The Camp 4x4 Bus - 1973 Suburban 8.1 Swap & Build
- Thread starter camp4x4
- Start date
camp4x4
Adventurer
I had a FG hood on my 77 before I sold it. The 3 inches made a great diff in view over the stock.
That's pretty slick, but from what I can tell the intake on the 8.1 is going to come pretty durn close to the hood, so I'm gonna need all the height I can get...
camp4x4
Adventurer
So, being that I'm not a fan of doing things twice, and not super interested in spending a bunch of money on changing out parts in the trans or transfer case, I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll be going with NW Fab Works' Black Box underdrive and their 3-stick cable shifter setup. It seems like a more or less bolt-right-up kind of thing, and it'll give me a helluva good set of ratios. Plus, you know... triple sticks!
camp4x4
Adventurer
Progress Day 2.
Seriously Don? Hoping this isn't a sign of things to come. Someone replaced the headlight bulb socket and did this to connect the wires.
Grill removed.
Radiator and battery and other stuff removed.
Power ratchets are an absolute godsend. What on earth did I do before I had this thing.
The **** people did for a little better MPG in the '70's. "Water Vapor Injector" look that up... Never ran across a "poison" warning working on cars before!
Seriously Don? Hoping this isn't a sign of things to come. Someone replaced the headlight bulb socket and did this to connect the wires.
Grill removed.
Radiator and battery and other stuff removed.
Power ratchets are an absolute godsend. What on earth did I do before I had this thing.
The **** people did for a little better MPG in the '70's. "Water Vapor Injector" look that up... Never ran across a "poison" warning working on cars before!
FBJR
Adventurer
Battery powered stuff is great. Cords just get in the way now unless you need real power for a LONG time!
How much crawling you going to do in this? Triple sticks are cool but $2k?
I have a little BnD 1/4 drive about 25 years old I love. Thing the battery is toast, will have to work on that.
Still think the hood would set that thing apart.
How much crawling you going to do in this? Triple sticks are cool but $2k?
I have a little BnD 1/4 drive about 25 years old I love. Thing the battery is toast, will have to work on that.
Still think the hood would set that thing apart.
camp4x4
Adventurer
A bit... and I'd like to get it to the point were I could take on harder trails. That's the direction I've been headed with it. But you're right... $2K is an awful lot, and I'm already gonna be super tight on budget.
Trying to figure out if there's a way to only change stuff in the 205 (input shaft I would imagine) and not in the 4l80e. Wouldn't mind rebuilding the 205 and doing whatever changing needed to be done in the process. But all the adapters people are offering are a bit confusing as to what exactly needs to be changed... I'm sure I'll figure it out. Gonna start calling some people to get some questions answered...
camp4x4
Adventurer
Yeah, I've seen that... still a fair amount of effort to adapt... The appeal of the Black Box or Magnum Box is that they're basically bolt-on.
Looking like the cheap option will end up being the following:
- Switch input shaft on the NP205 to the long 32 spline option that's out there for about $330.
- Use this adapter housing from ORD to mate the two in place of the stock housing. Also about $300.
So total for the two, plus maybe some other replacement parts should be reasonable.
camp4x4
Adventurer
Progress Day 3
Finally have the front clip fully off. Not too bad overall. Fought a couple bolts where the captive/welded on nuts came un-captived. But overall pretty mellow evening. Oh, forgot to mention this the other day, but this thing has long tube headers. :smiley_drive:
So far, 3 days of a couple-ish hour evenings and I feel I'm making good progress. :wings:
The weekend should be fun, getting the engine and trans pulled.
With the condition of the bolts I'm thinking of buying a tumbler to clean them up. Definitely going to take the opportunity of having the engine out to clean up and spray down anything I can with rust reformer primer. There's a few good patches of flakey rust in the wheel wells, but so far anything painted is pretty solid. Totally superficial rust on the frame, so still pretty happy in that department.
Face off
Long tube headers
Parts piling up
Finally have the front clip fully off. Not too bad overall. Fought a couple bolts where the captive/welded on nuts came un-captived. But overall pretty mellow evening. Oh, forgot to mention this the other day, but this thing has long tube headers. :smiley_drive:
So far, 3 days of a couple-ish hour evenings and I feel I'm making good progress. :wings:
The weekend should be fun, getting the engine and trans pulled.
With the condition of the bolts I'm thinking of buying a tumbler to clean them up. Definitely going to take the opportunity of having the engine out to clean up and spray down anything I can with rust reformer primer. There's a few good patches of flakey rust in the wheel wells, but so far anything painted is pretty solid. Totally superficial rust on the frame, so still pretty happy in that department.
Face off
Long tube headers
Parts piling up
FBJR
Adventurer
Good start. I wouldn't mind gearing the 205 down some. Never really was an issue with my old 77 even with the granny low, but an OD would have been nice.
I actually got the new cam into my 91 tonight. Been kinda dragging my feet with lots of other things going on.
Oh, and for that rust you don't see (wheel wells and such) eastwood (maybe others) has a rust inhibitor like the por but come in a can with a spray line attachment.
I actually got the new cam into my 91 tonight. Been kinda dragging my feet with lots of other things going on.
Oh, and for that rust you don't see (wheel wells and such) eastwood (maybe others) has a rust inhibitor like the por but come in a can with a spray line attachment.
camp4x4
Adventurer
Trip to Chassis Unlimited
So I went over to Livermore over lunch today to pickup a new diff cover for the Dana 60 that's presently under the '87. I'm switching from high steer back to the regular tie rod mounting location in front of the axle for a couple reasons. First, the tie rod and drag link are interfering with each other with the axle shifted forward an inch. I did the shift to avoid having to cut away more body work, which is more important to me at this point than the high steer. I'm using a .25" wall tie rod from ORD that should have no problem standing up to the moderate level of wheeling I do. The second reason is the hydro assist for the high steer is a lot harder to mount in a way that won't hit something or require a lot of fab work. But, with this Chassis Unlimited diff cover, I can easily mount the hydro cylinder between the axle and tie rod by welding a couple tabs to the cover. Which is what I'll be doing this weekend among other things.
While I was there they gave me a little tour of the operation. Nothing huge, but efficient and effective. Among other things, they do a ton of gussets, brackets and other small fab parts for builders to use. They have a ton of stuff cut and ready to ship which made for some cool photos. I also scoped out their pre-made sliders that I'm waiting on. Those they don't so much have just sitting around, but I did see two sets that were ready to ship out. I dig 'em. Should get mine in a couple weeks or less.
Sheets after cutting
Sliders ready to ship
Spring perches
Tabs, tabs, tabs
Chassis Unlimited logo
More tabs
Even more tabs
So I went over to Livermore over lunch today to pickup a new diff cover for the Dana 60 that's presently under the '87. I'm switching from high steer back to the regular tie rod mounting location in front of the axle for a couple reasons. First, the tie rod and drag link are interfering with each other with the axle shifted forward an inch. I did the shift to avoid having to cut away more body work, which is more important to me at this point than the high steer. I'm using a .25" wall tie rod from ORD that should have no problem standing up to the moderate level of wheeling I do. The second reason is the hydro assist for the high steer is a lot harder to mount in a way that won't hit something or require a lot of fab work. But, with this Chassis Unlimited diff cover, I can easily mount the hydro cylinder between the axle and tie rod by welding a couple tabs to the cover. Which is what I'll be doing this weekend among other things.
While I was there they gave me a little tour of the operation. Nothing huge, but efficient and effective. Among other things, they do a ton of gussets, brackets and other small fab parts for builders to use. They have a ton of stuff cut and ready to ship which made for some cool photos. I also scoped out their pre-made sliders that I'm waiting on. Those they don't so much have just sitting around, but I did see two sets that were ready to ship out. I dig 'em. Should get mine in a couple weeks or less.
Sheets after cutting
Sliders ready to ship
Spring perches
Tabs, tabs, tabs
Chassis Unlimited logo
More tabs
Even more tabs