What a ride!

[HSRACER]

So I sepnt most of the last week on a new adventure. I purchased a 1969 suburban from a great guy in Chattanoga TN. Interestingly I watched it being built by Scott Story (Tina, a patinaed suburban build thread) and was negotiating with Scott last July to buy it. Before I could make my decision it was bought and I was out of luck.

Some time in Feb I contacted Scott to see if he had the info on who had bought it and if I could find the new owner, I would try to buy it. When I called I was told that a new 76 mm turbo was now on the 5.3 LS and it was not going to be for sale. Bummed I asked the owner to keep my number.

4 days later a text came in asking if I was serious and would I like to purchase her. We agreed on a price, I wired the money, and waited patiently to get it shipped. My need to have it in the garage got the best of me and I was determined to go get it with my trailer.

Jon the new owner said don't waste your time with a truck and trailer, fly up and drive her home. He volunteered to meet me and send me on my way. Monday morning started early at 4am to board the plane from Houston to Atlanta then catch the shuttle bus to Chattanoga.

It was sitting in the parking lot at the bus stop and after a brief overview I hit the road for the 3 day trip back home. No spare, no tools, no parts, no cares in the whole world at that point.

I went downtown Chattanoga to get some lunch and stumbled into honest charley garage that is owned by Corky Coker of Coker tire fame. You have got to go there if you ever get a chance. He has a museum on site with some incredible motorcycles and cars!

4 hours later and a couple hundred miles under the wheels I arrived at my friends house for the night. The original plan was to pick up the truck at the owners shop but he did me a favor buy bringing it to the bus stop. The problem with that was I didn't check any thing out before driving off into the sunset.

So the next morning I did the once over and found the tires all at 22 pounds, 1 quart low on oil and the radiator down about 3 inches. We filled everything and I hit the road again. Truck had a pretty hard pull to the left and would occasionally come out of overdrive and rev to high. I determined that if you pulled up the brake pedal she would go right back into od. Need to adjust the stop,switch when I get home. I made it into New Orleans and had a friend do the quick check on the driveway to find my camber was way out and they had no shims at his location.

I called another friend that night and he said bring her to his shop in the morning. So I stayed with another friend in New Orleans and had to eat some great Cajun food!

Next morning we adjust the camber and she now drives like a dream. At 75 mph she is taching 1900 rpm and purring like a kitten. You have got to love a LS engine. Oh buy the way at the low setting of 7 pounds boost that big tank is a rocket ship with the tremendous torque and a 3.08 gear!

6 hours later I hit Houston traffic at 5:15 pm and did a stop and go dance for the next 2 hours. Not a great way to end a fantastic trip but I was happy to be that close to home and no overheating issues arose.

As all of us do, the next few days were spent looking it over in great detail and making it your own. I bought this for my wife and the smile on her face when she saw it was priceless but the cat that ate the canary look when she hit the throttle was over the top!

Wow, what a ride!

[HSRACER]

Quick pic of the suburban

[HSRACER]

And the power plant!

[yuccales]

Very cool looking! Great story also.

[Andy4639]

The LS motors are hard to beat for sure! I love mine I know. Nice looking burb and great story to boot!

[sboris]

Nice burb. Nice to have friends along the way. Sounds like a wild trip.

[Number98]

Sounds like a fun trip and that is one sweet Burb! Glad to see it back on the board...

[Hart_Rod]

Nice buy!

[cooperhw]

LS motor strikes again.

great story and a cool truck for sure.

That whole turbo thing is on my "bucket list". Hummmmm

[Dieselwrencher]

Very nice burb! I bet she was excited when she laid down on the skinny pedal!

[In The Ten Ring]

I think I've seen that one for sale on CL. Congrats on getting her and being able to drive her home.

[hdff]

Originally Posted by HSRACER

Quick pic of the suburban

nice looking burb... maybe i'll have a chance to see it in person, you ain't that far away

[karrlogs]

"..stumbled into honest charley garage that is owned by Corky Coker of Coker tire fame. You have got to go there if you ever get a chance. He has a museum on site with some incredible motorcycles and cars!" --now a reason to check this out

That's some cool story and suburban. Glad to hear the wife is pretty happy. What a piece, thanks for sharing this!

[69 GMC Daily Driver]

LS motors are amazing. I'm on my 3rd 67-72 Truck. I always wanted to do a LS motor it just never seemed to be the time. I have one now in my 70 C/10. Every time I turn the key I just smile.

This was a great story and this looks like an awesome suburban.....

[HSRACER]

Thanks everyone for the great comments. I thought I would share the story because I really enjoy when others have done it in the past. I can almost envision being along for the ride when I read their stories.

Only issue I am having is the rear passenger bag is leaking down at about 10 pounds every 5 to10 minutes so you have to keep an eye on the gauges while driving. I will have to check it out this weekend.

[HSRACER]

quick update.... I have now upgraded the incredibly loud exhaust that dumped behind the passenger seat to a full 3 inch system that dumps right before the rear bumper now. it is now the true definition of a sleeper! sounds like a stock old burb until you hit the loud pedal.

My wife has shown it off to the entire group of her friends and has told me that she loves it even more now that she has driven it a couple of times.

I love it when a plan comes together. we are getting ready to take it on the hot rod power tour in June. hope to meet some board members in route. Let us know if you are going.

[sunk99]

Great write up of your journey home, I hope you enjoy her as much as we did. I miss her now so take care of her. I wanted to take her on power tour last year but it didn't happen because of work. Good luck on your trip.

[ekgguy]

Nice 'burb and an even better story. There is nothing like an unplanned, seat-of-the-pants adventure to get the blood pumping. Even better that the wife likes it. That makes things much easier. Good luck on the Power Tour.

[HSRACER]

Scott, you did a great job setting this suburban up to be a great driver. When Jon added the turbo, it went to an all new level of performance.

We are looking forward to the power tour starting at the end of next week. Instead of killing our selfs to get to Madison Wisconsin from Houston TX in one day, we have decided to drive up to hot springs AR to spend a leisurely weekend and then head to little rock to see the Clinton museum on Monday. Tuesday morning we will join the tour in Memphis at the half way point and finish it out from there.

This is going to be a great trip and I am sure the suburban will work flawlessly! We will take some pics along the way and post them up as we go. Hope to see you next year on the tour.


As for taking care of her, we have already aligned the front end, fixed a stuck shift solenoid, added a 3 inch custom exhaust, changed every fluid in the vehicle, added a new radar detector, and addressed the leaking lines to the rear air bag. It is in perfect shape as far as I know to head out on the trip.

I have a few trucks that are "off limits" to sell and I have been informed that the suburban has joined that list!

[Mr Chevorlet]

Great story and good luck with the tour and have fun Nice BURB!

[1968aj]

when do I get a ride in it? may be some parts on it I could use.

[HSRACER]

Ok so the story continues here. As mentioned in an earlier post my wife and I are heading out to join the hot rod power tour. The plan was to head out from Houston TX and visit a friend in Shreveport LA, go to hot springs ark, cut over to little rock, then join the tour in Memphis TN.

My friend called and said to meet him in Longview TX at a car show before heading up to his house. We loaded up and left our home on Saturday morning and arrived at the car show. We decided to enter the suburban in the post 1960 truck class and enjoy the show. It was also,a blues festival and the back ground music was a nice plus while we sat under the shade tree for the next few hours.

At the end of the show my wife got a very nice trophy for second place in the class. Great way to start our trip!

We then went to our buddy's house for a great dinner and good conversation. By the way, he won his class in the pre 1960 truck class. On the way to my friends house, we started to smell tire smoke and determined that the passenger tire was rubbing the inside fender with the extra weight we had loaded in the back of the burb. So at 7:30 that evening we jacked it up and I did a quick adjustment to the track bar and centered up,the differential. Nice thing was that Scott Story had but an adjustable one on when he originally built this truck.

Sunday mornings 240 mile drive to hot springs was uneventful and at 75 mph the engine was loping along at 2000 rpm, the Ac was ice cold, and the blue tooth radio was playing all my favorites off my iPod. Great trip,so far, but......... After arriving in hot springs we went to wash off all the bugs and I heard a weird ticking noise when the engine was running. We shut it off and restarted the engine and no noise. Good. Went out to dinner and then returned to our hotel. During that drive a trans code showed up on the dash but she seemed to be working perfectly. I disconnected the battery for a half hour and the code cleared. The next morning no ticking noise, no trans code showed up,so,we headed to the lakefront for a couple of pictures of the burb. Off to little rock to visit a couple museums and see a friend there.

Darn ticking shows up,again but no codes. I am very paranoid on any engine/trans noises so I limp,it up,to a trans shop that a local hotrodder recommended. They are now taking the trans out and we are hoping it is a cracked flywheel and not anything more substantial.

I will take a few pictures and post them up as this trip unfolds. I hope to be back on the road tomorrow to,actually join up with the power tour in Memphis!

[HSRACER]

Plenty of room for our things!

[HSRACER]

Happy wife

[HSRACER]

Lake front by our hotel