Progress pics of 'Daisy' the '08 Envoy Denali

[-DouG-]

Here's our (Ok it's my girlfriends) '08 Envoy Denali. I call her 'Daisy.'

We were looking for something to replace my girlfriend, Jodi's Lincoln LS. We preferred something with a V8 ('cause we liked having the V8 in the Lincoln) but needed something that would be OK in the winter too (the LS was not). Jodi's been in love with GTOs but that wouldn't work… we were both in love with the Trailblazer SS but once again, that'd be a toy. We need a daily… then we found the Envoy, which fit nicely! …and it's my first LS powered vehicle too.

Here's the Envoy at the dealership before I named her:


I can't leave anything alone, so this will show progress as I modify Daisy. It'll be mostly cosmetic stuff to start. Nothing super exciting… Cool thing is Jodi is all for customizing! She even asked for "stuff to start customizing the Envoy" for Christmas!

I'm a graphic Designer and Artist on top of being a car guy so I tend to sweat details...
This is my Parts Chaser which started out as a $300 beater that got carried away… it's still got the 4 cylinder in it but I hope to do an LS swap one day.
Build thread here: http://www.s10forum.com/forum/f135/progress-pics-of-my-beater-parts-chaser-91-s-10-a-514457/

Before:


After (actually it's DURING because i'm always tinkering with it):


The Envoy will most likely not be lowered because we've got two lowered trucks in the driveway already… Jodi said "if anything, i'd like to lift it a little" - a little lift for looks is ok with me but it'll never be 'wheeled because my Daily driver is a Jeep TJ that I crawl with so we have off road covered already!

The Jeep (old pic from Paragon years ago):

 

[-DouG-]

Jodi was out in the driveway taking of the Dealer sticker, dealer plate frame and Dealer hitch plug as soon as we got home...

It took 9 days before I did anything to Daisy… we were away the first 4 days we owned her so I still count it as the first week!

The first thing I did was cut the resonator off and replace it with a straight pipe and a stainless tip from the local auto parts store… I would have liked an oval tip to match the cutout in the Denali bumper skin, but couldn't find what I wanted and settled for this goofy round: (i knew it was temporary anyway)

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Bet this is going to get interesting!

 

[AWD V8]

Welcome to the forum

Daisy's a bute'

Judging by your build thread on the S10, Daisy's in for a make over!

I'm also on the S10 forum. I joined here when I bought my Envoy.

 

[-DouG-]

Welcome to the forum

Daisy's a bute'

Judging by your build thread on the S10, Daisy's in for a make over!

I'm also on the S10 forum. I joined here when I bought my Envoy.

Thanks!
It'll be a slow makeover… I have a lot to learn about the LS engine family tho and I'm sure it'll start with this… I wanna research more on the oils consumption and maybe getting rid of the DOD.

I saw your thread on the Envoy over there because of the 'what did santa bring you' thread… I'm also subscribed to your AWD Conversion build over there!

 

[-DouG-]

I mentioned earlier that Jodi asked for "stuff to start customizing the Envoy" for Christmas… I'm a car guy! This is F'in great! it's like shopping for myself for Christmas!

One of the things we disliked about the Denali is the ugly stock grill!



First thing I got her for Christmas was a billet grill.
I did some searching and ended up buying a black powder coated billet grill overlay from ebay (really good price) knowing it most likely wasn't going to 'overlay' onto the Denali grill… which is a stupid idea as far as i'm concerned anyway.



December 26th

Here's the stock grill cut out - I was still grinding at this point:


Here's the grill all put together. I made brackets out of 1/2 inch steel strap that are riveted to the grill shell. The grill bolts to the brackets. This really stiffened the whole thing up. it was really flimsy with the whole grill cut out.



Here's the finished product… for now! I'll be getting rid of all the chrome eventually.

I may buy the matching lower grill too… they on;y sell it for the regular Envoy but i want them to match so I'll probably buy it and cut it down to fit the Denali bumper.

 

[AWD V8]

Lookin' goodt

Keep that GMC emblem, its worth a lot of $$$

I was originally going to just replace the missing emblem on my Envoy, but found it would cost me upwards of $75 on eBay, or nearly $200 new!

So I bought an overlay grill off eBay for way less. You could sell the emblem and pay for your grill and have money left.

 

[-DouG-]

Lookin' goodt

Keep that GMC emblem, its worth a lot of $$$

I was originally going to just replace the missing emblem on my Envoy, but found it would cost me upwards of $75 on eBay, or nearly $200 new!

So I bought an overlay grill off eBay for way less. You could sell the emblem and pay for your grill and have money left.

Oh yeah! I remember you telling me this on S10Forum! The emblem is wall art in the basement cave right now… it's in good company with a '50s GMC Hubcap and the grill assembly from my first S-15!

 

[-DouG-]

The other Christmas gift was a pair of oval exhaust tips and a 1 in 2 out Spintech 5000 series muffler! She was more excited about this than the jewelry I got her… so was I! -problem with gifts like this is it means i gotta spend time (that part is OK) and MONEY (never quite have enough of that) to install the gift!!!



I started by cutting the stock opening a little higher into the bumper… then matching it on the drivers side. My goal is to make them look like they belong there.

Tips mocked up - cutting on a vehicle is a nice way to start out the new year!



all welded up: (this pic is after we fixed the crooked tip seen in the video -it was clocked to the right a little -oops)


videos… they really don't do it justice:

http://vid1305.photobucket.com/albums/s552/DouG-/The%20Envoy/B4A3315D-1F3F-476A-A783-5C41E5EE3716-13378-0000121873028FCB_zps3512c924.mp4


http://vid1305.photobucket.com/albums/s552/DouG-/The%20Envoy/80F9D94F-9443-4E2E-8EE2-7691C17DA5A7-13378-0000121C7CDBE838_zps84458539.mp4

 

[-DouG-]

How do you get videos to show up in the thread on this site?

 

[CaptainKD]

How do you get videos to show up in the thread on this site?

Upload the video to YouTube then copy and paste the YouTube link here. GMTN will take care of the rest.

 

[AWD V8]

Sounds nice

Let me know about droning. I like the deep purr but hate a drone.

Elaborate on the exhaust mods please.

Single exhaust to the muffler, then you split the tailpipe off to the other side? Around the spare? I didn't see much room between the spare and the diff to pass a pipe through.

Got pics?

 

[-DouG-]

Sounds nice

Let me know about droning. I like the deep purr but hate a drone.

Elaborate on the exhaust mods please.

Single exhaust to the muffler, then you split the tailpipe off to the other side? Around the spare? I didn't see much room between the spare and the diff to pass a pipe through.

Got pics?

The drone isn't too bad… but that's why i went with the 5000 series over the louder 6000… i figure resonators could be added if the drone was bad… we're happy with how it turned out.

Yes! - you basically nailed it. It was tight - i just had to move the dif vent to a different spot.

This is all i have:



We copied the stock pipe's bends for the right side. For the left side, we copied the right side bends to the top of the dif then shot it over at and angle… we used this pic found by searching "trailblazer ss dual exhaust" on google as a guide on how to get it to fit:

http://s125.photobucket.com/user/tblazed/media/b9nojon.jpg.html

Hope that helps!

 

[AWD V8]

Looks good.

My '03 doesn't have a resonator, just the Y-pipe into the cat, then a single pipe to the muffler and then the tailpipe.

Did you dissect the Y-pipe and run duals to the muffler at the bumper? Or are those 2 cats I see way under there?

 

[-DouG-]

Looks good.

My '03 doesn't have a resonator, just the Y-pipe into the cat, then a single pipe to the muffler and then the tailpipe.

Did you dissect the Y-pipe and run duals to the muffler at the bumper? Or are those 2 cats I see way under there?

Sorry for the confusion-
The pic of the white trailblazer is to show exhaust routing of the left side over the dif. i used it because they have the spare dropped making it easy to see pipe routing - i think that's a complete Borla Cat back system with resonators at the rear.

My exhaust consists of:
stock Y pipe and Cat to
the 1 in 2 out muffler in the same spot as the stock muffler-
then 2.5 inch out to each side.

Hope this helps

 

[AWD V8]

Got it

 

[dmanns67]

The other Christmas gift was a pair of oval exhaust tips and a 1 in 2 out Spintech 5000 series muffler! She was more excited about this than the jewelry I got her… so was I! -problem with gifts like this is it means i gotta spend time (that part is OK) and MONEY (never quite have enough of that) to install the gift!!!



I started by cutting the stock opening a little higher into the bumper… then matching it on the drivers side. My goal is to make them look like they belong there.

Tips mocked up - cutting on a vehicle is a nice way to start out the new year!



all welded up: (this pic is after we fixed the crooked tip seen in the video -it was clocked to the right a little -oops)


videos… they really don't do it justice:

http://vid1305.photobucket.com/albums/s552/DouG-/The%20Envoy/B4A3315D-1F3F-476A-A783-5C41E5EE3716-13378-0000121873028FCB_zps3512c924.mp4


http://vid1305.photobucket.com/albums/s552/DouG-/The%20Envoy/80F9D94F-9443-4E2E-8EE2-7691C17DA5A7-13378-0000121C7CDBE838_zps84458539.mp4

Your 5.3 sounds awesome. Nice touch with with custom grille. Looking good

 

[Envoy_04]

I'd seen your first video, but that was the first time I've ever seen the short driving clip. Man that thing sounds GOOD!!!! That slight burbling when you let off it is sweet, sweet music.

 

[northcreek]

Nice work on the exhaust, your truck is progressing quickly though Iam surprised that those side mouldings have
survived this long ..Mike.

 

[-DouG-]

Today's 20 minute project.

Before:





I used teflon tape on the threads of the set screws (6mm x 1) and rtv over the top of them... hope that does the trick until i can ditch the Rivnuts and weld the holes up!



After:

 

[-DouG-]

This evening's project was another little one:





I didn't bother washing it because snow was on it's way.

 

[-DouG-]

So since I'm trying to clean up Daisy's rear end this weekend, while we were out today, we hit a notary and got one of Pennsylvania's 'Preserve our Heritage' license plates to replace the ugly white plate (these plates stick out like a sore thumb) that was on it. This is the closest thing Pa has to a black plate... you can see in the pic that i have one on my truck too. Now we need a simple and tasteful black frame for it to cover more of it up! This pic also hints to what else i'm working on this weekend...

 

[-DouG-]

I had to do something about the ugly stock taillights! I like the shape of them because they're smooth and flow with the body but the big block of orange had to go!

I used DupliColor Metalcast Red to candy them, then VHT Nightshades to tint them and Eastwood's Diamond Clear on top... I used what I had here at home. I'm not a fan of mixing products so I tested them all out on an old 1st gen S-10 turn signal to make sure they'd work together first.



Scuffed with Red Scotchbrite


I masked the whole light, then masked the red.


3 coats of red on the orange:




3 coats of red over the whole light:


I let that cure then tinted them with 2.5 coats of VHT Nightshades... I let that cure then did 4 coats of clear. I got some orange peel but i'll let them cure for a while then wet sand and buff them to make them look like glass.


I stuck one on to snap this pic... i like the color but they're gonna drive me nuts until i get glassy smooth! I'll tint the 3rd brake light to match another time. It snowed this weekend so I didn't want a open hole in the truck while it was snowing!

 

[-DouG-]

I'm looking for pics where someone may have removed the black vinyl from the door frames, between the windows on a black Envoy… I'm thinking that the gloss black paint would be a closer match to the tinted windows (i still need to tint the front windows) than the semi gloss vinyl… yeah, boring - but all these little details add up to a cleaner looking truck IMHO

not really an update, but here's 2 pics of it a lot cleaner than it's been all winter:

 

[Envoy_04]

Here ya go, from the OS.

http://forums.trailvoy.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8257&thumb=1&d=1259451813

As a bonus, it's with Ascender tails!

 

[-DouG-]

Thanks! - Yeah i'll have to do that now! Ascender tails look pretty cool but I got rid of the big block of orange so I'm happy with the candied and tinted stockers

Side view to go with the previous two pics:

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Looking good. You are right about it being the little things that add up and make the difference in the end. Details details details!

 

[jfkmk]

You're doing a beautiful job on that Envoy! Truly a class act!

 

[-DouG-]

Daisy got a 5% sun strip and 20% on the front windows this weekend. Stooopid salt! It'll be gone soon!

 

[-DouG-]

She's also been asking me to get rid of the DENALI on the doors… I didn't think it'd make such a difference. Looks way better:




I told her i didn't have time to do the other side… we'll see how long it takes her to notice.

 

[Denali n DOO]

She's also been asking me to get rid of the DENALI on the doors… I didn't think it'd make such a difference. Looks way better:




I told her i didn't have time to do the other side… we'll see how long it takes her to notice.

That's hilarious, I hope she notices before she goes driving it around, nice one

 

[-DouG-]

She's didn't work today, but she is at a night class at a Community College right now… lol

I think she'll spot it on a smoke break at work one day this week… and i'll get a text...

 

[-DouG-]

So she noticed on day 5... We were leaving a restaurant after lunch (vietnamese -introduced her to Pho) and while walking up to the Envoy i said 'i gotta get that off of there' pointing at the side... she said 'get what off?' I said 'the Denali'. that's when she started laughing! She want's me to put the letters under the hood or something so they're still there, somewhere because it was so funny. Daisy's full name is now Daisy DeAnal! LOL

 

[-DouG-]

Spent a little time on Daisy yesterday doing simple time consuming stuff… De-badged "DE ANAL" from the passenger side. Did a quick hand buff on the taillights since i never buffed 'em after the candy, tint, and clear… they shined up quick but i'll probably wet sand them if i have paper and then buff them with the machine… I also pulled the black vinyl off of the pillars since the gloss black of the body matches the tinted window more than the semi gloss vinyl.

I plan to paint the Grill surround, Fog light bezels and Headlight inner chrome black all at the same time… hopefully soon. I had some black plasti-dip so i thought i'd try it on the stupid chrome piece on the lip of the hood… Jodi likes the flat so i may just do the chrome grill surround with it too.





Like i said… simple stuff.

 

[-DouG-]

Well, after 5 months of owning Daisy, we finally got to see her clean and all shined up!

We had a local Cars & Coffee cruise to go to Sunday morning so Jodi spent part of Saturday cleaning and detailing her while I cleaned up my truck.

These pics were from Sunday evening.





Daisy has a nice ass!


Ended up going with black exhaust tips too… eventually everything will be black!

 

[dmanns67]

I love the look of your Voy. Very clean and simple.

 

[-DouG-]

I love the look of your Voy. Very clean and simple.

Thanks! That's the plan… if it was up to me, that rear wiper and a few other things would be shaved!

A friend said he'd buy the wheels and tires off of it so we have that money to put toward a set of Trailblazer SS wheels! Then those will be either painted or powder coated black.

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Exhaust looks real good.

 

[northcreek]

All that shaving and the side mouldings have escape unscathed....how does this happen?....

 

[-DouG-]

All that shaving and the side mouldings have escape unscathed....how does this happen?....

They don't rely bother me… yet. But they'll probably come off when I have time to buff it after removing them!