Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Your welcome Jeff I'm always happy to answer questions. If you are interested in seeing a master metal worker check out mp&c's build here http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=564201

Thanks CShaver. See the link above

Thanks Johnny. Are you coming to the Old Autos car show in Bothwell in August.

Here's a couple of shots of the drivers side C pillar from Friday and today. We still have some finish welding to do, We also hung some wall art above the shop door. :gmc2:

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

We spent quite a bit of time today trying to fit the roof skin. The skin is actually wider at the front than the back which makes it difficult to fit on a square truck. so we decided to think about it for awhile. We moved on to making mounting tabs to hold the body to the frame.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

This build is CRAZY in an awesome way...I'm just 50 mins East of you in Belmont...awesome man!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

I'm subscribed because there is too much going on that I don't want to miss.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks C.D. I didn't realize you were that close, we should get together sometime

Thanks D.J. We'll try to keep you entertained :lol:


Friday we welded a bunch of brackets on to connect the body to the frame. Here's a couple of pictures from the passenger side.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Yes, I'd like to. It would be my first time attending their show. Maybe a few other local C10 guys would be interested?

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Bothwell is cool ...yes man my boy plays Hockey against Dresden all the time....

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

This is truly an awesome build. I started on the last page, but after seeing just a couple pictures, decided it was best to start from the beginning. Wow. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

James

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

It will be great to meet. I'll PM you some info later

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks James


We cut out a patch from an old suburban roof then trimmed it to fit.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

If I come down can I drink beer and watch those fantastic fab skills?

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Oh My Jeezus...this is a crazy build!

I cannot wait to see how it turns out!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks James I'm glad you enjoyed it

Thanks cunk. We're just trying to have some fun.

Let me know the next time your in the area maybe we can get together.



Last week we finished piece we added to the center of the roof. This week we started on the patch between the roof panel and the side. We also pulled my pickup out of then barn so I can put some miles on it this summer.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

I am sure I am not the only one who is thinking:

PLEASE, the detail shots are great and really showcase your work, but PLEASE, back up about 10 feet and take just some normal shots so we can see what this thing looks like. I find myself trying to guess what the proportions are. if you are building suspense, it works haha. but an overall shot would just answer so many questions.

and let me reiterate, great work, nice showcasing!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

any chance you gonna make it have a sun roof? or ragtop slider???

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

THat is an awesome idea.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Awesome yellow truck! Love it!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Sorry Joe I didn't mean to keep you in the dark. I guess I see the overall view every day so it's not new to me and I overlooked it.

Well depending on how the roof turns out that could be a plan B

It is a good idea and it might make it on my next project.

Thanks A.D. How is your wife doing


Here's a couple of photos for Joedoh. Plus some shots of trimming the passenger side roof.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks for the overall look 65sub. This burb is going to be very cool. Wife is doing much better!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

cool, puts me in mind of a slingshot dragster. thanks!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks guys.The look will change quite a bit when we start fitting the doors and front sheetmetal. Right now it does look a little tail heavy but we started at the back and are working our way forward.





Fridays work we finished off the drivers side roof to side patch and tacked in the passenger side

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

After finishing the roof to side patch we moved on to the drip rail across the back. we left the vice grips holding most of it together and started cutting off small sections and welding the two panels.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

everytime i think my build is getting the best of me, i will think of what your build has gone through and keep chip'n away at mine. thanks for showing me that anything is possible!!! now having said that when u gonna farm urself out to finish my metal work???

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

One thing we did find when we cut the drip rail off the rear corner was the difference between the roof and the rear of the side panel. We will have to make a small patch to continue the roof line down to the side panel. These pictures don't show the difference that well so I'll try to get a better picture tomorrow.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Every time I check on this thread I continue to be amazed at the amount of sheetmetal welding you guys are doing with no visable warpage. Would you mind sharing your method or procedure? Do you cool your tacks with compressed air? Are you hammer and dollying as you go? I need to work on my sheetmetal welding skills.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks pimston. I'm glad that I can motivate you. Now about finishing your metal work. I looked at my schedule and if I figure 3 years per build and look a the projects I have waiting I can pencil you in for Jan. 2028. :lol:

Thanks Captain. I'd be happy to share our methods. First off anybody interested in sheetmetal work should look at this build by mp&c http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=564201 they do work way beyond what we do. That being said I'll try to explain what we do. First get the panels to fit as good as you can. We don't insist on no gap or an even gap as long as its close we don't find it makes a lot of difference. When the panels are ready to tack together make sure they are aligned. Any difference in height will show up on the finished piece. Tack the seam every 1 1/2 inches then go back and tack between the first set of tacks checking on panel alignment as you go . Leave plenty of time for the welds to cool. Rapid cooling of the weld will make it shrink more and cause more warping but we do use compressed air after the weld has cooled a bit to keep the heat from building up in the panel. Once the panels are tacked grind one tack down close to the level of the panel then put another tack overlapping about 30% grind that tack down then cool with compressed air. We use a 2" 50 grit disk on a angle die grinder to grind the welds. Keep doing that until the seam is welded solid . When the welding is done grind it smooth with a 120 grit disk. Patience is key when welding. Each tack is only one quick trigger pull then grind and cool. you have to resist the urge to pull the trigger two or three times to bridge a gap. We do use Easy Grind mig wire if we have access to the back side of the weld so we can use the hammer and dolly. Otherwise we just use regular .023 mig wire. That's about it. If I can answer any other questions just ask.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks for the info on how you weld sheetmetal. It always helps to know how others do things.

I'll have to check out that thread later.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Here's a couple of better pictures of the misalignment at the rear corner. Plus another couple of the progress removing the drip rail across the back.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Ok here's the update from yesterday and today. We made a patch for the top rear corner misalignment. Got it tacked in place and weld and smoothed. We still have to fill in the end by the rear hatch.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Well done! Great solution!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

This build is addictive !

I cannot come online without looking in.

You guys really are magicians.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Thanks guys. I appreciate you looking in.


My daughter and I went to the swap meet and car show in Bothwell today. So I took some pictures of chevy trucks to show everybody. We also met up with forum member Johnny_Lamebridge and his lovely wife. The first picture is Johnny's truck followed by some of the others that were there.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

some more

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

last batch with one F*rd

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

I also got some stuff at the swap meet. An Eastwood tube flaring tool, a tilting vice , a tilt table and a couple of possible interior parts

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Dale it was our pleasure meeting you and your daughter. She's obviously a sweetie, hanging out with her dad... at a car show, no less. I was very impressed with the work you've done on your 409 Suburban. So well-engineered. Now I'm looking forward to seeing you finish the "Twisted Little Sister".

It was good talking to you!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

That's a really cool airplane dash!

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

We enjoyed meeting you and your wife. Hopefully next time we will have more time.

Thanks Wanna49


We got a little busy last week but we're back to work now. We decided to start on the upper door frame. Since this is a complicated design we will have to make it in multiple pieces and weld them together. We made the first piece from 20 gauge sheetmetal 1 1/2" wide bent to 90* to make 3/4 X3/4 angle. Then we used the shrinker to make it follow the shape of the roof. It should take 8 different pieces to make each side.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Here's the first three pieces test fit on the truck.

Re: My suburban's Twisted Little Sister
 

Dale... what the heck are you making now, a Targa roof? Nice work making tose channel pieces. I don't know what you're doing, but I'm sure looking forward to see the result!