bc-chris' 2014 Silverado SLZ Z71

[bc-chris]

hey guys

just a little back ground for you. back in 1997 i bought my dream truck - a 1989 c1500 standard cab short box stepside. i've had that baby for almost 20 years and have done a TON of stuff to it. my wife and i have 2 kiddos now (our daughter is a little over 3 and our son is 1 next week). my wife will be getting off mat-leave soon and since she'll be going back to work i need to be able to take both kids from time to time. apparently the rcmp look down on throwing one kid in the box (heck - that's wasn't a big deal when i was kid!!) so it finally happened - i had to get a 'new' truck. this truck was bought out of need, not want. i still absolutely LOVE my '89 stepside but as i already mentioned, the ol' two-seater was a little impractical. oh and i'm not selling my '89 (not a chance!!).

i needed a new truck by september of this year (so i still had a couple months to find the truck i wanted). i searched a lot online and did find 2 trucks that had all the "needs this" boxes checked, but they were quite a distance away (the closest truck was about 5 hours away). in early june i went into the local chev dealership and basically started with, "look, i'm not buying a truck today. i just want to give you my name and number and what i want and you can give me a call if you get something in that's close." after telling the salesman exactly what i wanted he motioned to a truck on the lot and said, "what about that one?" it had pretty much everything (plus more) on my list. i asked him, "when did you get that one in?" and he said, "yesterday." ... so they hadn't updated their webpage yet. crap... i AM buying a truck today!!!

2014 silverado SLZ Z71. 5.3l v8

the truck was in fantastic shape. we got into the cab and it was spotless. the salesman mentioned that they had not had time to detail the interior (since they only got the truck the day before) and i asked him why bother? it was sooo clean. the previous owner took good care of it.

i haven't had a lot of time to do stuff.... yet


after getting it home (pretty much totally stock):

 

 

 

so the first thing i (we) did was go and buy another baby seat... i know... totally exciting! ha! ha!


then i got the back windows (driver/passenger sides + back window) blacked out. they had stock tint on them already and then i added more tint right over top. a couple of other minor things like new wiper blades and new lamps for the headlights (i found the stock ones very yellow - so i got an upgraded version of what i have in my '89). they are brighter and more white. i also picked up a locking fuel cap.

the next thing was to change up some colours with plasti dip. emblems to black, the chrome guards on the doors to black and the grey piece of plastic that is on the front of the truck on either side of the front license plate/below the recovery hooks (why is this piece grey?? it make no sense!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

this was my first time ever using plasti dip and honestly, i was impressed. i'm really happy with the results....

 

 

 

 

 

i hadn't planned on leaving the plasti dip on the chrome around the front bowtie, but i kinda like it. i'll likely remove it at some point, but for now it stays on.

 

 

the next thing on the list was to get it off the ground... rough country 7.5" suspension lift. that happened not quite two weeks ago. to save money i did a rim/tire swap with my trucks. the '89 got the stock rims/tires off the '14 and the '14 got what is on my '89....

 

[bc-chris]

so here is how the truck sits now after the 7.5" rough country lift and adding the rims/tires from the '89.... (oh... and i got an undercoating sprayed on too after the lift was installed)

 

 

 

i absolutely LOVE it! it has 35" bfg mud tires. i was hoping down the road to go to maybe 36", but there just isn't room - oh well

 

 

once the weather gets cold i'm putting 35" winter tires on the stock '14 rims and then that's what i'll use on the 2014 over the winter

so now need to take a break for a bit to let the bank account recover - ha! ha! ...but i already have a "to do" list....

tonneau cover (that will actually be sooner than later)
weather tech floor mats (front and back)

add a bunch of interior led lighting (likely going with blue led's)
AMP power step running boards
k&n air filter/intake kit
new exhaust
mud flaps

eventually stuff like after market headlights, smoked led tail lights and a led third brake light. those will be a bit though since they are pretty pricey and honestly, the stock stuff still looks pretty sweet.

 

i'd love to put in the high country grille (they look sooooo good!) but my grille is in fantastic shape so i'll likely just add a chrome overlay to the existing grille (that's waaaaay less $). i also want to plasti dip the 'z71' on the grille

[Daryl Z71]

Looks great!

[bc-chris]

did a little photo shoot this morning....

 

 

 

[bc-chris]

latest mod - nothing major, just the insert for the center console. i do not understand how this part is not stock?

 

 

 

 

[HoosierZ]

Sharp truck and awesome background. I agree, the console organizer should be stock. Sure beats digging around in the cavernous console for small items.

[RyanbabZ71]

Nice truck!

 

 

Ryan

[bc-chris]

thanks guys

 

Sharp truck and awesome background. I agree, the console organizer should be stock. Sure beats digging around in the cavernous console for small items.

 

 

i'm sooo fortunate to live in the okanagan valley - it's absolutely stunning

[Tony Bianco]

Looks GREAT!

[bc-chris]

i want to add a bunch of blue LED lights to the interior of my truck, but what was bugging me was what to do about the stock cabin lights

 

i'm sure there is likely some way to change the stock whites to blue, but i don't have a clue how and honestly, i don't want to mess up the stock lights becuz i'm sure they are a pretty penny to replace. so i got to thinking, 'i wonder if i can just use a blue 'gel' (the stuff they use to colour white spotlights) to make the white blue?'

 

here is the blue gel (i have a buddy who has tons of these things - he works in audio/video) - it's just a thin blue plastic film (heh..... old pic from the last time i used this stuff in my other truck... my current calendar is 2016! ...honest!)

 

 

 

 

 

i figured i'd tackle the back lights first since there was less plastic to come down off the ceiling of the truck and if i broke the piece it would be less to replace than the piece up front...

 

before...

 

 

the entire plastic assembly just pops off. it's a bit of prying but eventually i had this...

 

 

i just cut 2 small pieces of the blue gel and used some tape to hold the ends in place so the gels completely covered each of the LEDs. then i popped the plastic cover back over top. the pressure from the cover holds the gel in place and i now have blue lights in the back seats!

 

 

 

now for the front - it was a little more involved to get access but not bad.

 

the first part to pop out is the center portion that has the cabin light controls/garage door buttons, etc. i opened the sunglasses holder and pulled down and the center part popped down.

 

once i could see inside i saw 2 screws holding the other part up to the ceiling. remove those screws and pull down and it will pop down, revealing the LEDs. this time i just popped them out of the little clips that hold them in place, covered the light with the gel and then put them back in place. once both were in place, pop the overhead console back into place, put back the 2 screws and then pop back in the center part and it's done....

 

 

 

 

i absolutely LOVE the blue light - i think it looks soooo good! and the best part was becuz i already had the blue gel it cost me nothing!

 

i will be adding foot lighting and some other interior lighting in the next month or so

Edited July 24, 2016 by bc-chris

[slj2008]

good job - GM take note ??

[Waaazooo]

Looks good! Great story

 

 

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[bc-chris]

thanks guys

 

i got out to take a few pics tonight and had some fun with reflections....

 

 

[cbrsilv15]

Love that second pic.

[Waaazooo]

BV-Chris. If you can bring up the yellow and orange hues in the background.. That picture is epic.

 

 

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