A few things I forgot to include in my last post:
I did take one little trip in the Suburban around Thanksgiving with my new bros-in-law. We headed out to an abandoned mine and disintegrated an old tube TV and a few other targets with some choice handguns and assault rifles. I snapped one low quality pic of the Suburban with my cell phone.
I also bought some new parts and installed them not too long ago. I've had my horn wire disconnected for a while because it completes the circuit when the wheel is turned. With the steering wheel off, I had noticed that the plastic turn signal switch innards had cracked in one or two spots. It seemed like a good candidate for replacement, plus that flex in the old switch could be a contributing factor toward my inadvertent audible alerts, so I bought a new switch and carefully wiggled it into place.
Unfortunately, that didn't help. My newest theory is that the backside of the cracked, 40+ year old steering wheel is so sun damaged and warped that it makes contact with the turn signal stalk screw at certain points while turning the wheel. I even tried filing down the head of that stalk screw but it didn't help. I just need a new wheel instead.
In that same parts order I received my new repro inner grille and grille fastener set. Last weekend I popped the pieces of the old one out. Some of the zip-ties had succumbed to UV damage and it was only held firmly to the outer grille by one remaining band of black nylon.
In with the new:
There, now I'm up to date. Well, then today when I get home a new AC Delco coil should be waiting on the doorstep.