84 suburban motor swap

[PrairieDrifter]

Well since I bought my suburban a few months back its been losing coolant and I haven't been able to figure out where, I haven't driven it enough but it usually did over heat. The radiator was crap and there was a good amount of crap between the condensor and radiator. Poured some more coolant in and I heard a lot of water rushing out somewhere, the block is CRACKED bye bye 400 I guess

So I started pulling **** apart to start a motor swap I have the 350 from my 70 halfway built in my garage that I'm gonna use nothing fancy a nice melling rv cam. Not gonna be able to finish the motor for another half a month but I'll be tinkering on and off with it and Im sick of all the vacuum hoses and emissions crap so that's all coming off

My build thread I guess haha

 

[89Suburban]

That sucks bro, good luck with the replacement. Been there myself with a cracked head but I just replaced the heads.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

That sucks bro, good luck with the replacement. Been there myself with a cracked head but I just replaced the heads.

It was tired but I would have rebuilt it and still had the 400 but oh well I'll just use the crank and stroke out a 350 and have a 383 stroker

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I got the radiator, condensor, water pump and alternator off and unplugged some wires and vacuum lines off. Exhaust is tomorrow's project along with some more wires and hoses and gonna pull the carb and distributor out pull the hood off and pull the motor

 

[89Suburban]

At least you have some spare parts and back up vehicles instead of it being a sole daily driver.

 

[89Suburban]

I got the radiator, condensor, water pump and alternator off and unplugged some wires and vacuum lines off. Exhaust is tomorrow's project along with some more wires and hoses and gonna pull the carb and distributor out pull the hood off and pull the motor

See all that **** that collects down there in front of the radiator? That is something to check out on your trucks guys, mine was full of dead leaves, blocking the bottom of the radiator and causing corrosion/rust because it couldn't dry out. That's a house cleaning to do every few years IMO.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

Along with the motor swap I have a leaky heater core also so I'm gonna pull the heater box and rebuild that as well minus the a/c, not gonna replace the a/c sytem gonna keep all the components and lines if I ever decide I want it haha

 

[PrairieDrifter]

At least you have some spare parts and back up vehicles instead of it being a sole daily driver.

My daily is an 06 colorado, the burb was in no condition to be a daily driver, u-joint was blown out on the front driveshaft, motor has leaks everywhere and it really never ran right, and the tires were crap haha. Trying to get it running and looking good for the summer

 

[PrairieDrifter]

See all that **** that collects down there in front of the radiator? That is something to check out on your trucks guys, mine was full of dead leaves, blocking the bottom of the radiator and causing corrosion/rust because it couldn't dry out. That's a house cleaning to do every few years IMO.

Here's a better picture of it.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

You can tell the radiator was leaking pretty bad, the whole driver side tank is that bluish green and the inside is rust, and it's too small in the first place aluminum radiator and electric fans are definitely in the future.

 

[Chaz]

I replaced my radiator with a new one for about 100 bucks, not too expensive. But I would not ever go to electric fans. I wouldn't trust anything electric (wire) to go bad when im out in the desert somewhere when I could have the reliability of a belt driven fan. I looked at buying a 2007 suburban used just for my wifes dd, it has electric fans which I didn't like, plus they wanted to negotiate and I was at 15K for it and it had just over 100k miles on it, I ended up getting a 2003 suburban with 76K orig miles for 6.5K and it has a real fan hahah

 

[Chaz]

And I would love to do an engine swap in my 89,,,cant because we have smog laws in CA,,,,but if I was in SD I wouldn't hesitate to do the swap,,,

 

[PrairieDrifter]

No emissions laws in ND! Im set on going with electric fans, Its a good upgrade for a little extra horsepower, 10-15 is my expectation at best but its also cleaner looking, and i'm not gonna cheap out on my cooling system i'm going to get an aluminum radiator or might just get a new four core, and a top brand for my fans. Being in north Dakota I don't have to worry too much about being stranded in a desert haha but it does get up to 100 degrees for the like five months of summer(if were that lucky)around here with low humidity so I want dual fans and the rest of the year is winter ha

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I got the carb, distributor, and power steering pump off today and some more wires and hoses. Didn't get much done today, I was running around the farm doing other stuff but all I have left is the exhaust and some more wires and little stuff then I can unbolt the trans and pull the motor.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

Got my heads all finished up and ready to go on my motor too!