Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

That's looking very nice. Going low sure has it's disadvantages but they look so cool down there. :lol:

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks Ryan...Going up also has its disadvantages and modifications that are needed. Its just part of the deal.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Hey Marc, did you ever try to fire up the engine again? If so, how did it go?

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I did and the results were so, so. I decided to move onto other things. I think I contaminated my fuel source by not adequately flushing out the tank sfter several years of fab work. I ended up removing the tank and power washing it out, drying and reinstalling. I also got a new fuel pump and regulator and swapped those out as I didn't trust that they didn't have crud in them. I also blew out my lines. It did run (just not real great) prior to figuring out the fuel issue. I just decided not to add more fresh gas until closer to driving it...

Thanks
Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I worked on a few odds and end projects. I plan to run LED headlight bulbs and since they extend farther out of the back of the light I modified my stock headlight buckets.

I cut in a hole and then I will epoxy in the rubber boot to cove the hole and to allow for a wire pass thru.

On my 48 truck, the headlights and and poor adjustability (due to the frenched headlight kit) made night time driving a challenge. I set out to correct this on my Suburban. These LED lights should fit the bill..

Thank you
Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I'd like to see the finished product. It looks good so far.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I also installed my side view mirrors. One of the mirror arms came with the Suburban when I bought it. The other I had to add. I tried to age/distress the new arm to match with the original arm. I was pretty happy that it is not supper obvious which is the new arm.

I also treated the mirror heads to a brushed finish to match the rest of the trim on the Suburban.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Which arm is the new one?

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Passenger side, or 3rd and 4th pics..

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

That's how you know its a good job lol

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks, I learned a lot from all of the distressing of the body. It's all in the details. When you have age and distress everywhere you look it masks the fuax area's with the real rust areas. At least that's the hope. ha ha

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

your 'faux tina' painting is excellent.

I have tried to do it, and it is not that easy.


Thanks for the pics

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks..........I have an art degree so I look at it like one big art project. I'm anxious to see all the parts together. I may go back and further work some areas, but I want to see it all assembled first.

Thank you
Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I have been plugging away on the wiring. I just about have it whooped. Here are my Dakota Digital HDX gauges. I treated the trim rings to a brushed finish. It's hard to see but the gauge on the left has been brushed. The gauge on the right has not.

Installed the gauges then I threw the wheel on to see how it all looks.

I'll post some pics soon of the wiring. I have spent a lot of time laying it out nicely.

Thank you
Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

You sir are an artist.
I did something similar to fit my LED headlights so nice at night.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks man. The headlights in my 48 sucked due to the hagen frenched headlight kit. There was no adjustment. I hated driving it at night due to the visibility. I'm excited about having much better visibility.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

That mirror arm looks old ad legit. Great work. I really like those gauges. I'd love to buy them for my 40 but geeze! Where does the money bleeding end? :lol:

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks man...Yes I hear you on the money..I going to pick up some of my seat from the upholster this weekend.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Pretty sure I saw that mirror on the 'gram and couldn't tell which was which.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

gauges look soooo nice

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Do you have any tips for making things look that distressed? I've done some but yours looks way more legit than mine did. :lol:

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks..

I appreciate it

It's about layers and textures. Keep playing with it until your happy with it. Be creative. For example I put the new mirror arm in a vice and tightened it down then twisted it to add nicks and scraps to it then I painted it, sanded and painted again. It jsut takes time an playing around.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

On Saturday I drove to Indiana to pick up my third row seat. I'm stoked with how it all turned out. It is sooooo comfy too. I'm also having stock arm rests covered in the same chocolate leather. My upholstery guy will make me a shift boot and some cool visors. I will share more on that later. My 48 didn't have visors because I was going for a cleaner look, but there were times when I wised I had them.

I should return in about a week to pick up my middle and front rows and the other misc. pieces.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

On Sunday I played around with the CCTek tool I barrowed from my friends. With this tool you can set up a rim width, check tire fitment and set up your back spacing. Since I had the tires I think I will run, I was able to dial it all in. These tools are expensive. Luckily I barrowed it from my friends that own the hotrod shop.

The rear tires are 265 x 40 x 22. (30.35" dia) and the fronts are 255 x 35 x 22 (29.03 dia), which are pretty large diameter tires (especially if you are trying to layout). For the rear I will go with a 22 x 10" rim. The front is still TBD but I'm thinking about a 22 x 9".

Ideally I would like to order the wheels soon because it is probably a 6-8 week lead-time.

Also my fabricating friend stopped by with my lower dash panel that he is working on for me. He's getting close.

All in all a pretty productive weekend.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

That’s an awesome tool. No pics of the lower dash panel?

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

The seat looks great Marc...!!!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Marc, seat looks sweet, nice set-up on checking size of wheel width, etc...Jim

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

No not yet. He had to make some revisions before we can bolt it up. I'll share some pics once its done.

Thanks!!

Thanks Jim, every 1/2" counts when you are trying to stuff a large dia wheel under a bagged truck..

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

marc, what determined if you got the clamshell or barn doors on the AD suburban?
i believe with TF panel gets barn door and suburban gets clamshell

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1607605885

i did the 2012 power tour with my painter, who owns this AD suburban
also found these from the same 2012 power tour
TF suburban and 60-66 suburban both with clamshell

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I believe it was just an option. All Suburban body come with cut outs for the cables and retractors. I know a lot of people prefer the claim shell. I prefer the barn door as there are less parts that they don't remanufacture.

Thank you
Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

yeah that tilt out brake light is something else
your' sis probably the only suburban i've seen with barn doors

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Seat looks really nice Marc!! That rim tool is crazy, it has a ton of adjustment. I have seen one before but didn't pay attention.

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks...yes the tool is quite expensive to purchase but it is well made.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

That seat is so nice! I like the retro look in the center material. Man, I'd love to have that wheel set up tool too! I wished I had one when I was configuring my 40. This thing is going to be killer!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks Ryan, The seat is soooo comfy. I searched for the material for a while. I self sourced it. This same material will be used for my door panels and my visors as as well as some of my interior panels. I've got some other unique details with this build that I'm keeping close to the vest for now.

Thanks for following along.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Marc omg that seat! Wow!

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Thanks man....

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Today I worked on some odds and ends. My license plate mount was crooked (my fault) as seen in the pic and it bugged me. I cut it apart to reweld in an effort to straighten it out. (no pics of the correction).

I also tapped in to my running light feed to power the license plate lights.
Since my license plate mount is basically a hitch receiver inset I needed to be able to unhook the wires that power the license plate lights. For this I purchased a 2 wire water tight connector off of EBay. This way when I remove my plate to inset the hitch I can unplug the power supply.

For a clean solution I choose to use the license plate LED bolts. I used the same thing on my 48 and they also worked great. I will mount them at the bottom of the plate shooting up.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

Dome Light LED upgrade.

I figured there might be some interest in this upgrade, so I broke it out on its own page.

I removed the OEM light socket from the housing.
I purchased a 24 light LED panel (Found on Ebay for $7.00). This will put out a lot of light. You can also get smaller panels like 18 light ect.

I added longer power and ground leads to the LED panel. I also added a 2nd dome light in the roof of my suburban for adequate lighting.

You can use whatever you like to secure the LED panel to the housing. I used 3m strip caulk that I balled up as I had some laying around. The panel is feather light so you could really use 3M double sided tape or hot glue.

With the frosted glass light lens, you don't see the LED panel or black strip caulk.

I also used some more strip caulk to create a gasket around the wired exiting the housing.

Any ??'s please ask but its fairly straight forward.

Marc

Re: 53 Surburban "Family Truckster"
 

I like the Interior light mods...that should work great