04 Avalanche 1500 Z71 DIY Restoration

[2SmokinBarrels]

For the bracket, I think any spray paint will do. Like Tremclad flat black.
I was saying to paint my crossbar black but now I'm thinking carbon fiber wrap hehe

 

[Auto Parts Guy]

Once I get my trans cooler installed, I'll hit everything behind the grill with a light coat of flat black to help it blend in. Not too much paint though, just enough to help it blend.

On the vinyl wraps, a heat gun is a must to go around edges, but is fairly easy to do. And there are so many different colors/styles to choose from!

 

[Edgar]

Still can't believe it...
Replaced the sending unit and the low oil pressure warning is not coming up anymore! Did a nice hour trip yesterday and compression is holding steady at 40-45. Guess I'm just lucky one..

Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

And now I can safely continue to work on the truck. Thanks all for support and great tips!

My next step will be sails and all the plastic trim around the car, its all faded and ugly. Anyone has experience with a propane torch?
I was advised to try using it by both autozone rep and the friend of mine. And I did try it on the wheel fender - it actually turned black. But in my chevy facebook group people reacted pretty aggressively lol, stating that I ruined the fender etc..

Well.. if it stays for longer than 2weeks (as was with a chemical guys product) I will be more than happy. But Id still like to paint it over with a good matte black spray paint. If anyone can recommend me something good Id be really grateful. Any experience with flaking or peeling after the procedure?

 

[BainMan]

Still can't believe it...
Replaced the sending the unit and the low oil pressure warning is not coming up anymore! Did a nice hour trip yesterday and compression is holding steady at 40-45. Guess I'm just lucky one..

Dropbox - Error - Simplify your life

www.dropbox.com

And now I can safely continue to work on the truck. Thanks all for support and great tips!

My next step will be sails and all the plastic trim around the car, its all faded and ugly. Anyone has experience with a propane torch?
I was advised to try using it by both autozone rep and the friend of mine. And I did try it on the wheel fender - it actually turned black. But in my chevy facebook group people reacted pretty aggressively lol, stating that I ruined the fender etc..

Well.. if it stays for longer than 2weeks (as was with a chemical guys product) I will be more than happy. But Id still like to paint it over with a good matte black spray paint. If anyone can recommend me something good Id be really grateful. Any experience with flaking or peeling after the procedure?

Might check this out: https://www.amazon.com/Carworx-133-175-Refinish-Restorer-500ml/dp/B008A5GRHM

 

[EXT4ME]

Please do not consider the torch.

Use either the Refinish Restorer mentioned above or CERAKOTE Ceramic Trim Coat.

I have used both with good results.

I'm exclusively using the CERAKOAT product now.

For a permanent solution, you can have the plastics painted.

Don't fall for the heat gun/torch myth.





When I bought my 2003 Avalanche from the original owner, the plastics had never been treated since new.

All of the plastics were a faded grey.

Both the Refinish Restorer and the CERAKOTE products do not change the color, but return the plastics to their original color.

 

[Edgar]

Oh these look amazing! Thank you for suggestions, guys! I have a feeling that my trim has already been torched before, because I can see that wavy texture on all surfaces. Do you think Refinish Restorer or Cerakote will give me a nice solid color result? Or I should use the spray paint first?

And here is the frame we discussed earlier. I used a VHT Satin Black Roll Bar High Heat Paint ($8 in autozone). I didn't paint the rusted piece on the right, because I'm not sure what it is, looks like some sort of heat exchanger. Didn't want to mess with it. I also used this paint on the wiper body, got a nice matte finish. Still not sure what to do to the grille..

 

[Auto Parts Guy]

Looking good!
Pretty sure that rusty cooler is the power steering cooler.
May try some mothers polish on the grille and keep it chrome since you have the chrome bumpers. Maybe after you get the chevy emblem wrapped you get a wild hair and want to wrap the chrome grill

 

[Edgar]

Looking good!
Pretty sure that rusty cooler is the power steering cooler.
May try some mothers polish on the grille and keep it chrome since you have the chrome bumpers. Maybe after you get the chevy emblem wrapped you get a wild hair and want to wrap the chrome grill

I had no idea there's a way to treat/restore chrome parts. Thanks for suggestion! But grille is painted gray. First I would need to cover it with chrome somehow.

 

[Auto Parts Guy]

Ah like the mesh part! I was thinking the chrome bar part. I think some black paint would look nice. Or just some paint close to OE color. Maybe a satin or semi-gloss finish. I need to do the same on mine.

 

[Vaeagleav]

If it was me I would follow EXT4ME advice and use either finish first following the prep instructions for Cerakote or Refinish Restorer. The key to any restoration is to do the prep work first for best results. There are many threads about appling either product in older threads and you should spend some time reading those threads.
Don't paint first then try the above products since if you don't like pant you will have to strip it all off to bare plastic to apply those products.
Then if you choose to paint the cladding there are many threads describing the prep work and issues in painting. basically if you want smooth panels you would have to remove all cladding and sand smooth, then use a primer that adheres to plastic and then use a compatabe paint to the primer for best results. If you just spray it may look fine for a short time but will peel over time and look like a homemade paint job that failed.

 

[Edgar]

If it was me I would follow EXT4ME advice and use either finish first following the prep instructions for Cerakote or Refinish Restorer. The key to any restoration is to do the prep work first for best results. There are many threads about appling either product in older threads and you should spend some time reading those threads.
Don't paint first then try the above products since if you don't like pant you will have to strip it all off to bare plastic to apply those products.
Then if you choose to paint the cladding there are many threads describing the prep work and issues in painting. basically if you want smooth panels you would have to remove all cladding and sand smooth, then use a primer that adheres to plastic and then use a compatabe paint to the primer for best results. If you just spray it may look fine for a short time but will peel over time and look like a homemade paint job that failed.

Gotcha. And thanks for your feedback! That's what I was thinking about repainting. Seems like its a hot topic among Avalanche owners lol. Id better check those threads, thx!

 

[Edgar]

Need to replace a rear passenger window regulator. It is dead too. Removed the door panel today and realized someone's been digging there already. Trim handle clamps are broken and the plastic isolation was removed too. Ordered this piece. Looks like an easy fix too.

 

[Edgar]

Hey all! I'm back and recovered! Covid is a bad! you all stay safe there!
Avy got a newly wrapped emblem, new window motor and a coat of carworx restorer!

Window motor replacement was a super easy job.. don't know why shop quoted me $200 for that. If you gonna do it, use the tape or scotch to fixate the glass in Top position.
BTW if you have troubles with switches on your driver's door, just clean the micro scheme with Isopropyl alcohol. Worked for me..

Carwox is an amazing product! Easy to apply and results are quite nice! Hopefully will get a better finish after 2nd coat tomorrow. Thank for a great suggestion!

Emblem wrapping was a bit unfortunate.. the piece of wrap came in too small, I had to cut little pieces form corners to cover the whole length of emblem. You can see two stripes on both ends. I will probably redo it in near future. But the color was a perfect match. Looks like original!



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[Edgar]

quick question, maybe you guys have experience with these "dash carpets"? is it very bad, can someone share a photo please?
my dash panel is all cracked and ugly, and there is no way to restore that, a new piece is 250-300 and a carpet thingy is $20 on ebay

The good part is this material absorbs the light and there will be no reflections from the dash in the windshield, which I hate on my rav4.
Here is the screenshot from ebay:

 

[Jollygreengiant]

No experience with the dash carpet, but I gotta say that avy is looking sharp!

 

[2003VAAV]

quick question, maybe you guys have experience with these "dash carpets"? is it very bad, can someone share a photo please?
my dash panel is all cracked and ugly, and there is no way to restore that, a new piece is 250-300 and a carpet thingy is $20 on ebay

The good part is this material absorbs the light and there will be no reflections from the dash in the windshield, which I hate on my rav4.
Here is the screenshot from ebay:

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Put one in my 1994 K1500, worked great, stopped all the plastic rattling, and looked great compared to a plastic puzzle dash missing many, many, many pieces.

 

[Edgar]

Hey hey. I finally installed a dash "carpet". And I like it! it has surprisingly nice look and feel to it. They also send you few pcs of velcro, so you can smooth out those waves and it sits tight too.

 

[Edgar]

I had a great luck to meet an interesting person, new customer of mine who also kindly offered to 3D print me a part I was looking for my truck. It is that midgate handle that holds the glass in the special window storage space. Originally it had a very unfortunate construction with a bad design flaw, where the cylindrical part of the body couldn't handle the load and just broke with time. I got my truck with already broken one.
And of course GM kindly decided to discontinue the production of this part a while ago. That's why 3D printing was one of few options left.
So I was able to find an STL on the thingiverse website. The part was printed from the standard black PLA filament, 0.2mm nozzle size (.028 resolution provided). Fitting was great, the design has been improved drastically too!

I plan to polish or acetone-evaporate the part in order to get a smoother and nicer finish. But as it is it sits tight, does the job and thank you Mr. Beckner! appreciate the help!



On these two pics you can see the raw printout without any post-processing.



And here is a couple of pics of the final look, taken from thingiverse.com where you can see the difference in design.



Link to the STL file: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4297486
Design by "Tom Thingversey"

 

[Edgar]

Alright gents.. Ive been enjoying my truck since what.. February? And well it wont start now.. lol
I would really appreciate any advise you can provide, because I don't know what to do with it now.

Drove to the customer, did the job, got back to the truck 2h later turned the key and... nothing. Wont crank, no sound.. only dash lighted up.
Good my wife's car wasn't far, so we tried jump starting the truck. Didn't help (apparently battery was ok). Long story short I bought a starter relay and got my truck running same day!

Two weeks later truck wont start again - same... dash lights up, won't crank. Got another relay - didn't help this time
1) tried bypassing battery. Other car's battery didn't help
2) tried cranking by wrapping 87 in starter relay and going directly to the Positive on battery - nothing
3) crossed 30 and 87 in that relay to check if signal goes to starter - nothing
4) checked that infamous 20A Powertrain Control fuse, that one was ok
5) OBD didn't show any problem

What am I missing here? do you think it is starter, how can I diagnose that one?
Thank you

 

[Auto Parts Guy]

Can you put an alligator clip and long wire on the starter energize wire, attached to a multi-meter to see if you get 12V when you turn the key to start? If you are, I would say bad starter.

Don't give up on her now! You've gone too far.

 

[Edgar]

Can you put an alligator clip and long wire on the starter energize wire, attached to a multi-meter to see if you get 12V when you turn the key to start? If you are, I would say bad starter.

Don't give up on her now! You've gone too far.

Oh that's a great idea! which one is a energize wire, can you point me please?

 

[Auto Parts Guy]

The S wire, start wire from ignition.
Run that side to + on the DMM and ground the - side, turn it to Voltage DC on the DMM and see if you get voltage when you try to crank it with the key.

Careful not to short any wires to ground down there. You have a direct connection to the battery on that large one.

If you get 12V with a good battery and engine doesnt crank over, bad starter.

 

[Gg05]

And I forgot to update with some minor investments >>>
- Had to buy a cheap set of E-Sockets (bigger torx) to remove the front row of seats, E18 and E20 are used there ($10)

- Blue Devil Rear Main Sealer (as result no oil's gone according dipstick (but apparently clogged up my oil sensor filter) $14
- Lucas Power Steering Stop Leak (gave me more smooth rotation and no drops on my parking spot so far) $18
*Both were recommended by local repair shop. And I was a bit skeptical about all these additives you know, but after resarching feedback from other people I gave it a try - finger crossed stuff worked for me..

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Great journey... thanks for the ride most of us have been there but you'll see how the AV's stand up to the newer trucks will be no comparison. These are beasts!!!

 

[Gg05]

A while back, I was chasing some oil pressure issues on my 2004 EXT.

Trying to be methodical and cost conscience, I started with the less expensive options first and moved up from there.

I first changed out the old OEM oil pressure sensor, to no avail.

That option also provided it's own set of problems when the brand new oil pressure sensor blew out it's center section and spewed oil all over the firewall and engine.

I unintentionally became proficient at changing that part out.

The third sensor behaved just like the two parts before it.

Next, I had the oil pickup tube o-ring replaced and also took the opportunity to have a new oil pan installed at the same time, due to the bolt holes for the oil cooler adapter on the oil pan being stripped out.

Those holes were stripped out due to many attempts over the years to address an oil leak at that location and whatever techs worked on those bolts applied too much torque to a low torque part.

Just smash the bolts down until the leak stops or something gives, I guess.

Changing the oil pick up tube and o-ring assembly seemed to help somewhat for a short period of time, but within weeks of the repair, the oil pressure got much worse.

The next step included having a new Melling M95HV-324S high volume oil pump kit installed.

This absolutely solved the low oil pressure issues.

The oil pressure under all circumstances is now better than it has been during the entire time I have owned this truck.

Unfortunately, the engine had other problems we were not aware of at the time and all of that work may be for naught.

Dang lots of hours of work there...

 

[Gg05]

Thank you! And here's the final wrap of my seats. It's a driver's bottom, which was the worst one. Foam was replaced by (!) old socks and some dirty rags lol. Cover looks amazing just like the passenger's bottom. By the way that seller I mentioned, not only they refunded the cost of a "bad" cover, they even asked me not to send it back haha. And the Texan company delivered the cover withing 2 days! 2 days, Carl! TX > FL

Since I ground too much of a foam on this part, I decided to glue an old liner I got from unwrapping the torn cover. Someone asked if I feel any difference between these foams. Yes, new foam feels a little bit sturdier and harder. So I hope it lasts. Supposed to be a special product for reupholstering.

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Next is a fun part - "Seat Doctors"! gonna try it on Monday. Have a good weekend everyone!

Great job!!!