2007 Silverado - Buy Once, Cry Once: 1-tons, 40's & a Custom Camper

[Andrew_S]

I'm finally getting around to starting a build thread for this dream project. About a year and a half ago, we had our son, which quickly pushed the need to start planning for a larger overland rig for our family.

Our current set-up has undergone many transformations and has served us well for nearly ten years now.
Full build thread here: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/1986-gmc-s-15.175189/page-52
The challenge is that it's a regular cab and we've made it work with 3 of us but it's also incredibly rustic. A sink and a couple of other amenities are proving to be very desirable where previously we could do without.
I spent about a year and half trying to track down the platform I was after and ending up purchasing this last summer:
It's a 2007 Silverado Crew LBZ 2500. It has roughly 300,000km's on it or 180k m.

It came with a host of issues, but that was ok because with the plans I have, there wasn't going to be a lot of original truck remaining when I'm done.

We paid $12k for the truck, which was about $10k less than what everyone else wanted anywhere near here.

 

[Andrew_S]

Ok, so what was wrong with the truck - check engine light for a boost leak, rust on rear pass door, leaking transmission (bad), & oil leaks. The suspension was completely clapped out, all 4 shocks were leaking/blown, steering was worn out, rusty lines everywhere, leaking t-case & brakes were pretty rusted up, and a long list of other small issues.

This was the diamond in the rough I had been looking for over a year. It allowed me get the platform I wanted for what I considered to be a great price.

Almost immediately I started removing parts to sell:
Canopy - $450
Fifth wheel hitch - $150
Spare rims & duratracs - $1200
Spare front seats - $200
Truck bed - $350
Intercooler- $100
Spare grill - $120
-----------------------------------------------
$2,570 - back towards parts
This knocked my total price down to approx $9,500.

After clearing out the initial run of extra parts, I started by getting the truck back into it's glory with a long list of modifications. This was all triggered by a bad EGR valve that was causing my initial boost leak cel.

"While I'm at it" is a very expensive expression...

Egr delete pipe, full 4" stainless exhaust & 3" ppe down pipe.

Sticking with the "do it right" mentality, I opted for the full deleted instead of blocker plates.

PPE up pipes, opted for manifolds as well.

The stock air filter housing was cracked, so I went with this banks replacement unit to get that fixed up,

This was a bit of a daunting job at first but once you get into it, it's not that bad of an engine to work on.

Opted to do all of the idlers, tensioner & water pump & thermostats while was into it.

The stock intercooler had some pretty big rock strikes and a lot of the fins were folded so I opted to replace it with this beefy banks unit that's supposed to flow/cool better.

 

[Andrew_S]

I doubt there was much gains to be had by replacing the hot side charge pipe but I was doing everything else, so I decided to do this last piece at the same time.

Another one I'm not sure if there was much value, but I opted for a welded water pump. Apparently, these are prone to spinning the press on pump fins.

The entire system was flushed extensively

The new pump is ready to drop in. The stock housing had a ton of cavitation.

I completely failed at installing the coolant up pipe and pinched the O-ring. Dumped 10+ liters of new coolant - I mean, I was just making sure I got one more good flush on the system...

Finished it all off with EFI live tuning.

Everything all buttoned up

Started trying to get a visual on my ultimate plans:

Spent an afternoon cleaning up the surface rust on the back half:

Picked up a set of 2010 Super duty axles

They came with a set of Warn locking hubs, which was a nice bonus

Got them all stripped down and immediately started selling everything I wasn't planning to use

It turned out my smoking deal on the axles wasn't that great after all. The dana 60 was tweaked hard. The guy that sold them to me refused to accept ownership and said "as-is". I made the most of the it by parting everything out. I had about $350 into the axle and got about $600 back out of it in parts. You can see the bend on the left side right around the sway bar mount.

So I needed another axle; luckily these are a dime a dozen right now.

 

[Kingsize24]

Well you have my attention. Carry on good sir!

 

[Andrew_S]

I opted for the S&B 62 gallon tank. This was not a cheap option but 100% necessary. The factory range is not nearly enough. With the truck in stock trim and the new fuel capacity, I was getting 2000+ km out of a single tank.

Next up I replaced the entire fuel system up to the CP3
The stock lines were on borrowed time.

While I was at it, I did the trans cooler lines and power steering lines

I also did the pcv reroute.

Next up, all new coolant hoses

S&B tank plumbed up with new stainless feed and return lines

Making it work on a rainy day

Everything is buttoned up for now. I didn't drive the truck a lot when it was stock, but I can say it's fun to drive now.

Decided last minute to drink the Kool-aid and add a Fass into the system.

I'm not a fan of the "hang down look at my filters" install brackets these come with. So I modified it to mount tight and up against the cab.

This allows easy access and I'll still be able to build out a nice box below the flat deck for tools.

Nice easy one in the evening, replaced all of the headlight housings

Came up on a smoking deal for some of the camper components.

Rerouted some lines for a direct drop into the S&B instead of the convoluted wrap around to the return line. Cleaned it up nicely. I'll replace that last blue line with the leftover black when I drop the tank later this month.

Tucked really nice and tight to the frame

I tried to capitalize on the black Friday sales late last year. Placed two mega orders with WFO & ECGS. Here's the take:

 

[Andrew_S]

Brought the raw pieces in for powder coat

Nice and shiny afterwards, won't stay this way for long...

Shortly after this I went to drop off my rims and get them mounted on the new tires. Only to have the tire shop immediately damage 2 of the wheels. Luckily they came to the table and ordered me 2 new ones right away.

I was lucky enough to find an LML part out and picked up this hydro boost from it for $30. Apparently this is a big upgrade over the stock hydro boost that definitely feels soft in the pedal.

For those with a keen eye you would have noticed the rear axle I picked up was a dana 80. I went the dually route for the extra track width. The stock WMS on this 80 is 74". The goal was to do a SRW conversion on the cheap-ish compared to other offerings. I purchased these to make that all happen.

These hubs are billet aluminum machined to push the flange out an additional 3" on each side, with an 8x170 bolt pattern, custom hub bore and axle bolt circ. Here they are next to a 99-04 dana 80 hub for comparison. This will net me an 80" WMS compared to the factory 11.5 68".

I also managed to snag a set of king 4" bumps off a part-out rig.

Off to sand blasting:

Ready for the fun stuff

Started tearing the truck down

Picked up both of these winches new in box for a song

On the chopping block

Sold a bunch more extra parts:
Transfer case - $600
Cv's - $150
Front bumper - $250
Front Wheel bearings - $200
Front Diff - $300
2nd set of wheels & tires - $350
Skid plates - $30

Brought my original purchase price down to $7500.

Found one of my oil leaks - new pan ordered.

Chop chop

 

[Andrew_S]

New to me hydroboost all cleaned up and painted.

Last big purchase for a minute - all new brakes, seals, steering components, etc.

Axle prep

So happy I went the 1-ton route. Beefy stuff to handle the abuse.

I plan to extend the frame and slide the rear axle as rearwards as I can get it. So I lopped off these frame sections from another 1-ton GMC at the local u-pull and grabbed these superduty shafts to scavenge what I can when it comes time to make new driveshafts.

I also needed long box front leaf spring hangers,

Still need to get these cleaned up and blasted but that's everything I need to make my rear frame modifications.

Finally got my wheels and tires after waiting almost another 4 months.

Mock-up for inspiration:

That's it for now, caught up to present day. I was hoping to build the axles this weekend but I'm on daddy duty and the little guy just woke up from a nap, back to it...

 

[Kingsize24]

Looking amazing 👏

 

[YetiX]

Amazing. Simply amazing.

 

[bdp1978]

Your S10 thread is my favorite on this entire site. Absolutely can't wait to follow along on this one!!!!

 

[ThundahBeagle]

I doubt there was much gains to be had by replacing the hot side charge pipe but I was doing everything else, so I decided to do this last piece at the same time.

Another one I'm not sure if there was much value, but I opted for a welded water pump. Apparently, these are prone to spinning the press on pump fins.

The entire system was flushed extensively

The new pump is ready to drop in. The stock housing had a ton of cavitation.

I completely failed at installing the coolant up pipe and pinched the O-ring. Dumped 10+ liters of new coolant - I mean, I was just making sure I got one more good flush on the system...

Finished it all off with EFI live tuning.

Everything all buttoned up

Started trying to get a visual on my ultimate plans:

Spent an afternoon cleaning up the surface rust on the back half:

Picked up a set of 2010 Super duty axles

They came with a set of Warn locking hubs, which was a nice bonus

Got them all stripped down and immediately started selling everything I wasn't planning to use

It turned out my smoking deal on the axles wasn't that great after all. The dana 60 was tweaked hard. The guy that sold them to me refused to accept ownership and said "as-is". I made the most of the it by parting everything out. I had about $350 into the axle and got about $600 back out of it in parts. You can see the bend on the left side right around the sway bar mount.

So I needed another axle; luckily these are a dime a dozen right now.

What did you use to clean up and recoat the frame?

 

[Mekcanix]

Man I thought the S10 build was cool. This is AMAZING!!!!