My 97 Tahoe build
 

Hello. This is my official thread of my 97 Tahoe build.

I have spent the last few years working on my 61, now its time to focus on my other ride.

Here is a pic of it today..

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...e/IMG_0913.jpg

I have had this since 2006 and its mostly been a daily driver..

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

One of my recent project was to replace the fuel injection spider.. With the help of a 40 minute youtube video, I jumped right in..

Here is a before shot.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps959d733c.jpg

After.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps1d6a3cdd.jpg

What a difference in power going to a true multi-port injection over the central port fuel injection.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

The next thing I did was replacing the lights the lit up the AC control panel and guage cluster.

Before.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psa6287e07.jpg

After. I also replaced the push button switch led's with blue ones.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psea6c45c4.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psgu809xc4.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps5826da59.jpg

Superbrightleds.com is where I got the bulbs.. What a nice upgrade that was.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Next on the list is a 3/2" drop.. Im planning on buying some 3" drop springs for the front and 2" drop shackles for the rear..

Stay tuned!!

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Look what the man in the brown truck brought me today..

New springs!!
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf30bd893.jpg

Some before shots..
Front
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps446a80e2.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psa38b5646.jpg

Rear
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps6d14bc3b.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps00d282eb.jpg

I hope to start on this Saturday..

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

The new springs are actually for a 2" drop.. I may just go 1" in the rear. The shackles I have coming can to 1" or 2" drop.. I will drop the front first and then go from there.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Here are the shackles that came in yesterday.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps153cccd6.jpg

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Today I started the front spring replacement.

Here are some shots during.

Spring out.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps70c76c61.jpg

Old and new.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psa0712595.jpg

Spring in.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps118fbd41.jpg

After.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps05e31cc3.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psb90fa07d.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps024ffd57.jpg

Stay tuned. The rear is next.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

These springs gave me a perfect 2" drop.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Well, the rear didn't take too long..

Before
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps072b8720.jpg

Old and New
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps099bb988.jpg

After
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps88b75abf.jpg

After rear measurement
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps60bc529c.jpg

After front and rear are complete.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps2df23aa0.jpg

Im real happy how this turned out.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

looks pretty nice down low

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Looks great with that stance.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Thanks guys

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

I pulled the running boards off today.. I was not sure if I would like it, but I think I do.. After the 2/2 drop, having the boards there did make it look lower.. I think I like the cleaner look with out them.

Before.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps8a2ce889.jpg

After.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps563e6f39.jpg

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psbae3fe6b.jpg

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Today was replacing sway bar bushings and end link bushings.

Before
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps3bd0edcb.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps84e60bdb.jpg

New parts from Prothane
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psc869ec6a.jpg

One thing you may notice, the sleeve and bolts were much longer than the original.. Problem was, these were for a 4X4 Tahoe.. I ended up reusing the old bolts with the new bushings, but that didn't look right either.. I cut down the sleeves down to 1 1/8" and used bolts to match.. That took it to the right level after dropping the front 2"

After
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps3a5ff86c.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps9e0ae88b.jpg

Next shocks and all steering parts.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Just a fun picture I took today.. Its not as low as it looks.. The ground is a little lower there where I parked it today.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps9f0cebb0.jpg

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

I have similar plans for mine.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Looks good! how tall are your tires? Was thinking about running a similar drop on mine for awhile. I can't tell from the picture with the tape measure they look to be around 28 inches?

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Thank you!!

My current tires are 255/70/15 (29.1"), but I was planning on changing them to a 255/70/15 (28"). Was going for a low fat look.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Awesome thank you! Keep it up!

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

I went to my local tire shop for an alignment and the guy there said my upper ball joint were too worn to align the front end.. I replaced the pitman arm because that was worn.. The ball joints looks ok to me, but they are the experts..

So, I bought new ball joints from ebay this week and they should be here tomorrow.. I hope to get them on over the weekend.. I have to find a press for the lowers..

Stay tuned....

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

...and here we are doing ball joints this weekend.

I have the upper ones done so far and here are a few pics of that.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psab992782.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps5808787f.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps713433b6.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps06b8a49a.jpg

Now I need to track down a lower ball joint press.. I hope to get those done today.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Lower ball joint going in..
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psjsu5e9js.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psjycisp0b.jpg

Alignment shop next!

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

I like it!

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Thanks :metal:

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Nice tahoe man. I love the C/K suvs and trucks. Wanna get a tahoe once my burban is done.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Thank you!

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Looks Good. I just dropped Mine and did a full front end rebuild, makes a huge difference.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Looks good! I'm not usually a fan of lowered vehicles, but these Tahoes look fantastic down low. Are you planning on going lower in the future?

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Im going to stay at this height.. I would like to drop the rear another inch if possible, just to level it out a little.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Here's mine sitting at about 3.5"ish in the front and 4" out back. Im on 2" djm spindles with a 2500 big block coil with 1 coil cut off and 2" shackles and Hangers out back.

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n...ps64b68e4d.jpg

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Thats a clean tahoe dropped

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Thanks Man.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

I agree!! Very nice!

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Today was tire install day! Its been a long time coming!!

The old tires were 255/70/15.
The new ones are 275/60/15.

I wanted something shorter and wider. I think I got what I was looking for.
They are Cooper Cobra Radial GT's.

Here are some pics after.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psckxaewas.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psl5xzvb57.jpg
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...pspq03xbyh.jpg

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Looks good. I went with the same tire on mine, except staggered (235/70 front & 275/60 rear).

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Today's project was to start on the cat back replacement.

In this picture I have a Flowmaster cat back I installed about 5 years ago. It sounds good, but I wanted something louder.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psrfs4jfot.jpg

I think I found the answer with this setup.

This is a Walker pipe from the cat flange back about 24" to two 12" Cherry Bomb glasspack mufflers with turn-down tips.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...pswzjwt9pb.jpg

This should dump just before the rear end. I got it all welded up today and planning on installing it tomorrow.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Swapped out the exhaust system from the cat back.

Before
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psusmie9kd.jpg

After
The hanger mount that came with the Walker pipe was not in the right place. I needed to cut it off and move it a few inches.
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...psclo5f6ea.jpg

Its a little louder than I expected, but I still like it.

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

Today was a shock upgrade. I replaced the stock shocks with shorter shocks. These are Monroe Matics for a Dodge Dakota. The length was perfect thanks to a recommendation from a fellow forum member.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps1kcuaell.jpg

Re: My 97 Tahoe build
 

cool build

following...

just out of curiosity, do you guys do anything to cut weight from these?