1991 V2500 Suburban

[Bigzuth]

Bigzuth submitted a new Build:

1991 V2500 Suburban

Was looking for a clean rust free and unmolested Suburban for a family fun vehicle. Took about a year to find this one. I almost gave up on this one as it was listed many times on facebook market place but the seller never responded to any of my inquiries and did not list a telephone number. After about my 8 attempt over 3 months to contact the seller I finally got a response. It was located in a small town about 50 miles away. Borrowed a friends trailer, cash in hand and away my brother and I went. I pretty much knew I was going to buy this thing even before seeing it in person. In person it was almost better than in the pictures which usually never happens. Interior is clean with no rips, well it was actually really dirty. The previous owner let his kids use it as a play house while it was not running. It took a lot of cleaning but came out real nice. Doors open and closed beautifully, zero rust, clean frame, paint peeling like it likes to do.

It did not run. Previous owner was part way through swapping a used motor into it and lost interest. They scattered the parts all over and had lost or misplaced many things. Never did get the intake manifold, TBI, exhaust manifold, most of the accessories and brackets. Figured I would pick these things up along the way. I haggled with them and $800 later was loading it on the trailer.

Got it home and started digging into it to see what I got. Had no idea this was the first and only year the squares got the 4l80e. I started pricing what I needed to get the TBI motor that was in there back together and before you know it had purchased a 2006 LQ4 and 2006 4l80e. Now I know this route is going to cost more but its going to give me a better finished product and what better candidate for an LS swap.

Plan is to get the motor and tranny in there and get it running, then will move on to suspension. Going to do a small lift, most likely 3-4". Don't want to run anything bigger than a 35" tire as it will see road tripping duties and some towing. We have other vehicles for offroading.

I have learned a ton from everyone in this forum, so thank you all. Mostly just been a lingerer until now.

Read more about this build here...

 

[Justin V]

Nice.

 

[NorCalAnthony]

Looks like a great start to a nice build.

 

[Bigzuth]

Getting started. Stripped the old harness off of the motor and out of the truck. Removed old burned out exhaust and getting a game plan going. Also removed the driver side old man running board, I had removed the passenger one a while ago.

 

[CUCV2]

I like where this is going.

 

[Bigzuth]

Motor is is place, need to grind the little nub on the block to give the engine cross member a bit more clearance, does not touch just real close. Dropped the tank and added the new AC Delco Fuel Pump and starting planning the fuel delivery. Going with AN fittings and some summit braided fuel line and the Corvette filter/regulator.

Trying to figure out what to do for a radiator. The one that was in the truck looks like crap and has not had a cap or hoses on it for years. The 4l80e I am installing is the newer style with the fatter cooler lines. I believe they are 3/8 instead of 5/16, I don't know though they might be even be metric. So I do not want to step down a size in cooler line so I am looking for a radiator that will work with this or I may have to run a large stand alone transmission cooler. Anyone have a suggestion on Radiators? I'M probably going to grab this one from Summit and see if it will work out. Says it has 1/2" cooler hookups.
https://www.summitracing.com/nv/parts/sum-384029/overview/year/1991/make/gmc/model/v2500-suburban

Update: I ended up using the summit radiator linked above. Though the tranny lines are the larger 3/8" diameter they do neck down to a normal 5/16" size at the connection. So I just added some adapters to adapt them up. I actually purchased stock tranny lines for a 2006 2500HD and some minor bending they worked out great.

 

[Bigzuth]

Fuel system is plumbed. Decided to keep most of the existing hard line. My A/C relocation kit and compressor just showed up but am waiting on the Doug's headers to fit them before adding the A/C. Still have not found the perfect radiator, the summit one I linked before has standard size tranny cooler lines. Looks like I will most likely be running a 4 core stock unit with a very large external tranny cooler.

 

[Bigzuth]

Little progress. Resealed and cleaned up the transfer case. Had an issue with the flex plate as this motor was originally backed by a 4l60e and I am installing a 4l80e. Needed to get the flexplate with the spacer, also installed new rear main seal while it was off.

 

[CUCV2]

Looks like it is coming together. The transfer case does look like it is clocked a little low though. Maybe it's an optical illusion?

 

[Justin V]

That's about right for a 241 without a clocking ring...

 

[Superburb906]

Man I hope mine looks that good! I start my swap next weekend. Did you have to move the transmission mount at all or did the engine mounts have enough movement to leave it in the factory spot?

 

[Bigzuth]

I was able to leave it in the factory spot. It is a little tight to the firewall but not close enough to be a problem. The truck is at the exhaust shop getting some exhaust and then it is headed over to get the final tune done on the dyno.

When servicing the diff's I discovered this thing came with 4.10 gears so that was a nice surprise. I have some goodies from ORD and a 4" Tuff Country lift on the way and some Bilstein shocks. Those will go on it when I get it back. Got to decide on what wheels and tires I am going to go with and then its time to get some miles driven and see just how sweet this ride is going to be.

 

[Superburb906]

Did your transmission cross member have any spacers on it where it bolts to the frame? I started my swap today and mine has spacers that space the mount down from the frame. They don't look factory to me. Also, do you have any pictures of how you hooked up your shift linkage for the trans?

 

[Bigzuth]

There were no spacers on my crossmember. The shift linkage is still a work in progress. We did some heating and bending and trusting to get it most of the way lined up. It shifts but not as nice as I would like it to. The trucks at the exhaust shop now so I can’t get you a picture right now.

 

[Superburb906]

There were no spacers on my crossmember. The shift linkage is still a work in progress. We did some heating and bending and trusting to get it most of the way lined up. It shifts but not as nice as I would like it to. The trucks at the exhaust shop now so I can’t get you a picture right now.

Thanks for the info! I ended up removing the spacers which helped my oil pan clearance.

 

[CriticalAction]

Looks like you are moving right along! Pretty cool that two 91 v2500 burbs are getting 6.0s at the same time. My thread isn’t updated to where I am at now but I will remedy that this week for any interested minds. Check mine out and see what you think.

 

[Big Ray]

Nice.

X2!

 

[imiceman44]

Bigzuth submitted a new Build:

1991 V2500 Suburban



Read more about this build here...

$800 for this is a steal.
And having a non running truck is a perfect candidate for an LS swap

 

[fear_nothing]

Any updates?