Project Polar Bear: '89 V2500 Suburban

[Larry]

Looks great Larry! I just got my SM465 in and believe it or not it is one that has the top cover like the NV2500 so my shifter is back where your is. Unfortunately it's been snowing here like there probably so I have been stuck for about a week. Having a garage that the burb fits in must be nice haha. Have a Merry Christmas!

Cool! Yeah, I believe the ’88-’91 GMT400 trucks with SM465’s had the shift tower in the rear like a NV4500. They weren't quite as awkward shifting as the earlier 465's either. Year's ago my dad bought a new 1991 GMC K3500 4x4 wrecker with a 7.4L and 465. We were bummed out when it showed up with only a 4 speed as we were hoping for the "all-new" 5-speed (NV4500) that was all the talk back in the day.

Crimany! It look longer to create a floor cover and rig up the tcase shifter than it did to install the entire transmission!

Super Juice! $48 fine for 4 quarts at the local GM dealer

What is left of the TH350 trans tunnel I grabbed at the bone yard. I had hopes in trimming it to layover the Suburban’s trans tunnel but they are shaped different so I ended up just cutting out the center piece. In all reality, I could have used any flat piece of sheet metal to make the cover instead of hacking this one up. Oh, well.

I decided to weld the cover on rather than bolt it in an effort to prevent road splash leaks. There is still plenty of room to get the trans out if needed.

The transmission and tcase are both missing vents at the end of the vent hoses. Can you believe there isn’t one dime store part store that stocks axle vents? The idiots at Vhatozone didn’t even know what an axle vent was! Tomorrow’s plan is to start installing carpet and glue the exhaust back together and hit up Napa for a couple axle vents. Need to go pick up the seat from the upholstery guy too.

 

[mosesburb]

Looks good man. The original applications with 4500's had a large sound deadening pad/donut thing that went around the tower and seated up to the bottom of the tunnel. Makes a huge difference in the amount of noise that comes up through the floor. Might be able to make something out of some of that silver foil backed jute insulation. Cut a few rings to stack up and seal/tape the edges together with that foil tape stuff.

Just out of curiosity, have you run that oil in a NV4500 before?? The reason I ask is the GM p/n for the NV4500 spec oil is 12346190. It looks like what you have is just typical Sychromesh fluid, not the NV4500 only oil. The price is way low too as the last batch of the 12346190 I bought (beginning of summer before our trip) it was right around $19.00 wholesale $23.00 list/qt (approx). Yep, over a hundred bucks just in lube (one spare qt). Anyways, I just wanted to see if you had run that before and if not, you may want to investigate that 12346190 part number as that is the only one I have ever seen from GM for the 4500. Hate to see a 4500 get wasted on wrong lube that the parts guy says "we run that in all of our transmissions".

 

[Larry]

Yeah, I got another one of those donut things that goes under the boot. I have one in the K10 too. You can kind of see it in the pictures in Post 110 lying upside down next to the ACC carpet box. Scored the boot and isolator from a 2004 Silverado at the bone yard and a shifter stick from a 1993. I like the ’92-’94 sticks because the knob matches the original knobs used in the square body style trucks. Also got a brand new knob from work for from a late model Workhorse chassis with a NV4500. Same knob that is on the K10.

Well, SOB! Good catch on the fluid because I trusted my parts guy at the local GMC store to give me the right ****. I told him exactly what I was working on and this is what he gave me. This guy is good and I usually do not second guess him and I didn't even bother checking the part number on the bottles for the pn ending in 190. I’ve known this guy for like 25 years. Looks like going to the GMC store to give an asskicking has been added to the errand list for tomorrow! Looking back at invoices 12346190 is what I used for the NV4500 in the K10. Last time it was around $70 for the fluid so I thought $48 sounded cheap…here I thought I got the super good buddy xmas price. Errr!

 

[Larry]

Nv4500 done!

Well, she is done and I am extremely satisfied with the results! A NV4500 is far from a sports car transmission but compared to the SM465 it certainly is. It is amazing how just a transmission alone can change the personality of a vehicle.

Got the right super juice this time. He felt bad and let me have it for $18 per bottle. Thanks for catching that Nick. I should have known better being the bottles were different but this guy has never let me down so I typically do not double check what he gives me.

Before

After I used the 205 shifter boot and bezel left over from the K10 after it got a twin stick

It took all day yesterday to install the ACC carpet! Damn Burbs have a 1000 holes to cut through the carpet and jute plus the ACC carpet is about 8" too big all around where it must be cut to fit. What a time consuming pita to replace the carpet from barn doors to firewall.

Same knob I used on the K10 a few years ago when it got a NV4500. For some reason, I knew it was a good idea to buy two knobs!

I put about 30 miles on it tonight and have to run some errands in Canon City tomorrow so that should be a good shake down run for it. So far so good….no leaks, vibrations, rattles, etc.

Now, it just needs more power! Might have to get busy and do something about that

 

[eclipse85k10]

That install looks clean. Man i only wish i knew how my k10 would drive with a nv4500 over its 465

 

[y5mgisi]

Man, everything you do is the stuff dreams are made of. When that 8.1 gets dropped in you are going to have a pretty well perfect Suburban.

 

[mosesburb]

Man, everything you do is the stuff dreams are made of. When that 8.1 gets dropped in you are going to have a pretty well perfect Suburban.

Yeah, other than it will still be gas powered. Bwahahahahahahahaha (gasps for breath) hahahahahahahaha.

Looks great Larry. Although I never measured one I am very surprised at the near-identical length to a 32spl SM465. I did not think they would be anywhere near that close, but oh-so-sweet that it is. This has got to be the easiest NV4500 swap possible (short of a GMT400, but that's cheating).

Throw an EP377 in the tank, run the pressure up to 15psi, twist the distributor until it pings under heavy throttle (no timing light, no tan wire disconnect--just twist it), back it off a fuzz and enjoy the newfound power your "worn out" motor now has. It won't turn it into the blue truck, but it will be a completely different animal for the price of a pump.

 

[Larry]

Man, everything you do is the stuff dreams are made of. When that 8.1 gets dropped in you are going to have a pretty well perfect Suburban.

That is only because a few of us with demented minds dream alike.

Yeah, other than it will still be gas powered. Bwahahahahahahahaha (gasps for breath) hahahahahahahaha.

Looks great Larry. Although I never measured one I am very surprised at the near-identical length to a 32spl SM465. I did not think they would be anywhere near that close, but oh-so-sweet that it is. This has got to be the easiest NV4500 swap possible (short of a GMT400, but that's cheating).

Throw an EP377 in the tank, run the pressure up to 15psi, twist the distributor until it pings under heavy throttle (no timing light, no tan wire disconnect--just twist it), back it off a fuzz and enjoy the newfound power your "worn out" motor now has. It won't turn it into the blue truck, but it will be a completely different animal for the price of a pump.

HA! Diesels…….that is what guys with small peckers think they need under the hood.

Ya! A 32 spline 465 to NV4500 is a piece of cake. This swap was a walk in the park compared to the K10 where everything in the world changed. On the Burb, I didn’t even need to buy a trans mount or spend a cent on driveline work….nada! Pretty much a bolt for bolt deal. Hell, had I not gone with a complete new carpet set to install I would have been done a day and a half sooner.

Nah, I am going to throw an EP381 in the tank and a L18 8.1L under the hood. The next project is to open the two L18’s I have to see which one is going to be the easiest to fix. One only has a broken oil pump drive so it should be an easy fixer while the other was a major overheat and may need head work. We used oil pressure cut offs on the horses with L18’s so there should be no bearing damage. Once the shaft breaks the engine shuts down.

All funnies aside, if I had a 12V Cummins or even a 6.5L accessible with little or no costs involved, I probably would use one of them. With having access to high torque big blocks, there is no reason not to use them. I already told you what happens to me when I breath too much diesel fumes ........

 

[y5mgisi]

HA! Diesels…….that is what guys with small peckers think they need under the hood.

Oh boy, lets not go that far!

 

[noJeepshere]

Oh boy, lets not go that far!

Word. My future family 'burb (if ever I get that far) is going to have a Duramax swap, and my commuter will likely be an S-10 2wd with a 1.9TDI from VW swapped in. Neither needs to make a ton of power, nor be loud, nor do they need to smoke. The "little pecker" theory holds water if you're referring to the jockhead in the lifted Ram/F-350/Duramax with 37" mud-terrains and Rockstar (brostar) wheels and the lights painted black with a straight pipe exhaust and any number of bolt-on/stick-on parts and thinks the throttle is an on-off switch and cyclopentaphenanthrene is a legit drink. But the rest of us like fuel economy and performance and longevity from our rides.

 

[COCHEV]

Maybe Larry is starting a big c*cks for big blocks advocacy group...

I did have to laugh the other day when I pulled up to my local pizza shop and parked out front was a huge overly lifted cummins with huge dual stacks in the bed. He, of course, left it running while he was inside. It was crazy loud. As I get out of my rig, out of the store comes the truck owner... about 5-3 little stumpy guy in a wife beater and shorts. Made me laugh

 

[Kstanbach]

Okay, got some major 4x4 capability mods done today, I added a set of Vent Shades. I have these on the K10 as well and love them as with the window cracked a bit they allow fresh air in but keep all the wind and noise out. They also help quiet down the vent wing noise the square body style rigs are famous for.

Also been busy pimping leftover parts on CL to continue fueling the project budget. Yesterday the old tires and wheels from the Polar Bear went to new home, which was perfect timing as I just ordered all of the parts for the NV4500 swap. Looks like the NV4500 swap will happen during the Christmas and New Year’s break.





My wife got a new camera so lookout, I’ll probably be a bigger picture wh0re than I was before.

This is Pikes Peak from next to the garage on super zoom. Too neat not to share although it would have been better if there were Antelope roaming around out there as they usually are.

These Colorado Pictures are killing me; I lived in Colorado Springs for 7 years; I still consider it the most beautiful place ever.

 

[Kstanbach]

Then I moved to the inside for a while and installed a set of Cabela’s Trailgear seat covers. Cool and durable seat covers for only $40! The seat fabric is actually in really nice shape under the covers.


Also added some cheap Walmart bicycle bottle holders while I was at it. I have these in my K10 as well and they are very handy


Added a cheap Vhatozone tach a couple times. I say a couple times because the first one lasted a week and got stuck at 3,000 RPM. Got a new one and a few months later it is intermittently doing the same thing but sticks at 2,500 RPM. Errrr

In February I had new tailpipes installed as the last clown routed them under the leaf springs where when the suspension flexed it would break the hangers. Idiots! Also added a “Test” pipe in place of the restrictive cat (I live in a non-emissions testing county). I reused the single inlet/dual outlet Flowmaster. Sounds decent.



Got room for the ORD shackle flip now too

You can get an in-dash tach from here:
http://gmsportssalvage.com/?q=node/1530
And here:
http://www.tachman.com/oldsun.htm

 

[noJeepshere]

You can get an in-dash tach from here:
http://gmsportssalvage.com/?q=node/1530
And here:
http://www.tachman.com/oldsun.htm

Whaaaa!! mind blown! didn't know those existed! I know LMC made them, but that one that goes to 7,000 rpm with a normal sized fuel gauge takes the cake.

 

[Kstanbach]

Whaaaa!! mind blown! didn't know those existed! I know LMC made them, but that one that goes to 7,000 rpm with a normal sized fuel gauge takes the cake.

The LMC deal is not just the tach. You have to purchase a wiring harness, circuit board, and something else to cost you, and give you a headache. The ones I gave links to are realitivly easy to install. Heavy trucks, like C 60s, came with the tach/fuel gauge combos.

 

[Larry]

Thanks for the tach link Kstanbach! Those are cool, but those don’t work well with a distributorless engines without needing an aftermarket tach driver. Looking at MSD’s tach driver instructions when I did the 8.1L into the K10, I was not fond of the idea of cutting a coil signal to add their aftermarket stuff. I don’t trust aftermarket MSD stuff enough to interrupt a coil signal. This Burb will inevitably be getting an 8.1L sometime in the next year or so, which the 8.1L is distributorless. The good news is the last Sunpro tach I put in the Burb (3rd one) is working fine so far. Heck, I have the same exact tach in the K10 that has worked flawlessly for the past 17 years. Not sure why the first 2 for the Burb were such turds…Sunpro probably built the old one in Mexico and the new one in a Chinese sweat shop right along side of MSD garbage.

This is the one in the K10. This truck started life off as an automatic so the old trans shifter boss was as good as place as any to mount the tach.

 

[70jimmy]

I might steal that idea, been wanting to put a tach in the jimmy for a while, but too cheap and not good enough with wiring to re-do my dash.

 

[max 02]

Great stuff you got going on Larry!
But I gotta comment on the tiltometer you got in the k10... haven't seen on of those in a long time.

 

[Kstanbach]

Thanks for the tach link Kstanbach! Those are cool, but those don’t work well with a distributorless engines without needing an aftermarket tach driver. Looking at MSD’s tach driver instructions when I did the 8.1L into the K10, I was not fond of the idea of cutting a coil signal to add their aftermarket stuff. I don’t trust aftermarket MSD stuff enough to interrupt a coil signal. This Burb will inevitably be getting an 8.1L sometime in the next year or so, which the 8.1L is distributorless. The good news is the last Sunpro tach I put in the Burb (3rd one) is working fine so far. Heck, I have the same exact tach in the K10 that has worked flawlessly for the past 17 years. Not sure why the first 2 for the Burb were such turds…Sunpro probably built the old one in Mexico and the new one in a Chinese sweat shop right along side of MSD garbage.

This is the one in the K10. This truck started life off as an automatic so the old trans shifter boss was as good as place as any to mount the tach.
IMG]

Ahh, ok, it was just a suggestion. The 8.1 motor seems like a neat idea.

 

[Big Ray]

lev-o-gage