21st Jun 2006, 23:38
It's me again.
We were hoping to get a Raptor Transmission and did finally get one and put it in. It works great, it's slower on the from 0-20ishMPH, but the pickup from about 30mph and over it's way faster than before as of June 22, I've only drove it once, put it threw me back in my seat for a second, I didn't go past 45mph, (little street, SPEED LIMIT 30 on that road). The RPM'S are way down.
22nd Sep 2006, 19:14
Hello me again, the van is running the same as the last comment. But I noticed sometimes the van is faster in pickup some times and slower other times? It's either the brakes or the entire rear end. The van has a stock 3.42 rear gear which is too low and the engine is bogging down going up a hill in Overdrive. We expect that a higher 3.91 rear gear is needed. when the 3.9 is put in it will have way more power and get better fuel mileage!
29th Jun 2007, 00:02
Hello me again. It now has a 4.11 rear gear with rear disk brakes because the whole entire rear end was messed up AND not right for the van to begin with. The van bogged out and didn't have enough at 3.42 and the brakes sucked as if they were for a medium sized pickup truck.
10th Jun 2008, 22:18
HELLO!!! It's me for the last time. On December 15 2008, the van was in a wreck and was totaled out. Last MPG check averaged 24MPG in the city and never got to do a highway check.
Now we have a 1989 Chevy 6.2L Suburban (with a BANKS TURBO system) which we are currently fixing up nice.
21st May 2010, 23:24
Hello, it's me again...again!
The 6.2L Banks turbo diesel Suburban that we fixed up; the engine blew & we think we put in either a bad crankshaft or camshaft. One that was ground down a few thousandths of a inch at the ends, which I later found out you are not supposed to do.
If any of you ever want for your 6.2L van to ever have more power & better mpg, make sure to:
1. Put in a K&N air filter.
2. Remove the EGR valve & plug up the empty space it went in, in the intake manifold.
3. Turn up the fuel pump 1/8th of a turn, yeah baby!! (best alternative to no turbo!)
4. put in 6.5l valves and stuff in the 6.2l heads
5. Add a dual 3" exhaust!
6. Replace your transmission with a strong locking shifting raptor transmission.
7. Install an optional 4.11 rear axle gear.
8. Oh, & to make the engine quieter, for some reason the pistons did not all weigh the same, so we shaved the metal off the non essential areas so they would.
- That damn 6.2 van was about as powerful after all that customization, as my Chevy 5.7l conversion van with 210hp and 300ft-ib of torque.
27th Feb 2011, 11:49
Regarding your comment about the vehicle weight.
The door sticker shows the GVWR of 6600 lbs. This is the maximum LOADED weight the van is rated for, combined van AND max cargo weight.
The empty weight of the van is quite a bit less, about 5000 lbs, so your original guess was about right.
19th Mar 2006, 22:47
It's me again, the engine runs great now and much better than new, but the transmission on the other hand is a piece of junk. So in other words, the van is sluggish on the pick-up, getting bad fuel mileage, and acting like it's constantly pulling 6,000pounds behind it. Don't be fooled, just because this is a heavy diesel van doesn't mean it's slow on the pickup, right off the green light my dad was keeping up with a Corvette (and passed him) giving the gas all the way even with that bad transmission.
We are hoping to get a Raptor Transmission.