So my Suburban was hit at high speed by a drunk driver last week. Fortunately, it was parked while we were inside at a friend's house. The drunk hit the rear, went under it, and was halted by my Class IV hitch and the 14-bolt full floater. Suprisingly, the frame wasn't tweaked a bit, but the 14-bolt, driveshaft, and transmission are toast, as well as the body damage force a total since it's a 98 C2500. After learning a lesson from the accident that wrecked me in my former Z71, I got set value coverage on the Suburban. I will be getting enough from insurance to hopefully pick up a 2002-2005 8.1L - going to look at a really clean-looking 2003, 1-owner, 90K tonight.

Anyway, my insurance will be paying me out and asked if I wanted to keep the wrecked Suburban for $1K less. This is a no-brainer because I completely re-did the air conditioning; hydro-boost and power steering; new injectors; put on a diesel bumper with factory Limited fogs; new grille and fresh lights,; etc., which all are worth more than $1K and could be parted, or....

I'm thinking of taking a buddy up on his offer to GIVE me a 1998 GMC K1500 Z71 extended cab, short bed roller. He bought the truck to take the engine, transmission, transfer case and computer for another project. He sold the front grille, fenders, radiator support, and both bumpers already. The rolling chassis is perfect in every way - it had the front suspension rebuilt just before he bought it, no rust. The body has no rust, but some minor dings, dulled paint, no and the bed was used - A LOT! The front end of my Suburban could easily be bolted on, and I'd love to slip in that big block! I figure this shouldn't be too bad to do, and I would need to get a new 4L80E and transfer case (my C2500's trans was busted in the wreck) as the "big expense". I know the transmission cross-member will need to be customized and slid back, and the driveshafts altered (buddy has both as removed from it). I still have an extra 9.5" ring gear, semi-floater than could be used to replace the 10-bolt too. Considering I have the complete donor vehicle, what other "gotchas" am I looking at? For instance in the 454 too much on the 1/2-ton torsion bars neeeding me to find a 3/4-ton pair?

I'd appreciate any input. At least I wasn't in it for this wreck... I don't know how the drunk driver survived the wreck. He was 2.5x the legal limit too.

That's a tough one. I'd let what you need make the decision. Do you need a pickup truck or a Suburban? Since you had one of each, this is your chance to go with the one that best suited your needs.

I hear you Speeder! It's like this, I need the Suburban to haul the entire family anywhere comfortably, and that usually involves camping with our travel trailer. So I need big torque, big towing, and big hauling for that.

On the other hand, there are SO MANY times I could really use a pickup truck again for hauling stuff. You know, where you don't mind throwing it in the bed because you can just hose it out later... I really miss that.

I'm probably going to purchase the 2003 8.1L I just saw. It's beautiful and maintained with a complete service record. Seller even agreed on a $1500 price reduction because it's been sitting awhile with the gas prices. I am going to keep my wrecked one regardless because I know I can get some fair money for the fresh parts and a complete big-block if I don't use it.

Really trying to figure out how much effort, how much cost it would be to build a Frankenstein to really decide if it's even worthwhile.

Well, since the one truck would be free (I'd still try to buy it though, just so I could sell it and keep the money with a clear conscience) I think I'd buy the Burb, then get the truck and start working on it. You won't need the Burb forever. If nothing else, you'd be able to put the two together and sell them as a complete truck.

Can you give us some details on how you arranged an agreed value for your insurance?

PSWired wrote:

Can you give us some details on how you arranged an agreed value for your insurance?

I agree with this. What is the criteria you need for the insurance company to pay you what it is actually worth with all the improvements that gets done?
I had that happen to me. I bought a 1970 GMC 3/4t. I rebuilt a 396 and a turbo 400 and put them into that truck, then have it backed into. I was glad the damage wasn't more then the value of the truck, plus the cost of the engine and transmission I put in it. I got it fixed. All it takes is someone else to ruin your day.

I'm not sure what Scottie has done and I would like to hear it as well. However this is what I am looking into doing with both my camaro and the GMT400. I am with Safeco insurance. In their collector car program (10 yrs or older) I can insure the vehicles for a stated value, the only kicker is a 2500 mile annual maximum. These are not my daily drivers, it sounds like Scottie's Burb was.

TJ

Here http://autos.aol.com/article/insurance-standard-vs-agreed-value/

TJ

Agreed value policies can be found with established, large carriers and smaller, specialty carriers. If you have a primarily discount insurance company, you can almost certainly not expect them to have any agreed value offerings. At first, I had an agreed value policy with State Farm, and it was fairly expensive and restrictive - very low yearly mileage, garage kept, Low-Jack, etc. Basically, State Farm's agreed value policies are geared toward classic cars and hot rods. I ended up doing a lot of research based on information I gathered while at car shows and found a smaller, well respected, specialty insurance company, headquartered only 18 miles from my home, and moved to them because they also understand customized vehicles. Although my Suburban isn't heavily customized, it is optioned in a hard-to-come-by configuration and has some nice touches. With them, and I will not name them until my claim with this is settled, I could select my yearly mileage, which was my biggest consideration. For this, I have to pay accordingly more, but still less than State Farm.

The topic steered away a bit, but I am still in need information to swap the big-block into the half-ton... I am pretty sure I'm going to do this unless someone here tells me I need so much more than I am thinking... Oh Speeder, the buddy who wants to give the roller wants absolutely nothing for it, and won't even hear of me giving anything to him for it. Before I was wrecked and broken up bad in my Z71, I helped him all the time - sheetrock, siding, roof, fence, etc. He would also need to otherwise pay to have it removed from his property, which the wife says is now! HA!

My pointed questions are these:

1) Will the 1/2-ton torsion bars be sufficient for the big-block or do I need a pair of 3/4-ton bars?
2) Will I need to put a body lift on the 1/2-ton roller to allow the big block to clear the front cross-member and IFS?
3) Will a transmission cross-member from my C2500 Suburban work on the 1/2-ton truck to properly locate the transmission, or will I need the cross-member from a 3/4-ton pickup that was fitted with the big-block?

I found a 4L80E and transfer case from a 99 for sale at a yard about 100 miles from me for a really good price with reportedly low miles. I figure I can pull the pan and check the fluid and filter, and if it looks good, just drain the converter and do a regular service to it and the transfer case and install them. I am fortunate that it comes with harness! So I will have the different connectors since I do know the 4L60E and 4L80E having different ones. Worst case if the trans needs a rebuild, I found an exceptional GM trans guy locally that will do it for a fair price.

I went and checked my semi-floater and by absolutely dumb luck, it's geared to match the roller's IFS already!

I thought I remembered a couple members here doing similar swaps, though maybe it was big-block into SUVs?

Trans crossmember should just be able to be slid back. Half tons where available with diesels maybe thier torsions are different? Should have pleanty of front diff Kmember clearance since the front diff in a halfer is smaller than the bigger trucks. Just my .02 hope it helps

I put a big block in my 97 z71. I turned the torsion bars each a few turns tO eliminate the sag in the front end BUT they are Plenty strong enough.... I JUMPED a very large Pine tree that was in my way on a power line and it was a hard landing in the front but nothing broke or bottomed out. I even have 2 batteries and a bbc radiator up there also and a front mounted receiver hitch for extra weight... Never have had an issue when I put a heavy trailer on the front hitch to drive into a tight spot either. I am NOT easy on this truck at all but with that said.... The last thing I worry about breaking are those torsion bars after the pine tree jump! It was impressive to say the least how strong they really are.
I am using ALL the stock style drive terrain in my 1/2 ton truck. The bbc clears the IFS just fine. The tranny cross member will just slide rearwards an inch or so and drill/ bolt it into the new location for the 4l80e I am using my 1/2 ton 4L60e cross member with the 80e bolted to it.

Sweet! Guess you paid it forward then.

On the 4L80E wiring harness, there's two wires that have to be moved in the plug on the 4L60E harness, and the front speed sensor has to be added. I think you might be better off just moving the wires in the 4L60E harness because (to my knowledge) the trans harness has no connector to unplug. It goes straight to the computer. When the time comes the diagrams showing what needs to be moved can be provided. When I converted the 2000 to a 4L80E I ordered the conversion harness and have since regretted it as it added a lot of unnecessary wiring to the truck. Since it's all out now I'm thinking I might just rewire the plug and sell the conversion part. You can probably get the standalone harness to plug the front speed sensor in from Speartech, or you'd just need a couple of computer pins, the plug off your harness and a length of wire to connect them. Unless, of course, the harness that comes with the trans is complete up to the computer terminals.



The part on the left is the front speed sensor. The only difference between this harness for the GMT800s and the GMT400s is going to be what computer ports the front speed sensor plugs into. My 4L80E came out of a 1997 truck and this harness worked perfectly on the trans (aside from the extra wiring).

I have an extra vss plug with the computer pins on the other end already if you need it. It had about 8 ft of wire I believe and came out of a stock harness so it should reach

This is great news on the torsion bars and cross-member!

Would it be better to pull the harness out of my C2500, and add in the 4x4 control elements, or work with the needed changes to the K1500's harness? I haven't located my shop manual with the wiring diagrams yet.

I've got a call to the yard to find out how much harness it is.

It would be better to leave the existing harness in. There are two wires in the 60 harness that must be moved, and a third that must be removed. Then you add the front speed sensor. The only reason I went with the conversion harness was I just wanted a plug and play solution, but I'd have been time, trouble and money ahead to just get hold of the proper tool to shuffle the wires.

stroker97k1500, Let me know what you'd like for them.

Speeder, sounds good. I'm more than adept at automotive electrical work and have have the tools to change pins and crimp any connector used on GMs. The pain is just finding the right Delphi/Packard pins at times...

Transmission and transfer case harness was cut where it trunked into the underhood harness.

Scottie wrote:

stroker97k1500, Let me know what you'd like for them.
.

PM me your address and I'll send it to ya. Just pay it forward to someone else on here.

Thanks for sharing all this information. It is something I need to know for the future. What tool is needed to remove the pins from the transmission Connector? I read the part about swapping a couple of wires on that connector, And leaving one out. I did get the tool for removing the pins on the 411 and my black box. I have a set for removing weatherpack connectors and metrapack connectores, plus a few others. These are from snap-on. It is nice to have the correct tools for the harneses. I have a couple of tools to remove the pins on the cummins computer connector. It is also nice to have the proper tool for checking individual wires. Other wise you risk breaking the pins or sockets.

It's way easier to just move the two pins on the ECM connectors like on Lextech's diagram. This is what I did the first time I put in the 80e