My 99 K2500 Suburban

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Jman95

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Hi there, I hope this is in the right spot. I’m new here and this is my build thread. (Gonna be a long one..) It will take me a bit to finish so please be patient.

First off, It is a 1999 GMC K2500, 454, 4L80e, 4.10 axle, 8600GVW (8lug, forged lower control arms). My dad bought it in Michigan back in Nov. ‘06. From a used car dealer, we are the 2nd owners. It had 49,000 miles on the clock. We bought it to pull our camper trailer we had at the time and it got parked when gas prices hiked.
It then was used as our second work truck for a landscaping company our family owned before going out of business.

This truck was pretty clean from the start, and I never planned to do a full restoration on it..(well at least not right away.)

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I had pulled the grille off to replace my fogged headlight lenses with some reproduction lenses made out of glass! While I had the grille off I figured I would paint the radiator support after knocking some of the rust off, then noticed the whole d/s lower corner of the support was rotted through.
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So, I ordered a new support and put it back together for work in the morning (with my glass lenses!)
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After I received the new support, I dug into it, got it all torn down and the old support out and then noticed the frame was rotted at the mounting point for the steering gearbox. (don’t have pics of that apparently, but I do have a pic of the area)

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The whole outside rail where the bolt heads are, was pulled through. No wonder I had alignment issues.

That’s when the restoration started. This has been ongoing since 2016. With life happening and stuff, me and my dad started it before he passed away. It has been on and off again like a bad relationship when you just don’t know when to quit.. :buttkick:

Honestly, I was 18 and when I saw the frame rot I thought it was time to get rid of the truck. I told my dad expecting him to say the same thing, but he said the opposite surprisingly.. he knew how much I loved this truck I guess.
 
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stutaeng

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Welcome to the forum! Lots of great members and knowledge here.

Man, sorry about your Dad. I've lost some uncles here in the last few weeks...not a good feeling.

Now that frame doesn't look too bad in that photo. Maybe you can add some plate washers? Although difficult with those recesses... And that truck looks very clean for being a Northern vehicle.
 

Jman95

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So, we yanked the engine and trans..

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We were just going to clean it up a bit and reinstall it, the truck only had 87,000miles on it at this point.

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Cylinder #4 had other plans, turned out to have a pretty nasty gouge that required a .30 over bore..

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So, the engine is now a 460, block has been completely gone through.

Block: Bored .30 over, line bored, sound checked and soda blasted.

Pistons: SRP #139477 Forged Flat Tops
Coated

Rods: Stock Rods, cleaned and checked.

Crankshaft: Stock crank, cleaned, checked, polished and balanced.

Heads: Stock oval ports with some work done, don’t have the flow numbers anymore (been a couple of years).
I wasn’t against new heads, was looking at some Edelbrock aluminum heads, but the machinist told me he would see what he could get these to flow to try to save me some money. He seemed very confident in the numbers and he was happy so I was happy. (not an engine guru over here, I know a little about a lot haha)

Camshaft: Comp Cams XR270HR13 (#01-415-8)
218/224 @ .50
.510/.510 lift
113 LSA
1500rpm - 5500rpm

Valve train: Converted to 7/16 rocker studs, rotator eliminators, Comp 26120-16 beehive springs, Comp 900-16 roller lifters, Comp 1411-16 Magnum roller rockers, Comp 612-16 super locks, new pushrods and valve job.

Here she is getting unloaded at home, still need to get it painted. Leaning towards a matte black finish.

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Dravec

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Welcome to the forum. If you need help, ask. Someone on here has probably done of fixed every conceivable thing on these trucks.

Sorry to hear about your dad. My grandad passed away almost two years ago, and that's the hardest thing I've ever gone through.

Very nice Burb, I have one very similar but in Summit White. And what you've done with the motor is almost exactly what I want to do with my Burb. Can't wait to hear how it turns out.
 

Jman95

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Rebuilt the transmission (it had no issues before tear down, but since it was out.)

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This was completely rebuild, added a Sonnax overrun clutch valve kit, and a HD Shift kit.

Rebuilt the NP246 T-case and upgraded the oil pump housing. (Known for chewing through the case over time)

Rebuilt the front differential, and swapped from 4.10 ratio to 4.88 ratio

Rebuilt the rear differential, swapped to 4.88s and swapped the G80 for a Detroit Tru-Trac.

Plan to run 35” tires, more on that later.

Need to talk to the guy who’s going to help me with tuning to figure out what torque converter I need to run with my setup.
(Don’t know much about converters)

If you guys have any recommendations feel free to suggest some, and help me better understand the differences with the different stall speeds and stuff would be appreciated. :help:
 
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Jman95

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Welcome to the forum! Lots of great members and knowledge here.

Man, sorry about your Dad. I've lost some uncles here in the last few weeks...not a good feeling.

Now that frame doesn't look too bad in that photo. Maybe you can add some plate washers? Although difficult with those recesses... And that truck looks very clean for being a Northern vehicle.

Thanks! I’m excited!

Sorry to hear about your losses. it sucks but it’s gets better with time..

As for the pictures of the frame, that is a pic of the donor front horns. I don’t have a pic of the rot before I had it fixed.
 

Jman95

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May 19, 2020
Messages
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Welcome to the forum. If you need help, ask. Someone on here has probably done of fixed every conceivable thing on these trucks.

Sorry to hear about your dad. My grandad passed away almost two years ago, and that's the hardest thing I've ever gone through.

Very nice Burb, I have one very similar but in Summit White. And what you've done with the motor is almost exactly what I want to do with my Burb. Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

Thanks, will definitely be asking some questions haha

I’m sorry for your loss, I never met my grandparents but I lost an uncle who was like a grandpa to me and that was hard aswell.

My dad was actually going to buy a brand new one off the lot back in ‘99 it was white/gold two tone, but he was between jobs and decided not to at that point, I remember sitting in it while he talked to the salesman, I was like 5 lol

The engine should turn out nice, I can’t wait to hear it run.
 
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