88 silverado suburban

[jott_06]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to use the engine, transmission, and transfer from the truck so i will probably just use the exhaust also since its already bent to fit with the transfer case. The exhaust on the truck dumps in front of the axle so I may just kick it out in front of the rear tires on the burb.

[jott_06]

I did manage to get the engine,tranny,&transfer out of the truck the other night. What a pain. I wish i would have known that it was nearly impossible to do the whole combo with a cherry picker but we got it.

Here is a picture of all the parts sitting around

[jott_06]

So far I am about 9 hours into this whole project. My goal is to get the drivetrain out of the burb by the end of the week and next week i will start swapping suspension.

[jott_06]

I will try to keep a tally of how many hours i work on it each day so when it is done others can know how long to expect there truck to be down during a swap like this.

[jott_06]

Ran into an unexpected snag tonight. The housing that couples the Transmission and transfer case has a crack in it across the top. Had to separate the 2 so my stepdad can take it to work and weld it. I did manage to make some progress though. The front suspension and axle are out and the frame is sitting on blocks.

[jott_06]

I had to stop at my moms for a minute so i took a few pictures of what I accomplished the other night.


Here is the 350 and SM465 that came out of my truck that I am putting into the burb

sorry for the rainy pictures.

[jott_06]

I am now into this project about 11 hours. And that includes people stopping by to talk. I expect to have the engine and suspension out of the suburban within the next 4-5 hours of working on it.

[jott_06]

I got the big block out of the burb yesterday morning


Now i'm about to go strip the suspension

[jott_06]

Out with the 2wd front end

[jott_06]

Bracket off of the 4x4 frame being fitted on the 2wd frame

[jott_06]

I got 2 of the holes in the frame bracket to line up so i threw the front axle under it to see how the axle fit

[jott_06]

so now i am about 17 hours into this. Tomorrow will be a whole day spent on it so im going to start with getting all of the holes drilled for the spring hangers and get those bolted on for good. Then i need to drill the hole for the shackle bracket to pass through the frame and get those bolted in place.

[silverbear]

You ain't wasting anytime making the conversion. The first time I did this, I was at about 30 hours to get to the same point you are. Maybe that had something to do with it being in November, in Michigan and I was working outside with hand tools. I'll stop whining now. You are making great progress and I am excited to see the end results.

[jott_06]

I do bodywork for a living so i am pretty familiar with assembling/dissasembling cars. I just wish i could work on it for more than a few hours at a time. Tomorrow should be a good day for progress. I'm still on vacation and we have no plans so most of my day will go to the suburban.

[jott_06]

Got all of the Brackets, Hangers, and crossmembers bolted/welded in place and pressure washed the frame.

[jott_06]

I made a template by butting a piece of cardboard against the body mount of my pickup and tracing the angle of the frame and marking where the hole needed to be.

Then i used a 2 inch hole saw to cut a hole in each frame rail.

After the suspension was all buttoned up I moved on to the crossmember under the engine and the brackets that hold the motor mounts. The crossmember was easy but the mounts were to tall for the 2wd frame. My solution was to notch the bracket to go over the frame rail instead of under it like on a 4x4 frame.

Bolted the brackets to the crossmember and clamped the rest of it to the frame. I had to grind a 1/4 inch off of the top lip of the frame rail on each side to let the bracket sit back far enough. Once they were where I wanted them I welded them to the frame. I was getting tired of drilling holes by this point and my bit was getting dull so i opted to weld the engine mount brackets.

[jott_06]

[jott_06]

I am now about 27 Hours into the project. The next time i work on it I will be undercoating the frame and dropping the engine in.

[jott_06]

This is a tough crowd.

[jott_06]

I am now about 37 hours into the suburban and it is moving under its own power. I kind of slacked on pictures yesterday but i got alot accomplished.

This was yesterday morning around 8 a.m.
By 11:30 it had a motor and tranny

[silverbear]

I'm impressed with how quickly this is going together. Keep up the good work!

[COS399]

It's coming along nice. As for the tough crowd comment, we are still following along. I think the time of the year has a lot to do with no comments. Sometimes no comments are better than some that I have read on other posts. Keep up the progress.

[jott_06]

Thanks guys. After I wrestled the transfer case into place it was time to get a clutch pedal in this thing.

I can honestly say i never want to do a auto to manual conversion again. That pedal assembly is very tricky to get up under the dash. Once it was in the rest went pretty smooth. The floor was already dimpled where i need to drill for the rod to pass through and there were holes in the frame for the z bar bracket. I had to shorten the rod 3 inches because it had been lengthed for the body lift that the truck had.

[jott_06]

Once the clutch was working i got all of the engine wiring connected and the front driveshaft in and tried to start it. I had power to the gauges but it wouldnt crank. At that point it was getting dark and the suburban was sitting half way outside and i couldnt push it back in by myself so i pushed it the rest of the way out and left it outside. This morning I dropped the steering column to make sure everything got plugged in after the pedal swap but found nothing. After checking connections i decided to try the key again and it cranked! So i put a hot wire to the fuel pump and fired it up and backed it into the garage using the front axle to push me. Now i need a bypass style fuel regulator before i run it to much.

[jott_06]

Once the clutch was working i got all of the engine wiring connected and the front driveshaft in and tried to start it. I had power to the gauges but it wouldnt crank. At that point it was getting dark and the suburban was sitting half way outside and i couldnt push it back in by myself so i pushed it the rest of the way out and left it outside. This morning I dropped the steering column to make sure everything got plugged in after the pedal swap but found nothing. After checking connections i decided to try the key again and it cranked! So i put a hot wire to the fuel pump and fired it up and backed it into the garage using the front axle to push me. Now i need a bypass style fuel regulator before i run it to much.