also, if when you driver her again all seems well dont go digging for the trouble, the 700r is a pretty tough trans i trust she'll be okay if all seems fine now

 

well i got up this morning and my car wasnt shifting till 3500 rpm because thats when its forced to shift and when it shifted it shifted hard!!, well after driving it around alittle after school it slipped back into its old habits and started shifting like it should, so i got it home and just re adjusted my tv cable just to be sure it was correct and it seems to be fine now and shifting fine so im hoping im okay now.

 

should be, like i said it might do that on a cold day somewhere down the road but let it get warm, shut er down then start it again and i should be fine

 

adjusted my TV cable and i never had another problem, but i decided to do my brakes tonight since i was home alone, and lets say im glad i did because my rotors were so thin its rediculace, my new rotors are atleast 3 times as thick, thats how bad my old ones were, and who ever did my brakes last installed the pads wrong so my driver side pad wasnt retracting like i should, and the passenger side had different rotor and pads on it than the others so it was off. so lets say im glad i did everything with new lol. im going to do my rears tomorrow and try and adjsut my window

 

where did you last have your brakes done? 0.o

 

I haven't done them in the 3 years iv owned it lol

 

thats one of the first things i do or check, also oil and antifreeze, and the suspension i always look for missing bushings or worn parts

 

well for $250 and a rust free car i wasnt about to complain lol. took my drums off today to do them and my shoes are brand new, along with everything inside it so i didnt bother with them

 

true lol

 

if you have been driving the car for 3 years and the brakes look brand new there is a good chance that your rear brakes are out of adjustment and not working as well as they should be

 

yeah im going to adjust them.

 

might want to get a rebuild kit with new adjusters

 

All the springs and stuff inside the drum is new, my drum and shoes were slick so idk.

 

wheel cylinders might be leaking. I found the same thing when i just pulled the rear end in my project camaro. I didnt care because im doing a disk swap anyway.

 

Well my front pump seal is leaking now on my transmission and Iv had it with this engine and trans. I'm going tomorrow to talk to my buddy about his 96 5.7 vortec. I'm going to start my supply, right now I don't care If the engine stays stock I want this v6 ouT

 

you'll miss the mileage, and the handling which will feel very different, but other then that good luck making it all fit

 

honestly i dont get that great of mileage now lol, i burn through half a tank of gas driving around town and going to school which is only a mile from me... i use a fourth going 30 miles to the next town and back. im just so tired of dumping money into the tranny and engine to have something else go bad, its going to stay in for awhile while i tear down my vortec and 4l60e or whatever engine comes on the new v8s come with, then im going to pull it and probably sell it to my buddy....

 

then there is something wrong with your engine or driving style... I averaged 18-20 driving normally in my Iroc with a 305 auto. Alot less when I was screwing off, passing people, ect... but if I drove the speed limit or alittle above around town and on the highway I got good gas mileage.

 

that's a Z 28 hood possibly 84, cause afterwards they widen the louvers more

 

huh?

 

now you see where I'm coming from, after I got my license sure I was screwing around but it's long since worn off and since gas is $3.99 here I don't mess around or go over the limit as is. I'm not sure what's wrong with my engine but I'm just tired of dumping money into it, it would be different if it was every once in awhile but it's like right after I fix something another thing goes wrong and I'm just tired of it. I'm bringing home my 350 today so I can start the rebuild on it then I need to find myself a transmission

 

Took delivery today, will post pictures and information today

 

here she is, i need to get a flywheel, dizzy, wireing harness and a few other odds and ends but im going to do a complete rebuild and maybe a cam and some headers, maybe a few other goodies, only time will tell. anywho here are the specs on the engine.

1996 suburban 2500 5.7 350 vortec, 4 bolt main, single dish pistons, 906 cast heads, aluminum intake and only has 130K on it, the reason it got pulled was it either had a head gasket or intake gasket has blown and need replaced and my friend wanted to install an 5.3 ls into his truck. im going to pick up some headers tomorrow while im in town for it and maybe start to take it apart and clean it up alittle bit, im looking at different intakes and cams for it but i havent done anything this big so i have no idea as to what im going to do but i think its going to be a great learning process for me to do and will be alot of fun. the other thing i need to decide is what transmission i want to put behind it, i cant choose wether i want a th350 or a 700R4, or a 4L80E

 

gonna need new acc pulleys, or atleast brackets

 

whys that?

 

Because that acc is set up for a truck. See how far the compressor sticks up? Your hood wouldn't even come close to closing.

 

so what should i look for? an f body set up?

 

Man you got a looker for 250 plus the paint. How are you doing all of this at 17?(I assume 17 because of your name) I have never had a car, but my dad had an iroc when I was young and I think it would be a simple fun car to enjoy on sunny days...

 

Alittle farther into my page, I think page 3 or 4 I tell how I'm doing this. When my grandpa was alive he helped supply me with the money and knowledge that I needed to get the car and get it going, but after he passed away my grandma took over his spot for say and is giving me the money.... I guess I shouldnt say give because iv worked for all the money, doing little odds and ends and whatever I can do to help, but another person I keep forgetting to mention is my stepdad, he use to be a mechanic for 20+ years so he is really been helping me and teaching me everything I know, when ever I tackle something on the car he is always right there if I need help or suggestions or just someone to vent on. I really can't thank or say enough about him and if it wasn't for him I would have probably given up on my car along time ago. But besides my friends and family who have helped me I also have my TGO family here who always try and help when I need them. Thank you so much guys!!

 

I'm sure you can find a serpentine setup on TGO for sale that will fit your car. Then sell the old one on a truck website or something.

 

I would go to compcams, they have some pretty nice cams for vortec motors that work with the computers without reprogramming. And personally I would go with a built 700R4, A 4L80E swap isnt worth the effort of setting up the electronics. And if you want a 3-speed go with a TH400 instead of the TH350

 

Well the 4l80e was originally set up with these motors so the harness should have the provisions for it but I have awhile to look and see what I want and need, but I don't think I'll be getting a th350 or th400 because this will be a dd for awhile and Im gonna need the overdrive for gas mileage lol. But anyways today I went out and removed the ac compressor since I won't be using it, moved the tensioner off since it seems broken or atleast loose, removed the old oil cooler lines, I need to find a standard oil filter housing so I can use it instead, removed the remaining line of the ps lines, and fought like hell trying to get those damn spark plugs wires off

 

to my knowledge a 4l80e was never mated to a 350 from the factory. only to the 454s and later 6.0s

and a mildly built 700r4 will take all the punishment that 350 will give it

 

or find a totaled f body and pull the 4l60 and pulleys lol

 

Might be the 4L60E I'm thinking of then. Right now I'm trying to decide what I want to do with my engine. I can't decide if I want to get an rpm performer intake from summit or decide to use the vortec intake and I need to decide if I want to bore the engine over or just do a standard rebuild

 

Having the engine bored is part of a standard rebuild. It isn't to make the engine bigger, it's just to shave off enough to get fresh cylinder walls.

 

I mean boring it for performance gains

 

Bought my first go fast parts tonight, a set of headers. Not sure of the brand but they seem to be in good shape and I got them for a great price, $25. I'm going to try and clean them up so see if I can find the maker of them

 

Re-read what I wrote.

Boring the engine has nothing to do with performance gains. It's part of a standard engine rebuild/reconditioning.

 

okay sorry puma, miss read your post lol, here a picture of the headers i just bought, they look like 3" headers so that will give my 350 some room to breath. they have surface rust but im going to go out in a minute and see if i cant clean them up alittle

 

well i cleaned up my driver side header, i need more steel wool before i can tackle the other header but i knocked all the surface rust off and discovered they were originally black at one point but the rust took over them from sitting maybe? idk but i took some coarse steel wool and knocked off all the rough stuff till it was smooth, then took a fine path of wool and made it really smooth then wiped them down from all the dust and dirt off then spray painted them gloss black just to keep them looking pretty and to stop the rust from getting on them while im building and working on the engine so here is the front side of the header, i need to get more paint to do the rest and i couldnt find my wire to hang the headers so i could paint them so i laid them down and sprayed them.

 

i just realized those are long tube headers.....

 

exactly. even a 355 doesnt have much more power than a similarly optioned 350. your choice of cam is where you get power... assuming you have upgraded heads,intake,exhaust accordingly to flow well enough to make use of the cam.

and good luck fitting those long tubes. my shortys are a tight fit. are you sure those are 3rd gen specific?

and if you didnt use engine block paint that paint will cook off as soon as those headers come up to temp

 

even with engine block paint it may come off, use specific header paint or BBQ paint is good to 1,000 degrees

 

I guess a good question to ask would be what type of induction you intend on running (Plus what parts you already have to work with). Unless you have a full Fi setup to swap in a standard non-cc carb, vac advance dist. and non-cc trans would be the easiest + cheapest setup to go with, according to state what will be required to pass inspection may also be a factor. The vortec truck intake won't fit under a stock hood, nor is it really desireable. The vortec truck heads will work just fine for a mild build, if you are going more towards performance there are more desireable factory vortec castings to work with (more something to worry about later down the road after you finish everything else to support your swap such as exhaust, suspension upgrades, subframe connectors, rear diff upgrades like limited slip carrier and gears, etc) Like someone already stated boring a block is something you do if needed during a rebuild, not to increase performance, if you can get away with a honing don't spend $ where it's not needed. Let you're machine shop decide what is nessicary and go from there and good luck!
P.S. back to the cc or non-cc question as far as trans, a 4l60 is pretty much another name for a 700R4, a 4l60E being the electronic or computer controlled version. Personally I'd suggest going with an overdrive transmission regardless of which one you choose, a well set-up 700 or 4l60e can handle whatever you plan to throw at it for a street car and the overdrive makes it a lot more pratical if you plan on using the car as a daily driver (or even a weekend car that will see highway miles), take it from a guy who went with a th350 and a large cube carbed 350 as a daily driver, not the best choice

 

they are not thirdgen specific but i have seen non thirdgen long tubes be installed before, its tighter than i like but they will fit, and thats not engine block paint but i just sprayed them so that the wont re rust on me while im building my engine, i plan to coat them with high temp engine paint when i get closer to my installation time. also im not sure what cam i can even put into this engine, as i said before i have never tore into an engine this deep, even on my v6 all i did was a gasket change on everything then i tossed it in after i painted it.

 

as far as induction goes right now im looking a edelbrock preformer RPM intake or maybe another FI intake from summit. i wouldnt mind running a carb on this engine but i think it would be more of a hassle for me to try to convert everything to carb instead of FI, my goal for the engine is 400-450 being the max hp i want since it will still be a street car. iv tossed the idea around of making this engine a 383 so i can get this power easier but iv got alot of time to get this engine together with how i want it and plan on asking you guys alot of questions so i know what im doing.

 

anyways im looking at an underdrive pully set for $50 made for thirdgen 5.0 and 5.7 engines and im also looking at a stock dizzy since im missing that from the engine.

 

The main problem I see with those headers assuming they will clear everything else would be how low they hang, long tubes are difficult enough to work with on these cars when they are specifically made for the chassis, most others even if they will bolt up with everything else, hang far too low to drive the car with them installed.

 

a FI 383 will be far more hastle than it's worth IMO. New injectors, custom programming, ect...

and honestly, to make it carb all you need is an intake and carb, and you are talking about getting a new intake anyway.