Suburban Interior: show em!

[swissarmychainsaw]

I just picked up a Suburban and the Interior needs enough love that I'm thinking "Clean Slate". I'm trying to figure out my exact budget, but I plan on doing some light 4wheeling and camping out of this thing.
But I want it to look nice enough that "the wife likes it" (meaning a hose it down interior is not it).

Oh, and I'm thinking "camping inside" so maybe some curtains!

What have you done on your Burb?

[Nodnarb76]

Here are some pics of my 87 R20 all stock.
Sorry for some reason can only post one pic per thread.

[Nodnarb76]

Back seat

[Nodnarb76]

My brand new headliner.
Gotta find a new round dome light lens.

[Edahall]

Originally Posted by swissarmychainsaw

Oh, and I'm thinking "camping inside" so maybe some curtains!

What have you done on your Burb?

I made window inserts out of cardboard for privacy.

[Maynard]

Hey, I bet your name is Brandon. That's the exact interior on my 1984 K2500. And I need to re-do the headliner, so let me ask you a few questions. Did you do the work yourself?

As I explore the Suburban, I'm impressed with the design quality. Build quality seems typical of '80s Detroit product, in that the body panels aren't as tight a fit as we see later. To make a comparison of design, I just replaced the headliner in my DD, a 1999 Nissan Frontier. The factory headliner fabric was backed with what looked like maybe 1/4" foam; could be 3/16", which I'm finding is common. The Suburban headliner board has foam on the back side that faces the roof, then another 1/2" foam on the back of the fabric that's attached to the board. Amazing.

My question is whether your rig had the same 1/2" foam and were you able to find it to use for the replacement or did you use another product. An upholstery supply shop told me they don't have 1/2", but I could glue a 1/4" sheet of foam to the 3/16" foam backed headliner they sell. I don't find 1/2" anywhere on the 'net, so I'm thinking of doing it that way, and am interested in what you did, especially if you know where to get 1/2" backed headliner fabric.

Chainsaw, the rig I bought came with a fuel fill log showing it was driven less than 1000 miles per year the last 10 years, and even less than 500 miles per year the last 5. It was stored a lot in humid Washington state, at a property on Fox Island in Puget Sound. It has a musty smell all through the interior. My wife won't even get in it. I feel your pain. I'm hopeful the headliner replacement will be a big factor in alleviating that, and naturally I'm cleaning the carpet.

I'm systematically removing every interior trim piece, cleaning and then painting as near the factory saddle tan color as I can. I started with SEM Color Coat Vinyl paint. Saddle Tan 15033 was too dark. Light Buckskin 15093 was too light. At the price, if I'm going to use something that doesn't match, I'll go with a cheaper product. So...

I tried Dupli-Color HVP108, Desert Sand Vinyl and Fabric paint. The cap color was a near exact match. The paint wasn't. It was a nice complementary color though, so I decided to do all the trim. Finished the first can, went back to the same store and bought the remaining two cans. I found the paint at other stores, but knowing about lots, I figured I stood the best chance to match can 1 by going back to the place I got it.

Can 2 didn't match can 1. I contacted Dupli-Color and asked about it. Now I'm told the lot numbers are on the bottom of the can. ALL THREE CANS BOUGHT OFF THE SAME SHELF IN THE SAME STORE HAVE A DIFFERENT LOT NUMBER!!! What's a boy to do?

Dupli-Color is sending me three cans of the same lot to replace the three from different lots I bought. In the meantime, I went to Walmart and bought the paint with a color nearest the factory color I could find. It's NOT a vinyl paint. It's Rust-Oleum Satin Nutmeg. At the price, I'm willing to try it to see what happens. When I get the replacement cans from D-C, I may experiment with complementary color on some trim pieces.

I'm repairing some damaged trim pieces, finding the ABS pieces especially amenable to reattachment with ABS glue like you'd use for plumbing. The glue is ABS melted in a solvent, like acetone, and works on the trim pieces the same way it works on pipe. Many of the interior pieces are marked on the back to indicate what type plastic they are; ABS and PP so far, and you'll notice the B pillar covers are fiberglass.

I'm leaving the interior stock for now, but I do plan to install a combination NAV/DVD/AM/FM/etc. unit to power a fold-down, and likely a Blu-Ray player as an extra. I'm going to install some power points, USB connections and maybe 12V. I'd like to pick up some kick panels from a donor vehicle and use them to fashion some panels for power point, USB and 12V connections, then attach them to the rear side panels.

I'm working, at least mentally, on a way to upgrade the lap belts to shoulder belts, and may try to install head rests in the third row seat. I'd like them in the second row seat, too, but they would interfere with the fold forward.

Whew, my fingertips are numb.

[Nodnarb76]

Originally Posted by Maynard

Hey, I bet your name is Brandon. That's the exact interior on my 1984 K2500. And I need to re-do the headliner, so let me ask you a few questions. Did you do the work yourself?

As I explore the Suburban, I'm impressed with the design quality. Build quality seems typical of '80s Detroit product, in that the body panels aren't as tight a fit as we see later. To make a comparison of design, I just replaced the headliner in my DD, a 1999 Nissan Frontier. The factory headliner fabric was backed with what looked like maybe 1/4" foam; could be 3/16", which I'm finding is common. The Suburban headliner board has foam on the back side that faces the roof, then another 1/2" foam on the back of the fabric that's attached to the board. Amazing.

My question is whether your rig had the same 1/2" foam and were you able to find it to use for the replacement or did you use another product. An upholstery supply shop told me they don't have 1/2", but I could glue a 1/4" sheet of foam to the 3/16" foam backed headliner they sell. I don't find 1/2" anywhere on the 'net, so I'm thinking of doing it that way, and am interested in what you did, especially if you know where to get 1/2" backed

Sorry when I got the truck headliner was shot. Only orange dust and some fabric, so I couldn't tell you what was there in the first place, and I paid a shop to do the new one, so I'm not sure what they used, again sorry.