1972 C20 build and adventure thread

[FLYNAVY30]

So as it turns out, life happens.....

In February of last year, we put down a deposit on a litter of German Shepherd pups to be born mid July. As it goes, we found out the next week, that my wife was pregnant. Making the incorrect assumption that chaos is like terminal velocity, and at some point, will stabilize at "terminal chaos", we kept our deposit and decided to roll the dice with a baby and a puppy at the same time. A year later, I can confidently say it was the best decision I would never make again...

I did however finally get my Corvette put together, and road tripped across the country to Austin in preparation for our impending move this summer.

[FLYNAVY30]

So with the Corvette safely in the garage in Austin, it was time to pull the old Suburban out of storage, and get it sorted for the trek across the country.

There were multiple issues that needed to be addressed:

- new front brakes as it sounded like a city bus
- proper PCV system
- ignition upgrade and tune

First up was new pads and rotors....pretty straight forward. I also put an additional hole in the brake pedal about half way between the factory manual and power brake holes....this provided the perfect balance of pedal travel, effort, and firmness for my set up.

[FLYNAVY30]

Next up was the PCV system. I had never properly configured the LS motor and it was starting to show with significant blow by, resulting in a lot of oil consumption, and terrible smelling exhaust.

I used a stock valley pan with integrated PCV, and a Radium engineering catch can. The mounting and line routing isn't my favorite, but for the time being it just needs to be functional and serviceable.

The fresh air side draws air into each valve cover from the intake, and the dirty side pulls air from the crank case, through the catch can, and into the vacuum port on the Holley throttle body. The truck now runs better and you dont stink after going for a drive.

[FLYNAVY30]

catch can

[FLYNAVY30]

During the tuning process, we realized that I was having a lot of issues with the truck breaking up and back firing at part throttle around town. The initial suspicion was that my cobbled together ignition system was the cause. The coils and harness were all used ebay purchases from when I initially built the truck.

In order to completely eliminate the ignition system as the cause, and to make it more serviceable, I replaced the valve covers with the Holley units that mount the coils right on the motor, then used factory plugs, wires, and heat shields along with the Holley coil harness.

Its not particularly pretty, but again, its functional and serviceable. At some point, this motor is going to be pulled out when I do the 4wd conversion, and which point Ill completely re-do the wiring harness as well as all of the plumbing in an effort to clean up the looks but for now, its running better than it ever has and we're ready for the move to Texas next week!

[MySons68C20]

Clean & neat just like I like it! I think it looks great.
Great job!

[FLYNAVY30]

Thanks, everything is tidy, and readily serviceable, but in the interest of time, I had to use the off the shelf Holley harness which is a bit bulky. Going forward, Id like to build my own, clean up the rest of the wiring, and find a better mounting solution for the catch can in order to cut down on the vacuum tubes running everywhere.

It does run significantly better and cleaner now that the crank case is seeing the correct amount of vacuum and the ignition system is producing clean and consistent spark.

[Beach-Burban]

Originally Posted by FLYNAVY30

So as it turns out, life happens.....

In February of last year, we put down a deposit on a litter of German Shepherd pups to be born mid July. As it goes, we found out the next week, that my wife was pregnant. Making the incorrect assumption that chaos is like terminal velocity, and at some point, will stabilize at "terminal chaos", we kept our deposit and decided to roll the dice with a baby and a puppy at the same time. A year later, I can confidently say it was the best decision I would never make again...

I did however finally get my Corvette put together, and road tripped across the country to Austin in preparation for our impending move this summer.

Congratulations on the TWO new arrivals Greg...and I'm happy you are continuing your "Adventure" thread!

Personally, I haven't had anything to report on for awhile (Beach-Burban is a naked shell right now as I'm setting up appointments to find out how much my "Resto" is going to set me back), but I continue to drive it almost daily with my old mid-eighties bench seat reinstalled!

Keep filling those seats (with kids or puppies) and pretty soon you'll be looking for a "Third-Row" to install!!!

Woody

[FLYNAVY30]

This update is kind of a photo bomb of my cross country move from Norfolk to Austin. I spent the first night at a friends cabin along the Blue Ridge parkway, followed by a night in Memphis and then the push on to TX. Now that we've been here for 6 weeks, and gotten partially settled, Ive been driving the Suburban to work daily, and look forward to this weekend's festivities at the Austin Speed Shop followed by the Distinguished Gentleman's Drive on September 26th. More updates to follow!

[FLYNAVY30]

Memphis TN

[FLYNAVY30]

Finally back in Texas!

[FLYNAVY30]

Its going to take a while to get the new shop dialed in, but I'm very excited about how much space I have, and the A/C!!!! I've already started painting, and I have new rolling workbenches on order.

[HO455]

I'm so jealous, the trip and your new digs!

[LockDoc]

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Congratulations! Looks good. Bet you can't wait to get it all set up!

LockDoc

[FLYNAVY30]

Definitely! Its hard to tell in that photo, but the Corvette will actually be moved to the left and that long double spot will be for the Suburban. The shop area will be where everything is piled on the floor, and where I'm standing is a recessed area that will get floor to ceiling storage cabinets.

The brown stained concrete floors will stay for now, and I'm painting the walls and pilars a light grey. I need to get an electrician in there because as you can see, there are no light fixtures at all with the exception of the garage door opener. I'm also going to have 220V installed for an air compressor and welding equipment in the future.

[FLYNAVY30]

So time flys with small kids.... but I did finally get the shop more or less finished.

[FLYNAVY30]

Now I've been splitting my daily commute between the Suburban and my 2002 4Runner for the past year, so I havent done a whole lot of tinkering on the truck, but I did Start on my interior refresh with some front seats....

They are Cobra LeMans seats with trimmed seat base bolstered upholstered in Caspian Blue vinyl with the original insert fabric my truck came with that I found through SMS auto fabrics. I have them mounted on a Corbeau seat mount that I will eventually cut down another inch or two as it raised the seating height too much for me. I'm also working on a center console that will mount to the bracket between the seats and house a Marshall bluetooth speaker like you see some of the Land Rover Defender guys do, as well as switches for what will eventually be power windows.

I have a second set of the same seats on order that will replace the 2nd row bench, and I'm on the hunt for a 3rd row bench that will be upholstered to match.

[FLYNAVY30]

Outside of that, the truck is getting driven a ton, and used like an old truck should. I have a laundry list of minor things I want to do once I get my Corvette 100% complete, which is my big project for the summer after I retire at the end of the month.

[FLYNAVY30]

Oh yea, we added another member to the crew along the way....

[LockDoc]

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Wow! You have been busy. Looks more like a living room than a shop.... j/k

I will see if I can get the pictures flipped for you. It may take me a day or 2.

LockDoc

[BAD1916]

That shop is rad. Congrats on the beautiful family

[FLYNAVY30]

Originally Posted by LockDoc

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Wow! You have been busy. Looks more like a living room than a shop.... j/k

LockDoc

That was actually by design.... The tool box with all the stickers on it is filled with the kids toys and books. Most weekends I can eeek out an extra hour or two of wrenching time just by letting the kids play in the garage to give mom a break. My son has already taken an interest in the "Blooo Twuck" and very much enjoys getting in the way while I work.

[CG]

In my mind one of the great thing about Burbs is you can get away with the higher back seats because they dont stick out like in a pick up. Plus the way you had them upholstered makes em look even better. You have a very good eye for vehicle styling.

Side note ... Are you retired Navy now since you're living in Texas? My nephew just came home from a 9 month cruise. He's a nuke guy on the George HW Bush.

[FLYNAVY30]

Thanks! Retire at the end of the month...."flew" as desk at the reserve center on Camp Mabry for the last 2 years because we bought a house here in 2017 and knew we were coming here after retirement.

[Beach-Burban]

Thanks for continuing to include us in your adventures, Greg...everything's looking great as you move closer to retirement!

My wife just retired, and the next day we left on a driving trip to Tennessee...just got back yesterday after 45 days on the road (8,385 miles round trip)! If I had been able to take the Beach Burban, I would have chronicled our trip for all to see...but I will be putting out some pictures I took on the way home at the C/10 Nationals in Fort Worth! Spent extra time driving through Texas (as part of our return home plan...and because it's so darn big!) and we really enjoyed this beautiful state you chose as home!

Your garage/shop is incredible...a lot of people are drooling over your pictures! Hope you find a good candidate for your 3rd row bench!

Woody