1,000 HORSES, SEATS SEVEN
LOOK FAST—DURAMAXTUNER’S VETTE-KILLING SUBURBAN
What do you do when the bar for streetable horsepower keeps moving higher and higher? You stay ahead of it by building a 1,050hp daily driver. At least that’s what Nick Priegnitz of Duramaxtuner.com did. But Nick had something other than a run-of-the-mill Duramaxpowered pickup in mind when he set out to build the ultimate daily— instead, he would do it with a ¾-ton Suburban. You know, in case the rest of the family ever wanted to know what four-digit horsepower feels like. Built as a demo vehicle, the premise was to highlight how all the parts in the Duramaxtuner catalog could be used to not only produce 1,000 horsepower, but do so in a refined and 100-percent drivable fashion. Originally equipped with an 8.1L big-block, the ’04 Suburban was converted to Duramax power by Duraburb Inc of Apopka, Florida prior to making the trip north to Priegnitz’s facility in Illinois.
BUILT LBZ AND PLENTY OF FUEL
Under the hood sits an Lbz-based Duramax that’s been fitted with a girdle, ARP main studs, Carrillo rods, oval bowl Mahle Motorsport pistons, and an alternate firing order camshaft. The factory heads are equipped with beehive valve springs and anchor to the block via ARP head studs. For fuel, a 14mm stroker CP3 from Exergy Performance is employed, along with a healthy sized set of 150% over injectors. Ample fuel supply is provided by a 150gph Titanium Series FASS system.
PROPERLY SPEC’D COMPOUNDS
As with any high-horsepower, street-friendly build, big fuel calls for big air—and a sizeable compound turbo arrangement exists in order to accomplish this. One of Borgwarner’s new, highly acclaimed S488 SX-E chargers serves as the atmospheric unit, while Duramaxtuner’s Stealth 64 VVT provides quick response and mounts in
the factory location in the valley. The pedestal, intercooler piping, downpipe, and fabricated coolant overflow tank are Wehrli Custom Fabrication pieces, while the up-pipes and exhaust manifolds were sourced from Profab Performance.
ONE TOUGH ALLISON
In order to piece together an Allison that was both street-friendly and competition-ready, Priegnitz and the folks at Duramaxtuner hand-picked all the parts that reside in the Suburban’s DT 1000 transmission. For torque transfer, a triple-disc converter from Goerend Transmission—complete with a billet stator—is employed. Added holding capacity comes by way of the clutches, frictions, and steels found in a Suncoast Gmax 6-Pac kit. The input shaft, output shaft, C2 hub, and P2 planetary are all billet, and the pump and valve body are modified to provide more pressure. Finally, the C3 clutches receive dedicated cooling thanks to a pair of cast-aluminum PTO covers from Goerend Transmission.
EFI LIVE BY DURAMAXTUNER
As you might’ve guessed, Priegnitz handled the ECM and TCM calibrating, which helps tie every modification