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Chevrolet Avalanche Accessories & Modifications
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The rear speakers fit right in place and I surface mounted the tweeters in the top front of each rear door panel
The front stock speakers use a large clip to hold speakers in place. I reused the bracket to hold the new ones in place. I then removed the stock tweeters from the plastic mounting bracket and drilled them out to hold the new tweeters.
I strongly suggest it for anyone who wants better sound. An ampilifier was not required for good sound and I do not want to many modifications on the inside anyway.
Upgrading to the Caddy head unit would be my first choice if it offers CD changer capability. Does anyone know? Has anyone determined if the Avalanche has a factory amp? Is it behind the glove box? If we could determine which wires were the low level outputs (from the head unit)going to the amp we could at least upgrade the amp and speakers.
It would be great if we could put our heads together and come up with a solution.
I have no idea what it does but you may want to look into it if you want to change the head unit.
I prefer to keep my factory head unit. Just my speaker change was enough for me. Guess I have bad ears.
Good luck and welcome!
I want this beast to really perform. To date I have:
1. K&N FIPK - not bad, kicked it a little - tight fit on the cowl.
2. Gibson single side cat back - nice sound - kicked it some more.
On order:
1. "The Other Guys headers" - 1/2" flange - should eliminate any problems.
2. Yank 2600HD torque converter - should kick some more at the low end.
Wish list:
1. Whipple 8.1L Supercharger - after the new year - hope to see one in two weeks on another guys lucky truck.
What else would you experienced guys reccommend?
Topic2:
I have Mickey Thompson 16x8's - can only handle Firestone 265/75's because of wheel wells - tight as is. Don't want to raise suspension - but willing to take body up max 3" - will this help fit 285/75 Interco TRXUS. Will a body lift screw up towing [gooseneck excluded] - change bumper mounts?
Thanks in advance for all thoughts, criticism, etc.
Questions:
What actuator did you use (who made it , where's you get it??)
How hard was it to gain access to the tailgate area??
What'd you do for power to it??
How long did it take to do the mod??
Thanks in advance
Tip
I've done similar things on other vehicles -- was just after a quickie answer as to the "degree of difficulty" since I'm at work -- I'll probably nose around the beastie this weekend and take a look at it.
Appreciate the response!!
Those two thing are exactly what I thought were missing from AV. I would really appreciate info on part list and install instruction. You can send to fastz_28@yahoo.com.
Thank,
Bruce
95 Z28
02 Z66
I order my parts for these "kinds" of things from wholesaler catalogs so the part numbers are going to be meaningless. The door lock actuator is a standard OEM type actuator that can be purchased from any car audio/security road shop. You want one that is polarity reversing. It will have two wires- supply voltage +,- and the actuator goes up, supply voltage -,+ and the actuator goes down. Very simply device. Installing it the tailgate was a bit of a challange and the only thing I can say really is take a look in there before you try to do this. Remove the cladding from around the handle with the two toRx screws and take a look. The key lock moves a bracket up and down to lock the handle mechanism. I was able to use dremel tool and carve away the fiberglass and drop the actuator in behind the outside layer of glass. I fastened it with one screw from the outside. Don't worry- the cladding covers all this up. I then drilled a small hole in the lock bracket to connect the actuator arm to the bracket (using a small nut and bolt). Now- when the actuator moves upward so does the lock bracket. Same thing for the down direction. This process takes some time and patience. Keep working with the alignment of the actuator to get it right.
The next thing I did was drill a 1/4" hole in the left side of the tailgate and fished a piece of twin lead zip cord (lamp type wire) from the edge of the tailgate to the center where the actuator is. This was a pain in the [non-permissible content removed]. It took forever due to the fact the tailgate is pop riveted together and contains multiple pieces of plastic and glass. Once you get this wire fished through, connect the wires to the actuator. Polarity does not matter at this point.
I went to Home Depot and bought about 20 feet of 16-3 water resistant wire run under the truck to power the actuator. I used the third wire to set up a pin switch on the tailgate to turn on the cargo lights. I ran this 16-3 wire from under the dash panel, out of the truck through a rubber goromet under the drivers side carpet (transmission shift cable) and back along the frame. I got the power from the drivers door harness located in the side dash panel electrical center. It is the grey and tan colored wires for the door lock. Check this to be sure with a volt meter or a test light. I got the cargo light wire off the back of the cargo light switch terminal number "e". The terminals on this harness are labeled a thru h I think. Test this as well. It is grounded when the cargo light switch is on, so if you provide ground to this wire at any time the cargo lights come on. I used a pin switch in back to provide ground to this wire when the tailgate is opened.
Good luck-
Any questions let me know...
This is great stuff guys keep up the posts like this!
Where did you get the pin switch and how did you mount it? Where did you take the wire from the tailgate back into the bed? Will the zip cord stand up to the flex of opening/closing the tailgate?
Here is a link for a power door lock I got from the pickuptruck.com forum:
http://www.truckautoaccessories.com/acb/Directory.cfm?&DID=9
Click on the "locks/unlocks" link on the right side of the page to see it. They also have kits to alter your headlights so that when your hi beams come on, the low beams and/or the fog lights stay on too. Pretty cheap.
Enjoy.
Check this link for details and photo's
http://www.gorancho.com/products/new_6547.stm
I like the idea but I would want the lights to come when I open any one of the three; tailgate, left or right side box, midgate.
I have noticed that I go in and out at night more now due to the holiday shopping and short daylight hours.
I am going to think about this some more. Maybe just a simple timer like the dome lights have would solve this I dunno. I gonna think some more.
BTW the AVY can hold several shopping carts worth of presents!!!! I LOVE IT FOR THAT!!
that's crazy!
Brad in SoCal
Crutchfield does not yet have the mastersheets on the AV. Have any of you guys replaced speakers? If you have, could you walk me through the door panel removal. Otherwise, I'll have to wait for Crutchfield to get caught up. Crutchfield is recommending Polk speakers.
Any other advice and experience on your stereo upgrades would be appreciated!
Rear: two screws one low and one by arm pull. lift panel undo all wiring. Simple as that. 6 1/2" speakers fit easily since there is a plastic mounting bracket screwed into door panel already. I moounted component tweeter on top front corner of panel by surface mounting.
Front: two screws one underneath window switch and one by the arm pull. Remove top triangle peice ABOVE PANEL FIRST! Then lift and undo wiring. Difficult to get speakers to mount due to the existingf speaker has special snap in place plastic bracket made onto it. I removed it and used it to mount new ones. Very tight fit. I used existing tweeter plastic for new component tweeter.
Sounds great and I will not be adding amp.
There is a website some where about a guy and his rado and the panel removal he shows with pics is the same.
Thanks,
--BN
I use my little storage space for a towel to clean the interior at red lights.
As I look at it now, it will require replacing the existing console -- it needs to be lower and a little forward. I need to give this some more thought. Something like the stylinconcepts.com power overhead console might work. They don't yet have one to fit the AV though. If anyone has any other ideas, please chime in!
You can email gmparts and they will reply to you within a day with tons of information.
As for youor V1 make sure you visit the Valentine website there is tons of information there about Detector performance and the windshield issue.
As for the V1, window tinting is not mentioned as an issue. Here's the scoop from the V1 web site;
"When properly mounted, the front antenna will look forward through the glass. It must have an unobstructed view. Don't put it behind the windshield wipers, or in-glass antenna. Don't position it so that it "looks" into the rearview window.
The rear antenna will look rearward, between passengers and out the rear window. It must have an unobstructed view.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Windshield heaters such as Ford's InstaClear® system (you can see a brown tint) block radar from passing through the glass. So do mirrored sun screens. Detector performance will be seriously reduced when mounted behind such metallic films."
This will help.
ygmn: what brand speakers and tweater did you choose? If you come across that website you mentioned, please let me know!
Carstereodiscount.com now that I thunk about it..well bunches of dealers have them so shop around.
Well I err on the safe side and mounted mine to the windsheild just below the rear view mirror.
As for the console search for suburbans since they are identical the hole is is for rear air controls on them.
The light bulbs are a pain to get to too. Be careful of the top light it can be removed but the clip is fragile mine cracked..I gonna see if I can get it warrantied.
IF you have links to HID kit sites please post!
ygmn: Thanks for the Suburban idea on the console. I should've realized that they are the same... d'oh! I posted a few messages, surely someone has done it and can give me some insight (before I try on my own and break something)
Easy to get at lights when you remove the top one..two pins lift up then the whole assemlby is loose no tools required..pretty nifty!
The low beam bulb is a 9006 and the high beam is a 9011. I have never heard of the 9011 but that is what it said on it. ANyone see what the foglight bulbs are?
The folks are friendly, though were a little perplexed that an owner wanted to buy one. Evidently most of these are installed by car dealers. He said Avs are popular vehicles for alarms since it's so hard to see out back.
No connection to karbiz except a satisfied customer.
the same products that are installed at the factory (if so ordered)? Also do the steps in this package include all mounting hardware and is it a bolt on application or is drilling required?
Does the roof rack come with all necessary hardware for mounting and a template for drilling holes?
Their prices seem to be awesome however its seems shipping and handling is an expensive deal.
From my understanding of the roof rack which I still have in the box because I did not let dealer install yet is that it takes a special tool to insert the threaded inserts after drilling the holes.
You might want to check into that I am not 100% sure
I am hearing a flapping (popping?) sound coming from my windshield. I did install the deflector, but did not install the extra 'tape' along the windshield moldings. The instructions were a bit vague, and I was concerned about fooling with the moldings. Well, I had no noise while I was keeping the speed at 50-55. At 65-80, though, I am hearing it a lot.
Has anyone done this? Is it OK? Any help or hints would be appreciated. (Just seems a little kludgy to me, but if it works...) Thanks!
I will tell you a few steps though:
Mark windshield with wax pencil or something that will draw on the glass and can then be washed off.
Open both front doors.
Gently pull out the weatherstripping...I suggest you coat it with some sort of protectant first like 303 or Vinylex to help lubricate it.
Remove the side molding by removing I think 4-6 torx headed screws..the bottom one is a pain since the door is very close their I used a bit and ratchet..
Then clean glass with alchohol...be careful to leave your wax pencil line.
Apply sticky tape the entire length leaving about 1/8" gap with top moulding.
Put side moulding back on and re-assemble..
You should not have any parts left over like when you rebuild an engine..LOL
Good luck!