Brightwood

I spent the last month driving back and forth on a 6 hour run between my new and old houses. Put a lot of miles on 'er and got to actually use 'er as a truck hauling everything that would fit across 3 states. Held up like a dream the whole time. Now that I'm settled in, I did my first oil change since buying the truck and gave it the full Amsoil treatment: fresh oil, fresh filter, engine flush, and fuel treatment. Installed a Fumoto valve too while I had everything open. Full details in my build thread. The biggest reward though, is I now live in a state that doesn't require front license plates. Freedom! I really love how much removing the bracket changed the look of the truck, even if it was a pain to remove. Full details in my build thread.

After moving to a state that doesn't require front license plates, you know damn well I was taking advantage. I've always thought that my plates were ugly - there's no way I'm displaying them any more than I'm 100% required to. I was hoping it'd be just a couple of screws, but no such luck. This thing was held in by three rivets. Luckily, they were made of tin or some other equally weak material and I was able to drill and pluck them out pretty easily with just a regular cordless drill and a pair of needlenose pliers. I need to get my hands on some filler for the holes, but man, removing that plate does wonders for the lines on the front of this baby.

I've always been one of those guys who comes out of oil changes with my hands looking like Swamp Thing. When I came across the idea of the Fumoto valve in one of the mod threads here I couldn't believe I'd never thought to look into something like this before and that I'd never heard of it. After checking way too many times that I was getting he right one, I ordered the F107SX Fumoto Valve. Installation could not have been easier. Literally just put the plug in where the old oil plug went, orient the valve where you want it, call it a day. The clip to retain the valve lever is a little fiddly, but I got it. Really looking forward to my next oil change to see how well it performs. Now just need to figure out how to stop getting swamp hands from changing the filter...

This next mod was a big deal. At 5'10, the truck is pretty much exactly the right height that I don't have to reach to get in or out of it, especially with the handles on the pillar. The shorter people who frequently have to get into my truck, they had some struggles. I wanted to make sure everyone who rode in my truck has a good experience, not just me. And now that they're in, I'm not hating the extra comfort myself. I must have looked through hundreds of step bars while looking for these. In that process, I learned two things: 1) I wanted something with rounded or no edges. I have too many shin-scraping childhood memories of my mom's Jimmy and its running boards. 2) Wheel-to-wheel step bars exist and holy ****** why would anyone get anything else. Being able to reach into the middle of the bed from the side? Yes. With those two criteria in mind, I was able to narrow it down pretty quickly to the chrome beauties that are the Westin ProTraxx 5 Wheel-to-wheel Bars I bought from RealTruck. The install took me the better part of 6 hours on and off. I think if I did it again, I could get that down to about 2. The instructions that come with these things are cryptic as hell and involve a lot of flipping back and forth. Without this video from Midwest Aftermarket, I think I would've been in real trouble. Something they gloss over though, is how much trouble one particular bracket on each side will give you. One bracket on each side is unique and it's here to ruin your day. Most of my 6 hours was spent loosening and tightening pieces here and there trying to coax the unique bracket into place. In the end though, everything fits very securely with no drilling, the height is perfect, and as a fan of classic cars, I'll rarely say no to a little more chrome on my ride.

I added the frame plugs because it seemed like a no brainer for the price and effort. I think I learned about them from the $50 and Under Mods thread, which has been a huge source of inspiration for me. One member mentioned they drilled out the center of each plug and glued on some screening to allow for moisture and air movement while avoiding dirt and debris. Been considering whether this is worth doing. I ordered the Red Hound Frame Plugs from Amazon. Install was obviously super easy. Just a few taps with a rubber mallet and they were in. They have large fins and go pretty deep into the hole, I really have no concerns at all about them falling out unexpectedly and I really do think they clean up the look of the truck.

First thing I did was to install the oem underseat storage for the rear seats. I did a lot of looking around at the options for aftermarket storage and I was either wary of the build quality, the fit, or most commonly, the attachment mechanism to the truck. The bolted on brackets and solid fit of the oem system appealed most to me. I ordered part number 23183674 from eBay. The only difficult part of the install I would say was actually getting the bolts tightened to a comfortable place. I don't have a torque wrench so I was just determined to power through the red loctite and get them as tight as I could. In the end, they still didn't seem to be in all the way, but I've had zero issues with rattling, moving around, anything like that. Pictured below with my first aid kit, a blanket, frisbee, and a few other essentials. Putting together carry kits has been an obsession of mine for a long time. I'll have to document what all I carry here at some point as well...

At the beginning of March of 2020 I bought my first full-size truck: a 2018 Silverado Crew Cab LT Texas Edition 5.3L, 5'8 bed with just under 10k miles on it. I grew up on pony cars, SUVs, and a handful of classics. When my 92 Firebird started knocking, I had to get something quick and cheap just to get me back and forth to work. What I didn't expect was for my "temporary" 06 Civic coupe to actually be around for 8 long years and 215k hard hard miles. I'm proud to say I ran that thing into the ground, but I also couldn't be more glad to be rid of it and into something I actually enjoy driving every day and enjoy looking at. Most of all, I'm glad I don't have to turn carrying anything larger than groceries into a full-blown adventure any more. The truck is enjoyable as it is, but as I look at it, all I can see are the ways it could be better. With the help of this community, I've got a long long list of ideas on how to do just that and I plan on documenting the journey here. This time when I run a vehicle until the wheels fall off, I want to actually enjoy the ride.

Been stealing a ton of ideas from you guys for changes I wanna make to my newly-acquired '18 here, so I thought I'd do my part to give back and keep the thread going. So far I've installed the cheap amazon frame plugs, oem under-seat storage, and Westin ProTraxx 5 Wheel-to-Wheel step bars. Chrome handles just came so I'll probably get those in this weekend if the weather cooperates. Edit: I made a build thread with more details: