72 Suburban Making it mine

[bowtieguy79]

Well, the 72 Specific Big Block mounts, don't work with the LS.... ]

DS fits fine,

PS is off by a bit...


Put out some feelers last night, I think I have a lead on some SBC frame mounts. Hope this isn't a sign that it won't be ready for Power Tour....

[Advanced Design]

Hope the mounts turn up. Build fast...40 days...plenty of time.
Engine looks good!

[bowtieguy79]

Found mounts, not to find the time to get them painted and installed!!

[bowtieguy79]

It was like assembling a jig saw puzzle, after a lot of fussing, a little cussing, my dad and I got the SBC mounts to agree with the LS and the Suburban frame.

Now, to get on it and get it all going by the end of the month.


Hope to get the 80E bolted in this week, and get the drive shaft dropped off to get shortened. Then move on to Exhaust

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy79

It was like assembling a jig saw puzzle, after a lot of fussing, a little cussing, my dad and I got the SBC mounts to agree with the LS and the Suburban frame.

Now, to get on it and get it all going by the end of the month.

Hope to get the 80E bolted in this week, and get the drive shaft dropped off to get shortened. Then move on to Exhaust

Good luck on the projects... I'm in the same boat. I have too many interruptions...

LockDoc

[Twisted78SS]

Looking great, at the rate your moving, i think you will make it with some time to spare and drive out any kinks... before the tour begins.

[bowtieguy79]

Thanks guys, I sure hope so.

[Advanced Design]

Looking really nice! Do the bb stands have some value? Don't know if they are reproduced.
Anyway, nice work.

[bowtieguy79]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Looking really nice! Do the bb stands have some value? Don't know if they are reproduced.
Anyway, nice work.

You know they might, but I'm going into hording mode on the 2 402's I ended up with, since both are numbers matching, all that stuff is going in a tub and put on a shelf.

[sambob2285]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy79

Couple months back we picked up a super clean 72 suburban, needed a little TLC and some things changed, but it fit the bill, solid body, few imperfections that would allow us to not care as much about driving it possibly daily.

Our end goal is a Family Vacation / Power Tour long haul vehicle, and maybe since its currently bright Illini Orange a tail gate vehicle here and there

It currently has a the factory 402/400TH. It runs good but man it drinks to much fuel. It will be upgraded to a 5.3 LS and a 4L60E out of my 79 C10.

Should motivate the Sub for what we want. Click on pic for the vid of the 79



Don't worry the C10 will get upgraded after the sub is where I want it.

To date I have changed the second row seats out for front seats of a 04 Silverado

Came with a second row from an Avalanche nice seats, just didn't fit like I wanted them to. Sat way to close to the front seats. They could have been modified and moved back, but I was wanting captains chairs.


04 Front seats



The next issue that was causing driving issues was the dirty original gas tank. I had put 4 new inline fuel filters in it and it was just getting worse. I dropped the tank and I think I got about a half folgers can of dried gas chunks and rust. The sending unit was missing the float, I think it disintegrated... The old tank also had a couple of pin holes so it was time for a new tank.

I shopped and searched here, and man for another 10 gallon I just couldn't see spending $1000 on a fancy tank. I opted for a factory replacement LMC 21 gallon tank and sending unit kit.

Figured while I was there, I would prep it for the LS swap.






Moving forward, I intend to trade the factory front AC with a vintage air unit and T in the factory Rear air that is in place in the Sub now. The LS will remain a factory stock 5.3, no plans to mod, same with the transmission.

The interior we want to go with tan leather. Similar to what you would see in the 03-06 Z71 Suburbans, that lighter colored tan and add a third row seat. The audio system will be similar to what you would find in a newer suburban. I may go with an Ipad based system, but the rear will have DVD for the kiddo's.

Our goal is to drive this thing anywhere, Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mertle Beach. Where ever, and I intend to have it as safe as I can make it, and as reliable as I can make it.

man im so stoked you found my thread and commented on it and shared yours!! the ls fuel line fittings is going to be a life saver for me! wish i would have found it sooner so i didnt fret so dang much about it. im loving the burb build hope mine turns out that nice one day!

keep up the great work!

[bowtieguy79]

Thanks for the kind words, That fuel set up is about as simple as it gets. No baffles in the tank, but so long as you keep it around 1/4 tank, should be fine.

[Advanced Design]

The fuel set up is really good info. Love your Burb! One quadrillion dollars.

[bowtieguy79]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

One quadrillion dollars.

[bowtieguy79]

It's been an exciting night at the bowtieguy79 shop! The 4L80E is in!





Was able to use existing holes!





We'll see what weekend brings, if it rains I might get more done as we won't have little league games.

[Advanced Design]

Nice! A lift is really handy. 30 days to HRPT. You will make it.

[bowtieguy79]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice! A lift is really handy. 30 days to HRPT. You will make it.

The lift was such a time and back saver. When my buddy and I got done, we both felt great, and where relatively clean. I should have bought one 10 years ago!

Next steps, fit manifolds, notch frame as needed, and blend into current exhaust.

Sort out the shifter, shouldn't be terrible.

Buy fuel lines and AN fittings at local speed shop to finish out the fuel system

Once I get to that point, I need to lay the harness out and swap a few wires for the 80E to function properly.

Install inner wheel wells, mount fuse block, cut down the gas pedal and mount it, fab up a battery tray for the DS, paint underside of hood black...

OH and the brake booster and MC need installed, brakes then all bleed out.

Looks like a lot typed out, but should move quickly!

[bowtieguy79]

For the record, F-body LS manifolds fit fantastic on the sub! I scored a pair that already had a cat delete, pipes will weld up pretty slick!

[Advanced Design]

Good info...note made.

[bowtieguy79]

Power Tour 2015 is only 19 days away.... And the sub still being in pieces an executive decision was made...

So my buddy Josh and I are going to do the first 4 days of the tour. End in Memphis and go home Tuesday night.

So with it starting to look like we are not going to take the suburban and instead take my truck, we had an idea. Why not use a vacation day now, and only do 3 days of power tour? So This past friday we took off.

Hit the shop about 830am Friday morning. We started to fab up exhaust pipes from the Firebird LS1 manifolds. I had a friend give me off of his Z06, the complete cat back. I was able to use the 2.5" stainless to make an H pipe and blend in to my old exhaust.



While it was still on the lift, the rest of the day, we installed the driveshaft that I had 3" taken out of, a new energy suspension trans mount, Walbro Fuel Pump, fuel lines ran to engine. The shifter took some tweaks, but got it functioning.

About 4pm we pushed it out of the shed and into my house garage where I have all my tools and good lighting.

At that point we started to put on the accessories, radiator, shroud, and a ton of little things and tweaks along the way.



About 8pm his brother Mike showed up and we just kept plugging away.... at that point we had pork chops for lunch and garage pizza from Casey's General Store around 9pm.

After pizza I had a decal installation celebration....




The cold air intake is from a 07-13 GM truck. Fits pretty good, but not sure it will once I install the AC compressor.... we'll find out here in the next couple of weeks.



had to borrow a few tools from a neighbor and fellow hot rodder, its 12am at this point... time for a selfie... I cut my own head off in this pic....


by 1am we had the harness laid out and plugged in to everything on top..


Just about 3am we called it quits, I test fit all the covers and fuse block, battery etc.



We cut up and tweaked an 81-87 pass side battery tray to fit on the pass side of the 72. Worked out pretty slick!



Today I was able to get the Denali engine harness swapped around for a 4L80E vs the 4L60E, I had one buddy who just left tonight around 730, he just kept tinkering all day while I went with the family to my boys Little League games this afternoon.

Friends like that are just hard to come by.

We made HUGE HUGE strides, I'm only hours away from hearing it pop off. Going to push again this week in the evenings and hope to be doing some test and tune by weekend at the latest. Hot Rod Power Tour here we come!!!

[Advanced Design]

Awesome progress and long days! Looks really good!

I would be making mistakes from exhaustion. Good friends you have too.

[bowtieguy79]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Awesome progress and long days! Looks really good!

I would be making mistakes from exhaustion. Good friends you have too.

ya about 230, the goofy easy mistakes started flowing..... so we called it a night. We used to thrash of stuff all night in our early 20s, just don't have it in me anymore..

[bowtieguy79]

Got it fired up tonight. Did a test crank and she popped off. Tuned out the VATS and it idles. Needs further tuning. Hope to get some miles on it this week.

[Advanced Design]

Nice job, sounds good! Very fast work over just a few days.

[bowtieguy79]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice job, sounds good! Very fast work over just a few days.

Thanks Doug, I've got to say, I slept really good last night knowing its nearly there!

[bowtieguy79]

Here are the details on the cam I put in it.
Crane Cams 1449081 HR-216/344-2S-14 Hydraulic Roller Camshaft Chevy 4.8 6.2L LS V8 1997-2010 Good daily driver, for stock or modified 5.7L thru 6.0L, light choppy idle, Good fuel economy, 10.5+ compression ratio advised, computer upgrades required.
Part Number: 1449081
Grind Number: HR-216/344-2S-14
RPM Power Range: 2200-6500
Duration Intake @.050": 216
Duration Exhaust @.050": 224
Advertised Duration Intake : 277
Advertised Duration Exhaust: 285
Lobe Separation: 114
Valve Lash Intake: 0
Valve Lash Exhaust: 0
Gross Valve Lift Intake: 0.585
Gross Valve Lift Exhaust: 0.585