Suburban is going to be reborn!

No. I have found a genius! He was a mechanic for Dale Ernhardt. He used to have a mobile service, and he just recently got a shop with doors. He is already backed up three months.
He gets paid to fly around the country to look at classic cars for buyers. He loves engines like I do. He loves big blocks.
True American Thunder!!!

Yeah, she is our baby. She used to be a cop truck. Aside from the seat full of beer bottle caps, it was immaculate. Being a 454 it came with 8 lug wheels. It sits like a 4 X 4 and with the super duty suspension it is hard on the bumps. The suspension really does not move. The blower will sit out of the hood some, a LT1 hood scoop will just cover it. The air intake is being moved to the left drivers side opening on the roof. We are going to have a brush bar set up made for the front. .025 4130 chromemoly tubing. Winch mounted on the front, 10 ton. It is already wired for 24Volt. All AN fittings for the hoses, and milspec electrical connections. I cannot put 4 X 4 in it. The engine right now will tear out the transfer case. Without a load. I built an highly modified TH400 with crisp shift points for her. She will smoke the tires at 40mph just by flooring it. If you are careful, stomping down, you are physically pressed into the seat untill it shifts to 3rd. There is also a chirp at 2nd, and 3rd. It takes massive brakes to slow her down. You cannot lock up the tires braking no matter how hard you hit the brakes. The tires won't talk braking, but, they will chirp accelerating.
Wait untill the wife hears the purr of the blower.
All that in pursuit of better mileage. What a sacrifice.
We plan on blacking the chrome, and doing Cobalt Blue metalflake with pearl flames that only show at night.
I like big blocks. I put a 1800hp 460 cu., in a Pinto hatchback back in the '70's. Hildebrand alcohol injectors, Arias Hemi heads, bored out to 530cu., with siamese cylinders. Modified C6 trans 2speed. 9 1/2" Drive shaft. .025 2 X 3 chromemoly square for the frame, .025 3" round for the birdcage. Rear drive axle 18" on the right, 21" on the left, 9" rear, 4:11 gears. It idled at 2800, lopey Hayes governor at 6500.
Powder coated body, engine turned dash, Blaupunkt stereo, guages, all digital. Two seats, fuel cell for the alcohol, with nitro injection, and NOS. On the dirt, with a stop watch she would do 7.4. That was on dirt. I got legal plates for it. First run off my driveway, on the street, I pulled an holey. The front end came up, the ladder bars hit, the beast flew directly sideways and wrapped itself around a large oak tree 4 ft off the ground, 25ft to the right. The vehicle wrapped itself around the tree and they had to get the Jaws of Life to get me out. The car had to be cut in two to get it off the tree. Sorry tree huggers. 20yrs tree is fine.
Hot Rod Magazine did an article on it back then. They named it Brain Damage. I had that lettered on the sides of the car. The photo in the newspaper showed the car bent around the tree, off the ground, and all you could see was Brain Damage and twisted metal. The neighbors were grateful when my ex tossed me. I was creative at times.
I did sell the engine to a boat racer. He did the standing mile in his boat. He would hit over 200mph in the mile with it. The crank was machined from a solid bar of steel. One of the first roller bearing big block cranks.
That one averaged 4mpg. But it was alcohol and I had a still for the engine. Nitro methane I got by mail order. I would get 5 gallons at a time. If I was lucky, at the drag strip I could just get some. They had it in 55 gallon drums there.
that one was a roary rascal.

I am sober almost 20yrs now. I think 20 coming up this year, or next. I am one of the lucky ones. I sobered up, got my Phd, in divinity, and work with alcoholics. My wife is a psychologist/jeweler, and she works with alcoholics addicts, and their spouses.
I was most way to being one of the best in my field. Everything came naturally to me. It was so easy I took it for granted. Then one day it all came falling down. Wife left, I broke down, lost friends, family, tools, autos, boats, aircraft, house. I mean typical. I graduated Yale, went to jail. Literally.
I have broken most of my body. What was easy is now extremely difficult. I could back then, design airfoils freehand, fabricate them, and fly. I got to work with some of the early pioneers in avaition. I lived near them and used to hang out in their garages and work with them. I still have an instinctive feel for automobiles. I used to fly without instruments. I learned without them. I can read the air. I still can. I have predicted every landfall for every hurricane in the last 15yrs. I have seen the eyewalls of Bob, Andrew, Donna, Charlie, George, Irene, Wilma.
So you know the type of engine I used to build. That is what is going into the burban, except, it will idle at stop signs, and accelerate smoothly plus get better mileage than a Corola. My wife loves it. Even if it were not for her, I would still build the way I am. I like getting there and back, without getting really greasy. It is too hot down here for that.
I put a 454 in a Baby Donzi back in the early '70's. 700hp in a 14ft boat! That was not even fun. It was just insanity. I built an aircraft in my living room back then. I designed the house and the wall had a piano hinge for the header! It had two hydrolic jacks built into the side walls.
Alcohol took me also. It took me to the edge of the grave. If I had not tripped just before, I might have fallen in. Of course, then the only Electrical warrior in the world would not exist. We would be only batteries in coccoons. Born there with no way out.
Life is interesting indeed. This is the strangest life I have ever lived. Of course I made it strange.
I do love big blocks, and speed! Yeah!

doc you reaching nascar HP there...better be carefull....there are still trees in floriduh....hahahahahaha...by they way you might want to check out in the general section...title.... O.K. GUYS

An update on the rebuild. I just got back from the mechanic. He is a little behind. Just after I left, two of his mechanics got into a fight with a new customer. Apparently they were going home early to go fishing, this customer had the nerve to show up and want to ask questions! Well, they duked it out with the customer. The skinny one who did not wear a shirt, had taken his shoes off and was working on a dump truck when the insurance inspector showed up. He yelled at the insurance inspector and threw some garbage at him! That was before the customer.
Sam, the mechanic, had ordered the parts. The other mechanic, who was going fishing, threw the bolts at the new customer. Sam had to get more bolts today. Shortly after the new customer routine, the DOT showed up. Apparently, the shirtless, shoeless mechanic told the DOT inspector he was saving oil and going to use it as mosquito control in his crik. Meantime, Sam's brother in law, Bubba, dumped the garbage from the truck he was working on directly on the floor, after tearing out the overhead lights with the bed.
Sam, is taking time out to work on our engine. I did not figuire he would realistically accomplish the impossible, so I am not suprised. I am sitting here shuddering, remembering my employees in the past. I had to only deal with one or two issues. Sam got an handful all at the same time. He is kinda fried. I do not blame him. We hope for a monday kickoff, if they don't all get arrested. Yep, they are all rednecks. This response should go to the Bubba the redneck thread.
Never hire your relatives, especially if they are rednecks.
Day be gon fishin boy........

Let me list the ways. I have watched my friend, go from a totally reliable mobile mechanic service, to so spread out he gets nothing done. He is exhausted. The shirtless, shoeless mechanic is his brother in laws son. They are all family, and they are yeah ha rednecks. He is an accomplished professional. They have him so tied up in chaos, he is on the phone all the time and cannot work in the shop.
You know, I really like rednecks. When you need to get something done and done right, they are the one. Just do not expect it on time, they go fishin a lot, and they are all psycho. Hard to explain, they just be out there.
We saw the engine today. We knew it wouldn't be ready. The harmonic damper is frozen to the crank. The engine is way too heavy for the engine stand and the engine puller is attached to the front of the block to supplement the weight of the big block.
Check this out. Sam made a belt sander to sand the gasket surface of the heads! Way cool. It is huge. It sands mildly out of plane heads and definately cleans gasket surfaces. The head is lowered square to the belt. As it is lowered, the weight is kept off the belt untill the belt has had a chance to get centered with the plane. Then the head is lowered slowly untill the belt evenly sands microns off the gasket surface. To raise compression, or to eliminate warp, he uses a machine shop and broaches. A broached surface is less likely to leak than a smooth surface. We, however, are using solid copper head gaskets. I think it will be ready next week, and I think it will be worth it.
Hey, we had an employee from academic northeast. We are still recovering from three months of her. Employees can kill a business, but, you cannot do it all alone.
It is a jungle out there.