New daily project 2005 Silverado 2wd CCSSB

[Soundmound]

Well, it has been a minute! So much happening with marriage, potential house purchase and move, etc. I've been completely off grid. This is my penance I reckon lol.

After the wedding in June and in preparation for the move to SC, I sold my 2002 Silverado Extra Cab 4wd. It had the 4.8 and 318k miles, it wasn't even close to being able to pull the '84 cross country. I was cruising marketplace and ran across what appeared to be a clean 2005 Silverado 5.3 2wd CCSSB with a whopping 83k miles for $8,400! It checked most of my boxes including the tan interior and already upgraded stereo. I did the right thing and dug into the vehicle history before leaping. Turns out it was a theft recovery from western Washington that went to auction in Oregon and left with a clean title. It had plenty of pics for me to be able to discern what, if any, damage had been done. I assumed some front end work with the wheel being off and could see they cut the wheel to pull off the club. Yup a club. I could tell this was a papaw special from a mile away. The stainless wheel arch trim, chevy mud flaps, chrome side steps, spotless bedliner and low miles gave it away.

I was satisfied enough once I spoke with the seller I made the trip to Portland Oregon to take it for a spin. I was pleased to see that there were brand new Open Country tires on the rig and LT's at that, perfect. I was not so pleased to see some of the defects. Now, none of these were deal breakers if you know your NBS GM trucks. They were in no particular order: stepper motors in gauges were bad, fan speed was done at #3, rear inner handle non-functional, rear defrost non-functional, 7 pin harness cut, steering wheel and airbag rough shape, missing tag lights, all lenses were oxidized, some clear coat oxidization, multiple bulbs out, busted AC vent, missing pass door speaker grille and an evap code.

If you know me you now I don't pay full price unless I need it yesterday, so talked him down to $7,500 and away we went into the sunset. On the ride home, well after the auto parts store had closed, we discovered I had no tail lights! A quick peek under the hood and I discovered the relay was missing from the fuse box, great. I knew that I'd be getting pulled over, when was the question... The answer, immediately and I mean immediately upon coming through the one light in my small town! A quick chat and some paperwork verification and I was on my way. 12 hours round trip when all was said and done. Day one in the books.

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[Soundmound]

Luckily this rig had a spotless interior. I can attribute that to papaw and the obvious deep clean it had. This thing smelled straight from the detailers and a little musty too. It was labeled bio hazard at the auction, but the pics showed clothes and food only, no bodily fluids, maybe a touch of mold near the food. First thing was throw some damp rid in the back and let it eat. Second was a pack of those fancy trees for the rearview.

I also set off to fix tail lights and gauges asap so I ordered a Dorman kit and dug my soldering iron out of the packed boxes. A Youtube video later and they were back in tip top shape. A two beer job if your comfortable with rosin core. I also replaced the stereo with a New pioneer unit and pathetically cheap backup camera. While in the area I went ahead and repaired the 7 pin harness, replaced the missing tag lights, replaced the tail lights and replaced the missing jack tube/cover. Shortly there after I installed new headlights with LED bulbs, blacked out behind the grill and replaced all the other bad lamps in the rig. I didn't document of of the repairs because I was so engrossed in the house and moving stuff and just needed them done to get out of town. Here are auction pics and the old head unit.

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[Soundmound]

Next was a full maintenance and inspection. Front end needed a new tie rod on the passenger side, but the feller had put all new brakes on it for me! How nice of him. So, new tie rod and alignment and the suspension was now sorted. Oil change to inspect for sparkle particles and general underside look over shows a rust free, leak free truck as I hoped for. I still need to do a drain and fill on coolant and trans, but ran out of time before I parked it for winter.

Went ahead and put all the evap parts on it because at Rock Auto I got all three for what one cost at NAPA and it took like an hour with hand tools. CEL sorted.

I also went ahead and ordered a grille and some other small trim including a bezel with the rear inner handle and new speakers since I would be in the doors anyway. all arrived and were replaced without much fanfare.

As I said earlier, I parked it for winter. I wasn't going to trash this rig because we didn't get the house/move sorted in time. However, before I did that I went ahead and pulled the papaw starter pack off and buffed out the scuffs and off the old pinstripe as best I could. I also ordered up some of the vent visors like it originally had. The seller got an itchy razor blade hand and took them off doing some minor damage to the paint in places around the windows. I floated in some OEM touch up paint and will replace the visors when spring comes. I also bought rear bumper for cheap to replace the one it has due to dents and damaged plastics on the top.

I also scored a set of GM 20" "Torque Thrusts" from a local guy for an obscenely low cost. It's quite likely they will need chroming in the future, but for now some 4/0 steel wool barkeepers friend will have them looking right & tight for a good while longer. I later found out these things are rare as hens teeth, saw one go for $450 on the fleabay!

I can't wait for spring to get here so I can pick back up on it. With my credit card debt gone I should be able to put my other 20's on the '84 and maybe do the wing windows, possibly lower it or do the exhaust - as well as maybe get the 20's on the daily. Fingers crossed the two jobs doesn't grind me up first.

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[idahovette]

Been busy, huh, Dave

 

[Vbb199]

That truck looks nice !

 

[bucket]

I remember seeing those dealer installed wheels on several trucks when they were new. Haven't seen any since then though, so they definitely must be rare now.

Are those bodyside mouldings not original to the truck? Looks like the rear ones are for an extended cab?

 

[Soundmound]

I remember seeing those dealer installed wheels on several trucks when they were new. Haven't seen any since then though, so they definitely must be rare now.

Are those bodyside mouldings not original to the truck? Looks like the rear ones are for an extended cab?

Well I never noticed, but can't unsee it now that you said something. I assume original, but you are right that they look different compared to Huck's Z71. Either way they're probably coming off. I want to wrap it to look like the '84 eventually.

 

[TotalyHucked]

Nice score! Definitely a good little paw paw rig, should treat you well for a long time.

Was gonna mention the side moldings, it's strange that it's got the extended cab ones on there. I'm not sure what it would've had new, most of the gold trucks got gold door trim too, but since it's more toward a base model than loaded, it could've had black ones.

As for the 20s, those were GM accessory wheels back in the day. Not sure who made them, but you're right about them being rare. You can still buy the gray ones new in the aftermarket, but not the chrome. What gears does it have in it? Throw up a pic of the SPID, I'm curious lol

Also, great score on it being an '05. They went to larger front brakes, went back to drums in the rear and you get electric fans. I stay far, far away from the '99-04 trucks purely because of the crappy rear disc setup they have