Our "What are we going to do?" 66 Suburban Build

[chad64chevy]

the new place is looking great, I've have to stop by again after the new yr! we're moving to Tulsa with are income tax! nice jeep didn't see it the last time I seen you guys! I still love those rear tires, i'm working on getting mine done! I hope by summer i'll have everything worked out

[RockTonka]

Hey Chad, good to hear from ya. I didn't have room at the old place for the jeep...kept it at a buddies house. I've taken it all over Cavanaugh...good times! Tulsa will be nice, we lived there for 4 yrs. The engine in yours looks great, really like the color combo/details!!

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by RockTonka

Actually have two here...this is the bigger one, at 45x60, and is our main work/play shop. The other is 30x60, isn't insulated, and makes for great storage!

Oh yeah, think I remember you posting a pic of those right before you moved. Looks/sounds like a great setup! Several years ago my dad bought several acres & had a 40x60 built with attached apartment on the back, with intentions of building a house to go with it. He lived in the apartment for a few years I think & eventually sold the property. I think his now ex-wife had a lot to do with that move. They bought a house in the city at the time, with only a couple acres. While he still resides there today, this place only had a single car carport. He built a detached two car garage/shop though & later added an addition to the back for more storage. Sadly, it's still not enough room to play much.

Cool Jeep for sure!

[RockTonka]

I hear ya on never enough space, but it's amazing what can be accomplished in little to no space. That jeep was initially built primarily in a normal garage with not much more than a torch, welder, and grinder...lots of grinding discs . To get it in and out of the garage, I put tiny tires on the front, pulled the rear tires off, and drove it in and out on a floor jack under the rear.

Like most of us here, you do what you can with what you have...it's definitely easier with more space and better tools though!

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by RockTonka

I hear ya on never enough space, but it's amazing what can be accomplished in little to no space. That jeep was initially built primarily in a normal garage with not much more than a torch, welder, and grinder...lots of grinding discs . To get it in and out of the garage, I put tiny tires on the front, pulled the rear tires off, and drove it in and out on a floor jack under the rear.

Like most of us here, you do what you can with what you have...it's definitely easier with more space and better tools though!

Oh yeah, you can definitely get quite a bit done even with little space, even if it means getting creative. I was mainly referring to lack of storage space for other toys & extra parts. Guess that's what you have family for. My brother got volunteered to store a '65 LWB truck & another SWB chassis/cab on his property since he lives in the county & has more space.

[Captainfab]

Wow nice

Ram Jet 502?

My son got his buggy going earlier this year and has been working on getting the bugs out.

[RockTonka]

Thanks Cap!

Very clean buggy, that looks great! Y'all need to bring that down to our neck of the woods!

Started with a HO502 (iron rectangular port heads), worked the heads, custom cam/computer/tune, port matched the Ram Jet intake to the heads, worked the throttle body a bit, and swapped in some higher flow injectors...had Mena Street and Performance do all the intake/TB/Comp/tune work...it runs extremely well

[Captainfab]

Thanks for the compliment

I'm pretty proud of him having done most of the build himself. He learned a lot and gained an appreciation of what it takes to build a rig from scratch. The drivetrain in the buggy is a turbo'd 4.3 V6, Holley TBI, full manual TH350, Dana 300 with the Lowmax gear kit, Dana 60 front and rear, ARB front welded rear.

[pimpston65]

it may be a shot in the dark, but do you still have that oem fan shroud?

[RockTonka]

Originally Posted by pimpston65

it may be a shot in the dark, but do you still have that oem fan shroud?

No, sorry. That's long gone...

[justcuz]

Just noticed the nice rocking chairs and your stand up heater in the shop. What type of ventilation do you have in the roof of the shop? That heater could cause you guys some trouble if not well vented. The board lost a fellow in San Diego County last year to carbon monoxide poisoning, stay safe guys! You contribute way to much to the board to have anything bad happen to you.

[earl84]

Wow, just awesome work all around. I have been on this board for a couple years and never looked at this build, my loss. Just read all of it. Great work, great ideas, great family build. Loved it!

[RockTonka]

Originally Posted by justcuz

Just noticed the nice rocking chairs and your stand up heater in the shop. What type of ventilation do you have in the roof of the shop? That heater could cause you guys some trouble if not well vented. The board lost a fellow in San Diego County last year to carbon monoxide poisoning, stay safe guys! You contribute way to much to the board to have anything bad happen to you.

We're ventilated (and cautious)...thanks for looking out for us!

Originally Posted by earl84

Wow, just awesome work all around. I have been on this board for a couple years and never looked at this build, my loss. Just read all of it. Great work, great ideas, great family build. Loved it!

Thanks earl84! It means alot to us to hear that others enjoy what we're doing!!

[RockTonka]

Been gathering parts for a few weeks...my boy and I started swapping parts earlier this evening...gonna see how far we can get over the weekend!

[piratexpress1369a]

that loks like a busy weekend with a great return

[RockTonka]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

that loks like a busy weekend with a great return

More like a busy weekend with a poor return...

We swapped out the Pro Comp HEI dist (get what you pay for) in favor of a MSD dist/coil/box set-up chasing a dead #2 cylinder...it wasn't the ignition!

Dug a little deeper and found the problem...we think that it's been this way for a little while. Ran pretty good with no noise that we could recognize for longer than we care to admit!!! There may have or have not been a time (or two) that we over revved it goofing around
We're thinking that the 2" or so piece of broke off push rod found its way to the pan with out causing to much damage...nothing obvious visually, by ear, or gauges??
Gonna drop a couple new push rods and a rocker on tomorrow and see what happens

[jbclassix]

X2 on the Pro Comp distributors. Garbage.

[mud.man.rj]

Good old stock rocker arms, never use them, can't be trusted for abuse and I abuse everytime I drive. Looks like good pushrods, well were.

[piratexpress1369a]

ouch that sucks ..could thing you found it now without blowing a hole in the block

[RockTonka]

Originally Posted by jbclassix

X2 on the Pro Comp distributors. Garbage.

Yea, I've always been suspicious of them...this one, I guess, is alright. What we've got now is much better...good upgrade.

Originally Posted by mud.man.rj

Good old stock rocker arms, never use them, can't be trusted for abuse and I abuse everytime I drive. Looks like good pushrods, well were.

Well, we were going to just drop a new rocker and couple push rods in (went and picked everything up), but after thinking about it for a bit we decided to pull all the stock rockers off and upgrade to roller rockers and 3/8 push rods. Gonna chase those down tomorrow.

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

ouch that sucks ..could thing you found it now without blowing a hole in the block

Yea, got lucky (so far) with this little deal.

[mud.man.rj]

Let us know how the big block works out, hope all is well, sounds like it will be.

[Captainfab]

Good idea. I always upgrade to 3/8 pushrods on a performance big block.

[mud.man.rj]

All big blocks are 3/8's pushrods, just crappy ones, you upgrade to 7/16's rods. but takes some work.

[RockTonka]

Older BBC, yes...newer BBC will/may have 5/16 push rods. Our set-up is 049 heads on a Gen VI block, but ended up with 5/16 push rods.

Irregardless, we gonna make it better!! My son should be rounding up parts now...will post up later.

[mud.man.rj]

Oh I am used to an older big block, wow that is sad isn't it to use a 5/16, well at least a good quality 3/8's will be better. hope it works out alright for you. Love my big block, makes my day everytime I fire it.