New to me 97 Suburban 2500 4x4

[hidesertwheelin]

Nice.

 

[wirenut]

My GM truck nut uncle has a special place in his heart for the RV/commercial 8.1L 454 which was pretty rare to find in a pickup and typically found in GM RV's and Commercial applications. He had one of the few Pickups that were built with it he never got better than 10mpg but he could tow is 26ft RV trailer up to Montana at 75mph without so much as breaking a sweat LOL.

He sold that rig after two years decided he didn't need 8.1liters nearly capable of reversing the rotation of the Earth if one were to try. LOL

Rare indeed given that the 454 is 7.4 liters and the 8.1 L is 496 cubic inches. Two compltely different engines.

 

[tigger]

Great deal! Great color as well!

That pic of the routing is kinda dark, here is a factory diagram for the belt routing.

So I wanted to put up some more pictures. This is how it is routed on my engine. Is this OK? Should I go back to the original way?

 

[Larry]

No, that is not ok. As we've shown you, the idler at the top is missing. The alternator and A/C compressor pulleys could slip due to lack of belt surface area plus with this oddball routing you could actually put the tensioner in a bind, burn up the alternator bearings, WP bearings, etc. Why would you think this is okay to deviate from the original belt routing?? Go get an upper idler pulley and correct belt and fix it right.

 

[tigger]

So when I bought it the after market radio did not work. I got around to trying to figure it out. Checked the fuses and the fuse was blown. Instead of just replacing the fuse and trying it, I thought I should check the radio wiring first. Glad I did! They had cut out the original harness and twisted the radio wires together, then put black tape over them. Here is where they went wrong. Chevy has 2 yellow wires in the Chevy radio wiring harness. One for the constant power and one for one of the speakers. They were all spliced together. It fried the new alpine that they installed. Oh well.

Headed off to pick n pull to get the OEM radio wiring harness to splice back in. Also had a list of small things that I needed to get.

1. OEM radio wiring harness
2. Replacement dash vents to replace the ones that are broken
3. Driver side exterior door handle I managed to push the lock cylinder through last night
4. screws and bolts here and there.

Got everything I needed, plus more!

Got the radio wiring fixed. Installed a new Pioneer stereo. Plus a new antenna that I could not pass up.



New antenna


Extra pick n pull finds
Under radio cubby, to remove CD player


Under hood box. I have one in my engine compartment, but the lid is missing and the box is all broken


New handle

to replace


Some hub caps only found 2 need 2 more. If anyone has some please let me know.

 

[tigger]

No, that is not ok. As we've shown you, the idler at the top is missing. The alternator and A/C compressor pulleys could slip due to lack of belt surface area plus with this oddball routing you could actually put the tensioner in a bind, burn up the alternator bearings, WP bearings, etc. Why would you think this is okay to deviate from the original belt routing?? Go get an upper idler pulley and correct belt and fix it right.

That is fine. I will go buy everything tomorrow. This is the way I bought it. Still working through it. Thanks tho.

 

[WanderingJim]

I just picked up a 97 2-door Tahoe in the same color, inside and out. The next time you have the spare out, could you post a picture of the retainer hook and "wingnut'? Mine are missing and I'd like a reference to go by. Thanks.

 

[gloriavoxdei]

I have a set of 4 GMC caps identical to those. Got the plastic nuts and externally threaded lug it's too. Although, those are not the correct caps for those wheels.

 

[fault_tolerance]

Nice looking rig! A nice 3/4 are rare to come by! The lower intake manifold gaskets on the Vortec's are prone to go out at 140,XXX-150,XXX. Do you know if that's been replaced? If not, it's kind of a pain to do, but if you have the time and skills you can do it yourself. I have a 98 K1500.

 

[chilliwak]

Sweet rig Tigger. Welcome to the site and congrats on a cool `Burb´at an even cooler price. Larry is our resident GM guru. If he says fix something, it is good advice. Have fun with your rig and keep us updated. Cheers, Chilli..

 

[tigger]

Hey everyone, sorry it has been awhile. I have got a few new things installed.

Fog light and cargo light switch. I need to find another fog light switch, so I have a switch for every set of lights I am running.

 

[tigger]

Also got my home link installed.

 

[tigger]

I also got a sweet brush guard that will be getting installed here hopefully sooner then later.
:ylsmoke:

 

[justcuz]

Your belt looks like you have a smog pump that does not show in belt diagram. Look at the top of your core support or find an online repair manual that shows the proper belt routing for your vehicle.
We have a maroon and silver 92 Blazer, it is a nice color combo.
As Larry has stated the big block Suburbans came with the better running gear.

 

[rayra]

Nice catch Larry.