB7 balance rates looked that good even when I put brand new injectors in.
 
#18 · (Edited)
So decided to go with the Husky floor mats over the Weathertechs. Had the Weathertechs in my last truck, and wasn't impressed with the fit, so decided to try something else. Must say, the fit on the Husky's is amazing, would def buy them again, have a tons of spikes on the bottom so they don't move at all.


Ran down to the local Riebes (Napa) on my lunch break today to get thermostats (more on that later) and picked up a air filter while I was there...


So onto coolant/thermostats. Whenever I get a vehicle I try and go through it and flush everything, so I have a baseline on it, and have quality fluids in it. That being said, I noticed on my 800 mile drive home the temp gauge was moving around a lot. From the readings on the guage, it was bouncing between 180 and 205. Well since I picked up the Insight yesterday, I plugged it in to see what the temps were (assuming the temp gauge was as inaccurate as the one on the LB7). So on the way to work this morning truck hit about 170 when I hopped on the highway, but then dropped down to 155-165 and never really warmed up. Ambient air temp was around 25-30 degrees. After seeing the temp drop, figured i had bad therms and since I wanted to flush the coolant might as well replace them.

Didnt take any pics when I had it apart, but here the pic on re-assembly...


So, after looking around for a few minutes for the drain, I hopped online and read a few things that the LMM doesnt have one. Doh! Pulled the clip on the lower rad hose and drained the coolant the messy way. Once it was buttoned back up, warmed her up, burped it, and went for a test drive. Warmed right up and stayed at temp! Did notice that when the truck is at operating temp (180-185 according to the Edge Insight) the temp gauge on the dash was reading just under 210, so good to know where the needle should be at least... Be curious to see if I get a little better MPG with the motor running at temp instead of 160ish...

And right before I called it a night in the shop, had a Kuiu sticker laying on my toolbox, and the back window was looking a little naked, so...



Need to find some paint to match my pillar so I can get this stuff installed... Prolly will wait till next year as I'm having my annual big NYE bash and have a ton of tractor work and wood to get cut...



And these will get put on Feb 1st when the Dmax Store throw my Cognito lift on...
 
#81 ·
So decided to go with the Husky floor mats over the Weathertechs. Had the Weathertechs in my last truck, and wasn't impressed with the fit, so decided to try something else. Must say, the fit on the Husky's is amazing, would def buy them again, have a tons of spikes on the bottom so they don't move at all.


Ran down to the local Riebes (Napa) on my lunch break today to get thermostats (more on that later) and picked up a air filter while I was there...


So onto coolant/thermostats. Whenever I get a vehicle I try and go through it and flush everything, so I have a baseline on it, and have quality fluids in it. That being said, I noticed on my 800 mile drive home the temp gauge was moving around a lot. From the readings on the guage, it was bouncing between 180 and 205. Well since I picked up the Insight yesterday, I plugged it in to see what the temps were (assuming the temp gauge was as inaccurate as the one on the LB7). So on the way to work this morning truck hit about 170 when I hopped on the highway, but then dropped down to 155-165 and never really warmed up. Ambient air temp was around 25-30 degrees. After seeing the temp drop, figured i had bad therms and since I wanted to flush the coolant might as well replace them.

Didnt take any pics when I had it apart, but here the pic on re-assembly...


So, after looking around for a few minutes for the drain, I hopped online and read a few things that the LMM doesnt have one. Doh! Pulled the clip on the lower rad hose and drained the coolant the messy way. Once it was buttoned back up, warmed her up, burped it, and went for a test drive. Warmed right up and stayed at temp! Did notice that when the truck is at operating temp (180-185 according to the Edge Insight) the temp gauge on the dash was reading just under 210, so good to know where the needle should be at least... Be curious to see if I get a little better MPG with the motor running at temp instead of 160ish...

And right before I called it a night in the shop, had a Kuiu sticker laying on my toolbox, and the back window was looking a little naked, so...



Need to find some paint to match my pillar so I can get this stuff installed... Prolly will wait till next year as I'm having my annual big NYE bash and have a ton of tractor work and wood to get cut...



And these will get put on Feb 1st when the Dmax Store throw my Cognito lift on...
What lift did you end up going with? I will hopefully be lifting mine this year too and was thinking of having the D MAX store do it. Did they give you a deal? I keep hearing mixed reviews on those guys.
 
#21 · (Edited)
So been snowing yesterday and today. Took the border collie for a walk and the new guy down the road from the flatlands got stuck on his property in his pathfinder.. haha Headed back up to the house, grabbed a chain and the truck, dove down there and got him out of the ditch he somehow managed to get into... Decided since I had my Carhartts on to fire up the propane heater in the shop and start removing some moulding. Got the rub rails on the drivers side off...

Would have been easier if it was summer...



 
#22 ·
Went down to the Dmax store today and paid for the Cognito lift, Feb 1st cant be here soon enough to get it installed. I keep hoping they call me because someone cancelled and I can get in sooner. Must say, working 5 minutes from them is definitely convenient, but can be hard on the wallet.

Was debatting between going with the BDS 4.5" (what was on my old truck) and the Cognito, but must say that the knowledge and customer service of all the guys down at the Dmax store is what really sold me on going with them and the Cognito lift. When I bought the BDS lift, price made the decision for me, but the dealer I bought it from couldnt hardly answer any questions. When I had dropped my truck off I told him I wanted the front CV's flat, and the truck level (which it should have been with the 2" Deaver mini pack i bought to raise the rear). Was excited to see the truck, after 2 days (they scheduled me when their tech was only working a couple hours in the morning), finally got to go pick it up and was super pissed about how it looked. Front end was jacked up to the sky (probably 6"), CV's were maxed and the guy told me I needed to buy blocks for the rear to get it level. Needless to say I was fuming, not the experience I was hoping for. I have a good feeling about the second time around with my new truck... Dont think the guys at the Dmax store are going to disappoint.
 
#25 ·
So the latest drama with the truck... I knew from the Carfax on this, that it had been hit, but didn't go into detail, and the repair on it was listed as $1,500. Didn't think much of it, a bumper replaced by a body shop would cost you that much. Anyways, when I went to remove the rear fender flairs some paint came with them, and the paint under them was bubbling. Add that to the fact that the dealer shot in some gawd awful spray in bed liner (Line X said they would have to sand blast it out before they would line my truck), I am looking at truck beds. Looking at $500 for Line-X, $400 to strip it, and not sure on a estimate from a body shop to repaint the bed, but my guess is $800-$1000ish, dont want a cheapo Maaco paint job... Called the dealer, ripped them a new one, used some legal terms (nice having a friend who is a lawyer), and dealer is going to send me a check for $1000. Where they shot themselves in the foot is I bought the truck online, and the pics they sent me and had posted on their ad didnt have flares, but they put them on before I picked the truck up. So the dealer was clearly trying to cover up the paint issues under the flares. Found a used bed about 6 hours away at a auto recycler, factory white, looks clean, $1000 for it, and they will swap beds for $150 if I drive down there. Thinking about pulling the trigger on it.
 
#29 ·
What are you doing with your wheels?? I'm looking for a winter set I can rotate on during hunting season...
 
#32 ·
So the LML bed that was local sold. The other bed that is about 6 hours away, I got a ton of pics of, looks good. Driving down this Friday to look at it, and they will swap them, if all looks good. I just need to remember to bring my 4' hole saw for the gooseneck hitch...
 
#37 · (Edited)
Got sick of looking at the truck in disgust thinking of how much uglier it was than my 02, so since it wasnt flooding or blizzarding (we have been having some weather out here in NorCal), headed to the shop, removed the front fender flares and front bug guard. Truck is finally starting to look acceptable. New bed, lift and wheels and this thing will be down right sexy.






On a side note... Can somebody take some pics of the weather strips on the tops of the fenders that the hood sits on?
 
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