New to site and suburban life.
 

Hello fellow forum peeps, I have recently purchased a 1971 Suburban for $4500 (was that a good price?). It came with the back to front ac, ps, pb, 307 with q-jet 4bbl carb, and a 700r4 trans. The body seems to be in really good shape and doesn't look like it's ever been in an accident. So far since I got it home I have found out that the advertised 350 is actually a 1973 307 engine with upgraded 4 bbl carb which was rebuilt 35k miles ago and I am currently redoing all the brakes, shocks, and replacing all the lights. I took it in for a couple of leaks and getting the ac turned over to r134 which they tested and said it holds pressure and should work fine (they added freon and said it blew cold but when I got it it was warm and I noticed the adapter they put on was loose and hissing so I'm going back for that one). There are a few things I need help on. I noticed that the fuel gauge reads 1/3 of a tank full when it is filled. Is that a gauge or a sending unit thing? Also, when I am going 45mph the speedo reads 60mph how do I fix that? Other then that it just needs restoration parts to make it pretty. I want to get to daily driver status. I have added some pics. One last thing is mirrors as it came the small mirrors but I see other burbs with the bigger ones. Do you know where I can find those? All the websites I've been to only have the small mirrors as oem. lmctruck has been my friend lately. Thanks for all the future help as I will be asking a lot of questions here in the near future.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Here is the build sheet. The vin matches the body and door.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Very nice Burb! Welcome to the Burb life:chevy:

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Welcome to the best place on the net for a burb owner and lover!

Sharp looking burb ya have there, and I'd say you got a pretty good deal from the pictures I see.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Welcome to the boards. The nicest folks on the net are on this site. Good looking Burb you have there and it should give you lots of pleasure, but you do know that they are never finished.
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Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Yeah, I would say that you got a pretty decent deal there!
As for your questions:
Speedometer speed incorrect: You will need to check the speedo gearing at the transmission. Pull the speedometer cable off and remove the gear housing and see what gears you have, both drive and driven. There are various gear calculators on the net...just google 700R4 speedometer gear calcs.
You will need to know your tire size and rear end ratio.
For the fuel gauge.....my guess is the float is in the sender is bad....just pull it out of the tank and check it.....

Tim

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Welcome to the site. I drive mine daily too.

I think you did good with the $4,500 price tag. I've had 3 over the past few years and that sounds good. I've seen Burbs in a LOT worse condition advertised for more.

My speedo also reads high, but it is because of the 20" rims.

I have the big mirrors on mine and I was thinking they came from LMC. So... you may want to dig a little deeper on that one. They may be from a newer truck.

Of course, from a show perspective... I hate these big mirrors. But from a camper pulling perspective, you couldn't get away with the small ones. I can barely see around my camper with the big ones.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Wow thanks everyone. I quess I will be putting a sending unit in. And I will check those speedo gears. I will need the big mirrors since I am planning on towing a small trailer.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Here is a speedo calculator:
http://700r4.com/speedoCalc/speedocalc.shtml

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Thanks! I need to find out what gears I have in the rear now. Is there a way without pulling it apart?

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Nice looking Burb Curtis!

Jack the rear of the burb up so that both wheels are off the ground. mark the driveshaft, then turn the wheel/tire 2 rotations and count how many times the mark on the driveshaft goes around....3 and little bit is probably 3.08's, 3 and 3/4 is probably 3.73....etc

Hope that helps a little bit:D

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I will give that a shot thanks.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

if by chance both wheels spin in the same direction, you may just have a posi rearend too:D (although someone would of either put a posi carrier in or switched out the rear at some point...it would of been on te SPID..I think)

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I have a picture of it at the beginning of this post but it doesn't say anything about a rear end. I had the pinion seal redone and don't really want to pull it apart again to find out. I will try that marking the drive shaft and see how many times it turns first and see how that goes.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

If it doesn't say anything on the SPID would that mean something as a stock rearend with 3.73 gears or something? Just a thought.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

having a hard time reading the SPID, is there an engine or tranny option listed? Any sign of a clutch pedal ever being in there?

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

No it doesn't say anything about engine or tranny. In the engine compartment the side sticker on the wheel tub said it came with a 307 )ithas big letters above it saying "AO" if that means anything) and I believe it came with an automatic probably a th300 if I had to guess. It definately doesn't have posi.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

if there is no listing for an optional trans, then it was probably a 3 speed on the column.
The CE series trucks (2 wheel drive V8) had a 307 and 3 speed as standard equipment.
If this is the case, then a 3.73 rear would have been base equipment for that combo. (Asuming the rear has not been swapped)

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Thanks for the info. It's not posi I have found that out and I believe it's stock. Now is there a way to get the 3 speedness out from the shift column to a 4 speed? they swapped in a 700r4 and I am wondering if there is a conversion kit for the steering column. I can't a new column right now.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I like the late model front seats. Are the 2nd & 3rd row out of a late model, if so do you have any pics of seats and mounts. I was going to do the same. Thanks for any help.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Hey 70sarver, this is how the truck came to me. I don't know what they came out of and I don't have any of the other bench seats. I am actually trying to find the bench seats instead or at least the first 2 rows. This originally came with three rows of seats from what the SPID said. I am not sure what you are asking. Do you want pictures of the two seats I have? I don't have a second or thrid row I only have the two seats that are in there now.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Welcome to the board!!:metal:

Good looking Burb!

As to your question on the steering column. You can pickup a 4 speed shift indicator lens from LMC or GMC Paul's.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I was trying to get some ideas for mounting late model suburban seats in the 2nd row.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I have 2004 Silverado 40-20-40 seats in the front and 2000+ suburban 3rd row seats in the back. The back seats fold and flip forward leaving the rear open like a pickup bed. Both sets have integrated shoulder belts....
Tim

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

my 72 burb c20 came with the standard 307 with 3 on the tree. i pulled the 2 barrel in favor a Q-jet. being a 3/4 ton, the rear gearing was 4.57. changed it out for 4.10 gears. the speedo would read 54mph when going 60. the original plastic speedo gear in the side of the trans had 25 teeth so i bought a new replacement the same size/style with 22 teeth from classic parts of america.

a trick i used to keep from losing fluid in the trans was to park my truck on a hill with the nose down and the right side lower than the left so the fluid would not seep out the speedo drive hole when i pulled the plug that surrounds the stalk on the speedo gear. after the swap my dad and i took it up on the highway and using a watch and the mile markers we determined that the speedometer was now spot on at 60mph.

my math:

4.10/4.57 = 0.897 or 90%

25 x .90 = 22.4

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Thanks cape, I found a edelbrock 1406 on craigslist and bought a rebuild kit for it. I have put it on with a new distributor and new coil and new power steering hoses and it works a lot better. I need help fine tuning the carb to get it perfect. The carb was pretty crusty and I did my best to clean it out which I thik I did fine but who knows I could have missed one little thing. I am not worried about the speedo right now. I have a gps that tells me how fast I'm going. I need to fix the gas gauge first, I bought a new sending unit and hopes to put it in next weekend. My imediate problem is the right rear tail light won't brake or blink but it will turn on if the lights are on. I need to get that fixed asap so I can get it inspected so I can register it. Any help with that would be great.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

i fixed my previous post. 54 vs 60mph, not 8.

until i get the gas sender fixed i'm stuck using the odometer to figure out miles on a tank of gas so i needed it back on proper calibration. i figure at 14mpg x 20 gallons is about a 300 mile range. so i start looking for a gas station at about 250 miles or sooner if is convenient or the truck is going to sit for awhile (have it filled up for the next road trip, etc). i also want to keep the odo correct for the sake of original mileage (currently 77,000 and change)

i keep a record book in the glove box of all my cars. left side is gas fill ups (date, miles, (F) if it is a fill up so i can figure mileage, $, etc) and the right side side pages are for recording all repairs and upgrades (again w/ date, mileage, $, etc). i can look back and see when maintenance needs to be done (or wonder why something wore out quickly). it's a habit i picked up from my dad and grandfather.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I am starting to do that too. I am starting a business and want to keep track of my miles.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I have found that 9 times out of 10, that problem is a bad ground at that tail light, either at the wire to the body, or the contacts in bulb socket.....

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

I took the ones fromt he left working side and they didn't work on the right nonworking side either. I am only getting 1 volt from the cable that goes up the wall to where ever it goes. When you turn the lights on that lights up and does teh side rear marker light too on that side, it just won't blink or go on for the brakes.

Re: New to site and suburban life.
 

Progress report: I got the lights working and it was crusty fuses! so I cleaned them up and lubed them and all is well. Since I bought the truck I put in a new carb (used rebuilt), new distributer (used rebuilt), new tune up stuff, new side mirrors, all new brakes including master cylinder, new power steering hoses, and the ac and gas gauge is getting worked on as we speak. Now phase two, fixing leaks and oil burning. Then tires, new steering box, and regear the speedo cable. I am still looking for seats (all three rows) locally. Other than that everything else should be good to go except little stuff. I would post a picture but it's the same as the other one up there but with mirrors.