My 71 gmc suburban
 

Im new to this forum. I just picked up a 71 gmc suburban from my dad. Its a pretty solid truck with a 402, turbo 400, roof air and the third row seat. The back 2 seats had been removed and stored and are in amazing shape. Needs work all around but all in all its a nice truck to start with.Cant beat it for free either.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Very nice and sure priced right and Welcome .

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Thank you. There is rust in the passenger side rocker and lower door corner. All the rest appears to be surface. The lower tailgate was packed into by some form of ranch equipment but i have a set of rust free cargo doors plus all that came with the truck. Right now im swapping the trans since it quit shifting with a known good one. I hope to have it driving shortly and then get in to all the little stuff.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

This has been my daily driver now since 2012-13. In the last 8 years or so the original 402 was swapped for a 454 due to a cracked block and the transmission was rebuilt due to loss of high gear. I recently tore it down to rebuild the suspension. I sent a large pile off to powder coat and the hardware went to plating. I decided on the color that I want to paint it so while the front end was stripped off I got the firewall painted and the inside of the fenders. The truck will still be ugly for a while but at least the business end should look good😎

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

A before and after shot

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Pre powder coat shot. I picked up all the powder coat last week. Hopefully the hardware will be done this week so I can start reassembly. I cleaned up the framerails while it was apart and got them painted black now too. They aren’t perfect but way better that before. I always enjoy seeing others projects so I will do my best to keep this updated.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

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That's gonna' look good when you get it finished out. That is about the same color as I'm painting my '70 short bed.

LockDoc

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

nice progress what's the plan with suspension? or you sticking with stock height?

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Thanks. It will be a long while before the rest gets painted. I got a bit of rust repair to do. I have the wire ran to the garage for the 220 for the welder but don’t trust myself doing it. The color is Springtime yellow. Close to butternut but a Ford color

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

The initial plan was to lower it but I figured that for now stock height will be easier to deal with rust repair having it taller. It may get lowered later but as we all know projects change direction.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Nice color are you planning on all yellow or yellow with a white roof?
I see you're in California any plans for adding AC?

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

I will be doing a white roof and bottom as well. It has factory roof air so I just need to make it work. Blower is good but when I got it the engine side of the A/C stuff was all off. I think I have all but one bracket to mount the compressor left to find and I will have everything needed.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Looking good really like that color

Now you keep teasing with the pics of the Mustang. 65? I am one of the few that always liked the green color and details on that one as well? I know it’s a truck site but…

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

I’ll make sure I get better gratuitous shots of it in future pictures👍🏻
It’s a 65. It was my grandpas car that I bought from him a few weeks before he passed while I was home on leave after boot camp. The color is a 65 only called Honey Gold.It’s a factory 289 2V drum brake, automatic but now it’s a 289 4V 4 speed disc brakes and radio/heater delete.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Great that you always have something to remember him by and can share with your family. My GMC was my wife’s grandfathers and for the last few years I’ve been storing it at my father-in-laws shop and he has been occasionally driving it as he likes the truck as well. One of these years I’ll go bring her home again but it’s where it’s meant to be right now.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

For sure, it is nice to have a car that my grandma and grandpa drove around in. That’s awesome that your truck can be enjoyed by your family members as well. It has to bring back lots of memories.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Yesterday I got the brake and fuel lines reinstalled minus a few brackets. I also got the exhaust rehung under the truck. I cleaned up the heater box as well. I had 2 heater boxes both with a broken tab. I ended up using the one with the least obvious break. I believe the truck sat for a long time without a good so the box was extremely dull. I didn’t get any pics from before but I washed it with soap and water to clean it good and scuffed it with a red pad. After that I sprayed it with a satin clear and am pretty happy with the result. I also picked up my control arms and trailing arms from getting new bushings pressed in and shafts installed.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

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Heater box looks good! That would be better than painting it for sure.

LockDoc

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Thanks. I would hate to paint it and ruin the look. Certain things like that I really enjoy looking at as they should be.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

There’s a Suburban in the pic too👍🏻

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Got my plating back today so I turned on the music,grabbed some beer and started sorting. I was confident when my wife asked me how I knew where it all goes when I was taking it apart. Now I’m staring at bolts wondering where they go.🤣 Some look important too. I threw in a bunch of bolts from my dads Suburban that got totaled so I will have lots of extra hardware.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

What is the hardware plated with?

LockDoc

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

I did a silver cad. I would love to do a phosphate and oil batch but that is way pricey.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

I had a little time today to play with the truck. I got the rearend back underneath it. I’m used to Ford 8 and 9” rears. Damn this thing was heavier than what I’m used to.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Made a bit more progress today.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

man that looks amazing!

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Thank you!

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

A couple years back I was given a dual tank setup that a friend of my dads had on his 68 Suburban. I mocked it up a while back which required trimming of some crossmember and notching a spot on the frame. I had never tried it with the modified original tank that came with it. I have a little bit of figuring out to do but shouldn’t be too bad to dial in. Only downside is my hitch won’t work with this setup but I don’t haul much and with a 454 the extra fuel will be nice. Besides who doesn’t want $150 plus fill ups🤬

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

A few pics of it loosely installed

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

A little more progress today. Got the engine and trans testing where it should be. Hopefully start getting pulleys and such this coming week.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Interesting how the dual tanks look to work. Do they get connected via a hose down low?
How do you determine how much gas you have?

I had a burb I parted years ago that had dual tanks, but they were separate like a dual tank set up with a truck would be. Had an extra filler right next to the stock one.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

The tanks have a pipe at the bottom that will get connected with a short hose. From what the guy that gave it to me said is that due to the way it fills that it just uses the stock sending unit. Hopefully it works well.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Got a few more things buttoned up today. Torqued the torque converter nuts and engine mounts. Added a few more brackets to the engine and installed the sway bar. Luckily I noticed while doing this that the upper control arms were in the wrong side🤬. Better to find it now I guess so I got that corrected.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

I have a question and hopefully someone will have an answer🤣 On my alternator bracket when I install it it wants to go behind the alternator instead of in front. Should there be spacers at the water pump and at the intake to get it in front of the alternator? The pulley lines up to the crank pulley just fine.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

that looks like it would be a pretty good size spacer..like an inch? if I remember right my old 305 had alt bracket spacers for the same reason

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

It will be a decent sized spacer. I just don’t remember from years back if there was one when I got it. It always lined up behind the alternator and that is how I was running it but then I noticed that every other big block I see the brackets in front and it does look better.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

I haven’t updated this in a little while.over the last few weeks I was able to get most of the front together, got brakes roughly bled yesterday but I need an assistant to help me finish that off. Finished up my dual tank install today and topped off fluids and got her running today. Still need to route wiring properly and dial in timing. I also still need to figure out the issue with alternator pulley alignment and also my fuel gauge shows way past full even with the wire to sender disconnected. Anybody ever see that and have any advise?

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

looks good! where did you get those alignment shims for the upper A arms? when I pulled mine off 1 side had 3 and the other none. I'm sure when I get it aligned waaay down the road that will change. will be nice to have a pack of them ready to put in or adjust

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

Thanks. The shims are what were on it when I took it apart. I tried to get close to what it had as a starting point for alignment.

Re: My 71 gmc suburban
 

ya that's what I hear too. but no way mine would have that less lol. thanks for the info. I'll have to look into some aftermarket ones