1989 Suburban "V Rig" Gets Cummins Power

[ryanroo]

My old boss had a p-pump motor in an H1 with a 4l80E behind it. it never even squeaked. engine was almost stock but the rig was HEAVY. i wouldnt be afraid of it for a mild towing people hauler.

Ryan

[6BT 56]

Ya that was my thoughts too. The 4l80 has 370 000 km on it and just keeps going. I figure with a good rebuild it will work fine. Then i can use the original transfercase and electric shift. I dont know much abt standalone trans controllers tho. Will reasearch that. I think I better get the 56 goin gfirst tho!!

[Dieselwrencher]

This truck is now for sale................................................

[mosesburb]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

This truck is now for sale................................................

Huh??
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[6BT 56]

Geeze . What inspired that? Everything seemed to be exactly what he was looking for ???

[1985-GMC]

So did his wife not like it or something?

[Mattman2010]

That sucks man!

[Dieselwrencher]

I don't get it either, but it isn't my decision..............................

[mosesburb]

Suburbans make great family vehicles, Ryan. Just sayin'.....

[v-man]

Come on Ryan lets be fair. "You don't understand" I would be willing to set down on this Thread and with you and take a polygraph. First off lets talk about talent. Over this past year I've seen a talented young man, thats my sons age transform a truck that i'm in love with(if it's possible to love a truck) into something that I had been dreaming of for quite awhile. Ryan definitely knows his way around a Cummins and does awesome fab work. I approached Ryan over a year ago about this project Via telephone. Ryan then stopped and looked at it and took some pictures. Keep in mind this is my daily driver and I'm selling my 99 f 350 dually 6 speed 4x4 " work truck" to help finance this project. I was told X=time to do conversion( 5 weeks) y=labor and Z=approx. cost of new parts and this quote was with not doing anything just dropping off the donor truck and the beast. The short version is I'm way way over on XYandZ with Ryan still feeling like has more Y coming to him. I spent alot of my own time helping which I enjoyed, Ryan a good kid and fun to around. And when I finally get the truck after approx a year it still isn't right and and is going to cost me me more Y to probably get there. I'm so upside down in this project that I have to sell it. And its ripping the heart out of my chest. And by the way my wife loves the truck, Just saying!

[Dieselwrencher]

We got it worked out, and Tony is going to keep it.

[ryanroo]

Glad to hear its staying home. would have been a shame for me to buy it...

[v-man]

she's home and happy, transmission cooler fan installed, transmission cable jerry rigged until new one arrives. hooking on to dump trailer tommorow to see how she pulls!

[Mattman2010]

Glad to hear you are keeping it man. I hope it works out for you.

[Dieselwrencher]

It sounds like Tony used it to tow his dump trailer yesterday and it's doing well. The trans likes to get warm during in town driving. From what the tranny builders I know have told me it's still in normal operating ranges. But I think we're going to try to hook up the cooler in the radiator and see if it'll help keep it down. Right now the tranny temp will get to 200* in town driving. My tranny builders say as long as it doesn't get over 220* it's good. I'd always like to see it cooler. The weird thing is, driving down the road it's fine. So either the 3:54's and 35's make the trans work more, or maybe the skid plate is affecting the air flow. I know Tony added a fan to the cooler so that shouldn't be the case. This is the first truck I've done that the trans cooler is in that position with a skid plate, so it is a learning curve. The truck is sure a blast to drive. Now I've got to get one of my own done.

[v-man]

Took the front end apart today and placed a additional after market trans cooler in front of the intercooler. It was 3/4 inch and just fit. Will try and tie it into current cooler. Decided not to run through the radiator. I don't have it hooked up yet. Took skid plate off drilled all the holes a little bigger and remounted the trans cooler fan better. Hasn't been over 200 and don't know if I'll even need to hook the other one up. Drained a little fluid from the trans cooler line and will recheck tommorow. LMC hood latch and Saddle seat cover came today and will install tommorow as well. Took my Friend Russ for a ride today and he was very impressed seems to running good and drive train seems good. TV cable is still holding. Idle is still 900 and hoping we can get that a little lower. Found the super sweet spot on the alternator and the needle on the tach has 0 quiver, really pumped about that.

[Dieselwrencher]

Originally Posted by v-man

Took the front end apart today and placed a additional after market trans cooler in front of the intercooler. It was 3/4 inch and just fit. Will try and tie it into current cooler. Decided not to run through the radiator. I don't have it hooked up yet. Took skid plate off drilled all the holes a little bigger and remounted the trans cooler fan better. Hasn't been over 200 and don't know if I'll even need to hook the other one up. Drained a little fluid from the trans cooler line and will recheck tommorow. LMC hood latch and Saddle seat cover came today and will install tommorow as well. Took my Friend Russ for a ride today and he was very impressed seems to running good and drive train seems good. TV cable is still holding. Idle is still 900 and hoping we can get that a little lower. Found the super sweet spot on the alternator and the needle on the tach has 0 quiver, really pumped about that.

That's good it is getting cooler with a few mods. On the idle, we can try to get it down a little farther, but it may start to affect fueling. Stock idle is 850 so you're not too far off now. Did LMC stand behind that new cable, or did they make you buy another? I'll be picking up the new TV cable tomorrow. That's good about the tach. I moved it around 4 times and never got it to be real happy at idle.

[v-man]

yep, LMC hooked me up with another free cable, fast shipping too.

[Mattman2010]

Glas to hear its working out. Sounds like you are getting some of the bugs figured out with the conversion.
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[v-man]

Knowledge is a wonderful thing, the lack of is not! Like jic-8 hose fittings with 37 degree taper don't work with local hardware brass fittings with 45 degree taper. Oh well that's small potatoes, That's why I get payed to put the wet stuff on the Red stuff

[v-man]

Got the correct jic-8 fittings and the additional trans cooler hooked up. With both coolers and the fan running it hasn't been over 140 degrees with intown driving, so far so good. finally got a decent day outside so I finished diamond plating the ceiling. turned out pretty good. checked several junk yards and still no luck finding the ceiling trim piece. re installed the factory handle above the door so my wife has something to pull herself up into the beast. Driving that bad boy in town is worse than being Elvis Presley, everybody wants to check it out, the typical ? whats in that thing? A CUMMINS. Answer I thought so it sounds awesome. Thanks Ryan

[v-man]

Made a cover out of some left over diamond plate for the fan blade. It was making me nervous when people were looking at the engine compartment. I was afraid someone was going to lose a finger or the tip of their nose when that beast is running, requiring some old rusty Paramedic skills. Replaced the leaking lift pump with new one Ryan supplied me. Took it out on its second test pull and upped the anti. About 10,500 total that includes the trailer. Did pretty well, I think the torque converter was shuttering a little bit on stop light starts, but once I got on the highway and hooked up the lockup it pulled hard even with a 40mph head wind. I think with steepest grade i was at 20lbs boost 1000 egt's tranny at 160. Coming back with the wind 75mph empty 4000lb trailer 1300 rpm's not working that much. 355 gears and 35 inch tires it just takes a little to get her rolling, but then look out. The best part is, it looks like that truck came from the dealership with that cummins in there. The dieselwrencher did a really nice job. How do you post pictures?

[Dieselwrencher]

Sounds like it's doing really well! I use photobucket to upload pics to, then copy the image link and post it here in the message.

[v-man]

Thanks for technical assistance Ryan. Tv cable or kickdown cable or whatever installed. Touchy sob. To far to the front to cold, in the middle to hot, all the way back just right. Really contary to alot of info on cummins forums Ryan was spot on with the adjustment. Service manual advocated 1/8 inch gap from pin to the rear of the slot on cable, which gave me longer shift points which was kind of nice but no top end or power. Cable all the way aft. gives good power for towing and shift points are tighened up, in 3rd gear by 20mph. Anyway Ryan was good enough to hook me up early on a Sunday morning. Thanks again. Got my new speed adapter from PATC transmissions. Sent info He wanted speedo reading at 40, 50, and 60 compared with gps. Determined I needed a 38% increase using burb cable with 315/75r/16 BFG's 92 dodge np205, with 355 gears. Speedometer is now spot on. Sweet Working on leaks, put a new set of felpro valve cover gaskets from NAPA, seem to be doing the job, fixed a fuel leak with advice from Ryan, All thats left is the rear yoke seal on the np205, has a annoying drip. Love checking out this forum, There a lot of talent out there, unfortunately not much residing in my garage. Can't say it enough, that things a blast to drive. Hoping I can get enough nerve to take a long road trip with it like back to California where I found her. Maybe!

[6BT 56]

Good to see it going strong . What is int this truck for a trans mount ? I need to figure out what i'm going to use on mine .