73-87chevytrucks.com
73-87 Chevy _ GMC Trucks => Members Rides => Topic started by: jjguitarist on October 12, 2009, 09:23:21 pm
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I am doing a budget street rod 83 silverado 2wd. project! So far what I have gotten done is, got it stripped down, the frame is lowered 3'' in the front and 2.5'' in the rear (not sure if the rear is low enough yet), front end is completely rebuilt, and frame has been cleaned and painted. I have just started doing my cab corners, i got the pass. side done but I dont like the job i did on it (first time body weld) so i am gonna order the longer cab corner replacement and try it again! Progress has been kinda slow so far because my garage caught fire in the attic from the flu while I was working on the truck last winter and burned to the ground! I lost 90% of my tools and parts for this build. So now I have the garage back, some of the parts, and I am getting back on this hot rod!
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Here are the cab corner pics. I dont really like the job I did on the pass. side so I am gonna order a longer corner replacement, cut it out, and do it over!!
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Plans for the Motor: Around 480 horses (give or take a lil) of ground pounding 383 stroker!
aluminum heads w/the big valves and ports, 302 cam w/.550 lift solid lifter, edelbrock rpm air gap intake,
750 holley double pumper. I have the short block all assembled with eagle forged rotating assembly internally ballanced. I am using a 1 piece rear 4-bolt main block. Gonna use the serpentine belt system from a 91 parts suburban and gonna hook up the factory a/c.
Tranny: 700r with a b+m transkit (rated @ 500hp) 3,500 rpm stall
Body: I am putting the side by side headlight front end out of my parts burn in it. shaving the tailgate, emblem mounts, holes in the bed rails, tail lights(not sure what i am gonna put back in, i have some caddy lights!?!?) and side marker lights on front fenders. 2'' cowl hood.
Suspension/rearend: already lowerd 3''front 2.5''rear. 3.73 gears with gov-lock (until it goes out then I will order an Eaton).
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The interior will be mostly stock except, bucket seats from the burb, I am gonna make a custom center console with console shifter, and I am going to do a full autometer gauge setup(down the road because those things are like gold!!).
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Just curious, what don't you like about your cab corner repair? It doesn't look that bad in the pics.
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It was fine until I went to smooth it out and bondo it. I guess i tried to grind it down too much and the metal got really thin!! ti was a learning experience though. That was my first body welding job...
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i have some caddy lights!?!?)
Ha! I won't make that move again! After all the work just to make them look right I don't actually really care for the caddy lights themselves so I'm having custom lamps made.
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Really?? I have heard it is a pain to put them into these trucks too! I want to do something different just not sure what.
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truck is lookin good im putting the caddy lights on there side in the roll pan on my stepside i found a set with 6 or 8 white led's so i dont have to wory about haveing a back up light 8)
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Oh thats cool!!
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Sounds like you're gonna have a strong motor combo.
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Man I Hope so!! I have never had anything over 350 horses.
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Well a lil bit of a sucky day today. Had a bad day at work then came home thought I would work out some frustration on the truck but that didnt work either! Removed the 10bolt from the burb and found out it has been changed before. It is not the 3.73 limited I thought it was turns out to be a 3.50 one wheel burner. Oh well, gues I will have to buy gear set and a locker of some sort?!?!?
Until then I am gonna do the Captkaos blazer tank swap to keep me busy until I come up with some more $$$
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Another lil setback. I started my tank swap last night. Got the temporary brace welded in and cut all the rivets holding in the brace, spare tire mount, and brake line mount. After I got it all cut out i went to raise my tank up just to have a look see and it is too big!! The tank I have is from my 90 burb parts truck and after I looked on here today I guess it is a 40gal. Not sure what I need now, guess i will shop the junkyards for a smaller Blazer tank....
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Burbs came with 25 or 31 or the optional 40 gallon tank. The 40 gal tank won't fit in a shortbed.
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Alright, its time to get fired back up on this project again. The government was kind enough to give me back some of my hard earned $$ that i shelled out in taxes! So I took a little trip to summitracing.com and ordered a load of parts! I got a new tranny performance automatic 700r4 stage 2 (awesome!), b&m truck megashifter, 3000 rpm stall, got a new 25 gal blazer tank. I got the summit kit with a 750 cfm carb, alum dual plane intake, bolts, gaskets, and breather (great kit and easier on the wallet). And I also got almost everything needed to put my engine together. I am pretty excited, was like a kid in a candy store while I was ordering!
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Man, the government has never gave me enough money back to buy a 700R4, much less all of the other cool stuff you got!
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LOL It is a lot better than what I got last year! I paid in $2500 last year because my work didnt take ANY taxes out! But this year I had extra taken out...
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Wow, that's a lot extra taken off then LOL Must have been a blast feeling like a rock star and ordering all that stuff!
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Keep us updated!
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Oh yeah BIG BIG Smile!!! Will Do!
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Last night I got the bug and removed my old dual tank setup and solenoid. Tonight I am going to finish removing all of the old fuel lines and get started on the Capt. blazer tank swap! Will post pics when done!!
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Got the Blazer tank all painted up and installed tonight. Looks killer! I love it! Had to modify some tank straps from a burb with a larger tank to fit but it worked out awesome. My setup was a lil different than the capt' but the result is the same. About the time that I got finished and ready to take some pics to post my phone died. Figures right! Anyway hopefully I grab grab a couple of shots tom. night to post!!
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The truck is gona sweet! ;)
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I finished removing all of the old fuel lines tonight and mounted my elec. fuel pump on the frame rail just above the rearend. Finished up on the tank install, had to tighten all the bolts and trim the excess off of the tank straps. I also shortened my brake line and welded the mount back to the frame. My neighbor is coming over next week to degree my cam for me and then I will be able to start assembling the motor. I caint wait to hear this thing thump!!
Well here are some progress pics of the tank,fuel pump, brake line mount, my 383 short block, and my lil helper, my 4 year old boy John!!
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Motor, Pump, + Mount
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Nice work!!
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Hey thanks! It is a slow process but i will get there hopefully before 2011!! Last night I finished installing the suburban bucket seats and console. I removed the arm rests from the burbs capt. chairs. I got 2 of the factory mounts to line up then welded the supports in for the front of the seats. The 4th holes i just welded a piece under the bottom of the cab with a nut welded on. It looks great, I have never had a regular cab truck with buckets so I am excited! Will post pics later...
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Last weekend I took my front fenders and doors to my buddy's house who is a body guy. We have started shaving out the front side marker lights and almost have them ready for primer. Bad news though we found some rust in the doors. Not too bad but that is just more to do, oh well!
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Have the doors burned and blasted or chemically stripped if you're repairing them. I just sent my 74 door off to be burned and blasted and am getting it back today. I'd rather do that then use an aftermarket door.
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Oh yeah that is exactly what I am doing!!
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I feel foolish for asking, but what do you mean by burned and blasted? I assume you mean media blast but I can't figure out the burned part??
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http://www.custompowdercoating.com/burnoff.aspx
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Isn't it difficult to get primer and paint back into every little nook after burning it to bare metal? Since you're talking aftermarket doors, you've got me a little scared. I have an aftermarket door waiting to be installed later this summer. Would I be better off cutting the bottom off that as a repair for my existing door (rotted out about 6-8 inches up)?
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Aftermarket doors do not live up to OEM doors standards and fitment. The higher quality replacement doors can be made to fit and look right with a little extra work. The cheap ones are good for nothing.
Difficult to get primer and paint in what? Like the inside? I don't think it's all that hard
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I am probably not going to burn mine all the way down to bare. The only real problem spots were right under the fac. mirror mounts and I have already cleaned them up and replaced the small rusted parts then I am gonna use evercoats body glaze (awesome stuff) to smooth em out!
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Sorry I butted into your thread, jjguitarist. Vile: The whole burning thing was a new one on me, and it was hard for me to picture burning to bare metal and being able to prep, prime, and paint the inside of the door and really do a good job of it since you can barely touch some areas with your fingertips. Again--sorry to have butted in. When I get to my door I'll just start a thread if I get into a jam.
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lol no prob!
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Well we have gotten the side marker lights shaved out, a good coat of 2k and most of the blocking done on the front fenders. And last night we took all of the glass and components out of the doors to start repairing the rusty spots.
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subscribed ;D
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We got the bed and tailgate out of the barn last night. Got em all degreased and cleaned up. Man are they gonna be a LOT of work! Definately going to have to buy some repair panels for the bed and a smoothie cover for the gate.
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I am looking for a full tailgate/roll pan skin to make the rear of my truck look like the one in the pic. Any ideas where i could find one like this???
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all of that is a combination of pieces. tail light fillers, tailgate filler and a custom pan, and all of it is welded shut.
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I got mine from Mar-K not sure if Chris can get you a better deal or not?
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not with MAR-K, they weren't accepting new vendors. Tell them I sent you maybe it will help.
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ok, thanks guys!
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I have just about got the Motor put together. All the way up to the rockers and intake now. I ran into a few problems when I was putting the water pump and acc. brakcets on. 1st. my brackets didnt clear the pump i had so I had to get a dif. pump. Then (kind of figured) the mounting holes for the brackets werent exactly right and one was WAY off. I had to drill and tap my $600 al.head. Needless to say I was a lil nervous but it came out great with a lil mod to the holes in the brackets themselves!
After I took the pics I put my converter on the trans, bolted it to the engine, and set it in the frame rails. I am going to have to take my trans mount cross member off and move it back about an inch. Oh well, maybe it will be setting pretty this time tomorrow night!!
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I got the motor and trans all setup and bolted down last night! Was able to use 2 of the factory holes for the cross member but had to drill 4 new ones.
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Nice. What was the deal with the bolt holes not lining up for the brackets? Are they factory brackets?
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I lost all of my original stuff in a garage fire last year so most of my stuff came from a parts suburban! It was a 90 so its a serpentine setup. My heads are outer bolt and the brackets came from center bolt heads so there is where all of the difference came from. It worked out though (thank God)!
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Making a lil more progress on the rod. Got everything finished on the engine except, starter, headers plugs/wires, cooling system, some vacuum lines, and some wiring that I am working on now. I put the core support and pass. side inner fender on today just to get to see it start looking like a truck again! I picked up my starter, elec fans, trans cooler, and some wiring stuff yesterday so I have a lot to keep me busy!!!
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More pics!
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That's looking REALLY good! Nice work!
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hey thanks a lot!
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Update.. I have finished ALL of the engine bay wiring, got exhaust(gotta love flowmasters!), wheels painted, centers cleaned up, forward lighting finished, got all gauges working, shifter adjusted, trans adjusted, and got the engine fine tuned!! I had some probs with it fouling out plugs. Swapped out some high dollar ac delco platinums for some cheaper autolites and all fixed(go figure)! Also built a custom center console. Pics and vids below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/band_new_era/?action=view¤t=MVI8-28-104.mp4
http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l88/band_new_era/?action=view¤t=MVI8-28-107.mp4
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Body Work update... We have gotten the tailights shaved out and all of the rusty spots taken care of on the bed. Still have a lot of body work to go! Doors and front fenders are 95% ready for paint. I got my cali/combo tailgate/rollpan skin in and my 14"LED strips are on the way!
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Just a few lil update pics. Man this thing was abused! I am gonna look like popeye by the time we get finished blocking!! Anyway we have gotten the rockers/cabcorners replaced and finished, shaved the seam and cargo light on the back of the cab, shaved the drip rails, shaved out the wiper cowl, and shaved out the glove box door and ash tray. Sorry for the crappy pics, camera was having a bad day
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Nice truck!! Grant Customs makes awesome tailgate skins too, and AVS makes the LED taillight like the pic you posted.
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Looks Great!
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Thanks guys!
Well, we have finally got to spray some paint! Everything but the bed is now 2010 camaro rally yellow. I love this color but I will have to wear sunglasses when I drive it in the sun LOL. Since we dont have a pro paint booth we got a lil trash in the clear but will wet sand out. After we wet sand what we have done we are gonna lay out some black rally stripes and 2 more coats of clear and then she will be ready for assembly! I love how the shaved dash and wiper cowl came out!!!!
1st pic of our redneck paint booth. Who needs a paint booth when you have PLASTIC right! LOL
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More pics. some are from before the yellow just to show the shop and process.
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I told you I had to wear sunglasses!
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After about 8 hours of masking and re-masking and making templates/remaking templates for the nose, the rally stripes are finished on the cab! I am really happy with the way this thing is turning out!! Since it has gotten a lil cool here we are gonna let the paint cure for a couple of weeks and then start assembly.
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Nice! Can't wait to get to the point of painting my 74. The cowl panel looks like it came out good -smoothed.
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Yeah I think it is gonna be one of my favorite parts of the truck.
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Got the cab all assembled today!
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Very nice work. I like the color combo, front end, cowl panel, everything!
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Now that is a nice paint job!!! Thats going to look sweet when you get it all together! Whats that color called? Love this truck...
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Thanks a lot guys! It is 2010 camaro rally yellow
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Looks like Bumble Bee of the Transformers!!! Very Cool!
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Ha! that was the inspiration for the truck. My 5 year old son loves transformers!!!
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I'm 31 and I love that movie lol! Keep up the good work I'm jealous...
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Got the door panels finished and ready for installation!
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We have the interior all put together. Tweed seat covers, tweed covered rear panel(behind seats), tweed covered dash and console, tweed lower door panels, new carpet, pioneer cd player, finished up the trimmings for the b+m shifter, cupholder from 05 tahoe, aluminum dash panel+door panel inserts, aluminum dash bezel, refurbished headliner, refurbished seatbelts, hidden 8" sub in the back of the console, 4x6 tsunami speakers in tweed covered boxes, 2 3/8" speedpro tach, I think thats about it!!!!
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More pics!!
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That looks great!
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Nice work. The interior looks great and I love the paint.
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was wondering what did you make the back panel out of that covers the back wall? id like to do something like that to mine, because i dont like the ripples you see if its not covered up, or did you buy it form some where? thanks............truck looks awesome and interior is really nice as well keep up the good work 8)
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you know we sell this right:
http://store.73-87chevytrucks.com/merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=7&Product_Code=RD-3065&Category_Code=7387INT
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was wondering what did you make the back panel out of that covers the back wall? id like to do something like that to mine, because i dont like the ripples you see if its not covered up, or did you buy it form some where? thanks............truck looks awesome and interior is really nice as well keep up the good work 8)
We took paint paddles, soaked them in water, then shaped them over a heated peace of pipe to fit the radius of the corners. Then we glued them to some thick cardboard we had from my bed topper and covered it in tweed. It came out awesome!
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Few pics i grabbed with my cell phone..
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more
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Great work JJ. I am not usually a fan of the stripes but you nailed it with yours, they look great.
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Thanks a lot!
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Ok today we FINALLY got to see some progress on the bed and bed cover. She is all shaved out and yellow!! Now all we have left to do is lay out the stripes, clear, wet sand, and buff.
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holy sick job ;D love it
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looking great
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Love it, that is a sick ride
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Truck looks great! The interior is awesome!!
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Thanks! Here are some pics of the bed and topper that are finished except for wet sanding and buffing.
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Here are some pics since we lowered the rear another 2.5-3" and with the bed installed. Still have to lower the front a lil more!
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another one
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That is one beautiful truck 8) Your paint looks incredible!
God Bless
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Thanks a lot! My buddy that is helping me paint (actually he is doing most of it) is a talented individual
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Got the topper all polished out and installed. Its awesome!
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2 more
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Very awesome looking. Taillights don't look very safe, though. Someone close to you can't see them at all, and someone off to the side just a little can't see them. I know this is what customizing is all about but I just have a hard time with "much less safe" custom.
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i have to disagree to a point man....i wouldnt go as far as saying less safe. just because there not in stock location. if someone is following to close or not paying attention, it doesnt matter if you have 200 taillights back there. there still gonna hit you ect.. they look to be led strip tails on there. those are very bright . and dot approved. i personally have run them on my mini as well as thousands of others. on all makes and models. dont let the size of them fool you. those will out shine and illuminate a stock tail any day. as long as its setup correctly of course.
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I shouldn't have said anything really, bad judgement. I see similar custom taillights all the time and I like the look. If someone rear-ends that truck they would normally be liable, but with those taillights I think you'd get stuck with the bill and improper equipment violation. I am fairly certain that regardless of the lights being dot approved, having them a few inches from the ground as your only taillights is not. I apologize for taking away from this exciting thread, though. That truck is tough and the hard work shows.
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i wasnt trying to stir the pot man by no means. nor look to argue. i respect ur opinion . i shouldnt have spoke up either . lol sorry as well for taking from the thread. killer truck man.
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Read your state's vehicle code on light placement and requirements. If you meet all those requirements, you will be ok lawfully, and perhaps ok civilly. Know what you can and cant do.
I agree with big bear that if your too close to see the lights, your too close to stop in the first place. a good accident investigator will be able to determine that. plus, it is rarely the person in the front fault when rear ended.
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Lol i am not trying to join in the argument but just for clarification purposes I thought I would share a lil more info on the lights. They are dot approved and very bright. There are 25 ULTRA bright leds in each light with diffusers which makes them WAY brighter than the stockers! Plus the truck isn't slammed it has what I call a rake to it so the lights aren't as low to the ground as what the pic makes it look. And like the previous comment if someone hits me it wont be because they couldn't see them it will be because they are a Tard for not paying attention!!
Now with that said I don't have Any side marker lights front or back and that is definitely not dot approved so I will just have to play nice if I get stopped lol!!
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And thanks for the compliments!