Yeah, I bought another truck...
The short story is, I'm beginning the process of building a house and the 128i wasn't really going to cut it for what I needed. I couldn't justify buying a fourth vehicle so the 128i had to go. I ended up selling it for a bit more than I paid for it in 2020 and started shopping for GMT400s and GMT800s. I had pretty much given up finding what I wanted when this truck popped up. A 1999 Silverado 2500 with very little info in the ad. I went and looked at it and it needed some work, which I shouldn't be getting myself into on a daily, but I was pretty much sold based on it being a truly rust free truck in New England and, of course, the 5 speed. I almost talked myself out of it based on the work it needed. The owner hadn't got the push button NP263 working with the swap, the power steering and consequently the hydroboost wasn't working, and the mildly built 6.0 needed tuning. Then he named a price that would be worth it for a rust free shell around here and I just couldn't leave it. So here it is.
It's a little bro-trucked but, as much as I've made fun of them, I'm kind of liking it. I might even lean into it. I've swapped a GMT900 center console in, replaced the power steering pump, added aftermarket heated seat kits, and started trying to figure out HP Tuners. I've at least got it to no longer idle at 12 AFR. The engine supposedly is an LQ9 with Gen 4 pistons and rods, a BTR Torque Cam, 36lb injectors, TBSS intake, 90mm throttle body, and a trunnion kit. I can only confirm whats visible.
I wasn't really planning on doing a build thread for my daily but trying to find info for making the 2005 NP263 work in a 1999 NP246 truck made me realize I was kind of on my own. So, if anyone else is dumb enough to try this instead of just swapping in a manual transfer case, the next post will explain what I did to hopefully make that work.