1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

1970 Chevrolet Suburban

Background:
About 2 years ago I started looking for a late 60’s or early 70’s Suburban with a number of specific options as an around town cruiser and beach wagon; something fun for the family. The key criteria were the amount of rust, any accidents and ultimately price.

I finally settled on a truck that was advertised as rust free, accident free, four speed, four wheel drive with 63,000 miles on the original small block 350 and still in its original red-orange paint with a liftgate. The two owner truck was first sold in December 1969 and serviced its entire life at the same dealership that sold the car. All the paperwork came with the truck.

The plan:
A complete frame off restoration with a few upgrades along the way, the most significant upgrade will be replacing the carburetted 350 with the E-Rod 5.3L (available in early April).

Taking cues from Hart_Rod’s project, there will be some sheet metal reworking to get things looking just right, and the interior needs to be customized so that I can have fold flat seats on the passenger side (both front and rear). The seats must be able to fold completely flat, have head rests and look the part for a 1970 truck. Oddly, this is proving to be the most difficult part of the project to date. But I think four subtlety modified 1969 Camaro bucket seats (with headrests) will meet my needs.

Other upgrades will include Vintage Air, Retro Sound radio and speakers, replacement floor in the cargo bed with integrated tie down points, and Classic Instruments 7 gauge instrument cluster. I’m also changing the color to a 1968 Camaro color called Tripoli Turquoise (http://www.69pace.com/paint1968tripoliturquoise.htm) and adding roof marker lights.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

"Rust Free" never is:

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Progress continues:

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Getting the gaps just right:

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

It is looking good!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Looking great so far, and your progress is moving fast to get it off the frame!
I like the way you pull the body up, I think that is probably the safest way I have seen it done.

I am curious about the Vintage Air system you plan to run. I often think about doing that with my burb, since it gets flippin hot here in the summer. I just wonder how the Vintage Air holds up, on cooling such a large space in side a burb. I haven't looked recently, but do they have a system specifically for Suburbans?

Looking forward to seeing more progress!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

I plan on running their Gen IV Sure Fit set up. I dont expect it to cool the full interior space; but having it blow cold directly on me will be worth the price of the kit.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Wish I had a lift to pull the body off and a garage that would fit the lift. Looks good so far.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

nice work...i think they ment "RUST FREE" they werent going to charge you extra for the rust !!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Looks like a pretty solid start despite those rust areas and will be a great driver with your planned upgrades!!!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Looks like you're starting out with a nice burb to begin with. I'm looking forward to following your progress .... its looking good!
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Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Sounds like a fun project. Nice raw material too!! Almost makes me want to paint mine so it shines like that--almost.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

wow when i seen the first two pics i was thinking okay cool hes gonna refresh this survivor!then i scrolled down.....beautiful job on the burb, looks awsome great burb has nice rims tires and hub caps to!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Anymore progress?

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

No pictures to show at the moment, but the body and frame are being media blasted this week.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Frame back from the paint shop:

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

that looks really good!!!
what kind of paint did you use?

I was debating powder coating my blazer frame but not sure.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

The frame was powder coated. The body has come back with a few minor areas of rust to be addressed:

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Very nice!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

looks very nice! when does it go to paint?
i see your staying with drums up front, any reason why? you said your putting vintage air in it and an erod engine so its not going to be an all orig. and disks are so much nicer to stop big trucks with larger tires

keep the pics coming!!! i love my blazers but have a big soft spot for 4wd burbans!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

71 - thank you. I'm still waiting for a few bits and bobs that need to be sorted out before the metal work is completed. If all goes to plan, it will be heading into the paint shop within the next two weeks.

Regarding the drum brakes, it was a cost / benefit decision. The drum brakes worked very well; too well as they stopped on a dime. Upgrading to disc brakes would have been an improvement, but only at the margins. The bigger issue is avoiding brake lock and consequently relearning how to manage my braking to prevent it. Having said all that, I would have made the change to discs if a simple ABS aftermarket option was available. To me, that would have justified the cost.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

A few update pictures of the body about to go back on the frame after the interior had been painted. The color is Tripoli Turquoise (a 1968 Camaro color).

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

I love that color....and your screen name. The Clash rocks.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

WOW...your interior paint looks better than most peoples exterior paint !! looking good, love the color

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

I very rarely see people paint the whole interior very nice..

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Oooh, looking very promising so far. Nice choice on the paint.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Perfect color choice!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

I love that color! I had 1968 SS Chevelle Convertible that color. I sold it about 10 years ago and have regretted every since.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

X2!!

Keep the updates coming...

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Lookin good!

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Currently in a holding pattern waiting for the engine to ship. So no updates to post unfortunately.

What i have been working on are the seats, and i still cant find a reasonable solution. I've had to abandon the Camaro bucket seat idea. As I suspected at the start, this is the most complicated (and potentially costly) part of the restoration. 1970 era look, headrests and passenger side seats that fold completely flat (front and rear).

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

its an idea and not sure how it'll work out or look for that matter... but what about rear (middle row) mini van seats? use 4 of them or 6 if you want a 3rd row. just have them redone in whatever material you like

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

71 - thanks for the idea. As a matter of background, my thinking on the seats was based on three objectives: 1) increased safety by raising the shoulder line and including a headrest, 2) passenger seats that fold completely flat for practical purposes, and 3) aesthetics (when completed, the seats have to look like late 60's / early 70's seats).

Using modern seats certainly covers points 1 and 2, but not point 3. To shape of the seat gives it that period look. The seats were lightly bolstered, headrests were low, wide and deep with a center stem. So modifying period seats seemed a better starting place than modern seats.

I wanted to mount these seats to a budy bucket frame up front and a custom bucket seat setup in the rear (eactly as Hart_Rod has done). So now I'm thinking of copying Hart_Rod's set exactly but modifying the passenger seat frames to accept a current reclining mechanism, adding a headrest but skipping the shoulder raising exercise. That would simplify the project, but with these modifications I start to worry about the seats providing the necessary support in the event of an accident.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Guage cluster from Classic Instruments has arrived:

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Love that cluster! How much was that if you don't mind my asking?
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Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Thanks rjsdad - this was my treat in the build. It's set up inspired by Eric's "Second Chance 67" project. But I think it looks right for the period, has enough of my personality and has a few features not noticeable in the picture. The gauges have beveled lenses, the center clock has integrated halo LED's to indicate fog lights, high beams and roof marker lights.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Lookin' Great so far.

Would it be too much to ask to see a pic of the bottom of the body?

I need to mount mine to the rotisserie but have this fear of the roof buckling without the frame attached.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Bigdav160 - I hope these are helpful. I dont have a close up picture of the tail mount from under tail pan. You can see the reinforcing rib that runs the full length of the pan; the rotisserie was centered on that rib.

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

this thing is going to be awesome

Re: 1970 Chevrolet Suburban: Project "Beach Wagon"
 

Very nice build so far , is that rotisserie made or bought?

Keep up the good work.