Project Polar Bear: 2005 Suburban 2500

It has been a long time coming but the prophecy has finally been fulfilled. I sold my X5 a few weeks ago and brought home a new DD. I now own nothing but V8 powered vehicles. My kids named it Polar Bear for obvious reasons - it's giant, white, and will live in the cold.

2005 Suburban 2500, 6.0/80E, 4.10s, LT package with heated leather, 3rd row, rear seat entertainment, everything I need and nothing I don't. This popped up on CL in Phoenix and although I considered doing a fly and drive, the schedules didn't work so I just had it shipped. Having driven it for a few days now I wouldn't hesitate to go across country though.











I already pulled off the crazy dark tint and need to clean the interior a bit. For the mileage it's in nice shape and most importantly there is no rust on the body, and minor surface rust on the frame as it lived in Idaho most of its life.









Fits in the garage with a little room to spare.



Stupid amounts of space inside. I love it





The short term plan is to change every fluid and do a general tune up, plugs/wires etc. I plan to replace the headlights since they're all cloudy and install a Z71 lower valence with the round fog lights. I have a 41930 upgraded hitch on the way and right before winter I'll paint the exposed areas of the frame and then have it undercoated (recommendations on products?).

The long term plan is a small turbo and drive the wheels off it.

I spent a few days after it arrived changing the oil in the engine, trans, and differentials. Still need to do the transfer case.

Slapped on a 41930 hitch and put it to the test towing my M3 300 miles round trip down to Watkins Glen for an HPDE weekend. I slept in the truck for 3 nights at the track with plenty of room for all my overnight and cooking stuff. The rig was comfortable and towed great, no doubt due to the long wheelbase and heavy weight.





My only gripe was that I wished for a bit more power up the hills. Which brings me to my next thoughts regarding the turbo build...

Definitely going to stick with a stock cam, but will be upgrading valvesprings. I've had good luck with the PAC1218s in my turbo 6.0 Jaguar but may use a high quality dual spring from BTR for extreme reliability.

The two big things I'm still pondering are the turbo choice and torque converter.

I am brainstorming for the turbo build and still need to talk with Viren at VSR, but I'm thinking a cast 6673 or 7875 would be good. I don't plan to exceed 10-12 lbs or 5500 rpm as this is a towing rig, so I think the 7875 might be overkill. The goal is reliablity and instant boost response at a low RPM (2000 or so). Don't think I want or need more than 500 whp.

Regarding the converter - research has told me that sticking with a stock converter for towing is the way to go. I agree with this on the premise that a low stall will heat the trans fluid less, but my concern is that towing up long hills under boost with the stock converter clutch locked may chew up the clutch and trash the trans.

On the other hand, a looser converter like I have in my 6.0 turbo Jag is amazing for getting up to 3000rpm quickly and lighting off the turbo rather than lagging off the line. A triple disc will also allow me to lock the converter under boost up hills, although I'm not sure even that will survive under boost with 6000 lbs of truck and 7000 lbs of trailer behind it.

Other random thoughts...
-HD2 kit in 80E, Trucool 40K mounted low up front
-The 4.10 gears in it will help get the big girl moving
-Cast china log, small 2/2.25" crossover and 3" DP into a straight through muffler
-Enable Flex fuel with sensor, run blend of 93 and E85 depending on availability and need
-Suggestions on injector? I like the Deka 80s.
-Wally 450 in tank in the stock basket
3" A2A I/C

More to come!

Awesome! Will be looking forward to your build!

Welcome to TYF community Brother!

Been wrenching on the truck a lot but keep forgetting to take pictures. Winter is coming fast so I'm really trying to get all the deferred maintenance done so that I can undercoat this thing.

Pulled the fender liners for a few reasons:
-Wanted to inspect the frame to see if any corrosion was present
-Better access for undercoating
-Needed access to broken exhaust manifold bolt

The frame looks good but was definitely spray bombed by someone in the past. The bare areas show some minor surface rust but that's to be expected for a 20 year old truck. After doing some research I think Woolwax will be the best product for this application.

I zipped off the 5 remaining manifold bolts, and one of those broke coming out. Therefore, 2 broken bolts to extract on the driver's side...far back and up front.





Best method ever for removing these: weld 'em up. Done this one every LS I've ever owned/swapped and it works every time.


Pulled the plugs while I was in there, pretty decent but might as well


Wire wheeled the gasket surface





Replaced all 5 rubber brake hoses and successfully replaced all 4 bleeders. 3/4 had the bleed hole clogged solid



While I was waiting on some parts I made a trip to a few junkyards locally. Picked up Z71 front air dam off this 03 Tahoe and also found a pretty rare 06 LTZ that I grabbed the Z71/Chrome roof rack from. Also grabbed the e-fans from that thing for next year.

Nice build so far! Hopefully she treats you well but looks like she is already! Nice find on the LTZ racks…. That’s a rare truck and hard to find those racks. Can’t wait to see what they look like mounted up on the 2500! Not a lot of 2500 builds around these parts so definitely can’t wait to see what you all do with it!

Nice - It is a good platform

Home stretch with winter prep. Removed the fender flares and wheel liners, started spraying woolwax. Easy to apply with the supplied gun in the kit, just messy and a little uncomfortable laying on my back.





Painted the tow hooks front and rear to modernize things a bit. Stripped the grille down to repaint it body color as well.



Painting didn't go well. I need to do a better job cleaning parts before beginning.

Rolled around town for almost a month with no grille looking terrible. Lots of snow in WNY also. Surprisingly the truck handles it well in 2WD.





More painting frustration. Learning to do a better job of cleaning and timing my subsequent coats so that there are no reactions. Lots and lots of sanding after this...





Many hours later...



Caution, GMT800 Propaganda ahead










All that's left to install on the exterior is a chrome Z71 roof rack I pulled off an '06 LTZ in the fall.

I'm also thinking it needs a 2" spacer on the rear to give it more of a bulldog stance and fill out the flares.