Built not bought

[abrasumente]

Figured I'd start a writeup on my suburban after mentioning something about it in a thread I have going about boosting this 5.3 I bought. Kinda going for an overland look with the truck. Any comments/suggestions/etc are appreciated, this is a learning opportunity for me. I've wrenched on cars for years (its a hobby) but this is the first vehicle I've ever modified.

I came across this truck by accident. I had always wanted another SUV- I had an s10 blazer when I was younger but it was a little small for my tastes. Cue this 4x4 Suburban- found it on Craigslist two years ago. Did a straight trade on it for a 5 speed extended cab Ford Ranger I had. Truck had no reverse, front end was BAD shot, and terrible chrome wheels when I got it...

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First thing I did when I got it home was taking it to a local guy who rebuilt the trans for $1000. I know, I know, you get what you pay for- but I promise you guys this dude was the truth because I have beat on this thing ever since and I haven't had a single problem yet.

Once I had the trans rebuilt, I found a beater set of 16" wheels and 315's to get it around locally while I built up my first parts list. The driver side torsion bar was cranked to the sky for some reason. The ball joints were smoked. Literally everything and anything that could be bad in the front end was bad. I also took off the running boards at the same time. Really cleaned the truck up.

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I had to cut the chrome wheels off with an oxy/ace torch. There was a keyed lug nut on each wheel. A key was actually supplied with the truck (shocker) but the nuts had been on the studs for years and simply wouldn't come off. I also rebuilt the entire front end, and did a 3" body lift. I considered a suspension lift but I was worried about steering angles and I don't ever plan on going over 35's (33s on it now) so I wasn't studying it. I also painted the frame with POR-15 so it didn't look so bad sticking down. While I did the lift, I also changed out all the body bushings to red Energy Suspension polyurethane (I bought a master kit, which-surprise- isn't actually a master kit)

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[abrasumente]

I didn't really do much with the truck after the first round of suspension/steering parts, other than buying some misc interior parts and doing a tuneup. I'm on a working man's budget, so stuff gets done to the truck basically when I work overtime I bought a set of 20x10 Ion wheels and some Nitto 265/70 Ridge Grapplers in January of last year. I think the set ran me 1600. I wanted a little bit sticking past the wheel wells but nothing wild. I geared up again in April with the second round- all new brake hardware, finally putting in the rear leaf spring bushings and a new front grille. I also attempted to get my steering corrected which ended up making it worse- the first alignment shop didn't quite get it right, but more on that in a minute.

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Had a little setback on April 27. I was pressing out my old leaf spring bushings. Had my safety glasses on, but took them off for a moment and neglected to put them back on. A piece of metal broke off the tool I was using and went straight through my eye and hit my retina. Needless to say I was pretty much done for the year after that- I had five eye surgeries and none of them went that great, but I still have my eye, so I guess that's a plus. I knew better- I've worked construction for 15 years, have both my OSHA cards, been to countless safety classes etc... but it only takes once.

WEAR YOUR MF EYE PROTECTION!!!

I ended up having to put shocks on it at some point around October because with the new polyurethane bushings and old shocks I was getting beat to death and I was already uncomfortable as it was. Think I went with KYB Excel-G's, been pretty happy with them. Other than that, the truck mostly sat. These next two pictures are from the day before I got hurt. The ubolt is the reason why I decided to do a 14b axle swap and a u bolt flip kit- the original axle was almost eaten through.

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[frito-bandito]

That sucks about your eye man, I got a piece of metal in my eye one night while changing an exhaust manifold on a E350 van. I had to have 2 surgeries to get that eye “right” again (I now wear glasses )

I can’t wait to see what more you do to this beast!!

 

[abrasumente]

thanks @frito-bandito it definitely sucked but what do you do. I was pretty down about it last year but I've come around. Plus, I'm working again, so it helps that I'm actually doing things instead of sitting around and moping.

My next mod was pretty simple- adding a running light/blinker to the top reflectors on each side. I like how the newer trucks have upper and lower blinkers, another member on here had a quick writeup on it. I'll add a link here shortly for anyone else wanting to do this. https://www.gmt400.com/threads/upper-corner-lights.6958/ (mad thanks to 96k1500) I've found the forum search function sucks- but if you go to Google and type in, say, "14 bolt swap site:gmt400.com" you can find pretty much anything you need to know. I did use T taps to splice into the existing wire... but I wrapped it VERY well with ($$$) waterproof electrical tape, and cut the ends instead of tearing so they don't unravel. When I do the 4Hi mod, I'm going to pull it back apart and just solder everything together (my soldering iron bit the dust and so did RadioShack, I just got a new one not long ago).

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Next was yanking my old dash. Time, heat, sun, and the truck riding like a bumpy log for god knows how long did a number on the original dash. I found a pristine example in a 99 suburban at the man mall last year at some point during my eye recovery, but didn't put it in my truck til Feb. of this year. As far as the air bag opening goes, I've got some "close enough" gray ABS plastic in the garage that I plan on mounting there. Once I'm ready to add all my aftermarket gauges (boost, EGT, AFR, Trans Temp, fuel pressure) I plan on buying two sets of pod pillars- I'll use one for its intended purpose, the other I plan on cutting in such a fashion to install the radiused part of the pillar pod gauge on the plastic panel and form it to the panel so it faces me while I'm driving. Kinda hard to explain, but yall will get the gist of it. The soldering machine I bought also has fittings for ABS plastic welding, so it should come out pretty trick.

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[abrasumente]

Next was the 14 bolt swap. I had bought everything to do it last year before I got hurt, except the axle itself. Got SUPER lucky and found a guy locally selling what I needed, with matching gears, for $125. I NEVER find deals (people want $1500 for an lq4 6.0 around here, which is why I'm doing a boosted 5.3...) so this was awesome. What's more, the axle "supposedly" only had 125k on it. When I opened it and drained the oil, it sure looked like it. No glitter in the oil, everything looked great (and untouched).

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I pulled each axle out and redid the axle seals and bearings. Pretty self-explanatory. Except when you get too happy with the slide hammer and kill the outer part of the axle bearing I had to fabricate a tool out of some rod and 1/4" flat stock to get the rest of it out.

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Once I finished that nightmare, I rebuilt the drum brakes. I was missing a few parts for the parking brake cable system on the newer axle, so I stole what I needed off the old 10 bolt. They're a direct swap. Right now my parking brakes aren't hooked up because my equalizer is seized, but I'm working on re-sourcing everything I need to make it functional again.

14b under the truck with u-bolt flip kit installed

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Also for future reference. The driveshaft in my truck is steel and still had the label on it- it’s an AAM driveshaft. I needed the S44 to 1350 conversion ujoint. Most companies will list this as a 447 ujoint. I thought I had done proper research beforehand and identified what I needed.... I was wrong. Also, if your ujoints are original, I strongly suggest taking your driveshaft somewhere to have the new parts installed. I almost had a stroke trying to do mine with halfass equipment lol

 

[abrasumente]

This poor motor has no idea what it's in for

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Got a little sidetracked this weekend, but the goal with the motor is to get the heads off and see what the guts look like. If the cyl walls look good and mating surfaces check flat, I'm gonna put it back together with LS9 gaskets and ARP bolts, new timing chain, new seals etc. I also plan on installing better springs, rocker arms, pushrods etc but basically leaving the rotating assembly alone. I'm on the hunt for a 4L80 at the moment but will run the 4L60 if I have to just to get by- I suspect I smoked the 350. This will be a turbo build- I'm not going to run anything crazy, but I want good power with the setup and I plan on beating the piss out of it, so if it takes a year to get the money together to make it how I want that's simply what it will take.

I've driven a lot of the newer trucks (as company vehicles for various places I've worked). I like the look of the GMT400, but I also like the tech of the newer trucks. I do my own work on everything I own, and I do have an ALDL cable with TunerPro on my laptop, but there's just no beating OBD2 for diagnostics. I also owned several Cadillacs when I was younger, and the amenities of those is definitely something I miss, so I will be incorporating some form of "luxury" tech into the truck.

I would appreciate feedback on some interior ideas I'm throwing around:

1) Right now I've got a 120MPH speedo out of an Escalade in the truck with red LED's from superbrightleds.com. These things suck. I'm right outside the warranty period and the lights are slowly but surely dying. Two of the cadillacs I had were equipped with factory digital gauges, and I've thought about buying a set of Intellitronix digital gauges. Anyone bought their products, and what do you think of them?

2) I love good, clean audio. I used to be into the whole "stuff as many subwoofers in your trunk as possible" scene but then I got into SQ and haven't looked back. I'm contemplating whether I want to buy a standard double DIN head unit, or build a "carputer". I debated doing it in the 60 Special I used to own, but I got a great deal on a double DIN with nav (think I paid $200 for a high end Kenwood unit), but I have no idea where the carputer scene is at these days. I'd also like to avoid buying a separate sound processor if possible, but I'll drop the coin if there's nothing good that can be integrated into the computer itself. I need to research this more myself, as I used to build PC's as a hobby- I just haven't done it in so long.

3) I'm sorry, but I'm not paying $500 for one driver side seat on Facebook Marketplace that's already busted up. I honestly don't know what drugs some of these people are on when they come up with these prices! Say I find a good upholstery shop- what could I expect to pay for recovering four seats? My foam is good, and the third row looks untouched so I'm not worried about it.

4) Finally, my truck has ratty ass carpet. Who's got the vinyl flooring in their crew cab/Tahoe/suburban and how do you like it? Especially if you bought the aftermarket stuff-how was the fit? I've replaced flooring one time in another car I had and the fit was awful.

I'll keep this thread updated regularly as I make progress.

 

[Idle Serge]

Another well documented build! Love to see it!

 

[abrasumente]

This is what awaited me under the heads

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At minimum, the pistons are going in the trash and I'll be tearing the whole block and heads down this week, and taking them somewhere to get cleaned. I can't work under those conditions, lol.

 

[Kevco2]

Where did you get the U bolt flip kit from?
I think my Suburbans original U bolts may look like yours
I am not ready to pony up for the 14bolt yet, but I would like to get there

 

[351FUN]

Where did you get the U bolt flip kit from?

I assume he built it, not bought it