1963 suburban - fixin it up

[63suburban]

After a bunch of scraping and sanding got the a arms cleaned up. Some pics of them before and after getting powder coated. Added all new moog parts.
Got the frame area cleaned up so could paint it.

[63suburban]

Before painting etched the frame.
Cleaned up the steering shaft and marked to cut for power steering.
Got new power steering box with less turns than stock.
Got the frame painted as well as the radiator support area.

[63suburban]

Not shows added all new bushing for the rear trailing arms.
Added dual master with power booster and added new brake lines.
Got an alan grove power steering bracket and got the pump mounted.
Pic sitting on the ground after reassembly.
Added a swar bar from ECE.
Drives like a whole new car now. The sway bar, new tires, working brakes, 2.5" Drop spindles, along with all new shocks, bushings and lowered springs.

Got new drum and pads as well as rebuild kit for rear brakes. Want to take apart and R&R and get the e-brake working.

Been a while since I posted any updates. Hope to get more pics of the progress.

Any comments questions or suggestions are welcome. Hope everyone is having a Happy 4th

[PGSigns]

Looks good. Nice to see it moving a long. Back to the rear end question. I would just pull the cover and take a look. It will give the real story of the 50+ years of possibilities and some fresh oil.
Jimmy

[63suburban]

Originally Posted by PGSigns

Looks good. Nice to see it moving a long. Back to the rear end question. I would just pull the cover and take a look. It will give the real story of the 50+ years of possibilities and some fresh oil.
Jimmy

Thanks, Happy to be working on it again. Appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Will pull the cover and check it out. Been having a hell of a time getting the rear drums off. will give it a try again when I get done with the passenger side floor, dogleg, kick panel, inner rocker, outer rocker and body support. Took that on as my next project and opened a can of worms where.

[63suburban]

After removing the column and upgrading to power steering really notice the play in the steering column. appears the upper portion of the column, maybe the upper bearing has some play. Well, I can't get the steering wheel off to analyze what is going on.

Was able to remove the nut but the steering wheel is really stuck on there.

Any tips on getting the steering wheel off?
How do you use a steering wheel puller on the wheel to not damage the steering wheel? Does not appear anywhere for the normal "hooks" that a puller uses to attached to the wheel.
Is there a special puller for these style steering wheels?
Thanks for watching.

[63suburban]

Been trying to decide on paint color. Original color was white, and was not too excited about white. But after seeing a pearl white longbed with black wheels looked real clean and simple.
Got me thinking of doing snow white pearl for the exterior, then zenith gold for the interior.
Sprayed out a test panel of snow white pearl to see if I could pull it off. No clear yet. Just primer and base coat. Pic of how it turned out.

[63suburban]

Pulled the drivers door and the drives seat to get the floor cleaned up and to asses how much sheet metal repair is needed for the floor and rocker. Hoping the drivers side is better of than the passenger side. rofl!
Seat frame is cracked so got a nice laid back seat. Removed the seat belts and started cleaning up the jambs.

[Captainfab]

You need a steering wheel puller.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...wheel%20puller

[63suburban]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

You need a steering wheel puller.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...wheel%20puller

Thanks! Will try one of those out.

[aerotruk63]

Lift the rear off the ground and spin the pinion. Majority of the 12 bolts were 3.73. Therefore it should take almost 4 complete turns of the driveshaft for 1 axle rotation. If both wheels spin in the same direction you have a limited slip optioned diff , bonus.

[63suburban]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

Lift the rear off the ground and spin the pinion. Majority of the 12 bolts were 3.73. Therefore it should take almost 4 complete turns of the driveshaft for 1 axle rotation. If both wheels spin in the same direction you have a limited slip optioned diff , bonus.

Thanks!

[63suburban]

Ok got the doors off and started in on the worst side. The passenger side floor, outer rocker, inner rocker. Then opened a can of worms and need to replace the kick panel, dog leg and body support.

Here are some photos of what I started with and progess as I remove the sheet metal.

Once I got the outer rocker off, was filled up with rusted bits of metal.

The truck inner rocker/floor sheet metal is a little different but looks like it will work.

[63suburban]

Few more pics of the progress... lol. I got this, just got to keep plugging away.

[RDrancher]

Your metal work is turning out nice. Any updates?