Hey there,
I’ll post the long story and then the questions at the bottom so if you’d like to help me with the questions then they’ll be available all the way down.
Okay, so I just got my first diesel. It’s a 02’ 2500 Duramax with about 326,000km on it all stock other than some wheels and tires. I actually know nothing about it other than it’s a 2500 extended cab LB. My family friend has the ability to buy salvaged vehicles from the insurance company and he got that for super cheap. It had hit a deer and knocked the rad out and everything on the front passenger side. Other than the rad and battery mount the rest is cosmetic. I haven’t seen it in person yet but when he offered it to me for the price he did I couldn’t refuse. Now this guy knows a lot. He’s built a very successful business rebuilding diesels and I trust his word 100%. He’s gone through it and sent videos of it running (after straightening out the rad) and it appears to run strong with no blow by or anything noticeable to the eyes or ears. It was grandpa owned and it had a great service record.
I don’t have the need to repair the body nor do want to really. What I do have is a large supply of 67-72 GM truck body parts lying around (I have been collecting them for a long time with my grandfather) and I’m hoping to body swap it onto the 02’ frame and drivetrain. We’re already preparing to shorten the frame and do all that. We’ve done it before with a 02’ 8.1 so I doubt this will be too much different. We’ve done so many 67-72 projects and a 69’ K25 was actually my first truck so the body work I’m familiar with. The mechanical end of things I am not haha.
Now that you’re all caught up, it’s time to get to the point.
What I really want to know is how can I build this truck to be a good long lasting truck with enough power to tow my machinery around? It’ll rarely ever exceed 10,000 pounds as I have a small excavation company. But I do hope it will grow and that means bigger machinery.
That being said, I want to see if I can beef it up to get a higher GVW as well. So if anyone has ideas on how I can achieve that that’d be great.
The other thing is I have a 400-500hp 800-1000trq goal while still being reliable and a good DD/tow pig.
Tell me what you think! I’m excited to do this and I’ll be taking my time to make sure it’s done perfectly. Thanks in advance!
I’ll post the long story and then the questions at the bottom so if you’d like to help me with the questions then they’ll be available all the way down.
Okay, so I just got my first diesel. It’s a 02’ 2500 Duramax with about 326,000km on it all stock other than some wheels and tires. I actually know nothing about it other than it’s a 2500 extended cab LB. My family friend has the ability to buy salvaged vehicles from the insurance company and he got that for super cheap. It had hit a deer and knocked the rad out and everything on the front passenger side. Other than the rad and battery mount the rest is cosmetic. I haven’t seen it in person yet but when he offered it to me for the price he did I couldn’t refuse. Now this guy knows a lot. He’s built a very successful business rebuilding diesels and I trust his word 100%. He’s gone through it and sent videos of it running (after straightening out the rad) and it appears to run strong with no blow by or anything noticeable to the eyes or ears. It was grandpa owned and it had a great service record.
I don’t have the need to repair the body nor do want to really. What I do have is a large supply of 67-72 GM truck body parts lying around (I have been collecting them for a long time with my grandfather) and I’m hoping to body swap it onto the 02’ frame and drivetrain. We’re already preparing to shorten the frame and do all that. We’ve done it before with a 02’ 8.1 so I doubt this will be too much different. We’ve done so many 67-72 projects and a 69’ K25 was actually my first truck so the body work I’m familiar with. The mechanical end of things I am not haha.
Now that you’re all caught up, it’s time to get to the point.
What I really want to know is how can I build this truck to be a good long lasting truck with enough power to tow my machinery around? It’ll rarely ever exceed 10,000 pounds as I have a small excavation company. But I do hope it will grow and that means bigger machinery.
That being said, I want to see if I can beef it up to get a higher GVW as well. So if anyone has ideas on how I can achieve that that’d be great.
The other thing is I have a 400-500hp 800-1000trq goal while still being reliable and a good DD/tow pig.
Tell me what you think! I’m excited to do this and I’ll be taking my time to make sure it’s done perfectly. Thanks in advance!
