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Suburban diesel?

6.5s are pathetic for making power and not totally known for reliability. Find an older suburban with the 8.1 and call it good. The fuel economy will suck but it'll have plenty of grunt to do what you need.

DING! DING! DING!
We have a winner!
This is the correct answer!
 
the problem powerwise with the 6.5 is that they have to high of compression and that means they have to run low boost. i believe the comp. ratio on the 6.5 is like 22 to one where as most of the other diesels are around 18ish to one so the 6.5 can only run like 7lbs of boost stock compared to the others in the upper teens or low twentys stock. i read an article where they took a 6.5 and rebuilt it to get the compression down around where the others are and did some fuel system upgrades like injectors and what not and upped the boost with the rest and it made it a very competitive truck. i believe all the trucks were like '99s or close and they compared it to a cummins and a p-stroke and it was just as good if not better in every catagory.

i even found the link to the arcticle if anyone is interested: http://www.thedieselpage.com/finale.htm
 
the problem powerwise with the 6.5 is that they have to high of compression and that means they have to run low boost. i believe the comp. ratio on the 6.5 is like 22 to one where as most of the other diesels are around 18ish to one so the 6.5 can only run like 7lbs of boost stock compared to the others in the upper teens or low twentys stock. i read an article where they took a 6.5 and rebuilt it to get the compression down around where the others are and did some fuel system upgrades like injectors and what not and upped the boost with the rest and it made it a very competitive truck. i believe all the trucks were like '99s or close and they compared it to a cummins and a p-stroke and it was just as good if not better in every catagory.

i even found the link to the arcticle if anyone is interested: http://www.thedieselpage.com/finale.htm


so what you are saying is if you take and completely rebuild a 6.5 into a motor that doesn't in any way resemble the stock form it will then be able to be comparable to a stock pstroke or cummins. :eek:

just giving you a hard time. we had a 90 something 6.5 and it was a good truck just couldn't tow with it and it wouldn't start in the winter. otherwise it was great.
 
so what you are saying is if you take and completely rebuild a 6.5 into a motor that doesn't in any way resemble the stock form it will then be able to be comparable to a stock pstroke or cummins. :eek:

just giving you a hard time. we had a 90 something 6.5 and it was a good truck just couldn't tow with it and it wouldn't start in the winter. otherwise it was great.

I will admit that they got pretty decent mileage.
(A side benefit of not making power!)
 
on the electronic 6.5's it was 24.5:1 compression. that 6.5 of my buddy's that i was talking about runs about 20, it used to pull 25 before he made the wastegate actually work

1992-1996 6.5's were 21.3:1 comp, 1997-1998 comp. was lowerd to 20.2:1 and in 1999 it was lowered again to 19.5:1 for the last of the 99-00 trucks and vans.

the 6.5 was quite outdated for its time but they were awesome on fuel, main things were choked up exhaust, the PMD needed to be moved off the IP and out of heat, compression lowerd to 17:1 and a intercooler and you've got a pretty hot 6.5.

there will be a 4.5L duramax in the suburban within the next year or 2, a 6.6 swap in a 3/4 tonne suburban is pretty straight forward, yes a 2-3 inch body lift is needed to clear the ally but not a real big deal.

http://www.dieselpowermag.com/features/chevy/0710dp_2000_chevy_suburban/index.html
 
There is a shop that does Suburban Conversions.
They take a 2002 Sub, and find a 2002 donor truck, and when it is complete, you would swear it came from the factory. Duramax and Allison, all nicely done.
http://www.duramaxsuburban.com

They match year of engine and trans to the Suburban, so that servicing is easy, and it just makes for a really nice rig.

I had a 6.2 Suburban, years ago.
Driving it one night, a glow plug end broke off, and was rattling around in the pre combustion chamber....$$$ Heads off, new glow plugs, intake machining, more $$$.... Blue paint flaking off, typical for the year; took it to a prep shop, and blasted it with crushed walnut shells, drove it to the body shop, and had it painted in BMW Mauritious Blue. It looked killer.

I'd love to have a new one, though!
 
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I will admit that they got pretty decent mileage.
(A side benefit of not making power!)

ya, that was a big benefit to all the older diesels. ive never seen any of the new ones get near the mileage the old iron got.
 
ya, that was a big benefit to all the older diesels. ive never seen any of the new ones get near the mileage the old iron got.



brother had an old 6.2l blazer, it had 300,000 miles on it, the heads were cracked and it still got 22 mpg when he traded it off, the new iron won't get that goin off a cliff:face-icon-small-sho
 
one reason ive heard that it hasnt happened is because the allison wont fit in the tranny tunnel. ive been told that they had to put a body lift on the HD pickups to get it to fit.



That is what I heard as well. I think there would be a market for them if they could get them to fit.
 
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