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1 month to 8.1 swap, then another month to Nv4500 swap

87 V20 Burb- 6.2 Diesel to 8.1-Th400 to Nv4500 I got around a month to complete, then a 800 mile drive. and then a 2300 mile roundtrip
I considered getting some of those, too. But my era Suburban was offered with the 8.1L and they came without the badges, so that kind of makes them out of place. So yeah, I get it. Kind of want badges, kind of don't. The best looking versions have Allison on them, unfortunately.
 
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I considered getting some of those, too. But my era Suburban was offered with the 8.1L and they came without the badges, so that kind of makes them out of place. So yeah, I get it. Kind of want badges, kind of don't. The best looking versions have Allison on them, unfortunately.
I am not a badge kind of guy.
I like things more discreet.
Especially about engines.
I want a sleeper
 
I am not a badge kind of guy.
I like things more discreet.
Especially about engines.
I want a sleeper
I prefer just the stock badges myself. I’m sure I won’t be using them. The 6.2 stuff is still there.

Probably makes it look less desirable. Lol. Hell, I still have the green diesel gas cap. Tweakers around here can’t afford to own a diesel. When I have my burbs siphoned by thief’s, they usually avoid that tank.
 
I prefer just the stock badges myself. I’m sure I won’t be using them. The 6.2 stuff is still there.

Probably makes it look less desirable. Lol. Hell, I still have the green diesel gas cap. Tweakers around here can’t afford to own a diesel. When I have my burbs siphoned by thief’s, they usually avoid that tank.
In CA I got used to remove any diesel badges on a gas converted vehicle, they used to catch people that have the badges but sound like a gas engine.
I am a paranoid man so I just keep it clean
 
And then there was another option that came about.

The neighbors were over for Taco Tuesday and one of them is a car enthusiast/eBay seller/collector and he noticed my headers on the table. He said he had a set that are for a 60s impala with a big block. He brought them over today.

I’ll definitely be test fitting them on my spare 8.1 and be doing some measurements. I’m wondering where those longer collectors are going to exit. I think the primaries are 2”. My black set are 1.875”. Pretty overkill, but cool. If they fit, I’ll run them.



They are Hooker Super Comps.

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Well shoot…

Last night I decided it was time to tackle the brakes. So. New pads, rotors, bearings, races, seals, new shoes, drums, hardware, bearings, races and seals out back. Of course my race installer for the larger cups had its last trip a few years ago and conveniently slipped my mind. Had to cut the old races and use them to pound on.

While I was right there, I checked my King Pin spring eliminators from ORD. I installed them two yrs ago (about 25k later). I’ve been experiencing the death wobble lately and wanted to inspect them. And…. They are fawked. We shall see what ORD has to say. I run a fairly small tire and it spends 90% of its time on the road.



After getting everything re-assembled, I bled brakes, topped off the diff with gear oil and put the burb in top gear and let it idle for a few minutes. After shut down, I check bearing torque, e brake adjustment and pop out the rear shafts one more time to make sure they are getting gear oil( I put a little grease on them so it’s not a dry start).

I think I started after dinner and wrapped it up around 3am. I didn’t put the tires back on to spare the neighbors the additional late night noise. I figured I’d just do it today.

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Then there was today….


I got the tires on and went up the road to seat the brakes. No problems. I went back to the house, check adjustments again and headed to pick up the kids.

When I pulled off my road and turned right onto the hwy, the rear end gov lock engaged kinda loudly. When I pulled off the hwy to get my daughter from school, it locked/engaged again.

Well.
Guess what happened at 65mph. The rear end locked up, as in, locked up the wheels. Slid off the hwy and got her stopped. It wasn’t turning. There was no visible issue. I got back into the burb and put it in reverse. Pop! Driver side unlocked. I pulled the passenger side shaft, put it in 4hi and drove home at 5mph. When I got home, I popped the diff cover and found spider gear chunks. I then noticed that the pass tire/drum was about to slide off. Looks like the bearing came apart too.

So. I’m wondering. Bearing failed first? I can only assume it’s the culprit? I topped off the g80 with the same gl-4 that I’ve used for 20yrs and I’ve never had a problem using it.

Any thoughts?

All I know is the drum won’t come off because the race is stuck on the spindle and the diff spit it’s spiders out.

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yup.. oil starved the new bearings and this was the result. The spindle was wrecked so I found another rear end. It’s a 4.10 open carrier 14bff. I wanted to try out the shorter gear anyway. If I ultimately decide to go this route, I’ll regear the Dana 60 from 3.73 to 4.10.

Of course this opens up a can of worms because I have a extra 4.10 & down Detroit locker for a 60 and another Detroit for a 14bff. I always want a traction aid, but the Detroit front might be a bit much. Hell even the Detroit rear might be a handful when towing in the winter. I’m seriously thinking about a clutch style posi for the rear and deal with the Detroit up front. We shall see what I decide in a few weeks.

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Took a trip from Santa Cruz to Mountain Home Idaho to attend/spectate a 4x competition called ITTC. My header decided to re-crack on the beginning of the trip and it was super annoying to listen to on the 1800 mile trip. It affects the power and mpg. I can’t wait to get the entire system replaced eventually.

It was awesome to see another 8.1/nv4500 swapped square body. I see the Kay brothers every yr at this event and I love their rigs. I had to sneak a few pictures.

On the trip up I started hearing a loud hum when I would pull off the hi way and the road noise would go down. It was the fuel pump. I tried to ignore it and crossed my fingers that it would make the trip. At one point the rail pressure was down to 60 psi and you could hear the pump change pitch when leaving from a stop. Luckily… it hung the entire trip.

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I’m heading out to Winnemucca this Friday and I needed to address a few issues so this weekend I attacked the exhaust and fuel pump. I took the header down to my friend to weld up for one more Hail Mary repair. I can’t quite afford the full exhaust system so I was hoping to get another month or more out of it.

The welder called me and told me it was just all coming apart and that he couldn’t guarantee me anything. I told him to roll the dice. The repair blew apart upon starting the truck….. fml. That was Sunday.

I moved onto the fuel pump. No big deal. It’s just time consuming. The hitch, bumper and skid plate all come off to ease the access. I carry a new replacement pump, screen and filters, so I didn’t have to run to the store. New backup pump will get ordered soon. I’m wondering if the old pump was failing right out of the box. When it was new it I could hear it cycle on with the key switch before start up. This new one I can’t hear it. Also, when I went to check the pressure at the rail I had to turn down the regulator. The pressure was in the 75psi range. It ran at 65 with the last one.

Back to the header… So, I was kinda trapped. I don’t weld, and the header is junk. I rolled the dice and called Sanderson first thing this morning. They are based out of South San Francisco only 50 minutes away. When I called them I started my conversation with just needing to purchase a new driver’s side replacement. They ask me about the situation and tell me about the 5 yr warranty, but in the end they didn’t cover a replacement.

My buddy went and picked it up for me today. I’m not impressed with their quality. If you read about my issues with my brand new set for this swap initially, it’s not surprising they still suck. I remember thinking about what I wanted to do when starting this whole swap project. I thought to myself. Man, I’m going to do something I don’t normally do and treat myself to some expensive made in the USA Sanderson headers. Nothing but problems and regrets. I can’t wait to get rid of them.

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Did you get the bead locks from Garrett? He’s the only guy I’ve seen that has ever had a line on them.

Sucks on the headers. Larry has the Sandersons on his burb but up until this summer it really didn’t get many miles out on it. Now that he got the driveline fixed he’s driving it more, but it’s not getting worked anywhere close to what yours is.

My manifolds have been an issue blowing out exhaust donuts twice this year but they seem to be holding better now. Though I do need to get a couple extra donuts and studs/nuts to stash in the spare kit in the truck.
 
Did you get the bead locks from Garrett? He’s the only guy I’ve seen that has ever had a line on them.

Sucks on the headers. Larry has the Sandersons on his burb but up until this summer it really didn’t get many miles out on it. Now that he got the driveline fixed he’s driving it more, but it’s not getting worked anywhere close to what yours is.

My manifolds have been an issue blowing out exhaust donuts twice this year but they seem to be holding better now. Though I do need to get a couple extra donuts and studs/nuts to stash in the spare kit in the truck.
I got the wheels from a local guy by the name of Nick. He knew what they were but had nothing to bolt them up to. After selling the 37”s that were on it I, I got a screaming deal on the wheels.

I’ve never had a leak at the head, I’ve always used those graphite gaskets there and have had really good luck.

I hope Larry doesn’t run into the same issues. I put about 7,500-10k miles a yr just hauling the camper. That doesn’t include all the other trips and daily driving.


What manifolds are you running. Any pictures of where they dump out?
 
Shoot if Larry put 5,000 miles a year on the burb I’d be shocked. But I know him well enough the moment the headers give him issues he will yank them and spend more to revise the entire exhaust system to put manifolds on.

I’m using stock squarebody big block manifolds on mine. They are pre smog-pump era so they don’t have the bungs in each port to put the air pipes onto.

Any oem style replacement is going to come with the bungs now as they only offer the same part number for all of them. Gmt400 big block manifolds don’t fit without notching the frame on the top rail to clear the wider outlet. Gmt800 8.1 manifolds don’t fit either for the same reason.

There are pics in my build or on the 8.1 resource page.
 
Just a useless note from me here.
I just pulled a set of Sanderson shorty headers off of my small block because they cracked in between the tubes at the collector. Didn't have squat for mileage on them.
Sucks to buy "good" parts and have them die.
 
Just a useless note from me here.
I just pulled a set of Sanderson shorty headers off of my small block because they cracked in between the tubes at the collector. Didn't have squat for mileage on them.
Sucks to buy "good" parts and have them die.
I’ve heard of more than a few others with the same problem.
 
I wish Cooper made the SST pro in the 255/85/16 size, but their 285/75/16 is a great substitute. Just a little wider. I had a bad lug stud and a few questionable ones so I spent the time to swap them out.

I’m really liking the look. I treated the burb to a new set of black lug nuts.

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lol…
I’m pissed about the whole header situation, but it’s nice to not have any leaks. The motor is running awesome now and I don’t have to listen to it. I still am replacing everything from the headers to the tips with Supercomp headers, 3” pipe, mufflers and ss tips.

I refused to take a picture of the new replacement header painted and installed.

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Just got back from a 1200 mile round trip to Winnemucca and back. The 8.1 ran awesome. It’s probably been a long time since I was able to just drive. No stops for problems. I really enjoyed my burb again.

The 285/75/16s with the 4.10 gear has now been chosen for good. I’ll be looking into gears and possible lockers f/r. I can’t justify going into the diffs w/o adding some type of traction aid. All I have at the moment is Detroit’s. I wish I had a true track for the rear.

Anyway. The trip. No problems with the passes. The 8.1 either chugs along with the flow, or drop a gear and I’ll be passing everything. I saw mpg get as high as 9.5 on the flats at 13k.

The beadlocks are awesome. I think I need to pull the balance beads out and just get them weight balanced. I didn’t have any problems with leaks or nut torque on them, but I have a vibration I want to get out of them. The wheels were the talk at camp. I don’t normally have people talk to me about my rig, but those rims sure started up more than a few conversations. Most of them ended the same. “No, they aren’t for sale” lol
 

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