UofAZCats

Also added another Christmas present - a black chrome Chevy Bowtie exhaust tip. Not much too it but I love the look. Plus I am sure it added about 1,000 hp...

I while back I found the thread that showed how to upgrade puddle lights on the DL3 mirrors to the Chevy Bowtie. I always thought something like that was a cool idea. Sold on getting this done I got on Facebook Market and found a pair of the DL3 mirrors for $150. The seller ended up dropping the price to $100 since I had to drive 2 hours to meet him. The mirrors were in great shape. I used the conversion harness from Dr. Harness. The directions were great and swap went very well. I was able to get the mirror caps swapped out from the typical chrome to the glossy black that coems on the Rally without breaking any of the tabs. Wiring the harness was something Iwas worried about because I didn't want to screw it up but after double and triple checking before I put them in the end result worked out perfect. This Christmas my wife was good enough to get the bowtie puddle lights. Tonight I put them in and, while they are oriented perfectly yet, they look great. I was concerned about the brightness but they look great. Tomorrow I will be able to test them in the daylight.

Changed out the puddle lights to the bowtie. Not quite properly oriented but still look damn good even in lit areas. Will have to wait until tomorrow to see how it looks in sunlight.

PM sent.

Got it done. It does have a small group of scuffs on the top center. Not really noticeable to anyone but me. Anyone try polishing a gloss black grill to get rid of scratches?

Picked up a black LTZ grille today and plan to install tomorrow. Been looking for one of these at a reasonable price and finally found this never used one for under $200. I already had black but the honeycomb is such a pain in the a-s to clean/dry and the LTZ grilles look cooler imo.

I have the Victory Red grill off my 2015 Red Rally edition but it would obviously need to be painted to match.

Just checking on this mod. I have an LT and just recently upgraded my DL8 mirrors to the DL3 with the DIY kit. I have heated seats but not the adjustable pedal. I want the heated/cooled seats and have found some for sale. While I would make the time to do the conversion, I don't have the time or the wherewithal to figure it out myself. In looking at your Dr. Harness website I don't see any mention of this project other than the seat memory bypass harness. Do you have the directions and a DIY wiring kit for for this project?

Did the DL8 to DL3 swap. Got the passenger side done yesterday and the driver side tonight. Used pgamboa's DIY kit and everything worked great. Not to bad for $100 used mirrors, $65 for the DIY kit, $70 for the mirror control switch and about 5 hours of my time. All because I wanted to get the puddle light with the Chevy logo, which I have yet to buy for about another $100. Oh well, its only money.

Well I was wrong. I got the second RAS installed last night and tightened them both down. I had a vibration in the lower speeds that either got a little worse as the day went on or my patience for it got worse. When I got home from dinner tonight I took them off. I have thought about it and the top plate which was mounted on the bottom was pushed forward it because that plate only has one hole in the middle of the plate. The plate on the bottom though is supposed to be offset from the leaf spring bolt and not centered. If I can get a hole drilled in the plate in the right location I should be able to fix the vibration problem. Another option I am considering is using the original stock block that came between the axle and the leaf springs. The block has a hole on one side of the block that could fit on the bottom of the leaf spring and has its own nub on the opposite side of the block. As I noted in my original the bottom plate in its correct location did not leave room for the RAS arm to get under the leaf spring. With the block on the bottom of the leaf spring the correct bottom plate could be installed on the bottom of that which would allow enough space to install the RAS arm as it is supposed to. The reason I didn't try that is because that block has ridges in the side with the nub that would keep the plate from sitting flat. To use the block would require getting those ridges cut off. Either option likely needs a machine shop because I don't have the tools. The other issue is that with the RAS tightened down it lifted the rear end 1 inch which I am not cool with at all. Before the install I have a leaf spring connected to the 2" drop shackle at the second hole (the one closest to the reverse hanger which is the 1.5" setting) of the two holes. There are no other holes that could be used to offset the extra inch with those shackles. I have my stock shackles but those would really drop the rear and have it lower than the front. Based on comparison of the drop shackle to the stock shackle there is like a 3" difference in length between hole locations so I am not sure how the drop shackles are only considered 2" drop shackles with a 3" difference. Not sure if the sell a 1" drop shackle or not. Anyone with ideas to help with this issue is appreciated. To me this may be the tougher issue to address.

I have noticed a slight reduction in sway while cornering and do feel like it was gripping better on starts. I have towed or hauled anything which is one of the primary areas you are supposed to see a benefit. That said I am probably going to take them off though. I have my truck lowered and I had to figure out a way to mount since the standard mounting method wouldn't work. Doing what I did has introduced a vibration at lower speeds that cancels out any benefit. That plus the extra inch it added in height to my rear which re-introduced a rake I don't want mean I will be taking them off. I think I can make them work in the future without the vibration by making some modifications to my flip kit for the vibration problem and finding a shorter drop shackle to help with the height issue. I need to find a machine shop for the flip kit issue. I think if I can just have an additional hole drilled on one part I can fix the vibration issue. Finding a shorter drop shackle actually looks like the tougher issue to address at this point.

Got the other half of the RAS installed and everything cranked down tight. The back end sits almost an inch higher than before the install and so instead of being level it now has a rake to it.

Thanks I like them though I wish it extended all the way to the weather stripping. Not sure if you have an accent color but they have other colors on Amazon.

I haven't noticed any vibration. I hadn't thought about your question but in thinking about it with the way the plates were situated with the top plate on the bottom centered on the leaf spring bolt it sits a little forward of the bottom plate on top so the u-bolts are angled from bottom front to top rear which pushes the bottom plate on top forward which would tilt the axle forward a small amount.

I had driven around with the bottom plate on top and no plate on the bottom for over a year with the only concern being that the rear wheels looked like they were moving back in the wheel well. Part of that I attribute to the lack of a plate on the bottom that would hold the u-bolts in place. With this set up the top plate (which is on the bottom) is held in place by the leaf spring bolt and this holds the u-bolts in place. The purpose of the plates and the u-bolts is to hold the axle and leaf spring together in the right spot. With the bolt on the bottom and another in the top holding the plates in the right spot it shouldn't matter which plate is where. Belltech shouldn't answer the question because of liability concerns, so no I didn't bother to ask them.