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New Project 1978 Suburban

B

BT

Registered Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2006
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Location
Texas
Its been awhile since I posted here. I have used a 1989 K5 for about 12 years for hunting and four wheelin. I decided it was time for a new project and sold the K5 for a truck with bigger back seat and rear doors. I have two kids now so it was time to give them their own door and window. I found this 1978 Suburban on E-Bay. A friend of mine drove it 1700 miles home to Texas.

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Overall it is in great shape. It was advertised with 65000 miles and I have seen no reason this is not true but who knows? It has been painted once and has a nice 454. I figure if it made the 1700 mile trek from Key West to Dallas it has to be pretty solid. I was told it was only in Key West for two months and originally came from the state of Washington. The original owner did a nice job and it appears well taken care of. I have to fix some leaky headers first and then figure out what lift and tire combo I want to run. I used a rough country 4" all spring lift on the k5 with 35" tires. I was thinking of going with a 4" Tuff Country this time and 35's again.

I was sorry to see this one drive off into the sun set. I owned it since 1999 and made alot of memories in it. Besides alot of hard work building it just the way I wanted it. The use the high rack you swapped the short legs for 38" ones and put pedastals under the seats.

K5side.jpg


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I will try to keep posts updated as I build the truck. I do have a question. I am going to try and find some wheels so I can ditch the 16.5's. I have an old set of 16's that will work with the factory hub caps and I like the look. I need to take the tires off of them and see how wide the wheels are. If I decide to buy new wheels I may go with steel wheels from Wheel Vintiques. What size and back spacing do yall reccomend to keep the tires tucked up under the truck and not sticking out too far. I was thinking about using the nitto trail grapplers that measure almost 13" wide. I cant wait to post pics with 4" of lift and 35's. should be pretty soon.
 
I wonder if the previous owner was ever a member here? Anybody seen the Suburban before?
 
Nice rig...both of them :waytogo:
 
Any opinions on using 4" Tuff Country springs front and rear? I got some vibrations with the k5 and 4". I am thinking the suburban is longer and less susceptible to driveline angle issues. The stock springs need replacing as well as the shocks so I have been eyeballing the complete kit for a few days. I had one recommendation for a 4" shackle flip, one inch body lift, and 3" front springs. I have not ruled that out but would still need work or replacement of rear springs. The recommendation would also be a lot more work than just swapping the springs, brake lines, sway bar drop. Plus I have never had a body lift and could for see issues with the fan shroud, bumper gaps, throttle linkage, clutch linkage..... I definitely want to go 35" tires cause the 454 is humming down the highway with the sm465 and 4.10 gears on the stock size tires. I am actually wanting to kill the gear a little. Unless there is a huge benefit to the shackle flip I will probably go with 4" springs all the way around. Soft is not necessarily better for my uses. I haul a lot of gear, tow a trailer, and dont need gobs of flex.
 
not getting much response but figured I would keep posting my thoughts. I measured the 16" wheels. They are 8" wide so I am good to go with 13" wide tires. Going to get the wheels blasted and powder coated first. Now I just need to decide on the lift. I spent awhile looking at the lift/tire thread in the general garage and it kind of got me thinking about 6" and 37" tires. More than likely I will stay with 4" and 35" tires.
 
You would probably get more views in the driveway build thread.

But i gotta say nice sub...454 4speed manual 3/4 ton round headlights in awesome shape,with the plans you got you will make allot of guys
jelous...ME! :D

The old blazer looks sweet to! :thumb:
 
BT said:
Any opinions on using 4" Tuff Country springs front and rear? I got some vibrations with the k5 and 4". I am thinking the suburban is longer and less susceptible to driveline angle issues. The stock springs need replacing as well as the shocks so I have been eyeballing the complete kit for a few days. I had one recommendation for a 4" shackle flip, one inch body lift, and 3" front springs. I have not ruled that out but would still need work or replacement of rear springs. The recommendation would also be a lot more work than just swapping the springs, brake lines, sway bar drop. Plus I have never had a body lift and could for see issues with the fan shroud, bumper gaps, throttle linkage, clutch linkage..... I definitely want to go 35" tires cause the 454 is humming down the highway with the sm465 and 4.10 gears on the stock size tires. I am actually wanting to kill the gear a little. Unless there is a huge benefit to the shackle flip I will probably go with 4" springs all the way around. Soft is not necessarily better for my uses. I haul a lot of gear, tow a trailer, and dont need gobs of flex.
Click to expand...


Tuff Country seems to be a favorite here...I'm going to go with their 6" springs....when I can afford them...:doah:


p.s...p.m. a mod & have them move this to the driveway forum...I believe you'll get more feedback there.
 
I went from 30" tires to 31.5's and dropped a few hundred rpm, and still have good low end in my CC454 w/4.10's I will be contemplating a OD trans for mine to lower the highway engine speed.
IMO...I wouldnt run too big of a tire or your towing will suffer with the 4.10's.
If you do a lift, a shackle flip seems to be popular, I have done it with the DIY4X brackets...Kert builds stout stuff. If your stock springs are in good shape you could still use them and do the flip. I have superlift softride 6" front springs and like them real well, although they are more soft for flex, than weight carrying type springs.
 
Well, welcome back and glad your getting back into a good ol' Chevy. :waytogo:
 
The k5 was a ton of fun. I don't do a lot of 4 wheelin just for fun, but I can always find my truck in the worst spots trying to get where I want to go on the other side. Mostly at night not looking for zombies as much as coyotes and bob cats. The blazer had 4.56 gears and eaton posi's and it was pretty ruthless for most of the situations I ended up in. In the bottom picture it was sporting 34x10.50 super swamper LTB's. They were awesome but the 35x12.50 bf goodrich mt rode and looked a ton better.

I think the suburban will be good with 4.10's and 35's. First truck with sm465.... Feel like a bus driver with less gears but I like it. Running down the highway I get tailgaters and dang near run over unless I let the 454 scream the whole way to work. I think the low end will be good with a bigger tire. The motor seems to have a mild rv cam and plenty of power. Moving the thread is fine with me!
 
Taking the 16x8 steel wheels to get tires dis-mounted then dropping them off at powder coaters for sand blast and color. I think I am going to go semi gloss black or dark gray then sport the factory 3/4 ton hub caps. I like the old school look of the hub caps but don't think I can stay with white.
 
Wow, I am extremely jealous of that Suburban! The K5 also turned out freakin' awesome! If the 'burb turns out anything like the K5, it will be one sweet rig. I can't help but 2nd the motion on using the stock hubcaps :D. I would also recommend a shackle flip and 4" TC ez ride front springs. Looking forward to more updates.
 
The wheels didn't make it to the powder coater because I got busy Friday at work. I spent most of today trying to get my headers to quit leaking. I heard a ticking sound when I first got the truck. I would have sworn it was an exhaust leak. The previous owner sent it with a set of Hedman gaskets so I stuck them on at work last week. It still sounded like it had an exhaust leak so I ordered a set of the percy's seal-4 good aluminum gaskets. While I waited I tightened up the headers with the new Hedman gaskets a few times after heat cycles and got it a little quieter. I woke up this morning ready to try the aluminum gaskets. I have never used any thing like these. I had also ordered a pair of the dead soft aluminum collector gaskets. I installed it all and it leaked worse than it did before. I mean horrible. Before you could hear a tick but with the Percy's you could feel the leak around a couple of cylinders. I took them off and you could see where they were getting crushed and not. I re installed them again and it was the same thing. The alum collector gaskets also leaked like crazy. I went to the parts house and got what they had in stock Mr. Gasket paper for headers and collectors. Swapped everything again and it sounds about like it did when i first got the truck. You can't feel any leaks anywhere but the ticking is there. I am starting to think it may be in the motor! I know it's got to be an exhaust leak. If I hold a screwdriver up to the valve covers and the end on my ear I can't hear anything in the motor. I am going to tighten them up again in the morning and go from there. I almost think I am going to need to take the headers off and check the flanges. If I do I will cut them between each hole. Sure hate to use RTV but that's an option. I have never had this much trouble with a set of headers. Makes me want to buy some exhaust manifolds or a new set of headers but I need to get this wrapped up so I can move on to the lift. I am also splitting time working on a Jeep J20 that I need to finish up and sell to fund the suburban. It's in the classifieds here and on IFSJA.org. Still gonna get on those wheels Monday. I got $1000 gift card to Discount Tire so the rubber is covered. I am thinking about going with Toyo MT's or Nitto Trail Grapplers in whatever equates to 35/12.50/16.
 
You should really look into Remflex header gaskets.

http://catalog.remflex.com/

No re-torque required, no leaks and thick enough to compensate for the most messed up headers you could possibly have.
 
Finally got the wheels off to the powder coater today. Went with satin black. I have been driving the burb last few days to keep shaking it down. All is good so far.
 
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