Big White Project - 08 Suburban 2500 content
 

My wife and I will be having our first child in October of this year and the touareg was feeling a little small to be handle wife+child+2dogs+racecar+camping, so I found this:

https://image.ibb.co/kjbW3z/20180726_184515.jpg

Had to rearrange the garage to make it fit
https://image.ibb.co/kxiYGK/20180729_124131.jpg

It is a well abused 2008 Suburban 2500 that was used for commercial use most of its life. It runs and drives okay but has its issues:

water pump
tires
codes -trans (P0700) and cam(P0011)
No carpet
No 3rd seat
Light rust

But it does have the good heavy duty bits:
6L90 trans
6.0 engine
3.73 heavy duty rear

For what I paid for it if I have to replace major components I'm okay with it. Initial plan is get decent tires on it and water pump to get it good and streetable. Find out just all of its problems and if it is worth the trouble (see above about having child). If I find I like it I will most likely build a lightly modded well built version of it in the future.

Maybe get a little sloppy and put a turbo on at some point.

Congrats on the purchase, I love these! I go back and forth all the time..... I've wanted to sell my Forester and buy one but when 12mpg vs 25mpg plays out in my head I get sad. But so much more room for activities and I could tow way more.

I support your sloppy goals

I've got a guy when you're ready for a turbo

Hahahaha, it's probably dangerous to even post about this rig. The peer pressure will surely build quickly lol.

How many miles are on it? It looks like a great vehicle once you sort through the issues.

Well the Touareg did not get very good gas mileage, especially when you consider it needed 91+ octane. The burb might actually be a little cheaper gas wise. I wont drive it very much and when I do 50% of that will be towing.


I thought you might. I'd be interested to hear your suggestions/opinions on the best route. It will never be anything crazy but I could see 5-600 hp type goals.

I give in to peer pressure easily...

The mileage is an interesting story. The odometer reads 133000 but there was a conflict with the title at some point. The title says 276000 or something like that. Part of the reason it was cheap. I guessing it has 276 on most things. I think the trans computer controls what the odometer says, so I'm hoping the trans was changed at some point.


Changed the water pump this weekend and put new tires on. Now the starter is not doing its job so that's the next thing. These things are easy to work on and surprisingly similar to the 95 I had.

Congrats on the purchase and the baby!

admit it, you're gonna turbo it.

Must resist...

Anybody know anything about HPtuners?

So I went autox this weekend and the burb towed the racecar. It was a pretty pleasing experience. The event was at Mohegan Sun arena in wilkes-barre. That means my trip was up and down Rt 115 from broadheadsville to WB. Essentially one big 45min hill. Had no issues running and driving, stayed at temp, shifted well, seems to make power fine and got 11.6mpg. It did have a short in the electric brakes and the passenger side trailer lights didn't work for some reason. Must be diagnosed and fixed. On the bright side (depending on how you look at it) it appears that I am the first owner using this truck to tow. The stock connection wires were still coiled up in there OEM location.

For me, this was verification that the truck is worth some time and effort. Next to come will be some shocks. HPTuners has already been purchased! Some rust correction would also be nice.

https://image.ibb.co/gaaQaz/20180812_083656.jpg

so when are you gonna turbo it?

awesome, looking forward to seeing what you do with it!

Not sure how I feel about it but my first purchase of Bilstein is for a suburban. Shocks can handle a small lift if I feel frisky. Bought all for corners plus a steering damper. Things were cheap for what should be a quality shock.

https://image.ibb.co/csDKCe/20180818_164327.jpg

HP tuners also arrived. Time to learn how to use that.

:cool::cyberguy:

and it's begun....:lol:

Installed the bilsteins this weekend. The ride is significantly better. I would highly recommend for these vehicles.

https://image.ibb.co/kkFHkK/20180902_114152.jpg
https://image.ibb.co/i3dsKe/20180902_115444.jpg

My favorite brand of shock. :cool: Glad you like it!

Just towed with them for the first time this weekend. I am still impressed with how composed they keep this big thing.

I should be driving it more in the next few weeks. Hopefully I can do some logging and start tuning for gas mileage / drivability and some of the easy power that can be had.

Excellent, hopefully they continue to impress. They’re my go-to on every platform that doesn’t have MRC.

Very cool, please share your HP Tuner changes. I have my copy of it ready for the ZL1

So long time no post...short story been using it off and on and has been great. Also learned it is great in the snow in that early snow storm.

I flashed my first tune to this thing. Basically removed all of the torque management and a few other thing. Timing and AFRs remain the same. Haven't noticed anything ground breaking, maybe slightly better power. Still a bit of a dog down low but there may be a reason for that, P0011.

That's the code for cam timing error. I have tried to fix it with the typical culprits, cam position sensor, oil control valve, and magnet actuator thingy. Still get the code and HP tuners shows a delay in the actuation/change in timing. At this point I'm slightly nervous I have an oil pressure problem. Need to go back and look at the logs.

The VVT problem and the mileage has got me considering building a short block to swap in. Being my first LS style engine, what I don't know and would like to know is if I can use other 6.0 blocks that are cheaper, LQ4 LQ9 maybe others. Swap over all the heads/VVt/accesories and have it bolt up to the 6l90 trans.

TL:DR
Big White is pretty good.
Considering building a short block because of mileage but don't know what my options are for blocks.