1972 Suburban 4X4 3/4 Ton K20 "The Beast"

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by nsiti

Some fine tuning of the placement of the gas tank.

It looks like that is going to line up really well. I had some problems with that on my Panel Truck.
.

[Ol Blue K20]

Coming together and looking good!!

[HO455]

It looks like things are moving along nicely.

As to the fuel vapor reducer you might be able to mount it where the factory mounted their fuel vent trap. They're behind the rear panel on the drivers side.

First photo is the factory 71-72 piece and the arrow in the second photo points to one installed. The last one from the factory manual.

A thread on the factory system.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=687417

[nsiti]

We're back at work on the Suburban and my mechanic promised me he would "kick it into high gear." Famous last words, but excited to be making some progress.

We removed the old suspension, which was a real bear given all the fused metal. Here are a few photos of our progress installing the new Offroad Design suspension with 5" lift. The truck looks awfully high to me, hopefully it settles down a bit!

[nsiti]

Following-up, we are hard at work assembling a small block 350 engine (stroked to 427) which I custom designed with the help of the good folks at Competition Products and their neighbors at Howards Cams.

I was pretty adamant about using all American manufactured parts (Dart, Callies, Howards, Clevite, AFR, etc.) which I believe I was 99% successful at. Here are some photos. She looks beautiful to my eyes.

Cheers, and hopefully more to come
-Nick

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by nsiti

Following-up, we are hard at work assembling a small block 350 engine (stroked to 427) which I custom designed with the help of the good folks at Competition Products and their neighbors at Howards Cams.

I was pretty adamant about using all American manufactured parts (Dart, Callies, Howards, Clevite, AFR, etc.) which I believe I was 99% successful at. Here are some photos. She looks beautiful to my eyes.

Cheers, and hopefully more to come
-Nick

Looks pretty nice to me! Nothing like new parts.....
.

[nsiti]

Well, we're back at it again, like a herd of turtles!

Installed the steering box brace purchased from Offroad Design. The final result looks very good and sturdy. I will add, though, that the fit was quite a bit off from what I would have expected. Proper fitment required a fairly long cylindrical extension (not supplied). In addition the brace didn't fit flush to the frame, necessitating some customization on our side. Neither is mentioned in ORD's online instructions, the former is mentioned in the instructions that came with the brace, but the latter is not. Improper advertising if you ask me. And then folks wonder why restorations take so long.

[nsiti]

We also tackled the task of permanent installation of the of the Aero Tanks 40 gallon gasoline tank, which was another task that required much thought. We were again surprised at the amount of customization that we had to do to get a proper placement and fit in our Suburban. So much so that we wonder how Aero Tanks can claim that it is a custom fit for Blazer's and Suburban's. Unless of course we missed something. In the end, you will see we decided that we had to lower the tank, which necessitated some modifications to the frame, in order to properly allow for fuel to flow down the line into the tank, as well as for the tank to fit below the wooden floor board with enough space for the top fuel injection lines. Not shown in the photos below will be the last step of reinforcing the frame for the cut-outs we made. Lastly, we're adding an access panel in the wooden floor board in case we need to get at the fuel pump. Any comments or suggestions to our approach are welcome.

Cheers,
Nick

[nsiti]

Third and final post for today, which will bring us up to date. We encountered a snafu with the engine build (and a couple of missing accessories that were an oversight, haha).

After installing the Howards custom ground camshaft and testing for clearance, there was rod interference at one of the cylinders, presumably due to the longer 4" stroke. Upon inspection of my purchase invoice, which called for a small base circle cam, and in discussions with Howards, it seems they sent me the wrong camshaft. To their credit they agreed to regrind a cam upon confirmation of their error. The cam is now in their facility and I'm waiting to hear back from them on the best course forward.

I hope everyone is having a good start to the new year and look forward to your comments. I'll follow-up with more progress as time and effort permit!

-Nick

[LockDoc]

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Welcome to the one step forward - two steps back crowd. It really slows a guy down for sure. Good luck with the cam replacement. I hope they make it right with you.....

[Killer Bee]

Happy Friday Nick! I have been quietly following along. very nice work and thank you for taking the time to post your progress.

I have similar goals for a pair of these that I'll be getting started on in the very near future retirement.

I too will be keeping small blocks for factory fitting convenience and go with strokers for better low end torque.

keep up the good work and please keep us posted

my rusty heaps https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...&postcount=332

[nsiti]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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Welcome to the one step forward - two steps back crowd. It really slows a guy down for sure. Good luck with the cam replacement. I hope they make it right with you.....

Thanks, I spoke with Competition Products today and they confirmed that there was an error on their end, so Howards is regrinding me a new cam on a small base circle. Of course, that could mean a two month wait, but the most important is that it fits and works well!

Originally Posted by Killer Bee

Happy Friday Nick! I have been quietly following along. very nice work and thank you for taking the time to post your progress.

I have similar goals for a pair of these that I'll be getting started on in the very near future retirement.

I too will be keeping small blocks for factory fitting convenience and go with strokers for better low end torque.

keep up the good work and please keep us posted

my rusty heaps https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...&postcount=332

Hi and thanks for your comments. Good luck on your future builds. I like the stances of your Suburbans!