3rd gen Cab Swap/Rebuild

Not much to update at all. Started assembling the interior trim pieces and cleaning out all the junk from inside the cab. Bought 4 new tires last weekend and started color sanding the panels. Painted my door handles and some exterior trim pieces a nice satin black.

Just need time to finish color sanding and buff everything. Ordered a new PS tow mirror and trans pan gasket to fix my ATF leak. Charged the A.C. system. Need to cut a hole in the bed for my gooseneck hitch and run trailer brake wiring inside the bed. Tint windows, apply 3M protective film to front nose of truck, buy door speakers and wire them up. Make bed rail covers using 1/8" aluminum floor plate. Inspection, registration, insure, drive.

Also need a new electric trailer brake controller. Any opinions on which to buy?

Weekend progress. Had help show up Saturday to color sand. We knocked out the entire bed and hood. Sunday I cleaned and assembled the interior minus door panels. Still need speakers and color sand the doors before bolting on door handles. Then door panels can be installed. Finally sat on a real seat to move the truck for the first time in a couple years.

Sat the bed in the frame last night. Getting closer to looking like a truck again.

Entire bed and hood completed. 3 stage buff and waxed. Need to wire up trailer plugs in the bed and drill hole for gooseneck ball.

Big update. Stereo and components purchased and installed. Cab color sanded and buffed. (Thanks to dad) Fixed trans leak. Finished rear spring setup with spacers and new u-bolts. All new brake calipers for preventative maintenance reasons. Goose neck mount and wiring connections complete. Old window tint removed. Took the first trip today for an inspection and it didn’t fall apart. It needs a new tune, has old Smarty (smoky) 90hp box tune. Going for an alignment Friday.

I like that color alot. What hood is that?

Thanks.

Cervinis brand hood. Fiberglass SRT style. It fits pretty good. Some sanding to fit was required. I kept my OEM hood just in case.

With only about 150 miles on the rebuild, we loaded up for Iowa then on to South Dakota. The truck was either going to work or break.
Knock on wood, 1,300 trouble feee miles so far. Final 700 miles back to Houston today. I’m more than pleased.

Did you get new tires? I have coopers on everything i own now! I am going on my 3rd set of at3's and they do it all... quietly might i add.

Truck is looking alll brand new son!

Be safe on the road, and looks DAMN good!

Thanks guys!
Truck drove 2,300 miles without a glitch. I am more than pleased with the results. But it needs a new tune and a muffler really bad. We bucked a pretty hard wind headed south. Glad the load didn’t catch much wind. Weight was distributed perfectly on the trailer and resulted in a smooth ride. About 13k of weight including trailer.

I’m running Cooper ATP’s on this truck. First time running this style, as I usually run AT3’s. They are slightly more aggressive, I can hear them very little, but they ride smooth. I chose this tire because the tread is more squared off to the sidewall. The AT3 has more of a radius from tread to sidewall.

I too run Coopers on everything. American made!!

Update.
Everything has been working perfectly with the truck. Coming up on the first 5,000 mile oil change. But gosh does this truck need some tuning. The upcoming to-do’s will be:
HP Tuners tunes probably from Firepunk
Install a 351vgt after I send it to Zach for some TLC.
5” exhaust with a 30” FTE resonator. (I’m over the straight pipe phase of life)
Start saving for a S475 compound kit from Calibrated Power Solutions.
Wire lock up switch.

The 1-2 shift is funky. If I don’t manually make this shift, the trans will shift into 2nd way too soon. I’m running a Brogwarner Metal housing gov pressure solenoid in stock gov pressure housing. I have the D&J billet housing and GM solenoid, but was once told it created too much line pressure. (I snapped 2nd apply band a long time ago and removed the D&J because of this.)

Thoughts on the 1-2 shift?

Update. All running smooth and working good. I have noticed sense I bypassed my ATF to engine coolant heat exchanger, my transmission temperatures at highway speeds are about 160*-170* with 88* ambient air and ~90% humidity when pulling trailers. That’s AC running, cruise at 65mph. If I hit traffic and slow down to speeds where I’m shifting 1-2-3 quite a bit, the trans temperature climbs up to near 200* fairly easily. City driving with a loaded trailer can yield 220* pretty easily also, which is higher than I’m comfortable with. I’m also making an effort to lock the converter in 2nd gear and keep rolling between stoped areas.

End result: I’m going to plumb my heat exchanger back into the cooling loop and allow the coolant help keep my trans temps at bay for towing. I was undecided about doing this bypass in the first place based upon my research, so I tried it. Now knowing it’s not ideal for towing heavy loads in the heat and humidity of south Texas. I would not recommend the bypass for southern climate towing.


Picked up a 32’ dual tandem pierced beam trailer yesterday. Bought it from the original owner who used it to haul hay. It needs 9 new tires, grease the jacks, wire on a 7 pin plug, shoes & magnets, straighten the rub rails, and some paint. Has a new wood floor.

Made some time yesterday to work on the truck. I made the mistake of making a list of items that need completing. Going to try and tackle one item a week. Try.

Installing my bed rails was one of those items.



Trimmed one side to fit, then laid it on the other to transfer cut lines.





Little foam padding so it’s not metal to metal.


Complete and back in the garage.

Red Sleeper said:

Update.
Everything has been working perfectly with the truck. Coming up on the first 5,000 mile oil change. But gosh does this truck need some tuning. The upcoming to-do’s will be:
HP Tuners tunes probably from Firepunk
Install a 351vgt after I send it to Zach for some TLC.
5” exhaust with a 30” FTE resonator. (I’m over the straight pipe phase of life)
Start saving for a S475 compound kit from Calibrated Power Solutions.
Wire lock up switch.

The 1-2 shift is funky. If I don’t manually make this shift, the trans will shift into 2nd way too soon. I’m running a Brogwarner Metal housing gov pressure solenoid in stock gov pressure housing. I have the D&J billet housing and GM solenoid, but was once told it created too much line pressure. (I snapped 2nd apply band a long time ago and removed the D&J because of this.)

Thoughts on the 1-2 shift?

Click to expand...

I run HE351/467 compounds with 5" exhaust and a big truck stack muffler, the exhaust sounds like a stock truck minus the turbine howl. Perfect IMO.

I wouldnt even mess with the resonator, just put that towards the compounds . Best thing I have done to my truck for towing.

SPEEDSHIFT said:

I run HE351/467 compounds with 5" exhaust and a big truck stack muffler, the exhaust sounds like a stock truck minus the turbine howl. Perfect IMO.



I wouldnt even mess with the resonator, just put that towards the compounds . Best thing I have done to my truck for towing.

Click to expand...

Noted! I will may just leave this 4” pipe and MBRP muffler on here then.
I want to build compounds so damn bad, it’s not funny.
But, I must finish this shop and plan for a wedding first. Post wedding plans are catch up on truck upgrades. Right now everything drives good.