1948 Suburban - finishing what dad started...

[oldman3]

The journey building our stuff, is what makes it worthwhile. Your Mom and the smile is worth all the hard work...Jim

[jbjburbs]

I've been tinkering around on the 48 the last couple of weeks. I painted the floor (front metal part was overlooked) as well as some of the brackets and misc pieces. Then I put dynomat on the floor and some insulation on roof. Seats were put back and I replaced a bad headlight switch, cleaned up wiring under the hood, and got additive in the rear diff (cleared up chatter when turning). Some other random things here and there. Speakers maybe over the weekend.

I took my 5yr old for a cruise around the country mile last night for giggles. He was all smiles and proud to be the speedo guy. We haven't got the real one setup, so he manned my phone for GPS speed. Probably gonna have to take my other kids for a ride soon now (oh darn, lol).

Burb is running OK. 2 things I'd complain about right now:
1. Brakes feel soft. Maybe a little air in the lines yet, and the pedal throw is super long. Going to check it out more with a real mechanic.
2. Once warmed up the LT1 idles rough/low and some acceleration isn't as smooth as I'd hope. Rebuilt engine, new optispark, plugs/wires, etc. Gas is fresh, so not 100% sure. Again going to have someone more knowledgeable take look. We'll see.

Also looking at couple new tires up front. Going a little taller than current ones for just bit more clearance with the front bumper. The fronts now are 10+ years of sitting around, so 2 fold on replacements. After that alignment and local cruising for shake down miles before Mom tries for Louisville in August.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by jbjburbs

I've been tinkering around on the 48 the last couple of weeks. I painted the floor (front metal part was overlooked) as well as some of the brackets and misc pieces. Then I put dynomat on the floor and some insulation on roof. Seats were put back and I replaced a bad headlight switch, cleaned up wiring under the hood, and got additive in the rear diff (cleared up chatter when turning). Some other random things here and there. Speakers maybe over the weekend.

I took my 5yr old for a cruise around the country mile last night for giggles. He was all smiles and proud to be the speedo guy. We haven't got the real one setup, so he manned my phone for GPS speed. Probably gonna have to take my other kids for a ride soon now (oh darn, lol).

Burb is running OK. 2 things I'd complain about right now:
1. Brakes feel soft. Maybe a little air in the lines yet, and the pedal throw is super long. Going to check it out more with a real mechanic.
2. Once warmed up the LT1 idles rough/low and some acceleration isn't as smooth as I'd hope. Rebuilt engine, new optispark, plugs/wires, etc. Gas is fresh, so not 100% sure. Again going to have someone more knowledgeable take look. We'll see.

Also looking at couple new tires up front. Going a little taller than current ones for just bit more clearance with the front bumper. The fronts now are 10+ years of sitting around, so 2 fold on replacements. After that alignment and local cruising for shake down miles before Mom tries for Louisville in August.

Glad to hear you are out driving it. In my 48 I ran a 95 LT1. I know the Optispark got a bad rap but mine never gave me any issues. I did replace it with an AC delco one when I completed my restoration. Get the one with the small hook up for a vacuum line that pulls any moister from the Opti as this is what can kill them. Also for your rough idle, I suggest sending your injectors out to be cleaned if you haven't already. My motor sat for many many years before it was fired. Those injectors get gummed up. Mine lopped like a Harley before I cleaned the injectors. After it ran so much smoother.

[jbjburbs]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Glad to hear you are out driving it. In my 48 I ran a 95 LT1. I know the Optispark got a bad rap but mine never gave me any issues. I did replace it with an AC delco one when I completed my restoration. Get the one with the small hook up for a vacuum line that pulls any moister from the Opti as this is what can kill them. Also for your rough idle, I suggest sending your injectors out to be cleaned if you haven't already. My motor sat for many many years before it was fired. Those injectors get gummed up. Mine lopped like a Harley before I cleaned the injectors. After it ran so much smoother.

Thanks - that's what we're looking into. My other brother, Steve, did most of the engine work and I think he got new injectors, but I'm not 100%. We'll check them. Probably get some sea foam and run it through too. We did burn up the 1st fuel pump from crap in the tank that we missed, so we'll probably check filters again too.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by jbjburbs

Thanks - that's what we're looking into. My other brother, Steve, did most of the engine work and I think he got new injectors, but I'm not 100%. We'll check them. Probably get some sea foam and run it through too. We did burn up the 1st fuel pump from crap in the tank that we missed, so we'll probably check filters again too.

Sounds like you have all of the bases covered. Good luck

Marc

[jbjburbs]

For the record -injectors are new, opti spark is new, plugs and wires are new.

After checking things we found a couple vacuum line in the wrong place and one left open. Then a loose plug wire, but even after fixing those not much change. More troubleshooting found that we had a couple cylinders that weren't firing. We had spark and fuel, so checked rocker arms and found them over tightened not letting the valves work. Luckily, once we backed them off and got them set right the engine purred like kitten. Much smoother, better idle and acceleration, along with improved shifting at speed. Pretty excited about how well it's running right now.

Also, one of the vacuums was the brake vacuum in the wrong place. This helped the pedal feel much better. We ran out of time to check for air in the lines, but overall foot feel is much improved. Of course fixing things meant something else had to creep up, and now the power steering started making noise. Groans pretty hard when turning, so we topped it off (it had fluid). Reservoir looks frothy, so hopefully just air in the system that we can work out next time we have the front in the air. I'll probably order a replacement pump just to have on hand though.

I did get the speakers in too. Just a couple 4" speakers in the existing holes under the windows. Decent sound or at least enough for now. Will probably do more over the winter. Current goals are getting it cruise worthy for the rest of car season and music is optional when you're in a hot rod.

Some pics of progress and my 85 hanging out with 48.

[youngrodder]

Nice job on the trouble shooting. Good idea on speaker placement by using those existing access holes for the speaker location.

Marc

[jbjburbs]

So we've been messing with and driving the burb for over a month now and it's been going pretty well overall. We're having issues with the gas tank having debris and the inline fuel filter keeps clogging up. Even with a strainer in the tank and having cleaned the tank multiple times. The mice it was home to while in storage must have built a village in there. Every time we think we got all the stuff out, we end up with more.

We've resolved to the fact that we'll just keep cleaning the filter until it stops having junk (checking it every couple hundred miles). We also had a couple header flange bolts back out on the drive to Louisville, so some parking lot fixes once we got to NSRA this weekend. Mom's taking the truck back to my brother's this week for a once over after almost 1,000 miles. There is a short list of things to fix and just to make sure everything else it still tight.

Mom is over the moon for truck and couldn't be more proud. She even made the local Louisville news Saturday while at the show and got to tell a bit of the story...

https://www.whas11.com/video/news/lo...vxtdR167UAt51U

[youngrodder]

Very cool...Good to see that the Suburban is getting used....nice pics

[oldman3]

Glad things are going pretty good. Always enjoy updates when projects hit the roads...Jim

[MiraclePieCo]

Really inspiring. The truck looks awesome, and the TV news show did a great job on the coverage.

[jbjburbs]

It's been another minute since I posted, but Mom has been driving the 48 and has about 1500 miles on it since July. With winter hitting Ohio it's pretty much in hibernation, but we did get a couple shots with my Brothers 53 panel that he finished up this summer. New suspension, rear end, brakes, AC, wheels/tires, and I'm sure a lot more things I didn't even realize. They look awesome together!

[Tempest67]

looks great,

[8man]

Cool back story and nice trucks all. I'm also a huge fan of that "newer" suburban.