squirrel's 57 Suburban

[squirrel]

Thanks!

I swiped the 9" ford rear out of the suburban for my Chevy II project. I'm installing a 10 bolt in it....just a few glitches....just discovered the driveshaft is about 3/4" too short, and no one in town works on them any more. What fun.

[TheSilverBuick]

Really? I needed a longer driveshaft when I put the 9" in the Skylark. I would of figured the 10 bolt would need a shorter driveshaft.

[squirrel]

There are different length yokes....I think they both have the long yoke, and the design of the 10 bolt (higher pinion location) makes it stick out further or something.

[Russell]

Thanks!

I swiped the 9" ford rear out of the suburban for my Chevy II project. I'm installing a 10 bolt in it....just a few glitches....just discovered the driveshaft is about 3/4" too short, and no one in town works on them any more. What fun.

Dumb question, can you (how much trouble would it be to) set the motor and trans back 3/4"

[squirrel]

a whole bunch

[milner351]

Bummer Jim! Shipping driveshafts can't be cheap, hopefully you'll come up with an economical solution - I know lots of guys have purchased used nascar drive shafts at good prices, but they usually need a yoke or something swapped to fit the given application.

[squirrel]

There is a place that does some big truck work, they have a bigger shop in Tucson that does shafts....and a delivery service...so I dropped the shaft off yesterday, I'll get it back sometime, possibly next Thursday.

Tires will be close to the fender lip, I may or may not need to do something about it...like run more narrower tires...we'll see how it works out. But it looks better this way, the tire isn't "lost" in the wheel well. (I put one tire back on and jacked the rearend up into it's ride position to see that)

[squirrel]

no updates for a while. Steven and I used the Suburban to tow the Chevy II to Tulsa for Drag Week. The truck worked fine, towed well, was a little sluggish up hills. Burned a quart of oil going, and another coming home. It sure is nice to drive.

So...tonight we were talking on the phone about next year's Drag Week, and got to thinking about how neat it would be to make the Suburban go fast, and just take it on DW.

The question is, what would it want for power? It has a 1987 truck 350 in it now, and it was originally set up to accept a big block. The trans is TH400, and I got a new GV overdrive at DW that will fit it. It has that 3.08 10 bolt in it now, but I also have a mid 60s GMC 6 lug Dana 60, and I have a posi and some 3.54 gears.

I'm thinking turbo, efi, maybe a modern engine, maybe a pieced together 350 or 383 small block. I kinda like how it gets 15 mpg on the highway, and I intend to keep using it for road trips, such as going to robotics competitions, etc.

What do you think?

[Scott Liggett]

OK!! Now you are talking!!

[William Wilson]

Why don't you do a megasquirt single turbo 5.3 like was on that Fairmont that was built years ago.

I thing DG was involved.

But you should build it so that when drag week is over you can pull it all out and put a rest of the year engine in.

Be it another LS or a 427 or the current SBC.

[squirrel]

The idea would be to build something that will still be ok as a daily driver/road trip and also be quick enough to have some fun at the drags. A single turbo MS 5.3 is definitely something I am considering.

[Deaf Bob]

Since you run an auto, most of my experience goes out the window.. Had a 280H in the truck, was pretty worthless under 1200 rpms but once it started making steam, I shifted cuz the block got 350,000 miles on it, I loved the RV 2 cam from Wolverine/Blue Racer.. That got me 16 mpg with 4:11's .. The stocker in it now (78 Caprice motor) gets me 5-8 mpg.. .. Always kinda wanted a stout small block with a turbo to help it haul and tow so the Powerstroke boys don't get so damn far ahead of me.... I'm sure a small block can be put together to realize your goals..

[JOES66FURY]

Turbo 5.3....might get better than 15mpg

[squirrel]

that's what I'm thinking.

The current mill

[oletrux4evr]

BBPA. Tons of room. A bit heavy, but a competitor no less.