Joined the Short Wheelbase Club *69 Tahoe Project*

[Frizzle Fry]

Well, I knew I had a small window of opportunity to do this before my 61 takes residence in the garage, so it was now or who knows when...

After countless photochops to play with the proportions, I ended up using the longbed-to-shortbed conversion dimensions. For those who aren't familiar, it's -12" in wheelbase and -8" from the back end for an overall reduction of 20" (that's a LOT of garage space)

This is the rendering that really sold it for me:


I would have posted pics in process but I literally had two weeks to get this done and it ended up taking three...

Here's the final pic of the Sub life; the before pic:


Here we go...
Tear Down:

Gates off

That's gonna have to go...

These were nice while they lasted... I'll make new ones



Roomy...

[Frizzle Fry]

More tear down:

Too bad I just filled this

I'd been wanting to get rid of this nasty home-made receiver hitch (PO install)



Rear bumper and hitch gone:


This will become a one-piece

Quarter windows out

[Frizzle Fry]

I found the easiest way to remove the rear wood is with a little help from Mr circle saw. Then I cut around the bolts with a sawzall so I could remove them with the sawzall. Pics should make it clear...



You can see how I cut around the bolts here so I could then just hack the bolts instead of fighting with them.



Buh-bye spare tire well...



Rear 8" cut layout. That ledge is a great place to reference level:



I'll be needing these soon:

[Frizzle Fry]

This body cross brace/seat mount and the frame crossmember behind it were less than 12" appart. So the seat mount had to get a little trim:





Making room for the wheel wells to move forward:

Bracing for what's to come with a little help:

[Frizzle Fry]

You can't simply take 8" and 12" slices out of this thing and weld it back together like a truck bed. These have C-Pillars, a third door, and rear quarter glass to consider.

This is where all my Tahoe Photo-Chopping really paid off. I found when I did the renderings that it was easiest to just move the rear wheel wells forward 12" and then the rear and roof forward 20". I also knew from that experience that the roof was slightly domed, so the further forward the slice, the better.

Here are the exterior layout lines:



No turning back now!!!




By including the braces and fuel filler passage in this section I can just move it all forward as one unit:



Ouch

[Frizzle Fry]

This whole area required a redesign:


Here's where the wheel well is going to end up (blue line):



That's gonna have to move (see blue line again):


Thank God for bracing...



Test fit of wheel well section:

[Frizzle Fry]

Making room...



POR 15 Time!

[Frizzle Fry]

...

[Frizzle Fry]

This is a "bolt-on" mod



Tacked in place:



More to come tomorrow...

[shaneschevys]

Thats going to look sweet when you get done with it. Looks like you had a couple of good hands helping you out to.

[milehightoyz]

oh my god...this is going to be so sweet.....i was waiting for someone to hunker down and get this done.....i'll be watching, i got 2 extra burb bodies that i think are wanting to get cut up soon too......looks sweet so far!!! keep up with the pics.....

[CG]

Well...wow...I have three extra burbs I was going to just going to get rid of. This makes me want to just cover em up for now and see what yours looks like finished. I think if I destroyed two of em trying to figure out how this works the third one may get finished...lol...someday.

[milehightoyz]

i assume this is going to stay a 3 dr for now?

[Hart_Rod]

That's just incredible! Can't wait to see it completely finished.

[Livrat]

Way cool!!.. cant wait to see more pics..
I can really appreciate a guy who is not afraid to cut one up!!
I love it!!

[72CSTC5]

FINALLY, someone is going to build one. I was wondering when this was going to happen!! Looks awesome, the fun part is going to be the other side with the door!!

[3/4tonterror]

dont like it, i saw one at a show last year,looks like a swb with a burb roof on it.

[stllookn]

Awesome project, Mike! It just makes me feel badly about going fishing this weekend...LOL!

[Frizzle Fry]

Originally Posted by 72CSTC5

FINALLY, someone is going to build one. I was wondering when this was going to happen!! Looks awesome, the fun part is going to be the other side with the door!!

The 3rd door is pretty much done. Just needs some finishing work. The truck was 90% done and driving before I even started this thread. I just don't have the time to post all the pics in one sitting More to come today. But ya, you're right. It did take some on-the-fly-engineering. That's why I did the driver's side first

Originally Posted by 3/4tonterror

dont like it, i saw one at a show last year,looks like a swb with a burb roof on it.

Well, I appreciate your honesty Are you sure you saw one with a 115" wheelbase and notched 3rd door? I have looked and looked and have never seen one done this way. I've seen this:


...and I've seen them with a some rear-end trimming, but never the way I'm doing it; "Tahoe Style." If you or anyone else has pics of one done this way I'd love to see them!

[phase_one]

I think that is will be real cool. Nice work. Looks like lyou are having a good time with the kids. Keep it up.

[Zoomad75]

<click> Subscribe.....

Killer build. That had to take some serious cajones to bring the cutoff wheel to clean original sheet metal. The progress looks great. I like the on the fly engineering too.

Don't worry about the one guy that hates it. Your building for yourself, not him. Anybody that doesn't like it can click the back button and go look at another thread.

I like "phantoms" or versions of trucks/cars that could have been made but weren't. If done right (and it looks like its going in the right direction) its probably going to look like it was factory when completed. Then you'll get the folks coming up saying they remember having one like that as a kid or an uncle had one a long time ago.

Very unique, keep up the good work!

[stllookn]

I know you did this just so you can place in the top 10 at that Porsche auto cross!!!!!!!!!!

You NEVER asked for anyone's opinion about this but I think this is an awesome project and a great idea. I still can't believe you got it done in 3 weeks while losing one weekend to an injury! That is one "stinking" complex conversion!

[ostncoln]

thats goign to be freakin sweet

[70c10]

Nice job Mike! . Can't wait to see it completed!

[Spanky_Pete]

That is an insane amount of work, can't wait to see the finished product.