Austen's Big Black Beast: Expedition Style Build-Up

[Austen]

The Big Black Beast

Welcome to my build thread and thank you for taking the interest to check it out!

Why This Truck?
I am in middle twenties and owning a diesel truck has been a life-long dream of mine so owning this truck is truly a thrill. When life's circumstances began to allow for this dream to become a reality, I spent a year researching the type of truck that would be best for me. I knew, foremost, that it had to be a manual as I am an auto enthusiast through-and-through and appreciate having the most involved and intimate driving experience as possible. It was a tough decision between a 6.4 and a Cummins, but the 7.3 was the clear fit for me due to stone cold reliability and I appreciated the overall HD build quality of the SD truck itself. After owning this truck, those reasons have become even more evident that I made the right choice for me personally.

I was looking for a CCSB configuration specifically, a hard to find outfit to in any manufacture. I had passed on many as they either were too far molested or honestly, just did not speak to me. When this came along, it was obvious that I had found the right one. I had not seen a 7.3 like this before that got my heart jumping. I saw it has an excellent platform for a build and the specs met everything that I was looking for.

Vision For This Build:
My goals for this truck are to keep it versatile, heavy duty and reliable foremost. You could say the vision is pointed more on the expedition side of things simply because the universal style is what fits my lifestyle. I want to be able to haul a gooseneck and at the end of the day install an RTT in the back, engage lockers and take it out in the wilderness to go camping. It is not going to be built for lap times going down the drag strip. I do have some performance oriented things in mind but frankly, those actually are lower on the list as I first want to build up the truck itself first.

Eventually I plan to have the truck repainted. The original paint, while presentable, is far from perfect. There is a good sized scratch that goes through the 4x4 decal on the right side of the truck and has its share of smaller knicks and imperfections throughout. Until then, I'm going to preserve the original paint, use this as a truck as it was intended and enjoy not worrying about putting a scratch or two in it of my own when that happens.

Rate Of Goal Achievements:
This is very much an on-going project and will most definitely not take place all at once. Most of what I have planned is in terms of "priority." Currently top on the list is the replacement of the rear bumper which will be one of the first updates that you will see later on.

Until then, let's get down to a few specs:

The truck:
08/98 Build Date
7.3
ZF6
Crew cab short bed
4wd w/ manual transfer case
3.73 gears

Current mods: (What we're working with)
6" suspension lift
37" Toyo M/T's
17" XD Addict rims
Air shocks
ARB offroad bumper
Custom built cab guard
Rhino lined rockers & fender flares
Bushwacker Extend-a-Flare Fender flares
HID headlights
PIAA fog lights
Recon cab & tail lights
In dash DVD player
4" MBRP turbo back straight pipe
Custom "hidden" turn down of the exhaust
K&N Intake
Alpine DVD/stereo unit
______________________________________

Future Mods: "The good stuff"

Exterior Plans:
-Roadarmor Stealth rear bumper
-Winch
-Offroad Unlimited roof rack for spare tire, jack + additional fog lights
-Frame Sliders
-RTT tent
-Beadlock rims
-Bedliner replacement
-B&W gooseneck hide-a-ball
-2005 Front end conversion
-Repaint exterior

Engine:
TS Chip with Tony Wildman tunes
-S366 or H2E turbo system
-3" Intake plenums
-Head studs
-Bellowed up pipes
-Injectors
-Terminator T500 HPOP
-Fass lift pump
-6637 air filter
-Upgrade clutch if needed

Interior:
-4 Pillar gauge pod
-TS pillar mount selector switch
-CB radio
-Corbeau leather racing seats
-Replace rear bench cloth seat with leather seat
-Remove carpet and spray bedliner for flooring

Misc:
-On board air system
-Finish remainder of air shock installation
-Front and rear diff lockers

Some people complain about the 7.3 being loud, underpowered and offering a subpar ride due to the front leaf springs. Me? This truck couldn't be built any more to suit me. Stone cold reliability, durability heavy duty are what speak to me while looking good at the same time. It lets me know that I'm driving a truck and wouldn't want anything less than that.