Mike's 60 Suburban build

[mikesacs]

A few month ago I found my next project vehicle. I thought I might as well start a record of the progress. It's a 1960 on a 1980 4x4 3/4 ton frame. Currently it has a 250 6cyl with a TH350.

[burbluv]

Very nice! Love seeing other 4x4's.
Welcome to the sickness,
AJ
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[Corts60]

Nice! Glad to see another '60 Burb on here! Look forward to your build.

[tazattitude]

Looks like a nice clean Suburban

[1963c-10]

Nice looking truck. Looks like its in great shape.

[mikesacs]

So far I've:
- sandblasted and had the rims powder coated
- new tires
- cleaned up the gauges inside and out, fixed the odometer
- changed the hood pods to 60 from 61s
- added a rear dome light housing in the back
- bought a bunch of parts to complete the truck

[padresag]

then they must have shortened the frame as the wheels seem to be centred, beside a 3/4 ton would have been a longer w/b.
looks pretty clean
ron

[mikesacs]

Originally Posted by padresag

then they must have shortened the frame as the wheels seem to be centred, beside a 3/4 ton would have been a longer w/b.
looks pretty clean
ron

Yes, the frame was spliced in 3 locations.

[Ledslinger]

Your truck looks eerily like my 1961 GMC 4WD, same gray and similar patina. I think mine used to be Klondike Gold but when it was in a front end accident a later hood was installed and it was painted battleship gray. In its service as a university geology field camp vehicle it was known as the "Gray Ghost" A ghost it isn't.

[mikesacs]

Originally Posted by Ledslinger

Your truck looks eerily like my 1961 GMC 4WD, same gray and similar patina. I think mine used to be Klondike Gold but when it was in a front end accident a later hood was installed and it was painted battleship gray. In its service as a university geology field camp vehicle it was known as the "Gray Ghost" A ghost it isn't.

I think this one started as Yukon Yellow (AKA school bus color). I assuming this since it's the oldest paint I can see. I don't know how to decode the trim number for a positive ID, if that's possible.

[mikesacs]

Spent a day under the burb with a wire brusk wheel on the floor boards. Wire brushed, wiped with thinner, and applied 2 coats of Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. The floor board are very solid. I could even see most of the red oxide factory primer. Did an additional coat of spray undercoating in the rear wheel wells.

Someday I'll do this again with the frame. It would have been too much to do in one day.

[mikesacs]

Disasymboled the doors panels today and painted the insides with the rust encapsulator. Used a paint brush taped to a 2' stick. Trimmed 6" off the stick whenever I painted what I could reach. Also polished the door latch mechanism where they slide when opening. This allowed the door latch open smoother with less effort.

[nbrfd007]

Originally Posted by mikesacs

Spent a day under the burb with a wire brusk wheel on the floor boards. Wire brushed, wiped with thinner, and applied 2 coats of Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. The floor board are very solid. I could even see most of the red oxide factory primer. Did an additional coat of spray undercoating in the rear wheel wells.

Someday I'll do this again with the frame. It would have been too much to do in one day.

Great job!!

[mikesacs]

Installed some seat belts this weekend. I never liked the aftermarket seat belts that latch unless you pull them really slow and smooth.

I got these out of a 90 suburban's back seat. This is a parts vehicle that I have. They are the wrong color, but I thought if I could make them fit well then I'll search for some gray ones to match my interior. I used the latch part from the front seat since it was longer. The latch part still needs to be longer since it only reaches about 2 inches out of the seat crack.

I mounted the front edge flush to the door opening since if it was further forward it would restrict access to the back seat from the passengers side.

I wonder if these can still be bought new? I might try the Chevy dealer.

[hopped up]

very cool burb
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[61_FL_Apache]

Looks good!!

[padresag]

looks like a custom body mount that you have there
ron

[mikesacs]

Originally Posted by padresag

looks like a custom body mount that you have there
ron

It is a custom mount since it sets on a 1980 3/4 ton frame.

[padresag]

here was some custom mounting on the 65 suburban that I got that was mounted on an 84 4 x 4 frame. the body is going on a 64 panel 4 x 4 frame

By rondavid at 2011-09-22

By rondavid at 2011-09-22

By rondavid at 2011-09-22

By rondavid at 2011-09-22
the fellow was pretty talented, but here is a lot of this **** that goes on in the name of building a truck
ron

[mikesacs]

One of my reasons for wanting a suburban was that I always wanted more leg room than what I could get in my 62 pickup. I took the drivers seat out of the burb and welded new mounting holes to the front of each seat bracket. This allowed me to move the seat back 1 1/4" back from stock. Worked great.

[mikesacs]

Pulled the 6.2L diesel out of the donor truck (the engine on the floor) and have removed the front clip from the 60 burb. I'll pull the engine shortly. I plan to paint the firewall the new body color before installing the diesel.

[mikesacs]

Painted the firewall. the pictures are; bare metal, primer, base coat, clear coat.

My firewall was originally silver, but I decided to go with body color. From reading this forum the consensus is that they could be either depending possibly on what factory they came from.

[Corts60]

Coming along nice man. I like that you are going with the 6.2. I see good MPG in your future. I really like that color of green too!

[mikesacs]

Painted the front frame, axle, and suspension with Eastwood rust encapsulator while I had easy access.

[mikesacs]

Cleaned and painted the engine and brackets. The engine is light gray similar to the factory gray and the brackets are satin black. The grease removal was awful. It made me think about buying a remanufactured engine just to avoid the work!

I'm replacing all the gaskets and seals. Then will add the engine accessories and the turbo.

The intake not seen in the photo is from a J code engine (no smog). I picked that up from ebay and painted it gray with the engine.