A quick update, I managed to get the hood fitted this weekend, so my truck doesn't look like Mater anymore, it needs a tweak to get the gaps and fit a little better but the colour match is very good.
I'm now going to get cracking on the rear suspension, I'm fitting 4" lowered springs and 1" lowering blocks with matching shocks, I've also got poly bushes, an adjustable panhard bar and a shock mount relocation kit, all from POL. if it fits as good as the other stuff I've had from them it should be fine.
However before I fit these new components I want to strengthen the trailing arms. So I've been doing a bit of "research" on this forum
Welding the trailing arms up seems a popular solution, the amount of weld seems to be proportionate to the horsepower of the truck. This was posted by Fldawg, I know many of you looking at this picture will have the same reaction I had ( no not the trailing arms they're great)...............what's Rian doing in Florida!!
Also fitting strengthening plates as the factory did (I think these are C20?) seems to be a good option too.
So my intention (unless anyone tells me different) is to weld the 2 halves of the trailing arm together with (approximately) a 1" weld every 6" plus fully weld the ends and then fit strengthening plates top and bottom as per GM. I am going to drill and plug weld the plates, rather than fillet weld the edges to get a spot weld /rivet effect, I'm hoping it will look more "factory". Here's my starting point, I'll post updates as I go.
