Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

I mentioned my driveshaft/floor spacial conflict. Well here's photographic evidence... You can see how close it is to that floor brace/seat support (this is with the rearend sitting where it would with no notch; frame on axle-tube):
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

...and at the trailing arm crossmember. Both the xmember and floor support just behind it will have to be clearanced:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

So here's what the floor looked like:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

...and now there's a 5" wide rift...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

Looking forward; yep, gonna need more room here...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Front bags are in. I see no reason to go into any real detail on this. It's the same set-up most guys are running: Slam Specialties RE7's, ***************** upper plates/cups with lower cups cut down to 1.5" (I don't see how cutting any more would make a difference), and ECE 2.5" spindles.

Here's the pics.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

First at full rear lift and about level in front (front will go much higher and rear is limited by shocks):
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

And aired out; front sets inners on tires (more mods to come...) and rear is as low as I can go without setting the trailing arm crossmember on the drive shaft, so for now...

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

...
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184560993

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Sweet!!!!

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Great Work as Usual, Do u attract a lot of attention when ever you have it out for a Drive? Just curious how many people realize how much work has gone into this?

Please keep us all Inspired with your Mod's.............
Rick

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

I actually don't think that many people have any idea what they are looking at. I still have people saying "nice suburban," and occasionally (one in 25 that actually look) I might get "did you shorten that?"

One guy followed me to the bank and asked a ton of questions. Turned out he was building a 72 crewcab from a burb:metal:

Another guy followed me to work the other day. Showed me pics of his beautiful 71-72 on his PDA. That was the day I drove it with no rear shocks :lol:

Another time a few guys gathered around it and snapped some pics in the Home Depot parking lot. I didn't actually witness it but was told by another guy who was parked next to it. He said they were checking it out for like 15 minutes and waiting for me to come out, but I took too long :o

Still, I think it just looks like a junker to most people, with the rusty tailgate, primer stripes, cracked windshield, missing trim, and tweaked front bumper. Until they try to race...:hm: Even then I let most people go, but occasionally I'm in the right mood ;)

It'll definitely get attention after it's painted, but most people still won't know anything is unique about it other than the stance and wheels :)

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

:metal: Got mine loaded up and ready to drop off soon as your done w/ yours :lol:

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

It'll definitely get attention after it's painted, but most people still won't know anything is unique about it other than the stance and wheels
__________________
-Mike

I think that is one of the Greatest thing's about this Hobby, When you get someone who know's the vehicle & can see all the Detail's that have went into Shaping it, it make's it all the Sweeter.............

Thank Again for all the Inspiration.......

Rick

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

that thing is *****en, nice work. i will use this for refrence on my 4dr tohoe convertable.

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Well, I've had the bags for a few days and I can tell you it really does ride smoother. Just gotta be careful how low I cruise with those long tubes... :rolleyes: Time for some 3/4 length headers, and bigger wheels for more ground clearance ;)

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Define "done" ;)

I totally agree. I got some more props on it today as I was pulling into a parking garage.

Thanks. Can't wait to see more of that!

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

hey mike, i used shorty headers from hedman for a chevelle on mine, i'll send you some pics as soon as i can,i think the # is 68618 for the coated ones with a ball flange.....can't find my receipt, but they fit with only a little clearance on the passenger side frame....like i said, i'll get pics for you as soon as i can...slim

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Those are the ones I've been looking at. Here's the summit link. Pics would be awesome. Thanks slim!

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

So, I had this little issue with the drive-shaft/floor-support/trailing-arm-crossmember all wanting to share the same space. Here's the shot of that issue:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1184215988

As an extraordinary matter of chance, I happened to have some 5" OD 1/4" wall tube sections 2.5" in length that I had acquired for my hidden liftgate hinge idea (thanks to Britian), which didn't pan out (going to try 60-66 Burb hinges on that thanks to Captainfab and Livewire64 :metal:)

Pic from when I was playing with the hinge idea:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

Those 5" OD tube sections ended up being PERFECT for making room for the driveshaft. I'll let the pics speak for themselves:

BTW a 5" holesaw in a 1/2" chuck hand-drill can pack a serious kick:o
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

...and the crossmember:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

You can't see it, but the majority of the welding is on the other side of the crossmember in the horizontally "flanged" area.

Next I'll flatten the bottom of the crossmember and make exhaust cutouts for my own version of the "extreme-drop-crossmember" without ever taking it out of the vehicle ;)

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

But, first I have more pressing ground clearance issues:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185046217

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

The Rear will tuck rim now that I can actually use the notch. But that's only with the front up in the air to keep the headers from being crushed :rolleyes: So for now, here's the aired out stance:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185047730

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

You are an Artist.

I am humbled and inspired.

thanks for all the effort to post the pictures and story of it.

life is good,kent

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Nice engineering job, :D.

R

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

looks awesome

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

your definately gonna have to get some shorty headers, as always i am impressed, i wish i could do the type of fab work that you do!

good job!
cant wait to see the next set of update pics

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Nice... I can't wait until I can do some work on my '69. You are a true inspiration and a frustration all at the same time.

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Thanks guys.

I was getting sea sick with no swaybars so I had to make getting them back on a priority. I don't know how anyone can stand it without them :eek:

So for the front I cut 1-1/8" off the ends of the bar. Without doing so the bar ends would touch the bags when sitting low. I also made some "brackets" to hang the bar down from a the fame a bit (was mounted directly to the frame before). The ECE brackets would probably work fine here, but these could be here TODAY ;)

The reason I have to use brackets now is that the bags allow it to go low enough to cause interference between the bar and steering/pitman arms. Now with these brackets installed the cotter pins on the castle nuts almost touch the bar when fully aired out and steering at one lock or the other (sorry no pics of that). I can live with that because #1 I won't be driving aired-out and #2 I won't be turning the wheels to full lock when aired-out and #3 it doesn't touch :hm:.

Here's the pics of that:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

I also found that the rear was hanging up on the right side. The ECE Super-track Bar bracket was hitting part of the notch. So I moved the bracket from above the lowering block to under the lowering block, trimmed the bracket, and trimmed the notch where the inner plate was hanging over (notch not yet trimmed in this pic):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

That got me down lower in the rear. In fact it's at the point now where the gas tank will touch the ground before the suspension bottoms out (time for some bigger wheels):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Here's the true aired-out rear suspension with the help of jack stands:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

Good use of the driveshaft clearance. It does not touch anything when fully aired-out :)
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185396672

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

The reason I left the notch at a full 8" even though I don't want to "lay-out" was so I could run the Camaro rear sway bar I have been using. This set-up is especially nice for lowered trucks when you don't want something hanging down below the trailing arms as some of the aftermarket rear bars do.

I ended up grinding down that outer/rear edge of the inner notch plates to gain clearance for the swaybar. Also, I'm not totally satisfied with the mounting tabs that are welded to the notch. I think I'm going to run some 2x2 through both notches to serve as a bridge and swaybar endlink brackets. Here's what it looks like now (2nd pic):

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185397351

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...g?t=1185397351

It's good to have it handling "properly" again. Now I need to do some cleaning up of the lines etc back there. Once I figure out the final config I'll POR-15 all the bare metal.

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

:agree: It was a huge pick me up for "Merlot" after the 1-Ton bar went on :metal:

:exit: Drove about 150 miles Saturday & never checked that.
Boy was I scared when I read this, but I had over 1 fingers thickness
between mine and the bags. Wonder why yours was into the bags? I
guess we could have a different type of bag up front. Looking good ;)

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

I've got a 1.25" bar too. So nice:metal:

Mine may have been located further aft than stock when I drilled the bushing/bracket holes in the frame. I have SS-RE7's.

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

OIC, No idea what bags I have, but I have the ECE lowered brackets in
the stock locations, so that could be part of the differance on mine. ;)

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

WOW, never saw this thread before... this is seriously the coolest thing I've ever seen done to a 67-72 truck.

Here's the "Argentina" version! I think yours is shorter, but same idea. Notice it also has "truck doors."

This is a real pic, not a photoshop posted by GMCbsas

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ight=argentina

It's on page two. There's also an "avalanche" looking truck too!

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

The section between the front and rear doors looks very similar to my crewcab. I wonder if that was were it was built?

R

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Could be? Or maybe it was a GM prototype for overseas that never made it to production?

I didn't realize this until recently, but GM DOES design and test a lot of their overseas cars HERE, even though they are not for sale in the US.

Check out the Chevy Lumina SS, for sale only in the middle east. The pics were taken by GMInsider in Michigan.

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/g..._SS_front1.jpg

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

What size adaptors are you using in the rear? What size wheels and tires?

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Man Frizzle, I may have to purchase a 'Burban and send it with a check in the glovebox for you to do up for me, you are very innovative and with everyone seeming to do the same thing, you've managed to break out of the norm, congrats.... PS, if that Lumina SS was sold in the US. I'd buy one TONIGHT!
Brandon

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

subscribing

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Man, This thing is gonna look great with the new wheels on it. Hurry up and get some tires!

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

That's interesting. I wonder why they didn't just make it the way I did; at least they could have used the Burb doors :confused:

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

The adapters were to go from 5x5" to 5x4.75" bolt pattern. They are 1.25" thick. They won't be used when I put on the new wheels (they'll probably go on the parts board).

The wheels are from a late 90's/early 00's Mustang. They are 17" dia by I think 8.5" wide. The rear tires are 275/40/17.

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Thanks guys. :) I don't know why we don't see this done more. Hopefully now we will ;)

Gringo, I just got back in town and had a notice from FedEx on my door! :D :metal: :D

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

Thanks for the info. that burman is awsome almost makes me want to trade my cheyenne for one. Whick tire and wheel setup are you going with?

Re: Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*
 

The wheels are 20x8.5 and 22x9 Coy C5's and the tires I'll have to figure out when the wheels get here. I'd like to squeeze a 305/35 or 305/40 out back and 255's up front.