Project “Polar Bear”: 1989 V2500 Suburban

[Larry]

Good looking truck, Larry. My dad had a '92 Sierra 4x2 stepside like that except it was a 4.3 and 5 speed. Couldn't get out of its own way to save its life, but it got outstanding gas mileage. On a bad day, it would get 20 MPG and with certain tires it wasn't much of a challenge to get 25 MPG on the highway, even with 230k miles on it. Unfortunately, he traded it in on a Tacoma five years ago. He didn't get much out of it, but it was still more than I could afford at the time.

The past couple of months, I've really had a hankering for another truck like that. Maybe one day down the road I'll be able to find one out west with a clean frame and build it. I love stepside trucks and it seems like the old ones are getting less and less common.

BTW, IMO these trucks are probably the cheapest and easiest to build right now. Used parts are plentiful (we have like ten at work) and new parts have been around long enough that they're pretty cheap.

Thanks Aaron. It is a clean little truck. You're right, the GMT400's are very inexpensive to buy and build right now. They are just old enough to be very cheap to buy and just new enough were almost everything for them can still be purchased brand new through GM.

My Father in-law bought this truck when it was a year old with 10,000 on the clock. It started life as a 4.3L, NV3500 5 speed (with 3:08 gears no less as well). The poor truck couldn't pull a greasy string out of a Coke bottle here at 5,000 ft. elevation and FIL always wanted a 454SS truck but he had 4 daughters to get through college back then so he had to settle on a V6 truck. Well, 21 years later and he has a 454SS clone and is very ecstatic with it! The 4.3L only had 98,000 when I pulled it out and sold it.

Body is exceptionally clean. No rust what so ever (got to love salt free roads here) and only two small dings. Plenty of paint delamination though. Its getting treated to a new set of tires and wheels when it gets back from the body shop. Probably going with 454SS wheels or Torque Thrust ARs.

Old 4.3L on its way out

New 7.4L (actually this engine used to be in my K10 before it got an 8.1L infusion but it had a carburetor in it back then). I've changed a few things since this picture was taken in 2012. I've added the huge 1 ton truck radiator, upper radiator brackets and correct big block fan shroud. This truck running a BBC and 3:08 gears feels like it could run 200 MPH on the highway but yet will do a smokey burn out for a city block and still get 17 MPG on the highway. The in-laws pulled their little camp trailer to ND last summer and got 17 MPG out of it on the highway

.

We drove it for 1 year and 6,000 miles with the 7.4L with the NV3500 5 speed but the 454HO, NV3500 and 3:08 gears were not a good match and I played hell going through PROM tuners (Howell EFI, a private tuner and TBIchips.com), none of which could make this thing run right without dying when coming to a quick stop plus FIL burnt the clutch badly in that short time so it needed to be replaced anyway. It felt to me like all the tuner guys had the calibrations and throttle follower tuned for an automatic trans. I was fed up with all of the tuners, FIL is in his 70's and was very tired of shifting a manual trans anyway so I yanked the 5 speed and dropped in an 4L60E. This was before the sex change.

After the sex change. No corners were cut with this swap… I swapped brake pedals, column, made a plate to cover the trans hole in the floor and installed new carpet. Even installed a PRNDL in the cluster. It is very unlikely anyone would ever know this truck started life with a manual trans. I have a pristine manual trans tilt steering column if you ever get a request for one.

During sex change

4L60E. Yeah, yeah…everybody thinks a 4L80E is absolutely needed behind a BBC. The reality is this is light little truck driven by a 73 yo grandpa that doesn't tow anything other than an occasional 1,500 lb pop up trailer. A 4L80E would have been overkill plus this 4L60E only cost $350 on CL. If it shoots craps I'll look for a 4L80E then. It's running on a TCI EZ-TCU controller which can run a 4L60E or 4L80E so swapping in a 80 later won't be difficult. Very happy with the outcome….and guess what? No more DYING! It runs like a rapped ape now with a juice box tranny and the 4L60E is doing great after a year behind the BBC. Doesn't even leak a drop of trans fluid, which surprised me as I've never done a project using AN hose bits and pieces. I will say this though, I will NEVER build another TBI project ever again! Piss on speed density fuel calculations. Port fuel injected engines running MAF is the only way to go. Another reason I love the 8.1L!

Funny video too. Funny story....While tuning the trans TCM I discovered the TPS signal would not get over 4 volts, which wide open throttle should be 5 volts. Come to find out the 4.3L throttle cable wasn't pulling the throttle plate all the way open so for the first year and a half we weren't getting full throttle. I need to shoot a new video now that that I can drop the hammer all the way now with the correct throttle cable! LOL
[video=youtube;v9gc1MsBMlo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=v9gc1MsBMlo[/video]

There were some truck pictures for ya Chili!

Hopefully soon I've have more of the Polar Bear in the operating room.

 

[Ridge Runner]

Very nice. Is that a Gen V or VI engine? You said it's a TBI engine, but the A/C compressor and fan shroud are completely different from the Gen Vs I've seen.

My boss's son is doing the exact same thing with his '95 C1500 and the 454 out of a '91 R2500 Suburban, except they're cutting corners. If he's ever able to get it to run right, I don't envision the NV3500 lasting long with a 19 year old kid who loves to hop in a cold truck and start doing burn outs.

 

[Larry]

Very nice. Is that a Gen V or VI engine? You said it's a TBI engine, but the A/C compressor and fan shroud are completely different from the Gen Vs I've seen.

My boss's son is doing the exact same thing with his '95 C1500 and the 454 out of a '91 R2500 Suburban, except they're cutting corners. If he's ever able to get it to run right, I don't envision the NV3500 lasting long with a 19 year old kid who loves to hop in a cold truck and start doing burn outs.

It’s actually VI 454HO crate engine with ’96-’00 L29 7.4L accessory brackets. I prefer the L29 brackets as they use the Delphi HT6 A/C compressor opposed to the turd R4 compressor like the older BBC serp brackets. Right now it has a carbureted intake with a TBI adapter. The fan shroud in the pictures above is a L31 5.7L shroud from a C/K truck, which is gone now and replaced with a ’98 C/K L29 7.4L shroud. I need to snap some resent pics of how she looks now.

This is when the engine was in the K10 from 2003-2008. It only got 8,000 miles in those 5 years. With getting 6 MPG (thanks to carburetor and the old SM465 direct drive transmission) it didn’t go on any long distance trips like what truck goes on today with the more economical 8.1L and NV4500 OD trans (who would think of an 8.1L as economical, but it is by loops and bounds compared to a toilet carbureted 454 without OD.

I ran a Marine L29 EFI intake running operating on a MEFI4 RamJet 502 ECM on it for a short while and quickly realized I am not a good tuner and gave up trying to get it to run quite right calibrating it by myself so I yanked it and installed the 8.1L and never looked back.

After getting booted from the K10, the 454 hung on an engine stand in a bag for 4 years until it went into FIL’s Sportside in late 2012. I could have used it in the Polar Bear but I wanted to use the 8.1L next to it in the Bear instead.

 

[chilliwak]

Larry the engines you replace would make me drool.:drool: Your trucks are in my opinion the state of the art in the builders world. I would take one of those motors that you remove in a heartbeat. Maybe some day I should get you to do a 8.1 liter swap on a rig for me, but you are probably too busy...:ylsmoke:

 

[bigT74]

Larry,

Though I have been a member for a while, I am just now making time to make my first post. Your build pages were the reason I became a member, great work on your builds sir.

 

[chilliwak]

Larry you seem to be attracting all the new guys!:victory:

 

[Larry]

Larry,

Though I have been a member for a while, I am just now making time to make my first post. Your build pages were the reason I became a member, great work on your builds sir.

Thank you sir!

 

[Oobray]

How do you make the electronics for the 8.1 work? Those are awesome rigs!! I settled for an 02 Yukon because I love the 8.1 but would have LOVED an older model with an 8.1.

 

[Larry]

How do you make the electronics for the 8.1 work? Those are awesome rigs!! I settled for an 02 Yukon because I love the 8.1 but would have LOVED an older model with an 8.1.

Which electronics? The stock ’89 gauges and what not? There is no change with any of that. The gauges, starter, charging system, A/C compressor, etc. still run on the stock ’89 Suburban harness, although it is a different '89 Burb harness that I already pruned out the unneeded TBI circuits so I wouldn't have to hack up my harness as I am keeping the old harness with the old TBI 5.7L to sell or reuse in a different project. See post 391 of this thread.

The engine itself will run a stand alone harness. My K10 with the 8.1L is wired the exact same way although a lot of people get the notion they must use a bunch of aftermarket BS like Dakota Digital and MSD pieces to run the gauges when doing a late model engine swap which is not the case.

Settling for a Yukon XL isn’t settling at all. That is a nice rig! :drool:

 

[Oobray]

Man I wish I understood vehicle electronics. I have so much to learn. Don't get me wrong, I like the yukon. But all the advanced things are getting in the way. My last several repairs were electronic gizmos that probably don't pose much of an issue with older models. Power windows, HVAC mode actuator doors etc.

 

[zoomad75]

Oobray, They all have their own host of problems. Old or new. Power windows on your 2002 are set up pretty similar to what Larry's 89 burb is set up like. All the power is run through the drivers door switch for all windows. Get a used GM service manual for your rig. They still printed them back in 2002. Hit up ebay for the used or go to Helm.com for a new one. Expect to spend a little for them, but they are MUCH better than the crappy generic Haynes or Chiltons manuals you get from the parts stores. Besides having accurate schematics to read, they list out the "description of operation" of all the systems. That is worth it's weight in gold. It's the best way to understand how the systems work and how to diagnose problems.

 

[squarebodyaddict]

http://www.helminc.com/helm/welcome_select_oem.asp?Style=helm
This is the link to Helm where I order manuals.

 

[Larry]

8.1 is done

The 8.1 is done! Got a lot of little bugs to sort out but here is a time lapse video to hold ya’ll over until I have time to post the play by play

 

[snekvasil]

AWESOME!!!

I've been looking forward to this for a long time. Congrats! Can't wait to see the play-by-play.

 

[MTCK]

Thumbs up. How many days is the time elapse over?