Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Marc - Really fortunate, she helps a lot and we enjoy the time together. Plus it helps when I need tools...you are right honey, you do need a TIG welder. Please post up what you are doing so I can learn and copy. :)

Iwanna49 - That little shopping cart stool has had a lot of use over the years!

99tolife - You are right, I am way more blessed than I deserve. She doesn't weld though....:)

Up early this morning and excited like a little kid. We are going to the Street Machine Nationals in the '56. Last time we went was in Indianapolis in 1980 so should be a good day. Vacation next week so I will get to spend a lot of time in my favorite place.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

haha not to make you feel old, I wasn't even born in 1980. You guys are good team, wish my gal wasn't so girly. She always hates that I work so much.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Thanks 99...we've been a good team going back to 1978 and we have a good time on projects.

Street Machine Nationals was a great time with a diversity of vehicles. Here was one of our favorites. Looked to be on an S10 chassis with a lot of creative details.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

wish I could get my wife to help....she hates getting dirty

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Well, my wife doesn't like to get too dirty Iceburgh....except maybe when we were replacing a hydraulic hose under the backhoe...that's another story.

Time to get back on the Burb. Monday morning in the shop early, noticed the peeling paint on the West wall of the shop and it has been bothering me so figured we could spare an hour to fix that since we had just painted it last year. Paint starts peeling off in sheets....never had that happen before. Strip the loose off with a scraper, sand, clean...run to town 20 miles away for primer, prime. Still have to paint.

Then shop lights start acting up. Ladder out, replace bulbs, remove bulbs since that didn't work. Put off until later as only two were out. Few other maintenance items and Monday was gone.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Tuesday mind set was forget the paint, lights, yard, everything else....I need to work on the Burb.

There was beading left on the toe pan flange and I didn't want to fill it with a bunch of seam sealer. Cut them out, small patches installed.

These Cleco clamps were really handy and wish I would have gotten some years ago.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Bought these toe and floor pans and maybe I should have just made my own.

Trim to fit and since I don't have a Beverly shear I use the stump and cut off wheel.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Wanted to see this product installed on a truck to get an idea of bellhousing clearance and the company didn't have any pictures. Couldn't find any pictures anywhere. Decided to take a chance and give it a try.

The height is improved over the stock flat floor area with the cut shown here.

The stock firewall / toe pan isn't flat in the same plane across here so the new toe pan didn't want to sit flush. Rather than "form" it into place I decided to remove the "proud" area of the original firewall. This allowed the toe pan to sit flush around the perimeter and I will fill this area in once the floor is installed.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Lots of test fitting and trimming followed by removing the remaining forward part of the floor. One of my goals for this week of vacation was to get the floor installed.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Until I took the flat passenger seat reinforcement support out to make room for the floor pan and took a look at the floor under. Shouldn't be able to see light through your floor should you?

So much for a quick body swap to the new chassis. And that really is OK. Wanna do this right and have been waiting a long time to do it.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

dont knock it yet, what you have there is the rare lightweight model!

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

dang your shop is huge. My goodness. been there done that "oh I'll deal with that later, I have to work on my truck" its always something isn't it. Like your stump in there! I made my own floor and kick pans. I also have inner cowls I make too, let me know if you need those.

Your getting there. I knew my current projects cab was bad, but I did 90% all new floor with custom bracing all new inner/outer cowls and kick panels. 70 hours later, almost done.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Nice job on setting up the panels...Jim

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Looking good AD. Mine rusted under the flat piece of floor just like yours only much worse. To keep trapped water from roting out the floor again I choose to make the rear of my floors flat (one piece) all the way across. It was easy since I had to remove the seat riser (not easy) to repair the lower edge of it. i used 16 gauge for the floors since I went with flat floors.

I need to do my toe boards as well but I'm gaining.


Keep up the great work.
Marc

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Looking good! I think my next project might have to be a burb...

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

:)....yeah but it doesn't have the aluminum fender option.

The shop is 60' x 100' and the front half is the shop. Built by my Dad and uncle in the late 1960's out of 3 and 4 inch drill stem pipe. Been there before on kick panels and floor pieces. The little black truck spoiled me as it was rock solid.

Thanks Jim, always appreciate your words of encouragement.

Great Marc that looks good, I am taking the same route. GM didn't spare on the spot welds when they installed the seat riser. Now to figure out why it is still attached at the back.

Having a great time.....now to figure out how to do this full time.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

I learned that the seat riser will not come out without taking the wood out. The back is also spot welded. What I did was used a jig saw and cut the rear tab that runs the lenght of the riser off. Once I remove my wood I will reatach the back tab to the riser.

Good luck
Marc

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Thanks C4five window. We looked for a long time and picked this one up near El Paso 10 years ago.

Big thank you to Marc for his help on this one! You said the seat riser was hard to get out. Wow. The seat riser was the first part down the assembly line in 1948 and they must have built the truck around it.

I didn't want to take the rear floor out yet. Especially with so much support gone from the front. Could have braced it, could have started at the back on the floors. And even though we will not be using the plywood floor, I really did hate to cut this one. It is still really nice.

And just as Marc described, there was the tab / flange across the back spot welded to the cross support. I owe you one Marc!

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Getting the wood floor out is a *****...have fun with it.
I am not using stock seats so the seat riser was easy for me to get out...plus mine was junk.
Keep digging away

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Young guy that we had never met stopped by this spring just introducing himself to folks on neighboring farms. He must be an over achiever since he lives 20 miles away.

Week ago he stopped by and asked if I had a black one ton truck in the back and could he look at it. His Gran'pa had bought it new. It spent time on a neighboring farm, then was pulled into the woods 40 years ago.

Fifteen years ago neighbors gave it to me and I put it in the back of the shop.

So the young guy stopped by last night and asked if I would sell it to him. We are always glad to help a young person who has an interest in old vehicles and besides it had belonged to his Gran'pa. We said "Sure". "How much?" "You can have it for what we paid for it."

Thought he was going to cry. He stopped by with a buddy today and they drug it out of the shop.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

awesome...good on you
Happy to see young guys get into it. I am in 44 and many times I am the youngest street rodder at any show or cruise I go to

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

That's really cool,something he will remember for sure.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Good to hear stories like this. Your a great person to help out a young person also to get started...Jim

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

yeah that story is mind blowing. I'd give a left nut to have the opportunity to buy a truck or car my grandparents owned. I'd prolly shed a tear myself!

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Glad to help you out with the riser. It took me some time/research to figure it out. I was surprised that more people have not tried to remove them. I also found a source that was remaking the metal base of the riser but yours like mine looks repairable. Yes until I get my front floor done I also dont want to remove the body or mess with the rear wood.

That was great of you to give the truck that that young kid. Pay it forward...

I go by the name Youngrodder as I was young (Late 20's) at the time I started my 48 build. Now in my early 40's I too am usually one of the younger people at the shows.

Good luck on the rest of your repair work.

Marc

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Thanks guys, hopefully he will make something of it and learn while doing so.

99 to life and Youngrodder make a good point about the lack of young people at street rod related events. My wife and I felt out of place for years as we were always way younger than everyone else. Not so much now as I turned 53 today. And young folks today have other interests I guess. Older guys do a double take and give a thumbs up to our '56 while young people don't even notice.

So again, hopefully the young guy that found his Grandfathers truck will do something with it. We've been trying to pass this passion on to the next generation for a long time. Here in 1991 with our daughters.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

It's a different world down here most all my friends and I love old hotrods and we are all in our early 20s... I'm 22

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Awesome story and even more awesome what you did for him. Your suburban is looking great. Love seeing the progress pictures. Keep up the good work. Wish I would have ran the whole power tour we would have ran into each other. There is always next year though.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Apologies it was Iceburgh that mentioned often being the youngest at a rod event. We've noticed when we go to the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville we are among the younger set in our early 50's.

That is awesome! And been enjoying your work on your truck....you do really nice work. Makes me hesitate to post up my hack pictures.

Thanks 48 ChevBagged. We will stay hard at it. Still kinda kicking myself for not buying your 'Burb in PCB. PO and I were so close on making a deal. Hope we can hook up on Powertour next year as we are currently planning to run the entire trip. Enjoying your truck build(s) on FB!

So yesterday was my birthday and we spent it doing what we wanted to do which was work on the 'Burb. And aging as I am I really appreciate more light so we took care of that.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

About noon yesterday it dawned on me I would need cross support pieces for the flat floor going under the seats. Closest town to us (400 people) has a great welding and manufacturing business that produces livestock equipment. Called the owner who I've known for many years, described what I needed and asked if they could bend me up two pieces out of 16 gauge before the day was over.

No problem he said and an hour later they were done with a bill of only $20. Going to work with him on the back floor on the 'Burb. Really good folks to work with.

Wife sanded the flat steel going in the floor this morning and we were able to weld prime, fit and weld in the support pieces as well. Maybe overkill with two, though it will be solid.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

AD, I agree the two pieces is what I would have done. Just want to make sure the first time is my thought...Jim

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Thanks Jim, have never installed an entire floor and didn't want to have to do it again.

The same fabrication and welding shop provided the 16 gauge and the edges needed trimming since the truck narrows to the front. Set up some clamps and heavy bar stock on the welding table to cut to the line with the cut off wheel. Probably not how Chip or Troy does it.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Then we did the lay out on the floor to determine where holes were needed for the rosette welding. Spacing them three inches apart created the need for about 104 holes. The circa 1900 vintage industrial drill press came through and in a little over an hour it was done.

Pretty happy all the holes look to be in the right place. One item I overlooked though was the spacing between the cross channel surface the top of the original floor. Going to need to cover over the channels with 16 gauge making them a box, then the floor will fit very flat with little to no natural gap.

If I would have thought it through, I would have done like Youngrodder and had a 90 degree up flange at the back. Then would have removed all the remaining floor at the back. This approach will still work though.

Great day in the shop with my Wife! Happy Independence Day!

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

^^^That's the same way I do it, but I use 1"X1" square tubing, helps to keep the wheel straight:lol::lol:...Jim

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

Man that's a hell of a drill press. Floor piece looks good...Jim

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

great progress and I luuuuv the drillpress. I luv vintage tools, we will never have anything as well build and awesome looking in future years.

Seat suggestions?
 

Jim great suggestion, thanks. On my "gotta pick up" list is a cut off with a larger diameter wheel.

That one is old enough it was powered by a power belt (believe that is the term) with power transmitted through the production area on a shaft, then to the drill press on a wide flat belt. I agree, the old tools were heavy built and just look cool.



Anyway, back to the Suburban. We are building this one to be able to take long trips with it. And while the original seats are in good condition and look cool, we don't believe they will be very comfortable.

So the wife and I have been discussing installing newer style seats. With the floor fabrication where it is now it would be a simple matter to build in appropriate / solid seat mounts for the newer seats.

I will be doing some thread searching for seats used in AD Suburbans and we are way open for seat suggestions. Thinking buckets in front and a bench behind.

Thanks guys, always appreciate suggestions.

Re: 48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait
 

advanced i have a 49 burb and used approx 2004 ( seats were out of vehicle at junk yard when i bought them ) chevrolet tahoe seats. I like them because they have electric 6 way adjustment and come with built in seatbelts. Great for long distance cruising. I moved them back enough that the rear portion of the riser sits on the steel crossmember of the back floorboard and built a front riser from some 1-1/2 wide tubing stacked 3 high. i am out of pocket for the holiday weekend but can send some pics of you need them. also there is a burb/panel forum over on stovebolt.com if you need any assistance w questions. great work on your burb

Seats-
 

Thank you 49bourbon. Those seats are comfortable. And it's been awhile since I've been on Stovebolt.com...appreciate the reminder. When you get a chance feel free to post the pic's here or IM me for an email if you prefer.

Week of vacation progress-
 

My humble progress for the week of vacation.

Thanks for the encouragement, information and ideas guys.