Project “Polar Bear”: 1989 V2500 Suburban

[locrwln]

My neighbor just restored a 1963 (I believe) Corvan "8" door. It has the barn doors on the driver's, passenger and rear, plus the two front doors. He did a great job with it and didn't go too far with it and has been driving the wheels off of it. Pretty cool rig.

Jack

 

[chilliwak]

Nice looking body work Larry. That polar bear is looking like it will be ready for a trip to Alaska soon. A totally off topic question for you Larry, as you are the GM guru. My friend is having a problem with valve float on his 454 with a rv cam and stock valve train. Can you reccomend some upgrades that wont cost him a mint to get rid of the valve float and what kind of rpm he can expect to max out at? His ignition is all high end Mallory stuff but the valve float is a serious problem... Looking forward to you response. Cheers Chilli....

 

[Larry]

Nice looking body work Larry. That polar bear is looking like it will be ready for a trip to Alaska soon. A totally off topic question for you Larry, as you are the GM guru. My friend is having a problem with valve float on his 454 with a rv cam and stock valve train. Can you reccomend some upgrades that wont cost him a mint to get rid of the valve float and what kind of rpm he can expect to max out at? His ignition is all high end Mallory stuff but the valve float is a serious problem... Looking forward to you response. Cheers Chilli....

Hey Chilli!

Hehe, yeah, it won’t be long and it will ready for a trip someplace other than back and forth to the Colorado Springs airport and taking the dogs to the vet. LOL

As far as your buddy’s truck, I feel you already said the issue….stock valve train. Big blocks don’t have the best valve train geometry as it is then to throw in a bigger cam introduces another bag of worms. My yellow ’68 GMC has a bored and whored big block 396 with a huge .555 lift cam which it has a sweet idle and runs out very well. But, like your friends big block, it too floats the valves very easy when ratting on it at high RPM 1 -2 shifts. The valve train is noisy too, especially once the engine gets warm. The problem with mine is I was just a poor college kid when I built it back in the early 90’s and spent a years worth of lunch money on rods, pistons, machine work and of course, a BIG cam……but didn’t put any money into the valve train. Live and learn! Now the tips of the valve stems are starting to mushroom so it really leaves me with no choice but to rebuild the heads with the proper valves, springs, etc. Like they say…match your parts! I would do some research on the cam in your buddy’s truck and see what the manufacturer recommends as far as valve springs, etc. Hopefully the tips of the valve stems aren’t already hosed like mine.

 

[Chevrolado]

Awesome work so far, man! Very nice.

You're '78 K10 is already the inspiration for my truck.. Definitely looking forward to seeing what you do with this one too! Very cool.

 

[chilliwak]

Hey Chilli!

Hehe, yeah, it won’t be long and it will ready for a trip someplace other than back and forth to the Colorado Springs airport and taking the dogs to the vet. LOL

As far as your buddy’s truck, I feel you already said the issue….stock valve train. Big blocks don’t have the best valve train geometry as it is then to throw in a bigger cam introduces another bag of worms. My yellow ’68 GMC has a bored and whored big block 396 with a huge .555 lift cam which it has a sweet idle and runs out very well. But, like your friends big block, it too floats the valves very easy when ratting on it at high RPM 1 -2 shifts. The valve train is noisy too, especially once the engine gets warm. The problem with mine is I was just a poor college kid when I built it back in the early 90’s and spent a years worth of lunch money on rods, pistons, machine work and of course, a BIG cam……but didn’t put any money into the valve train. Live and learn! Now the tips of the valve stems are starting to mushroom so it really leaves me with no choice but to rebuild the heads with the proper valves, springs, etc. Like they say…match your parts! I would do some research on the cam in your buddy’s truck and see what the manufacturer recommends as far as valve springs, etc. Hopefully the tips of the valve stems aren’t already hosed like mine.

Thanks for the info Larry. My buddy has an RV cam so it is low lift and short duration. It should not really be any problem but I am thinking he needs to upgrade. I am thinking that a triple angle valve grind, some roller rockers, titatium springs and threaded rockers stems would be the ticket. Just curious what a set up like that would cost, and how much it would improve his problems with the valve float.... Tell me what you think and let me know what kind of rpm he could get out of a set-up like that. Also, if you have any better ideas let me know, Cheers, Chilli....

 

[Larry]

I don’t know what to tell you Chili. I am not much into hop up internal engine goodies. I like to just bolt in modern engines that don’t need all that stuff to make power. The engine I built for the my little ’68 GMC hotrod was done 19 years ago and even with that, I didn’t do a good job of matching parts. Might want to ask around the http://67-72chevytrucks.com forums for those questions.

Well, half of the lift is done! Started thrashing the rear tonight getting ready for the ORD shackle flip and 14 bolt FF swap. To do the rear shackle flip the tank must come down and of course, the tank was ¾ full so that took a while to syphon the gas out. Still need more parts and I have some work travel coming up so probably won’t get the lift all wrapped up for a couple weeks. To my surprise, the old springs I removed from the K10 many years ago that I cleaned up to use on the Polar Bear are 6” springs, not 4”. Ah, well…..it will come down an inch or so once it gets an 8.1L.

I am also in a quandary what I want to do with the front drive shaft. It is now too short but I don’t feel like spending money on lengthening it as I plan on swapping in a NV4500 sometime this winter and don’t want to pay to have the shaft reworked twice. Problem is I don't know exactly when my boss (wife) will let me throw down the coin to fix up the NV4500 I have laying under the work bench. Might have to do the same for the rear shaft too. Dang! I need someone to start buying some of the stuff I have on Craigslist so I can finish my projects :elkgrin:

These Q78 Super Swampers will not be on here full time. They will just be used for certain trips.

Out with the turd 9.5” semi floater with 3:42 gears!

 

[njtacoma]

If you just want to throw the rest of the parts in the back, you don't have to finish it up, I'll just come down and pick it up.


Looks great can't wait to see it done!

 

[chilliwak]

Larry, the polar bear is coming along really nicely. You might just have to bring home some flowers to get the boss in the right mood for upgrades, if you know what i meen.... Cheers, Chilli....

 

[Bushcoat]

I LOVE the Q78's, they look just right on there, especially on the painted steelies. Great looking truck!

 

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Great build Larry! Haven't checked the forum for awhile so I have a bit of catching up to do. Any trips planned for the PB? :sombrero:

 

[Larry]

Chili…..Yeah, I hear you. :sombrero:

Hey Richard! I noticed you hadn’t posted much in a while. Nah, the Polar Bear will be more of a day trip/daily driver although it may go on a long trip if one of my friends from back East wants to use it to follow the K10 around on our annual desert Southwest trips. I probably won’t see you at Expo in 2013 as my wife planned a family vacation too close to the Expo so I won’t be able to take the time off for both.

 

[LIVEanimals]

The anticipation is killing me. I need to see this beauty lifted all the way. I would like to know how the Q78s fit with the 4" lift.

 

[Larry]

The anticipation is killing me. I need to see this beauty lifted all the way. I would like to know how the Q78s fit with the 4" lift.

Hehe, have patience my friend, I won’t be able to get back on this project until next weekend. I would imagine Q78’s would fit with a 4” lift but the tires may rub a bit under heavy articulation. The used springs I put on this Burb turned out to be 6” lift springs, not 4”. Plus I installed ORD HD front shackles so that probably added another .5” of lift. A bit taller than I wanted but that is okay.

 

[blakeape]

For the front shaft temporary fix maybe try a square tube d-shaft if you have an extra shaft laying around as a donor. I built one for my 1996 1 Ton Tacoma and love it. Super strong, will always be a great spare and I can do about 30 mph with the hubs in.

 

[NOIBN]

I probably won’t see you at Expo in 2013 as my wife planned a family vacation too close to the Expo so I won’t be able to take the time off for both.

Wat??