1986 suburban build with 6.0l swap

[CamaroChris]

I thought I would make a new post on my Suburban 6.0 swap. This is going to be my first Big project so be easy on me. I have lots of questions. My goal is to have it finished by late summer when it starts to be good camping weather,

here is how she sits after the 6" full spring lift

I'll put more info up tomorrow.

I bought the 'burb Halloween night 2010, completely stock with only 60,000 miles in it.

things I have done:

Brakes
both tie rods
pitman arms
new steering gear box
plugs wires cap
belts
6" lift
alternator
all new exhaust, went from a hole ridden 2" dual to a 3" Y-piped single.
I went and bought new doors all the way around. thats about the only thing in the truck thats rusted out. the body its self is in really good shape.

[CamaroChris]

I found a 1991 2500 suburban T-case! so now I don't need a ford D60

[CamaroChris]

Here are some interior pictures, this truck is in pretty good shape for the 500$ i spent for her. I need help choosing a color for the new interior. this is a camping/tow rig. I will be sleeping in it, therefor i want it to be cool as possible. I have 5% tint all the way around, that helps heat a lot. I'm a machinist so by the end of the day I'm covered in filth, so I need something that is super easy to clean. and keep clean. so I think I decided that I'm going with a really nice vinyl to wrap the seats in and black carpet.. any way... what color will be the coolest so I can sleep in out in the desert. NO red or blue I'm going to have all plastics re stained also. I want that cherry, right of the showroom floor look. black? tan? grey? what have you guys had experience with? thats all for now.

[Edahall]

I also use my Suburban for camping and as far as staying cool, the best color is to paint the exterior white. I also took down the headliner on my Suburban and glued thin Styrofoam between the headliner and top. Right now, I'm trying to find a way to run a small fan to keep air flow moving in the Suburban during the hot nights. I'm thinking about using that space in the kick panel to mount a fan.

As far as interior color that doesn't show dirt, dark grey works very well. Black color carpeting is too dark and the lighter color dirt would show.

[CamaroChris]

Welll tonight I got the front clip taken off, also found an LQ9 out of an escalade. that will be the new heart

[CamaroChris]

After this weekend...




"Buy me!!" LOL


I also bought a new car... Lsx swap #2 after the suburban is done of course.

[CamaroChris]

Bump?

[CamaroChris]

Well I sold the factory motor today Lq9 Is on its way from Idaho. I think I'm going to try and get the seats out of my donor Denali to fit in the suburban this weekend instead of having mine re-upholstered

[CamaroChris]

yesterday I went and had a heyday at Tear-A-Part. bought a Hydro-boost set up, bought a 40/20/40 bench seat set. It was a cool find because they never came that way, It was either bench or buckets. now the center seat folds down. they were sold aftermarket form a place called Qualitex. Also picked up a new console that sits against the headliner with nice map lights and some compartments. I'm getting excited to get this thing running again. Today I went and removed all of the tape from the wiring harness for the HVAC components and cleaned them up, looked for shorts and loomed them up real nice. I went and extended the wires that go to the A/C compressor also. It looks so much cleaner now.

some pictures:

Hydro-boost


Gauge cluster with electronic speedo that will hook to vss on T-case

the trans

motor mount brackets

wiring cleaned up some

the 6.0 from the denali

[MadManAndrew]

Keep it coming! Looks awesome.

[CamaroChris]

is a 1986 suburban gas tank same as 87-91 gas tank? I am trying to find a way to do the fuel system. I think the best wrought is to get a gas tank from an 87-91 'burb because it already came with a fuel pump? I would change to a 255lph of course. so will the sending unit out of a 87+ 'burb fit into my 86 fuel tank? Thanks In advance

[jays68yak]

got any pics of the inside of the engine?

[ghettoluxury]

Originally Posted by CamaroChris

is a 1986 suburban gas tank same as 87-91 gas tank? I am trying to find a way to do the fuel system. I think the best wrought is to get a gas tank from an 87-91 'burb because it already came with a fuel pump? I would change to a 255lph of course. so will the sending unit out of a 87+ 'burb fit into my 86 fuel tank? Thanks In advance

Yes the sending unit will fit you need one for a TBI 350. The only differance in the tanks is the 87-91 have baffles inside of them.

[CamaroChris]

Thank you Ghettoluxury That helps a lot. the problem with the tanks at the junk yard is they poke holes in them for quick draining. bet the sending units are there for 10$ a pop

And I will post some pictures, Think I can sale the long block for a mock up engine?

[CamaroChris]

Yesterday I striped the fire wall to prep it for paint. I also went to the paint supplier store and picked up a quart of semi gloss POR 15. today I spent some time wet sanding the hvac box down so I can paint it semi gloss black

[CamaroChris]

After reading through this forum and ls1tech. I decided that I am going to run A/C Cruise control and Tow/haul

[CamaroChris]

Ok guys I really need some help here. I need to decide what color to paint the burb. I'm thinking black or gun metal. need some opinions Because I'm to the point where i need to paint the firewall.

[cletis]

I like gun metal, black has been done. That being said, you could paint the engine bay black then do whatever with the rest of the rig.

[Edahall]

Originally Posted by CamaroChris

Ok guys I really need some help here. I need to decide what color to paint the burb. I'm thinking black or gun metal. need some opinions Because I'm to the point where i need to paint the firewall.

Black would be very hot for camping in it.

[CamaroChris]

I have the motor trans and T-case all in place. Looks like I will have to use the sadden A/C compressor and top mounting brackets. The motor had to be slid back pretty far to clear the cross member that is under the oil pan. I have some pictures of what i"m talking about. I'm still worried that the block is to close to the cross member. what do you guys think?


Also today while I was at work I tore into the Engine wiring harness, pretty muck just removed the wire loom. I'm going to set the motor/trans/t=case on the floor, pull up a chair and plug all the wires in that i need and remove the rest. that way I can loom it the way I like and not remove wrong wires by accident.

With the 4L80E being the new TH400 the mounts are the same for the 4x4 trans. I just had to move the cross-member towards the rear about 2" some pictures of that







I have about an inch of wiggle room between the block and the fire wall





Here you can kind of see why A/C wont work with factory location. but I think I was planning on using the top mount compressor instead anyway

[Edahall]

Could you move the engine even closer to the firewall. On my Suburban, we put the Cummins engine only 1/4" to the firewall and it's all fine.

[MTCK]

Cool build - way to jump in with both feet!

[CamaroChris]

So I scored an entire body harness from a 99 camaro for 20$ I pulled one of the fuse blocks (the one with the three fan relays) added a fuel pump and A/C relay. and made fuse spots for ac/cruise, engine sensors, Inj 1 and coils even, Inj 2 and coils odd, PCM Ign, and PCM hot all times. I think that all of them. there is a shop in the mall that makes stickers so i will fave them make me a new sticker for the panel cover. I should look prettty sweet! I'm getting excited.

[CamaroChris]

Well, today was the big day. I went to a local yard in town and picked up a 2002 6.0l from a Yukon Xl factory rated at 320HP 365TQ with 109k on the clock. bought the motor/ DBW harness and accessory for 1,075.00 out the door, and they are even going to deliver it it has the 3 piece engine covers which I really wanted so I'm excited. I will post pictures soon.

[CamaroChris]

I'll start this update with some Pictures













One of my lady friends came to my shop to work on her car, IMO there's nothing Hotter than a chick working on a car


Now to some problems I have ran into.

#1 The engine my 4L80e trans came off of is a 2000 iron head 6.0l. the new motor I picked up had a 4l60e so the cranks are different lengths IIRC. so what do i do to get this flexplate spaced correctly?!?!

4l60e crank:




Dished 4l60e flexplate



4l80e crank:





Flat 4l80e flexplate