EA 117 Gaming Community

I have done research up the ass and now its your turn for some input. The winter project its getting closer and want to put this to bed. What I am looking for is the answer to what engine will be best for towing.
Here is the info.
93' Suburban
Tired out 350
Brand new 4L80E Tranny (not NS)
4:10's in the ass.

At times this old girl still tows dual trailers, a 6800 lbs travel trailer and a support trailer behind it with about 800 lbs of supplies.

The ideas are: rebuild the 350 with the 96 Vortec heads, rv cam and new intake. this can really increase my horse power but I'm looking for torque. Trucks are usually low HP and High torque.

Another was drop the Stroker in it or find a sbc400. Kinda hard to find and trying to keep the cost down.

The last option is dropping a BBC 454, but some of these monsters have the same HP and Torque as the SBC but I can't find to muck info on the wire harness. I think i need the computer and harness to go with the 454.

MPG is a concern but I expect a drop of course with what ever I do. My camping travels get me into a lot of mountain roads or the slow climb desert roads that raise the temp gauge like a second hand.

I also thought about a 6.5 turbo but oofa I'll need to rob a bank.

So have at it and give mr some ideas.

Thank and Kisses, Sarge.

I would just work the 350 as you have been using it for a while now with no problems. You could get one of those Edlebrock packages that would bump you torque to around 350-380 ft/lbs which would put you in the same range as the stock 454 of that time. Of course those packages range from 1300-2600 dollars But it does come with heads, intake, cam, lifters etc etc and I believe it can use the stock TBI .. on the lower HP packages.


I will say I think you are close to the manufactures towing limit by the sounds of it. Of course I have been there done that too LOLOLOL and went well over once or twice. Maybe it was four or five times that my truck has been sitting on the rear bump stops but who is counting.

I've built two strokers, but both times I went with the 350 block and 400 crank, 400 rods on offset pistons... bored 30 is like a 383 I think... loved them both... one was in a drag car and one in a setup blazer... It will add a little $ for machine work tho :/

You know my opinion. Turbo. Where else can you get more torque/power as well as ton more gas efficiency (when you're not gunning it)? The turbo shouldn't add all that much if you're considering head/cam work. Those things add up, and being domestic money is usually the last concern (all the aftermarket is cheap... relative to me at least), I would be most concerned with quality/finish. The only no-go-back mod you'll have to make is to drill and tap your oil pan for an oil return.

Hey thanks. It looks like I'm going with the SBC 400. It has tons of low end torque. Chevy made this engine just got that reason. I will still rebuild it. Can and a valve job and top it off with the performer rpm manifold. It should be around 265 HP with 350/400 lbs of torque. Its my winter project maybe before turkey day.

That will be nice and making the swap alot easier than going BBC or diesel.

Also, is your burb not a 4x4? Do you not use the 4wd ever? If you do, you are going to swap the gears out in the front pumpkin too right?

Jeez Nighty your talking to Army not Air Force...pumpkin? Who said anything about Halloween?
Yes dear it 4X4 dufus. I have 4:10's in it right now and that's what is called for towing with my tires. I'll take the 350 and drop it in the 72 International truck and finish up my Rat Rod

Sarge wrote: 4:10's in the ass..

Dearest Sarge, if you will read the above you will see in the ASS. Now we can go into all kinds of conclusions as to why you would say that BUT, us AF guys, you know, the ones that had to score higher on the ASVAB, would read that as you are putting in or in your case already have 4:10's in the REAR ... as there was nothing said about the *front* differential. The front is the same as the rear only facing the other way. And it is IFS ... OH hell .. Army guy that's right. OK, IFS say it with me ... Eye ... Efff .. Essss .. Independent Front Suspension. It means its not a solid axle like the rear end is. Each tire can move independently. Are you understanding the reasoning behind the name or acronym IFS now? ... No ... well its tough but you will get there. Now, most people, you not included (obviously) have heard of the "rear-end", "differential", "axle housing" or maybe you would prefer "third member" (I bet you have heard of that one) called a pumpkin before ... If not let me google it for you http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pumpkin+differential ... It was not some HIGH ASVAB scoring guy's try at sounding like he knew what he was talking about, though it did almost max out my use of 2 syllable words in a sentence


OK I just about used all of my smartass'ness up in one post. I need to save some just in case.

Good luck on your build bud. In all seriousness if I was closer I would help you out. Been a LONG time since I have done anything like that. Closest thing I am going to be doing to swapping anything out in a truck/car is swapping some speakers out in my truck so we can take the kids to the drive in this weekend

Jeez. Things sure change around here. Thanks for the advice anyway from TV land. My retard kid is selling his Tahoe and wants to give me the money (first mistake) and become the owner of my Burb (second mistake). I sold my trailer yesterday. So that puts me in the running for a Ford XL350 Diesel and we will shop around for a 5th wheel......maybe if not I found a crate motor in Vegas that I'll get for the Burb.

Don't get the Ford if its a 6.0 diesel. If its a 7.3 or the newer one (I think 6.2) go for it.

Oh well. Couldn't pass up the deal. Picked up a SBC 400. Pics to follow.

Thought I would kill a frw hours today and strip down the 400. Harley had to help a little too!

LMAO @ second picture

LOL, nice one sarge!

Awesome pics sarge, the bore on those pistons are huge! Least compared to the euro motors I get to work with.

Also like your helper

That looks like fun. Love the dog.

What kind of drum set you got there?? I want to say looks like a tama from the hardware but the color makes me think Ludwig or Pearl.

I "think" the diameter of those pistons is 4.25 ish inches.... my inline 6 has about 4.0 inch diameter pistons...just pulling numbers from head

Is it the limited edition model?

Tdogs also sent me his safety scissors in order to cut the various openings in the pillow case he sent me
I thought those pics would get a laugh. The drum set is a knock off some friends gave my kid. I'm dreading setting up.
The bore is 4.125". I found a problem with #3 sleeve. It sat in this guys garage for six years. A little bit of water sat on top of the piston and barely made a little divet/ bump. I'll hone them all out tomorrow and take sons pics. Worst case a sleeve job.......ffff


Nighty, after draining the oil I think we have a lifetime supply of butt grease.

It's so nice to know that I have such great friends, that when WW3 comes along and I need a place to hide from the draft you guys would be there for me!

Don't come to my house. I just removed the house numbers

Well the update on the build. It looks like the block is going to get bored 30 over. Number 3 cylinder did suffer from water damage while it sat around. Not to bad. The old fart machinist over here lives for chevy small blocks. His advice was to take the heads and intake for my 350 and put them on the 400 with a rv cam and badda bing. All siad and done I should have a nice 406 with tons of torque and a wee bit better gas mileage.

In the famous words of Tool man .... motor porn.

Best thing about it Sarge, replacement will be a snap. Are you gonna stick with the factory TBI, exhaust manifolds??? I am sure you are going to deck,port and polish the heads, I don't remember the biggest valves you can go with. Then again if you are going to go that far you might as well go with aftermarket. But at least throw in a MSD ignition system for a little more spark, maybe a cold air intake and a Flowmaster muffler to let it breathe a little easier???

Decking is over rated. I will check if it needs to be done. The rest is going to be stock with the rv cam. Have the new ignition already and was using cold air intake for years. Going to modify it though and design a outside intake system that may resemble the trubo can the semi's use. The only after market crap will be the high flow water pump and a four core radiator as these motors do run warmer at low speeds.

Been a little lazy on the update. My baby is back. Bored .20 over. Just cleaning the original parts I'm going to use. Have to shop around for the pistons. Still don't know if I'll cam it or not. As you can see. "Chevy Orange" I'll OD Grn something, maybe the intake system.

Cool man! Nice update. Keep us in the loop.