Polar Bear Suburban

[DirtyLarry]

Oh, I forgot I hadn’t added anything about the clean power I added to the cargo area last fall. Last fall we had a little day trip over Medano Pass to the Sand Dunes which was the motivation I needed to wire up 12V power in the back of the Burb in order to run the National Luna refrigerator that usually lives in the Phoenix camper on the K10. I’ve gotten spoiled having cold pop and food in the K10 so I had to make accommodations for the fridge in the Suburban too because you know, you can’t go on a day trip without cold pop.

You would think stringing 12V power to the back of the Burb would be a short project….nope, not at this garage. 3 night’s worth of project

I am a junction block junkie! I love these junction blocks GM used on the firewall of 73-91 square body trucks as they are so useful to use everywhere. I added one of these junction blocks to the RH fender to carry the power to the rear of the burb. For this location I removed the cross bar and added a fuse. Since this picture was taken I had to move the headlight relays and junction box down about 2" as the hood hinge was running too close. In fact, the hood hinge rubbed a hole in the headlight relay then water got and I lost my headlights coming home from the airport earlier this summer. Errrr


Pinch mount stand-off bracket just forward of the RH wheel well as the power lead goes up into the cargo area. All the wiring is 10 gauge wire slid inside 7/32 vacuum hose. I like to run single power leads inside vacuum hose for added chaff protection.


Gave the pass through a good soaking of undercoating




Added another junction block in the right rear quarter panel just forward of the wheel well. I was able to gain access to this spot by way of a speaker hole. It was a tight hole to conduct business!




All that work for 3 damn sockets!


Oddball Hella plug for the National Luna refrigerator, 2 port USB outlet and regular 12V outlet


Also added some tied downs to the floor while I was at it. Can’t have that refrigerator bouncing around bonking people on the head


This is how it looked loaded for our day trip. Ah, had nice cool drinks all day long

[jbclassix]

Still the best V2500 I've ever seen! And only getting better!

[MTCK]

You can never have too much power! I had three ports on the short bed, and the crew cab is getting more. Is the power switched with the ignition or do you not want that with your fridge back there?

[DirtyLarry]

That is for sure. We need more power for all of our electronic gadgets these days. Right now the power that feeds the first junction block under the hood is wired directly to the battery (the fuse is at the junction block). Once I get a dual battery isolator I will move the power feed to the aux battery on the driver’s side. With the power in the rear being intended to run the refrigerator and to charge gadgets like phones and cameras they need to be powered all the time rather than key on. The dual battery isolator protects the start battery anyway so even of the fridge runs it dead we can still start up the next day

[mud.man.rj]

Nice additions lately, thanks for sharing posts and good ideas.

[Jimbo0076]

Larry I was wondering how well you liked those Fierce tires? Got to like them somewhat because they are going to be on both rigs haha

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Jimbo0076

Larry I was wondering how well you liked those Fierce tires? Got to like them somewhat because they are going to be on both rigs haha

You know, I love those tires. The Fierce Attitudes are definitely my tire of choice right now. For load range E they ride great, have great road manners (much better than I would have ever expected) and do very well off-road. The set that is on the Burb now rolled on the K10 back and forth to California all over the back country in Mojave Desert, Death Valley, went on a different trip to the back country of Utah and two trips to Flagstaff. I figure these tires are getting close to 9,000 miles on them with a good 1/3 of that being on dirt roads/trails and they barely show any wear. In fact, it wasn’t until I bolted them on the Burb did they start to show wear. I noticed some outer wear and feathering last week so I ran it over to have the toe adjusted and did a quick rotate.

For a comparison, I bought a set of load range E 285 Goodyear Duratracs for my Silverado HD this past August because GY had an $80 instant rebate which put them less than the Fierce. The Duratracs are awesome looking tires but they seem to float and wander all over the road. The ride is horrible as well. An unladden IFS HD truck rides pretty sucktastic as it is then with these Duratracs every crack in the road is like an explosion of discomfort where even pocket change in the ashtray flies around like a bomb went off. I dropped the pressure down to 38 psi and they still ride like solid rubber tires. At 38 the tires actually looks like they're too low on air. I haven’t had these tires on anything exciting yet so too soon to tell how they will do in the snow and stuff. Probably wouldn't buy those again.

Once I get this 8.1L project for the Burb out of the way that is eating all of my lunch money I still need to get another set of Fierce Attitudes to pay the K10 back before the Desert Trip 2015. Got another set of the same wheels, now I just need the tires. Speaking of the wheels I found something interesting with these wheels I'll have to post up when I get some time.

Anyway, yes....I highly recommend the Fierce tires! The barb wire on the sidewalls looks pretty childish but other than that they are great tires!

[y5mgisi]

I have heard really good things about the Goodyear Kevlar mtr. I'm thinking of getting a set for my K25.

[bowtieguy79]

Very nice looking old sub, enjoy your threads. nice work!

[MTCK]

OK it sounds like some 8.1 swap updates are in order! I think I'm going to try some Cooper ST Maxx once my truck is up a bit higher.

[Dieselwrencher]

I've heard the same thing about the Duratracs Larry. My brother is tire shopping right now and he was going to get the duratracs but they don't offer them in a 305 anything 16. It's either a 285 or 315. If he goes with them he'll more than likely have to go with the 285's. It's surprising what isn't available in an load range E 285 or larger 16" tire these days. I think it's crazy with how many old trucks are running 16" tires on them.

[Chevy3+3]

Not trying to hi jack DirtyLarry but I had what is hopefully a quick question. I have a 6 round pattern 32 spline 205 that I am planning on mating to a NV4500 from a 94 Chevy k2500. I was going to run the AA spacer but feared my t-case shifter would then be to far back into my bench seat. So since both a 32 spline will they mate up without any mods as long as I clearance the nv4500 for the t-case linkage?

If not what are my options to mate them directly to keep my drivetrain shorter and t-case shifter more forward?

I would have sent a PM but you don't have that option.

Thanks in advance for any input.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by MTCK

OK it sounds like some 8.1 swap updates are in order! I think I'm going to try some Cooper ST Maxx once my truck is up a bit higher.

Well not much to report on the engine just yet but it is eating my lunch money! Boy am I glad I decided to throw a RayLar cam in this engine! Let me tell you why….. This engine was a warranty core that has been laying around for 7 to 8 years. The causual failure was the oil pump drive, which breaks the drive shaft when the drive locks up. The pump drive basically takes place of the distributor where it supports the top side of the oil pump drive shaft. Same design as a 6.2/6.5L diesels. Back around 2006/2007 these oil pump drive failures were pretty common due to a supplier issue and the drives were on intergalactic back order so many engines were swung to avoid Lemon Law for days out of service. Anyway, knowing this engine had suffered the oil supply issue I dropped several rods and mains. All of the bearings looked great so I hoped the cam bearings would be too. Then I decided to add the RayLar cam and when I yanked the old cam I found the cam bearings were toast! They have huge burn out marks on them, especially the center bearing. They did not spin in the bore but the surface of the bearing look like crap. So it is a damn good thing I decided to install a RayLar cam otherwise I wouldn’t have known the cam bearings were toast until I fired it up and found low oil pressure. Also found one phuckered up roller lifter as well. The roller won't even roll till you tap on it on the bench.

The ***** of it is now is finding all the bits and pieces. The rod nuts are one time use only and so far I can only find 5 new nuts. I still need 11 more and GM has them on an 8 week lead time. Hopefully, I can find some on dealer’s shelves. I see Scoggin Dickey has some but they want a left nut for each rod nut. Lifters are easy to come by on Ebay but I played hell finding the right cam bearings as the Sealed Power M1404 (?) bearings Napa lists are not right. GM actually lists 3 different bearing part numbers to make up the 5 positions. The Sealed Power cam bearing kit uses one bearing for each position. That may have worked out fine but I don't want to take my chances running a high dollar camshaft on questionable aftermarket cam bearings.

I also bought a set of head gaskets, 5 rod nuts and all of the seals/gaskets from work but I still need to buy head bolts providing we remove the heads while replacing the cam bearings. We’re hoping we can sneak the cam bearings in without yanking heads to pull pissers out of the way. If we end up pulling pissers at least I have the head gaskets here if we need them. We’ll see! I was hoping to get this engine installed over Christmas but this latest delay skewed that plan. Prolly be sometime the first quarter of 2015 by the time it is installed.

Oh, I also got a set of shortly Sanderson headers for it too. I am really anxious to see how it runs with a cam and headers compared to the blue trucks stock 8.1L. I am a 100% header hater so I hope these Sanderson’s make me a lover because I haven’t found a friggen header that I ever liked. I hate the leaks, burnt wires and fried starter motors that headers are so often responsible. We see how these work out. The headers on the 396 on my little hot rod 68' GMC have pretty much ruined me of headers

Originally Posted by Chevy3+3

Not trying to hi jack DirtyLarry but I had what is hopefully a quick question. I have a 6 round pattern 32 spline 205 that I am planning on mating to a NV4500 from a 94 Chevy k2500. I was going to run the AA spacer but feared my t-case shifter would then be to far back into my bench seat. So since both a 32 spline will they mate up without any mods as long as I clearance the nv4500 for the t-case linkage?

If not what are my options to mate them directly to keep my drivetrain shorter and t-case shifter more forward?

I would have sent a PM but you don't have that option.

Thanks in advance for any input.

Hey Chevy 3+3,

You really don’t need that spacer if you change the front input shaft to a short 32 spline input gear. ORD sells short inputs and may even give you a healthy trade for the long you probably have now. Regardless, which way you go to bolt the tcase to the trans you will need to come up with a solution for the 205 shifter. ORD’s twin stick is probably the best solution out there. I used their twin stick on the NV4500/205 in my K10. Check it out.

Oh, check this out. The blue truck made it to Peterson’s 4 Wheel & Off-Road! January 2015 issue which hits newsstands any day now. I haven’t seen the mag yet so I am as curious as anybody.

[83GMCK2500]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

Oh, check this out. The blue truck made it to Peterson’s 4 Wheel & Off-Road! January 2015 issue which hits newsstands any day now. I haven’t seen the mag yet so I am as curious as anybody.

Congratulations! I have it in front of me and will read it soon. All I've done is flip through the awesome pictures.

[DirtyLarry]

Thanks Devin!

Well, finally got around to getting the RayLar cam is installed and the engine is all back together. Got boxes of install parts stacking up around here like cord wood but still have a lot more bits to collect. The Howell Engine Development harness is due in any day. Looking at the holiday schedule, work travel and life things the actual install probably won’t go down until at least mid-January if not February….until then here are some pretty engine pictures to look at.

Anxious to see how a performance cam works out in a L18


The engine is actually a 2008/2009 model year unit with painted 2002 valve covers on it. It probably had less than 10,000 miles on it before tear down. I like the early textured valve covers better than the later bare pieces.


That is not the actual oil fill pipe that will be used. That one is just in there to plug the hole for now.


In a few months the Polar Bear will be looking just like the K10. I’m using the exact same recipe of install part numbers right down to the air induction piping, fuel system and ECM tune. The only difference between this one and the K10 is the Raylar cam and use of headers. I am no fan of headers so hopefully the Sanderson headers used on the Polar Bears engine will turn me in to a header lover. Mr. Larry at RayLar talked me into headers to make the best of the cam so we'll see!

[MTCK]

Man good thing you found all the gremlins before install... Congrats on the mag article! I should have it available for download any day. Is your truck a low-buck adventure truck???

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by MTCK

Man good thing you found all the gremlins before install... Congrats on the mag article! I should have it available for download any day. Is your truck a low-buck adventure truck???

For sure! Glad I found that now rather than have oil pressure problems later. I haven’t seen the rag yet but I don’t think it is actually part of the low buck theme for the Jan 15 issue. It looks like there is an overland theme in this issue as well if you look in the lower right hand corner it mentions “Overlanding Tents & Events”.

[ryanroo]

I know someone famous!

congrats on the article Larry.

[Chevy3+3]

Congrats on the magazine article Larry. I have read through your projects extensively. I am curious why i can't use my factory 205 shifter when doing the swap if i use the AA spacer?

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by ryanroo

I know someone famous!

congrats on the article Larry.

Ha, ya…. Famous, now that that is funny

Originally Posted by Chevy3+3

Congrats on the magazine article Larry. I have read through your projects extensively. I am curious why i can't use my factory 205 shifter when doing the swap if i use the AA spacer?

Thanks. Let’s move this question of yours to the thread this is more fitting for the topic at hand and not pollute the Suburban thread with stuff that isn't related. Met me over HERE

[whitels1]

Bad ass stuff as usual DirtyLarry...

[83GMCK2500]

Have you had any time lately to work on this? I am really curious about that cam...

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by 83GMCK2500

Have you had any time lately to work on this? I am really curious about that cam...

No, not yet. Probably won’t have time to start on the engine swap until later this month or next. I am curious too!

[DirtyLarry]

One small update…..Got the headers back from my powder coat buddy yesterday. They turned out great! I’m still about 4 to 6 weeks away from install as I still have a lot of install bits and pieces to collect. It is time consuming (and expensive) to collect everything as I use all new parts and pieces when I do swaps like this. The only parts that won't be new is the 2 year old Denso starter motor and the existing power steering pump that I will be reusing from the 5.7L.





The Howell Engine Development harness arrived a few weeks ago and I already spent a few hours reworking different ’89 Burb engine harness to prune away all of the TBI circuits. The old harness will run the starter, A/C compressor, oil pressure gauge, temp gauge while the new Howell harness will run only the engine exactly the same way I have the K10 setup. I chose to use an another Suburban engine harness as I didn’t want to chop my original Suburban harness up so I could keep it all together to sell with the TBI 5.7L once it comes out. A TBI 5.7L and harness would be great pieces to swap EFI into something older. Getting exciting!

[mud.man.rj]

Looking good, getting closer.