looked at a suburban

[big reaper]

OK I went to look at a 1991 suburban 2500 today and it was not what I expected.
I was expecting a 454 tbi motor with a 700r4 trans .
Nope that's not what was in it. Instead when we popped the hood there was a Cadillac 472 with a th400 behind it.
OK I know nothing about cad motors so I was wondering if someone knowledgeable could fill me in on some info about it. The seller said it was a 525hp 472 but it looked stock. Is this even possible.
I was originally thinking of buying it and using it as a recovery rig for when my blazer breaks down but I'm not so sure anymore.

 

[wage92]

i know guys like those engines because of big cubes, and ive seen parts for them, but definitely not as easy to find parts as a sbc/bbc. And without seeing the internals and knowing some specs, you are just going by his word on the horsepower...

Me personally, i would avoid it because of the engine, just seems like more hassle than its worth

 

[big reaper]

I'm leaning away from it for the fact that its carbed and I would much rather have a injected engine. The only thing making it hard to walk away from is that it is soo clean. The interior looks beautiful. Don't see any hacked wiring or anything and it already looks lifted about 4 inches.
But the guy didn't know what kind of lift it had or what axels. He couldn't even tell me the gear ratio. And the battery was dead so I couldn't hear it run today but he said to come back this weekend and he would put a new battery in it so I could test drive it.

 

[sweetk30]

talk to kirt at diy4x aka cybrfire here. he has 2 500 caddy powered rigs .

some of the caddys in 472 and 500 trim stock were major power houses , and there is a few shops dedicated to massive power builds.

 

[ktmoutfront]

I would look up the casting numbers. At least you would know what it stated as. If does not roast the tires on dry pavement walk away.

FAST EFI would fix that carb issue.

 

[big reaper]

If I can find a truck with fuel injection I'd rather do that. The way I see it is if I'm going to put fast efi on anything it will be my blazer.
The seller just called me and said that if I brought a battery or jumper cables over I could fire it up and test drive it but he doesn't want to buy a new battery he would rather sell it as is. This makes me kind of suspicious because he didn't want me to jump start it while I was there even though I had cables in my blazer with me.

How much is a suburban like that worth its full power good rust free body and good interior. Fresh rebuilt th400 with receipts and the 472 caddy motor.

 

[82355]

A 1991 V2500 Suburban should have had a 4L80E in it.

Martin

 

[diesel4me]

If it ran good,I wouldn't be scared of it,provided it was installed right and not hacked into the truck..Caddy engines were very torquey,didn't give much grief pullin the 3 ton barges they were installed in back in the day...they dont like high revs ,but the low end torque is massive..
A good Q-jet carb will work well on it too..the TH400's rank among GM's best tranny also..

If the truck is nice otherwise,it would be worth it even if you wanted to rip the Caddy out someday..

 

[Jessie James]

This makes me kind of suspicious because he didn't want me to jump start it while I was there even though I had cables in my blazer with me.

Major red flag here. This means the truck probably has electrical problems, and at the very least the alternator or voltage regulator is shot. I bet it's worse, and that is why he is selling it - he can't fix it.

FWIW I had an old Caddy 472 and got barely 6mpg. My 91 K5 with TBI gets 20mpg in town with a light foot. I also *think* those 472's have some rare and expensive parts ... so should something go wrong, it may be $$$$ to fix.

 

[4xcrazy]

Walk away, be patient, find another.