Topic: 2002 Suburban 2500 build thread, Part 4

[Flyin6]

OK, have some more information/changes

First, Nick loaded the new transmission shift tables into the thing and that is straightened out, he reports. The stumble off idle was remedied but in trying to figure out all that, he made a discovery.

The battery has been losing its charge all along and today, Nick discovered that the alternator was only producing 12.5 volts max to the PCM. He felt that during a cold start with a battery not fully charged the voltages were off to the PCM and that in itself is an issue. He sourced a 160 amp alternator meant for a Cadillac Escalade, and ordered that. He pointed out that the factory gages are junk. My electrical charge gage was reading 14 volts while the actual output from the alternator was only 12 volts.

As for the problem with the AC, we aren't there yet, just sorting through the issues at hand but getting closer to the prize all the time.

[Bigdave_185]

The million dollar invoice on the way lol


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[Flyin6]

The million dollar invoice on the way lol


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I'm not happy with all these punch-out items, but looking at it objectively, I have the ball on the three yard line, second down, 14 seconds on the clock and I'm down by one. I get the ball into the end zone and I'll have one of the most unique, truly off road capable, real deal Suburbans in this nation.

And it's not in my ethos to lose!

[stlaser]

Dave, for the love of Pete do not bring up that old Dodge right now....... fair warning!

[Bigdave_185]

Lol dodge the bullet so to speak lol


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[wyorunner]

Dave, for the love of Pete do not bring up that old Dodge right now....... fair warning!

What old dodge? I know a few of us who have fully operating old dodges. Must not be those your thinking of.

[oklawall]

Do I sense a disturbance in the Dodge or is that a firing I feel?

 

[stlaser]

Dave, for the love of Pete do not bring up that old Dodge right now....... fair warning!

What old dodge? I know a few of us who have fully operating old dodges. Must not be those your thinking of.

What is your definition of “fully”?

[JR]

Just caught up on all this, somehow it was all spammed.

Would be nice to really see this chunk go.

[TexasRedNeck]

Rip the factory AC out and then put a big Red Dot on top


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[Flyin6]

Do I sense a disturbance in the Dodge or is that a firing I feel?

 

I'd say your senses are acutely accurate!

[Flyin6]

OK, Nick texted to let me know the new alternator charges at 13.5 volts with both fans running

I don't think the AC issue is solved, but a lot of good things just happened.

Nick knows a guy at the caddy dealership that is a wizard with wiring and electrical stuff. He will be the next go-to guy to get the burb to 100%

Its getting there with no remunerations, vibrations, rejugerations, of any other types of__ach-tions in the way. Bet on this thing getting done and becoming FMC

[Bigdave_185]

Dave, for the love of Pete do not bring up that old Dodge right now....... fair warning!

What old dodge? I know a few of us who have fully operating old dodges. Must not be those your thinking of.

What is your definition of “fully”?

“Fully” assembled?


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[cj7ox]

Dave, for the love of Pete do not bring up that old Dodge right now....... fair warning!

What old dodge? I know a few of us who have fully operating old dodges. Must not be those your thinking of.

What is your definition of “fully”?

“Fully” assembled?


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I think in this context, it means moves under its own power down the road, and reliably gets the driver where he/she needs to go. 

[wyorunner]

Dave, for the love of Pete do not bring up that old Dodge right now....... fair warning!

What old dodge? I know a few of us who have fully operating old dodges. Must not be those your thinking of.

What is your definition of “fully”?

“Fully” assembled?


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I think in this context, it means moves under its own power down the road, and reliably gets the driver where he/she needs to go. 

This!!! Or simply put, can be used as a daily driver.

[Bigdave_185]

Ah I see so I need to build a dodge so I can be apart of this super exclusive club


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[stlaser]

Dave, it’s a Dodge..... Obviously most can’t be used as a reliable DD so yeah it’s an exclusive club! 

[Flyin6]

Everyone done???

I picked up the burb today.

Yes it shifts much better and boy does it have a ton of power. Just normal driving it just moves out effortlessly.

And the thing starte more easily now that I have that beefy alternator keeping the battery topped up

The stumble off idle is no longer there and if you blip the throttle, it immediately responds with an RPM increase.

It is, however stalling sometime when pulling up to a stop. Nick drove it and said it didn't do anything like that for him, so it must be something new. The chinaman throttle body I have on there (I didn't know it was a chinaman product) is not behaving and may be the culprit. It makes a loud whistling sound on startup and at some other times. The sound is caused by roughly machined and not blended air passages that route to/from the Idle control motor. A good US TB does not do that. I am not liking the thing whistling so on that point alone the TBD (Throttle body days) are numbered. But considering that the CJP (Chinaman junk Part) may be the cause of all this, I think I'm going to opt to replace it.

And the climate control motor or system is still on the blink. So come monday, back to the shop.

[TexasRedNeck]

Dang. The burb has the COVID virus


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[Bigdave_185]

Swap a Cummins in it lol


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[wyorunner]

Dang. The burb has the COVID virus


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I think you meant to say the burb has the Kung Flu... also known as the Wuhan Virus... aka the chinese virus

[swbhobie16]

i love the way a supercharger sounds and feels. drove my terminator the other day (mostly stock with a few goodies..) and it’s just immediate but smooth power. and you can’t beat the sound. a SC burb on 35s cruising down the highway or making a rolling 25 MPH pull will really take people by surprise

[Flyin6]

i love the way a supercharger sounds and feels. drove my terminator the other day (mostly stock with a few goodies..) and it’s just immediate but smooth power. and you can’t beat the sound. a SC burb on 35s cruising down the highway or making a rolling 25 MPH pull will really take people by surprise

From a 25 mph roll it will break the tires free (I am told) ;-)

[dave945]

Will it break all four tires free?


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[JR]

If it has that much power, will it just break?

Try is in Mall Mulch,,,,,,,

[Bigdave_185]

i love the way a supercharger sounds and feels. drove my terminator the other day (mostly stock with a few goodies..) and it’s just immediate but smooth power. and you can’t beat the sound. a SC burb on 35s cruising down the highway or making a rolling 25 MPH pull will really take people by surprise

From a 25 mph roll it will break the tires free (I am told) ;-)

Send one of them rangers out to video a full pull up the driveway.  No smoking tires I wouldn’t pay the bill

https://youtu.be/71tvAUjo60c

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[Flyin6]

Will it break all four tires free?


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In first gear, I imagine it would. It got quite a bit more powerful. Like before it had a wheezing pinto 4-cyl. Now it has a pair of 454's, or maybe three of em. Its very powerful.

[JR]

Hey, the Pinto I learned in would smoke the tires (from reverse to 1st)

[Dawg25385]

Took me a few days, but I caught up on this. Looks great!

Your tuning escapades reminded me of my first experience with Kory on my LMM. Such a helpless, frustrating feeling when you’re waiting on somebody else for something only they can fix, and they don’t really care.

Glad you were able to reconnect with Nick, and get things on the right track!


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[Flyin6]

Took me a few days, but I caught up on this. Looks great!

Your tuning escapades reminded me of my first experience with Kory on my LMM. Such a helpless, frustrating feeling when you’re waiting on somebody else for something only they can fix, and they don’t really care.

Glad you were able to reconnect with Nick, and get things on the right track!


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Concur!

Mail order tuning is a fail, and I will not promote it nor recommend it.

Nick is currently sorting our a strange transmission behavior

Someday, I'll get all the issues solved.

[Dawg25385]

Took me a few days, but I caught up on this. Looks great!

Your tuning escapades reminded me of my first experience with Kory on my LMM. Such a helpless, frustrating feeling when you’re waiting on somebody else for something only they can fix, and they don’t really care.

Glad you were able to reconnect with Nick, and get things on the right track!


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Concur!

Mail order tuning is a fail, and I will not promote it nor recommend it.

Nick is currently sorting our a strange transmission behavior

Someday, I'll get all the issues solved.

That said, working with Rob Coddens when he was able to tune was great.

I recently tuned my LBZ and had not been up to speed on the tyranny at the EPA, so was shocked when I called Rob and that was no dice. Luckily MotorOps was still in the game, so I called them and talked to a fella named Steve. All in all I’ve been happy with the tuning from MotorOps.

Hope your trans issues get sorted soon!


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[Flyin6]

Today it got moved the the local cadillac dealer who has a guru guy who does electronics. His job is to sort the HVAC.

Nick and HP Tuners are still figuring out the software. They are talking a total reflash of the PCM or replacement of the 18 year old box altogether.

At this point, nothing has changed, I still just want it finished.

[Flyin6]

The mechanic at Joseph Cadillac was a wizard! He had the thing fixed in short order and they even did an alignment. Seems the last alignment was all gobbered up and Nick asked them to do another alignment. It's now spot on and the AC is working as it should.

Now there is something odd about the AC/PCM/fans still. The factory electric fans are supposed to switch on the main fan whenever the AC activates, but this one will not. Duane noted that my Burb has a manual HVAC switch and that is different. Different enough to cause the electric fans not to work like they should if the vehicle was just one year newer. My Burb was built in a transition period which still used the older style PCM.

Nick says that when this generation PCM starts to fail, it typically does so in stages, and an early warning of an impending failure presents with AC issues first. He said he has seen this before, and along with the weird converter clutch anomaly, I made a decision. We are going to install a totally new GM PCM, reflash and tune it and start this truck off as if it's 2002 once again. I think we just seem to be chasing a myriad of mysterious and unusual problems, so I feel swapping the PCM is prudent.

The Burb is back at Nick's shop so that can happen

[TexasRedNeck]

One step closer


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[JR]

Sounds like my BDM module. First the lights flickered, then gone.

Maybe summer trip will happen?

[Flyin6]

Sounds like my BDM module. First the lights flickered, then gone.

Maybe summer trip will happen?

Yea, this summer trip WILL happen

[Flyin6]

It's DONE!

Everything works! Well almost everything. The right rear window is refusing to move up or down and the speaker also doesn't work in that door, but other than that the Burb roars!

Nick did not replace the PCM. He is a miner, that one. The problems I was having fascinated him so he kept digging, way down in the code of the original software, and that is where he found the mismatch. It seems some of the code that was written lately was not compatible with some that was there from the start and that may have been caused by addition of the electric fans or the tune, I do not know exactly. And for that matter, I may be butchering this horribly, as I am only a casual observer in this realm. Should Nick read this, perhaps he can correct the Don and bring the truth to light, but in his absence, my first grade explanation shall suffice.

What I can say is the truck is fabulous. Nick's tuning and Preston's boltin' on of de huffer made more than a casual impact! Then, for some reason the Caddy people gave me an alignment, and without my knowing it earlier, I suppose it needed one because it drives down the road wonderfully now. It is not wanting to suddenly drive off the crown nor dart, nor react to wind gusts. It just stays planted and pointed where you aim it. The ride is so comfortable, it's actually cushy to borrow a word from the more feminine sect.

The power is just there. Not diesel like, trying to twist the earth a bit faster on it's axis, but there is no wanting. Going up the very steep two mile long incline departing the Cincinnati, it just effortlessly maintained speed. Squirting ahead, and yes, I chose that word, is just a half inch of throttle away from where "you is" at any moment.

I found myself cruising at 60, at 65, at 70, at 75 and even darted up around the octy once or twice. It was revving, but not like it was pushing against mounting revs, but more like it was being gently pulled into the climbing R-P-M's. It likes to spin. Oh and did I mention merging into traffic? Ever owned a big block camaro? No you say? Well, then you won't understand what pulling onto a speedway feels like.

This thing is road ready (And I bath that statement with prayer because a liar called Satan wants to spoil all the good this thing will accomplish in the name of his opposite). But all bad possibilities aside, the Burb is finished, I declare it dun N' finished up 2 dis here point!

That does not mean it is finished. Is any project every truly finished? Could we replace the polished plastic part with a kryptonite one later on?? Well heck ya! And I'll do a couple of little things to it even before the pending trip, but for the most part as soon as I glue the top half of ma kamper to the lower "wheelie" part and hook that manassas to the speedy burb box, As graduating seniors say to the teachers who watched them mature in their high school years, "I'm outta here!"

[JR]

All I can say is great, about time it came together.

[dave945]

Glad to hear it, Don. In fact I think I did hear it this morning. My siblings claimed it was the air national guard doing flyovers for the local hospitals. I think it was actually you lighting up those 35s.


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[Dawg25385]

Awesome, congrats Don


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[Bigdave_185]

Until we see a posted video/smoke show.   I will remain skeptical


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[cj7ox]

Without pictographic/video evidence, I believe your claims of completeness are spurious. Proof, sir! We need proof! ;-)

[EL TATE]

Without pictographic/video evidence, I believe your claims of completeness are spurious. Proof, sir! We need proof! ;-)

I like to use big words so I can sound photosynthesis too!

[KensAuto]

Awesome Don!

[oklawall]

Good to hear and congratulations to all that helped this project along. Just no oil changes any time soon

[Flyin6]

Good to hear and congratulations to all that helped this project along. Just no oil changes any time soon

Hear-hear!

Ya, no oil changes for awhile

Phew...I'm tired of all this work, but it was a lot of fun!

Driving it today, it remains operational, smooth running, and just operates about how I expected it to.

Next big step will be towing the camper around on a test loop, coming up before not too much longer.

[cruizng]

Very nice to see.  er...read about.  congratulations


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[rpar86]

Hit any mall mulch beds yet? How did it fare?

[TexasRedNeck]

Congrats Don. Nice to hear. Need a video from one of the pre rangers from the front seat of a freeway entrance.


So the rear window won’t work from either the master switchboard of the local switch in the door?

Interesting that it’s both the speaker and window. Time to get out the test meter


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[Flyin6]

The truck is running pretty good. Feels "healthy"
But
Last night I was driving home on the interstate from church
and
A duramax suburban passes me pulling a trailer
Instantly
I started having a new problem
Have to stay strong
Have to stay strong
Have to stay strong