Project “Polar Bear”: 1989 V2500 Suburban

[ElkinsEric]

Well just killed a few rainy hours reading through you entire thread. You do great work and I agree 1000% with you about a dirt simple, 100% stock engine. Especially in a vehicle that is used as we do.

Looking good and sub'd for future updates.

 

[Jeremiah32]

My project Suburban

Hey Larry I've got a 1999 K2500 Suburban that is equipped with a Vortec 454 (for now) and I just bought a fullsize 4x4 doner truck for it with a sm465. :Wow1: Getting ready to swap in the manual trans and transfer case to my Suburban. Will the Vortec run right without the 4l80e? What can I expect to do to this thing other than the obvious of swapping the drive train components? Any suggestions you have on this build would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jeremiah32]

 

[justcuz]

Wow Larry time flies, I remember the first baby picture of your daughter you posted. She's growing up fast, better start cleaning your shotgun!

 

[1stDeuce]

Hey Larry I've got a 1999 K2500 Suburban that is equipped with a Vortec 454 (for now) and I just bought a fullsize 4x4 doner truck for it with a sm465. :Wow1: Getting ready to swap in the manual trans and transfer case to my Suburban. Will the Vortec run right without the 4l80e? What can I expect to do to this thing other than the obvious of swapping the drive train components? Any suggestions you have on this build would be greatly appreciated!

That is a great looking truck!! I'm sorry if you've heard it already, but I've owned trucks with both transmissions, and can say without a doubt that you're really not doing the truck any favors putting a SM465 in it... I'd HIGHLY recommend you dig around and find a NV4500, as it will make for a much better driver. The 4500 shifts so much better than the old 465... And no OD in the 465 means highway time really sucks... But it's your truck, not mine, so you do what makes you happy!

To answer your question some anyway, you'll probably want to find a ECM out of a manual trans truck of the same vintage, or have someone reflash your controller with a manual cal. It'll run and drive with the auto cal, but not real well, and I don't think you'll get Cruise to work at all, and the timing curves also depend some on gear selection I believe... I'm sure Larry will chime in soon enough with specifics.

 

[Buckallred]

Hi Larry: on the seat covers, did you pull just the inside arm rest through the seat cover, or did you pull the outside arm rests through as well. I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting my Cabelas seat covers too go on correctly. Thank you.

 

[Larry]

Hi Larry: on the seat covers, did you pull just the inside arm rest through the seat cover, or did you pull the outside arm rests through as well. I'm having a little bit of a hard time getting my Cabelas seat covers too go on correctly. Thank you.

I opened the seat cover sides by unlacing the strings and opening the Velcro to poke the inboard and outboard arm rests out then resynched the Velcro and lacing. It goes real easy on these old dual arm rest Suburban seats that I have in this Burb and my K10. Actually, the I pull the seat covers off the K10 all the time to run them through the wash machine after each trip. It’s about 5 minute job to reinstall each one. The Polar Bear is easier to install because you can craw in the back to get behind the seat to help snug it down. BTW, the more you wash these the softer they get and better they fit.

Installing these same Cabela’s seat covers on my 2001 Silverado with the integrated seat belts was a nightmare! In the end, I took them back off because they never fit right and inhibited the seat belt retraction when unbuckling it. Although, they fit great on the K10 and Suburban.

 

[Buckallred]

Excellent, thanks. I think taking the laces off is the key. . . I was trying to do it with the laces on, and too tight, so it was a struggle to try to loosen the strings once the thing was already pulled over the seat. . .

 

[Buckallred]

And on an unrelated note, for our 1989 Burbs do you have any comment/suggestion on the "loop" style of side step vs. the "full size/rock slider" style?

Examples:

Loop: http://www.amazon.com/Bully-AS-600-Aluminum-Side-Step/dp/B0009PI13E/

Full size/rock slider: http://www.n-fab.com/products/sfID1/60/sfID2/61/sfID3/62/productID/21

 

[Larry]

And on an unrelated note, for our 1989 Burbs do you have any comment/suggestion on the "loop" style of side step vs. the "full size/rock slider" style?

Examples:

Loop: http://www.amazon.com/Bully-AS-600-Aluminum-Side-Step/dp/B0009PI13E/

Full size/rock slider: http://www.n-fab.com/products/sfID1/60/sfID2/61/sfID3/62/productID/21

I personally wouldn't use either of those because they bolt to the body instead of the frame. The first time you snag anything on either of those it will rip the body to shreds where these things mount. Those are intended for mall crawlers not real world off-roadsters.

 

[cyclic]

If you used the N-Fab ones as a start, added a couple of welded on frame ties, you'd be mostly ok. Not great, but decent.

 

[Larry]

If you used the N-Fab ones as a start, added a couple of welded on frame ties, you'd be mostly ok. Not great, but decent.

Adding frame ties sounds like a recipe for disaster as the body and chassis are moving at different frequencies. Eventually, the fasteners that hold the N-Fab nerf steps to the body are going to get pulled out of the body because the sheet metal would be the weakest link. In my opinion, bolting any kind of step, nerf bar, side step, etc. to the body is a terrible idea regardless if it is an old Suburban or a new Silverado. Just a good way to inflict body damage if the nerf-bar comes in contact with something. Something is going to give and it will be the body sheet metal where the nerf-bar is bolted that will take the blunt of the damage.

Who knows, maybe the N-Fab steps actually bolts to the frame. They don’t have any instructions on their website to know for sure. The picture looks to be a body mounted bar but it could be a generic picture than an actual 73-91 specific bar. If it did actually bolt to the frame, I’d be interested myself…..a bar that bolts to the body, not so much.

 

[Buckallred]

My quick internet research suggests that basically all of them out there bolt to the body, not the frame. . .

so I could try to get someone to fab some that weld/bolt to the frame. . . but it seems to be that would be a difficult design. . they would have to extend way out from the frame in order to serve as a step . . . and they should not attach/brace to the body at all, for the reasons Larry mentioned. . .maybe they could attach to the frame/body mount foot somehow?

 

[Larry]

. . .maybe they could attach to the frame/body mount foot somehow?

Actually, when I first bought my Polar Bear Burb it had some ugly chrome nerf bars that were held on by the forward body mount bolt and forward rear leaf spring bolt. It was a terrible execution but the idea was on the right track. Certainly better than bolting a nerf/step bar to the body!

Definitely looks better today with a LOT more power! :elkgrin:

 

[chilliwak]

I really like the look of the Polar Bear Larry. The old school `Burb´is the way to go in my my books. What do you think of the idea od sliders that are mounted to the frame as a structural addative to reduce the noodle like flex on old GM trucks? Heard any pros or cons? Cheers, Chilli....:ylsmoke::ylsmoke: