$2900 BEATER TO BEAST! Lifted Tahoe evolution & timeline

hey guys I'm John caveman and the Tahoe has come a really long way since I first got of the year and a half ago it's barely recognizable so I just thought I'd do a video like walking through everything I've done to it from when I first got it to now just to kind of document how far it's come so check it out [Music] so I bought the Tahoe in December of 2017 from a used-car lot in New Jersey have hundred ninety five thousand miles on it I paid twenty nine hundred bucks for it it wasn't in great shape but I knew I was about to start replacing a bunch of parts on it anyway so I just snatched it up and started modding it right away so here's the Tahoe when I first bought it these low res photos were actually taken at the car lot by the dealer within a couple weeks of buying it I had it at the Custom Shop in Astoria Queens and we got started we replaced the brakes replaced a lot of suspension components installed a four and a half inch BDS lift and added wheels and tires then a few weeks later in February I swapped out the headlight housings with some Depot projector headlights I installed DDM tuning hid low beams ox beam f16 LED high beams and this plastic grille that I got on eBay which I ended up replacing again a few months later this is a mod I haven't talked a lot about in my other videos but I replaced the covers for my appliques in the rear they're also known as vent covers or D pillar covers but it's just this cover in the back that replaces the slotted om version I installed some integrated tow mirrors I got from Top Gear Autosport comm that's also where I got these aftermarket brake lights which are actually failing now after about a year and a half so not too happy about these and my amp research retractable power steps man I still love these things one of my favourite mods definitely killer [Music] Emer head flush-mount rear bumper with rigid radiance pods mounted the red accent lights come on when I hit the brakes pod LEDs come on when I put it a reverse or I can just turn them on with a switch I've got on the dash steel cowl hood made by Auto metal direct ordered from car ID comm of course it came just primered not painted so I went for a while with a gray hood and of course the Iron Cross steel bumper with push bar and rigid radiance pods in the fog light locations with green accent lights but in March I upgraded the audio system here's the original with the 1.5 din CD player head unit and the cassette player down on the console so here's my double din Kenwood DNX down on 4's navigation receiver just installed not via rockford fosgate speakers in the doors components upfront coaxials in the back in the cargo area we took out the stock subwoofer box a custom built one for my Rockford Fosgate p3 sd480 inch shallow mount subwoofer it's totally inconspicuous and married up with the 600 watt Rockford amp it sounds killer I'm so happy with this setup [Music] I went ahead and installed both a front camera and a rear camera you can see the front camera right here the rear camera is a Kenwood CMOS 320 and what does a menu camera so yeah now we're looking from the front camera and I could just tap it right here and switch to the rear camera as you can see the front seats were in really bad shape when I first got the truck especially the driver seat so I ordered new leather and new seat foam for both front seats reupholstered the front seats got these om seat covers from the C shop 2000 watt inverter which I used like two times and now is not working so not too happy about that and of course my Rockford Fosgate prime 600 watt amp I freaking love this thing's only downside is it's mounted underneath the bench seat in the second row and I think I really would like to get the bucket seats so if I do that I'm gonna have to move this somewhere so like I mentioned earlier I started out with this grille that I got from eBay which was ok it was the look I was going for but I really wasn't super happy with it mainly because all of the fasteners really didn't line up correctly so the whole thing was held on by like one bolt so it was just like super wobbly and it would like move around in the wind and I don't know maybe I could have spent more time trying to install it correctly but I just really didn't like it and you know it's the front of the truck so I just I wanted to do something better so I ended up with this royalty core grille which i think is a lot more in line with the design vision I had for the truck it was way more expensive but I think it was worth it and in the end I'm really glad that I went with the upgrade one problem we did have you can see there are a lot of gaps around the headlights in the hood and stuff like that but though it just needed to be adjusted we fixed all of that later at the body shop so then in the summer I took about six months off of the Tahoe I was out in California came back in my October I decided that the Tahoe needed to be taller so we installed a six inch lift we went from four and a half also BDS six inch lifts and switched out the 33 inched and they don't crap load tires with some 35 s and one thing I have to say is that before I definitely had a unique look with the lift and the tire size combination but now it's just imposing like it when you see it in person it just looks a lot meaner and a lot tougher and then you know later I wanted and painted it and also added the flares I think that all of those things tie together a lot better with this 6-inch lift than the four and a half in November I D badged the whole Tahoe so you know you've got the side molding pieces on both sides and you've got logos on the sides and back I just removed all of that to some fishing line got it up behind the pieces of trim and the logos and peeled them off and then used an eraser wheel to remove any of the glue residue and all that so it was actually a really fun mod to do and it's a mod that anyone can do at home so definitely recommend that one I really think the truck looks a lot better a lot cleaner when it was done [Music] so then in December 2018 I drove the Tahoe down to a body shop in Tennessee dropped it off picked it up in January and there was a lot of stuff that's all needed like there was a there were gaps in between the hood and the fender and the grill and just a lot of rusty spots a lot of spots with a clear coat was coming off just a lot of issues and we just we fixed all of that we just completely removed the rear wiper from the back hatch filled in the hole that was there cut out these rusty spots and welded in some new metal fixed all the scratches and dents and just anything that was wrong with the body we removed the stock roof rack and filled in the holes we painted the whole truck of glossy black with a Fleck in the clear coat but then we installed the 72 inch Fab Four's roof rack on top where the old one used to be this roof rack has holes in the front and the sides for some lights and I already have some rigid radiance pods to install in the front I just haven't had time so be on the lookout for a video covering that and also we custom fabricated these pocket Style cutout fender flares by Bushwhacker these flares were made for a Chevy Silverado but we've fabricated them to fit the Tahoe that's why if you're wondering where these flares came from you you think you can never find players like this for it so you can't you have to find them for our Silverado and I've got a separate video for that just look at my channel and you'll find a video explaining that and going into detail but overall just really excited and happy about how everything turned out at the body shop it really took the Tahoe to the next level and kind of got it to where it is today so super stoked so didn't do much to the Tahoe over the next couple of months until recently just a couple of weeks ago actually my wife was in India so I was at home I was a bachelor I had a free weekend so I spent all weekend installing a new cover lay - cover to make the front - 2 tone I also installed a custom rocker switch panel in the console where the cassette player used to be and I permanently mounted a trickle charger battery maintainer with an outlet in the rear bumper so I can charge the Tahoe when I'm out of town and of course I made videos for about every one of those mods so check out my channel if you want more detail on any one of those things I've done but that pretty much catches us up that's where we are today so like I said the Tahoe has come a long way in the last year and a half and I'm super stoked of where it is now but I also have a lot of a lot of plans for the future including a lot of performance mods I'm thinking engine swap dual exhaust just the whole thing so lots of stuff coming up hit the subscribe button if you haven't already make sure you turn on notifications so you know when I post a video and thank you so much for watching and really appreciate it see you soon [Music]

Channel: Jon Caveman

Views: 1,252,675

Rating: 4.9177442 out of 5

Keywords: Chevy, Tahoe, 2002, lifted, truck, SUV, 4x4, offroad, GMT800, custom, evolution, timeline, modifications, upgrades, mods

Id: Y15V-Kuuz4g

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 04 2019