LQQK Need suggestions Please

Ok for the last five years I have been putting aside what I thought would be the payment on a new suburban so that I could get/build my dream truck now as I look at my account I think my dream is about to happen and I have some questions to ask the experts so I can make my final plans and get rolling on my truck by December at the latest.

I would like to build a one of a Kind truck to suit my fancy this will be a 70/30 split mostly on-road and no real rock crawling or mud bogging, the whole project needs to be done at under the cost of a new suburban (Aprox 45,000) I have 30000 in cash and can get about 9 more off my credit card so I thing this will be enough. (I can sell my current truck for the rest if I need to)


First off I want to start out with a 1970’s barn door style suburban with a 454 engine and TH400 tranny.

Here are my questions and what I want to do feel free to smack me if this won’t work I am a computer tech not an engineer.

1. Gut it front to rear and sand blast all the paint off repair any rust dent dings scratches etc…
2. Full roll cage
3. Rhino liner the whole truck inside
4. Custom fab up diamond plate to cover the engine compartment firewall, sides and wheel wells
5. Box the frame
6. Convert it to 4 wheel disk brakes (with oversized rotors to stop big tires)
7. Convert it Cap discharge lighting
8. Install 4 nice seats (two front and 2 rear)
9. 502 ramjet or Diesel (Need suggestions on this one)
10. Six inches of lift and 37x12.50x18 tires (I think this will fit with out trimming let me know)
11. Bullet proof tranny (floor shift), transfer case, front diff and rear diff (Suggestions)
12. Roof top AC unit (from a RV shop) everyone knows suburban AC units don’t cool a truck this big
13. Custom Drive shafts with the right joints for the angles (Suggestions)
14. Carpet to just behind the rear seats from there the floor will be slats of white ash and black walnut with a Chevy bowtie routed into the wood.
15. Now for the fab work I want to build out tool boxes in the back behind the rear seats the right side will house a heater and a small generator, the left side will house 2 8dRV battery’s Both will have to be vented to the outside and insulated.
16. I want to build a custom console that will start between the front seats and come up to the top of the dash with room for three din sized openings and misc items (like the one on the Need VW 4x4 T something or other its called)
17. Diamond plate the inside sides and ceiling from the rear doors to the back or the rear seats.
18. Install 5 point harnesses
19. Somewhere under the truck or in the rear tool boxes if there is room I want an air tank and compressor.
20. Dual Exhaust Cat back?? Dual cats?? Or headers?? (Suggestions)
21. Dual winch with renuel (sp) bumpers I think 12k winches would do the job nicely.


Now for the hard parts I can do some of the work but I don’t have time or a place to do it at, so I need a name of shop or shops that can do the work and do it RIGHT in southern Washington or any where in Oregon. (Suggestions)

umm yea :screwy:

why dont you just buy a new suburban and get a 6" lift and some 35" tires

I like the old Burban's Better they have class and there is not a billion of them going down the road and if you scratch the paint off an old one you see STEEL if you scratch the paint of a new one you see Coors

so.... :rolleyes:

so is this going to be your daily driver??

and why you want to waste all this money to make a crappy suburban crappier?

i guess i just dont understand why you want to do this or what you are shooting fo :banghead:

Yes this will be my daily driver as for your so called "crappy suburban " there is Nothing "crappy" about a suburban I have owned 3 of them in my life they all were great. as for not buying a New one who wants something that drops 10000 in value after you drive it off the lot not to mention the fact you need a PHD to change the spark plugs in a New Burban and they have enough smog gear to make even a 454 into a whimp. I want a real Truck I want a level to pull to get to 4x4 not a button, the New Burbans when you start them up they have a whinny engine kind of like Andy Gibb the old Burbans when that 454 comes alive it sounds like stepenwolf

:)





so.... :rolleyes:

so is this going to be your daily driver??

and why you want to waste all this money to make a crappy suburban crappier?

i guess i just dont understand why you want to do this or what you are shooting fo :banghead:

so you want a fast, overweight lifted vehicle :lol2:

yea, whatever your money

You know every thing you have posted so far has been derogatory, if you don’t have something constructive to add to this topic why are you posting

so you want a fast, overweight lifted vehicle :lol2:

yea, whatever your money

im just trying to figure out why you want to do this

Well you make comments like

"Overweight lifted vehicle"
"Why you want to waste all this money to make a crappy suburban crappier"
"So you want a fast, overweight lifted vehicle"

From your photo I must assume you drive or want to drive a Lowered Mini Truck, I could ask you the same thing but I won’t sink to that level, I don’t like small cars I don’t feel safe riding around in new cars with no metal around me and most of all I like the style of the old suburban much better then the new ones. I want a full sized truck built to match my own twisted views of cool and neat.
I came to this forum to get suggestions on what kind of axles, transmissions, winches etc to pick and maybe the name of someone that can turn the wrench for me. I can R & I an engine but this project is over my head and I want it done right. Now if you wanted an ATM network running over a V-LAN, connecting to a relay in pango-pango I am your man.

So lets start with the comments and explain

Question
"Why you want to waste all this money to make a crappy suburban crappier"

Answer
A new truck drops about 10 Percent in value per year now that is a waste of money, as for the “crappy suburban” this will be my fourth “crappy suburban” my first one I put 550,000 Miles on (with out rebuilding the engine) Yep I guess that is a “crappy suburban”
My second one had 220000 never did anything other then tires, belts, fluid changes and brakes. Yep that one was extra “crappy “

My third one was a 1989 at 180000 Miles I had to replace the flex plate other then that I did nothing accept maintenance.

Yep I guess I really have owned a Bunch of “crappy suburban”

Question
Overweight lifted vehicle

Answer
My “Overweight lifted vehicle” Has saved my butt and my friends butts many times, It takes an “Overweight lifted vehicle” to haul my friends jeep out of the Sand Dunes in Oregon when his reverse gear goes out. It takes an “Overweight lifted vehicle” to Winch out my friends van when he buried it up to the frame rails in the mud, and lets not forget when I got side swiped by a Lower Honda that swore he didn’t see me (How do you no see a ¾ ton Suburban going down the road) but my “Overweight lifted vehicle” was unharmed all he did was scuff my rear tire and total his car.









im just trying to figure out why you want to do this

but why do you want to do all the weried stuff to it like remove the interior and stuff?

For the Same reason you want to do this “mods - System (Panasonic deck, Boston acoustic 5x7's, rf punch z 10 and a rf 200watt amp), limo tint
near future - Billet grill, clear corners
Dreams - little bit of bodywork, respray , bagged to lay frame on 18's, 2 12's blowthru”

to your truck and because a 30 year old truck will need new interior and paint and I don’t believe in doing any thing halfA$$ and the best way to do it is to start from scratch.


but why do you want to do all the weried stuff to it like remove the interior and stuff?

ight well that is cool, im done arguing over it

it is gay to fight over shit on the internet, gl with the project

how about some real feedback.


some of the things you have in mind are pretty kewl, others are not so much. first off, WHY????

if its an ON ROAD vehicle, why spend all that money for nothing, why 5 point seatbelts, if you never have a need for them, why a rollcage, unless you plan on extreme wheelin. rhinolining the whole inside is smart if you plan on getting it really wet and messy, but it sounds like you want a show truck, why bother with all that extra weight. as for engine and such, get a 502, build it up RIGHT. use whatever tranny you want, use the np205 tranny. its all gears and can take the hp and torque. make sure your tranny is built to take the abuse as well. since you obviously aint doin any of it yourself, whoever does the lift will have the driveshaft conversions and such to pull it off right. remember though: if its custom, and you break it, its hard to fix on the trail. but agina it seems you arent gonna wheel with it anyway. well, i hope some of my feedback helps ya, and goodluck with the project.

it will be a 80/20 split between on and off road (mostly on-road)
as for the 5 point system with custom seats its nearly inpossable to get the factory belts to reach and after having bounced a few people out of there seats in the sand dunes I always wanted a 5 ponit system.


The Rhino liner was 2 fold first it would cover alot of dents and dings in a 30 year old truck it would insulate a little and I was hopping it might keep the tire noise down a little.

Heck I was thinking about coil over for the spension, just looking for more info on it.

Roll Cage was a two fold First just incase it rolled and second it would allow me to hang the amp rack subs, hi-lift etc from the celling freeing up floor space ( personally have never seen more then a 4 inch lift that felt "STABLE" to me so to go 6 Inch I wanted a full cage.






how about some real feedback.


some of the things you have in mind are pretty kewl, others are not so much. first off, WHY????

if its an ON ROAD vehicle, why spend all that money for nothing, why 5 point seatbelts, if you never have a need for them, why a rollcage, unless you plan on extreme wheelin. rhinolining the whole inside is smart if you plan on getting it really wet and messy, but it sounds like you want a show truck, why bother with all that extra weight. as for engine and such, get a 502, build it up RIGHT. use whatever tranny you want, use the np205 tranny. its all gears and can take the hp and torque. make sure your tranny is built to take the abuse as well. since you obviously aint doin any of it yourself, whoever does the lift will have the driveshaft conversions and such to pull it off right. remember though: if its custom, and you break it, its hard to fix on the trail. but agina it seems you arent gonna wheel with it anyway. well, i hope some of my feedback helps ya, and goodluck with the project.