Birth of a Cummins Suburban

[Yukon 400]

Here's a project that I have been dreaming of for quite a while, until recently I just happen to stumble upon the pieces to make this project come to life. It starts out with a 1969 Chevy Suburban, I believe it's C10 that someone decided to swap out the running great to 3/4 hardware. The body appears to be fairly rust free, there are some areas of surface rust I'll have to investigate further to see how bad it, it's been a desert truck all it's life.

My plan is to build this truck into an all around utility vehicle, similar to an expedition vehicle that can be driven to most trails and remote desert locations without much trouble. An low key appearance will be maintained for trips across the border into Mexico. While still having the power to haul a boat or small trailer up mountainous terrain without breaking a sweat, hopefully maintain a decent fuel mileage, or at least achieve something better than my current suburban with a turbocharged 5.3.

Proposed Specs:
5.9L Cummins Engine 6bta
Allison 1000 Transmission
NVG 263 Transfer Case
2.5" lift kit on air bags w/ radius arms
Dana 44HD front axle - Dana 60 when I find one
14 bolt rear axle
35" tires
Modern convinces upgrade
Veggie / WVO fuel system
Heated fresh water supply
And more to come.....

Today I finally got around to getting the engine cleaned up and fired up, It's running a little rough right now, but at least it's making some noise. I've been discussing options of running the Allison behind a mechanical engine, my friend at the local tranny shop seems to be able to have a computer reprogrammed to do so hopefully it'll come together and still maintain factory features like tap shift and tow/haul mode, or maybe even push button control.

Here are some shots of the beginnings of this project.








I know, she's a little bit on the rough side, that shall change with some time and love.





There's the Cummins and Ally sitting beside each other, they make quite a long couple



It seems to be a lot of equipment to stuff in here

I apologize for the poor picture, my good camera ended it's life in the mighty Colorado River at Glen Canyon.

There's more to come.....