New to the forums.
I acquired an 05 TB EXT about a month and a half ago. It is high mileage with just over 170k miles on it, but it sounds and feels quite sound mechanically and I do not mind getting my hands dirty with a bit of preventive maintenance. The body is a little banged up, but nothing immediately obvious. The interior was the worst thing about it as it looks like the previous owner must have left the windows open a lot as the the carpet and upholstery appear to be weather rotted. I very quickly had to order some cheap seat covers. The third row seat even had a subtle odor of cat urine. I had no intention of keeping the third row in, so that was not an issue for me. All in all it was pretty much what I was looking for: An inexpensive, blank-canvas SUV for me to build up.
Back in the 90's I was very much into the Minitruck scene and even though I have matured since then and now have a physical disability that prevents me from driving a ground-scraping, lowered mini, not to mention being a family guy, there is a part of me that has never left that custom vehicle mindset. Every vehicle I have had since then has had something custom, no matter how minor, done to it, but this TB is my first real 'project' vehicle in a long, long time. I say project with a bit of hesitation, because it has to remain my daily driver and carry the whole family.
My goals for the TB are to give it a custom paint job, lower it slightly and completely redo the interior. The overall theme is "The Caribbean". For the stance, I want to lower it just enough to be noticeable, but without sacrificing the surprisingly comfortable ride too much, so maybe a 2" front and 3" rear drop. I will probably get bigger wheels, but not 'too big' as, again, I do not want to sacrifice too much of the ride. 18" or 19" probably. I do not plan to do too much to the body. In the 90's, I would have shaved everything I could, but aside from fixing the dings and scratches and debadging it, I will probably just swap the front bumper cover and maybe the rear one, if I can find ones I like. For the paint, I am currently planning on GM's Aqua Blue Metallic, though I want to find some way to change it just enough that it doesn't get taken for a factory paint job, at least by people who pay attention to that sort of thing. The interior is where all the real changes will happen. It is currently gray, but I want to change it to a tan and aqua scheme. I am planning out an SQ-oriented audio system that will be as low-profile as possible with the sub-box nestled into the footwell area of the third row seat. I would also love to find a way to separate the second row into two seats instead of the 60/40 split, but I have yet to figure a way of doing to so without some major fabrication work. The one major downside of the interior is that seems to be the very basic with no frills at all. I will be attempting to add in some of luxury options like heated seats (one of the easier upgrades from what I have read), but there are other features like a steering wheel with controls that I am not sure how involved the upgrade would be. I do not plan on doing much, if anything to the engine and drivetrain, if I do do anything, it will be with the goal of improving mileage rather than power. Anything that can save me a few gallons on the 90 minute trip to the beach is worth consideration.
All that said though, it has been a long time since I have actually done this sort of thing and there's just a lot of stuff that I am very much not up-to-date on, especially in regards to the TB. So I will probably be dropping in from time to time to ask a few questions regarding various technicalities of the TB, at least when internet searches fail to provide the information I am looking for (like a post I did today asking about swapping in SS parts). I like to do the jobs I can handle, such as wiring, part swapping and system design, and leave other jobs like painting and upholstery to the professionals, but even on those jobs I like to at least have a knowledge about what to expect and/or ask for when dealing with the pros, especially since I will have to do some searching around in my area to find out which shops I want to work with.
So, sorry about the long intro, but,
tl;dr
Newb here. Hi.
I acquired an 05 TB EXT about a month and a half ago. It is high mileage with just over 170k miles on it, but it sounds and feels quite sound mechanically and I do not mind getting my hands dirty with a bit of preventive maintenance. The body is a little banged up, but nothing immediately obvious. The interior was the worst thing about it as it looks like the previous owner must have left the windows open a lot as the the carpet and upholstery appear to be weather rotted. I very quickly had to order some cheap seat covers. The third row seat even had a subtle odor of cat urine. I had no intention of keeping the third row in, so that was not an issue for me. All in all it was pretty much what I was looking for: An inexpensive, blank-canvas SUV for me to build up.
Back in the 90's I was very much into the Minitruck scene and even though I have matured since then and now have a physical disability that prevents me from driving a ground-scraping, lowered mini, not to mention being a family guy, there is a part of me that has never left that custom vehicle mindset. Every vehicle I have had since then has had something custom, no matter how minor, done to it, but this TB is my first real 'project' vehicle in a long, long time. I say project with a bit of hesitation, because it has to remain my daily driver and carry the whole family.
My goals for the TB are to give it a custom paint job, lower it slightly and completely redo the interior. The overall theme is "The Caribbean". For the stance, I want to lower it just enough to be noticeable, but without sacrificing the surprisingly comfortable ride too much, so maybe a 2" front and 3" rear drop. I will probably get bigger wheels, but not 'too big' as, again, I do not want to sacrifice too much of the ride. 18" or 19" probably. I do not plan to do too much to the body. In the 90's, I would have shaved everything I could, but aside from fixing the dings and scratches and debadging it, I will probably just swap the front bumper cover and maybe the rear one, if I can find ones I like. For the paint, I am currently planning on GM's Aqua Blue Metallic, though I want to find some way to change it just enough that it doesn't get taken for a factory paint job, at least by people who pay attention to that sort of thing. The interior is where all the real changes will happen. It is currently gray, but I want to change it to a tan and aqua scheme. I am planning out an SQ-oriented audio system that will be as low-profile as possible with the sub-box nestled into the footwell area of the third row seat. I would also love to find a way to separate the second row into two seats instead of the 60/40 split, but I have yet to figure a way of doing to so without some major fabrication work. The one major downside of the interior is that seems to be the very basic with no frills at all. I will be attempting to add in some of luxury options like heated seats (one of the easier upgrades from what I have read), but there are other features like a steering wheel with controls that I am not sure how involved the upgrade would be. I do not plan on doing much, if anything to the engine and drivetrain, if I do do anything, it will be with the goal of improving mileage rather than power. Anything that can save me a few gallons on the 90 minute trip to the beach is worth consideration.
All that said though, it has been a long time since I have actually done this sort of thing and there's just a lot of stuff that I am very much not up-to-date on, especially in regards to the TB. So I will probably be dropping in from time to time to ask a few questions regarding various technicalities of the TB, at least when internet searches fail to provide the information I am looking for (like a post I did today asking about swapping in SS parts). I like to do the jobs I can handle, such as wiring, part swapping and system design, and leave other jobs like painting and upholstery to the professionals, but even on those jobs I like to at least have a knowledge about what to expect and/or ask for when dealing with the pros, especially since I will have to do some searching around in my area to find out which shops I want to work with.
So, sorry about the long intro, but,
tl;dr
Newb here. Hi.
