The Camp 4x4 Bus - 1973 Suburban 8.1 Swap & Build

FBJR

Adventurer
17s seem to be a good option as when you go bigger the $$$ goes up too. Had 17s on my Dmax since new, several sets.

Now tell me about the H1 tires and wheels you no longer need?
 

camp4x4

Adventurer
Now tell me about the H1 tires and wheels you no longer need?

You want 'em, they're yours for hella cheap. Have 6 matching wheels (not H1 beadlocks, alloy 16.5's) and 5 military surplus Goodyear Wrangler M/T tires.

1 tire presently has a SUPER slow leak, but will die over the course of a weak.
1 tire had a super slow leak but I fixed it with that slime stuff.

All the tires and rims are generally in good shape. Tons of tread left, no major chunking, they definitely show that they've been wheeled, but overall they're good.

I'll PM you, we can talk about $.
 

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
That small box in the front is the cluster...I recognize the scribble on it.

As far as the exhaust goes, I'm a fan of the Thrush welded mufflers too. Same exact ones Larry has on the K10. Super cheap price but well built. Sound is straight out of the flowmaster playbook for a 10th of the price. At full boil with tailpipes running to the back corners you know what is going on. But at cruise without getting into it is quite mellow.

I can run my K5 with both windows down and carry on a conversation without shouting while at speed. Like Larry said, crossover and tailpipe length and placement all play to the sound/tone quality. LS engines and 8.1's share the same firing order. It is not the standard 18436572 order of the orginal small blocks and big blocks. That change in firing order does play into the sound. Personally, without an H or X pipe 8.1's or LS engines sound like *** regardless of the muffler choice. The crossover pipe helps mellow that out a bunch. I went with an H pipe in my 91 with the 5.3 and couldn't be happier with the Thrush mufflers. Looking forward to see if they develop the supercar tone after 5 or 6 hours on the road on our desert trip.
 

FBJR

Adventurer
I just saw a cluster go for almost $500 on ebay, wow.

When you placed your crossover did you just put it in or do the crayon test?
 

zoomad75

K5 Camper guy
I just saw a cluster go for almost $500 on ebay, wow.

When you placed your crossover did you just put it in or do the crayon test?

My exhaust guy started to get all techical on me about the H pipe placement. Which if I was looking for maximum exhaust scavaging and power I would have worried about it. I just wanted it on there to calm the bark down and have it far enough back to facilitate t-case removal without requiring dropping the exhaust. We are talking about a stock 5.3 in my 91 K5 so I wasn't interested in getting overly technical on H pipe placement. It wasn't going to make a huge seat of the pants difference.
 

camp4x4

Adventurer
That small box in the front is the cluster...I recognize the scribble on it.

Yes in deed! Thanks again for that!

As far as the exhaust goes, I'm a fan of the Thrush welded mufflers too. Same exact ones Larry has on the K10. Super cheap price but well built. Sound is straight out of the flowmaster playbook for a 10th of the price. At full boil with tailpipes running to the back corners you know what is going on. But at cruise without getting into it is quite mellow.

I can run my K5 with both windows down and carry on a conversation without shouting while at speed. Like Larry said, crossover and tailpipe length and placement all play to the sound/tone quality. LS engines and 8.1's share the same firing order. It is not the standard 18436572 order of the orginal small blocks and big blocks. That change in firing order does play into the sound. Personally, without an H or X pipe 8.1's or LS engines sound like *** regardless of the muffler choice. The crossover pipe helps mellow that out a bunch. I went with an H pipe in my 91 with the 5.3 and couldn't be happier with the Thrush mufflers. Looking forward to see if they develop the supercar tone after 5 or 6 hours on the road on our desert trip.

Okay, I'll very seriously consider those then. They do look at sound good. Really hard to tell from online sound samples, so testimonials are appreciated. I'll definitely be including some kind of H or X pipe as well.

Thanks!
 
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camp4x4

Adventurer
Those are WICKED! They look totally old school. I guess they are a steely knock off. How much did they cost? Me like! Cheers, Chilli..:wings:

These are Pro Comp Series 98's. They were $98 a pop, so not bad at all. Pro Comp does a lot of wheels, and a lot of steel wheels for crawlers, so I wasn't surprised they were the only ones I could find with a 3.5 offset standard on 17's.

Though I did get in touch with Method Wheels, and they said they have a 17x9 beadlock that can be drilled to 8x6.5 and has a 3.5 offset. But at $340 a pop they'll have to wait for another time. I'd actually love to run these, so I've bookmarked them for down the road...

MR_105_Matte_Black_large.jpg
 

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