1965 Suburban Resto-Rebuild

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by likaroc13

very nice! that's looking really clean

Thanks for the compliment...

Here we go.. Everything that bolts to the chassis is now black.. The frame will be coming back to the house this week (weekend) and will be made black as well.. I had to order another of the Master Series AG111 kits, as I ran out of material just painting all the peripherals..

[Nobby]

It's been 13 days...Whats going on with the build

[hemifalcon]

Nobby...
I am sidetracked with reorganizing my garage.. I'm determined to get rid of the crappy plastic shelving.. I got some neat old metal shop cabinets today... Gonna get them up tomorrow and free up some floor area..

Here are the pictures of the cabinets I grabbed from a retired body-man in Beach Park, IL.. And the new concrete floor which will serve well for doubling the size of my mom's garage. It'll now be a full 30'x24' interior...

[hemifalcon]

Okay.. so, here's the finished version of my garage after my reorganizing project.. New (old) shop cabinets and my self-constructed pipe-framed bench with 1 1/2 Maple butcher block top. I moved a bunch of flack outta the the garage into my storage unit just to free some work space up. Now I just have to keep it clean.

Here is the before and after..











And, here is some fat-trimming I did on the Burb tonight. I drilled out over 100 spot welds on the drivers air box and took the main cowl suppot off. I had to do this to find all the cowl rot. Well, it's pretty significant, but I am pretty certain the old '65 truck cab will donate 90% of th enecessary parts.. So, here are some pics.. Rust-Surgery maybe starting this next week.. I have some other non-project car things to deal with $$-wise..I'm glad I got to practice removing these same parts from the old truck cab--made it easier for sure..















"sorry for the crappy phone pics.."

[Captainfab]

Your garage looks good. Those cabinets cleaned up real nice. I never would have thought of using steel pipe and fittings to build a bench frame, very ingenious.

Yeah, that is a lot of spot welds in removing the cowl pieces. I don't think I have ever seen one with it mostly removed. Seeing that makes me wonder what customizing could be done there.....hhmmmmm.

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

Your garage looks good. Those cabinets cleaned up real nice. I never would have thought of using steel pipe and fittings to build a bench frame, very ingenious.

Yeah, that is a lot of spot welds in removing the cowl pieces. I don't think I have ever seen one with it mostly removed. Seeing that makes me wonder what customizing could be done there.....hhmmmmm.

"Ingenious" I think would be better reserved for the plan had it stopped at the cash register. I won't disclose how much all that pipe, elbows, and couplers cost.. But, it was expensive.. But--the one part of it--is the bench is infinitely adjustable in height, width and length by swapping out pipes.. So, it's kind of cool in that regard..

Captain--there wil likely be no customizing here--but I may pull off the other air box although there is no rot on the passenger side. I am thinking of welding the seams completely together on both sides to elminate water getting in there again in the future. But, as far as customizing--I like the no-rust way of customizing.. I'll take photos as I go..

[McMurphy]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

I don't think I have ever seen one with it mostly removed. Seeing that makes me wonder what customizing could be done there.....hhmmmmm.

I thought the same thing when I saw the fresh air cowl off and the vent right there. The 72 Lemans have a really cool little mesh vent port in about that location too... probably would look pretty cool on the sides of these rigs as well and delete the top loading fresh air all together.

[hemifalcon]

Hmmmmm.. Like old crotch coolers found on the early trucks???
Posted via Mobile Device

[hemifalcon]

Well.. I know sometime mother nature steps in and puts a stop to some of our projects.. But, not typically like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftSNLo0uRDI

yeah.. a robin decided to make a nest in the pedal assembly still mounted in the '65 C10 parts cab.. I went to my mom's house to take some measurements to cut pieces out of it one more time--and the robin flew out.. And--lo and behold--there's eggs in the nest.. I will allow nature to run it's course and find other things to work on in the mean time..

[MikeS.]

The nest has stopped all work on this great thread?

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by MikeS.

The nest has stopped all work on this great thread?

Mike..
as sad as it is--there was a really heavy rainfall about 2 weeks after this video was posted, and the newborn birds drowned in their own nest.. it was removed and the cab was then disassembled further. I chopped it up and a local scrap guy was happy to take the remnants. I however cut out some parts that I'll end up using.. And, i did some more cutting on the suburban in preparation for the grafting of some new-old metal.







...the primary reason that this project is on "pause" right now is that I undertook another project, as in building a garage. I started this on May 10th, and this is where it's gotten so far.. Unfortunately I live in a townhome with only a two car garage--and my mom has a small garage which she doesn't used. So, I turned her 14x24 into a 30x24. It's been an interesting experience as I've never done any construction work before. So, it's been a slow, painful, but learning, experience.
Here are some pictures of that.

[hemifalcon]

Well--I'm finally turning SOME attention back to the suburban.. Going to get the frame painted during the next 5 days.. Gonna have to flip it a few times to get it all coated.. I'll hopefully spray tomorrow or Thursday the first coat..
And yes--the trans x-member was removed thinking that I'd be able to pull it out without expanding the frame--well, that didn't work. I'll be bolting it back in with some Grade-8 stuff.







and I will hopefully have the garage done by the end of October...



It's kinda packed right now.

[piratexpress1369a]

nice job on the widen of your garage ..why not powder coat your frame

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

nice job on the widen of your garage ..why not powder coat your frame

I already have the Master Series coating--and I like the way it lays out on the front cross member and other chassis components so far.. I'll just finish out the chassis with it for now. Thanks for the garage comment.

[hemifalcon]

..ordered my Wheel Vintiques 15x7 Steel rims and grabbed a set of original "COPO Style" hubcaps from a dude on the H.A.M.B.

and.. put the first coat of 4 on the frame tonight.. Took this picture over an hour after spraying--the mist is still in the air..

[hemifalcon]

shiny things.. going back together finally...





I should have been at this point months ago--but better late than never..

[Nobby]

Frame looks great...Love the shop and the 61

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by Nobby

Frame looks great...Love the shop and the 61

Thanks Nobby... Just trying to get caught up with the 'sub's progression.
.. Here are a few extra pics of the Biscayne..

[Dinos63]

nice work and you have been doing a ton of it!!great job on the garage and the sub!!

[jdoisher]

I love the car!! Don't change a thing!!!

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by Dinos63

nice work and you have been doing a ton of it!!great job on the garage and the sub!!

Thank you man... Just trying to keep my project from stagnating.. I get to look at your guys rides getting down on the ground--I want to drive mine again during this lifetime.. By the way, dig that dually you're building..

Originally Posted by jdoisher

I love the car!! Don't change a thing!!!

Don't worry, my '61 isn't getting changed anytime soon...

[hemifalcon]

Here's a pic of the chassis.. I tightened up everything in the rear end today--just need brakes, lines, and other smalls to finish it up.. I had to order new control arm shaft seals from LMC tonight--wish I had those already..



And, so I think I'll start trying to restore the steering wheel.. There are only very minor cracks at the juncture with the wheel center.. I've done some reading up on this sort of stuff--and look forward to fixing it up.. Here are the NOW pictures..

[allaboutchevelles]

I look foward to seeing how you repair your steering wheel. I just rebuilt my steering column and my wheel needs the same thing yours does.

[McMurphy]

I bought a spare and am going to try the diameter reduction that Astronaut did.
You may want to look at his Project Goldilocks build page 9 for how he worked it, might give you some ideas on how to approach your repair job.

[hemifalcon]

So, trying to stay on course with one project piece at a time... I started to do some resto-work on the steering, but on an old VW wheel that originally came off my my '62... I figure if I can make this one look pretty again, then making they Sub steering wheel will be a piece of cake.. here's some of the pics with the 'epoxy' setting up and some before pictures with all the cracks and damage showing.. This is merely an experiment.. I'd rather try this then pay the normal $300 that most restored or aftermarket wheels are going for in original appearance..

















I got the front suspension all assembled, and started doing the brakes.. However, when I went to slap on the aftermarket disk brake backing plates, there was a bit of a problem.. The lower control arms were contacting the back of the plates pretty significantly, so a window had to be created.. I have the drivers side pretty much roughed in.. I'll have to finish it up and then match it on the passenger side.. Oh well--I'll have to slap some more paint on them once done--but I don't want any interference there..