1965 Suburban Resto-Rebuild

[hemifalcon]

You aren't kidding... If I hadn't gotten the compressor with some real air capacity--this wouldn't have happened... Long way to go... Gotta keep steppin though.. One thing I'm considering is trying to find someone parting out a penal or sub as I want to put 3 more of the roof "trusses" in to further reduce the flex and oil-can nature of the roof.. Just gotta find them

[LT1 Burb]

Mine oil cans but only above 80 MPH and only if I have the windows down.

[kikkegek]

clear coat it! will look killer!

[hemifalcon]

Not for any reason aside from luck-my garage stays quite dry in the winter and the garage doors remain closed with a small radiant heater--65 degrees is the norm.
I will leave the prime step until I'm happy with the roof. A good friend came over and borrowed some of his home made slapped which allowed me to almost eradicate the dips on the back if the roof..
I opted to use USC All-Metal filler in some spots where lead is not going to be best. Speaking of lead-I leaded the lower seams below the windshield as I don't want to use the soft seam sealer in those spots..
..came out pretty good..

[hemifalcon]

...spent some time in my ever shrinking (so it seems) garage with the burb today.. I've fussed around with some dents at the very rear of the roof where it seems someone may have set something on top--or it was just like that from the factory.. I was able to tap forward on the roof lip flange and the low spots popped up really easily.. Looking like a very very very little bit of filler ill make everything super smooth.
With he idea of getting the top in primer, I decided to get the interior side of the roof cleaned up. Let me tell you--I really hate removing old insulation and asphalt-rubber under coatings. What a frickin pain and mess.
Well- the plan is to get as much of the dirty off of the bottom of the burb, and get it coated. I don't want to be throwing farm dust and dirt debris all around after I spray primer. Some paint/sanding dust I can handle--but the dirt an crap seems to linger in the air for day..
Just curious--you guys use anything which works particularly well chemical-wise for removing the old undercoatings?
Anyway-here are the pics from today as I also finally removed the rear barn doors. (thinking still about removing the floor so that I can put down some new rubber matting on the plywood...Anyone else done this??)



The rest of the pics are in my album..

[piratexpress1369a]

did you check out that link i sent you for the gas shocks

[hemifalcon]

Pirate.. Yeah buddy--I checked it out.. I have the original pieces measured and will likely use the gas shocks when it all goes back together.. Thank you..

[hemifalcon]

So--yesterday I finally ventured down to the newly opened Harbor Freight only about 15 minutes away and picked up the mini-needle scaler.. And the pneumatic scraper.. I figured for the price charged for the tools, they would be well worth their cost if they worked and lasted to the end of this job..
well--I am VERY pleased with the performance of both.. Just a breeze using both tools in removal of the rubber undercoating material from the firewall area. The needle scaler is awesome.. Here's the results prior to sanding.. I will spend quite a bit of time working on the underside to get the undercoating from the bottom of the body... Gotta do it..









On all the irregular surfaces the scaler was very easy and user friendly.

[McMurphy]

That needle scaler is good for getting gunk out of hard to get into nooks and crannies too !

[piratexpress1369a]

hemifalcon does your barn doors open from the inside? my 63 does not but i was thinking about a way to be open the door from the inside ..what are your thoughs?

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

hemifalcon does your barn doors open from the inside? my 63 does not but i was thinking about a way to be open the door from the inside ..what are your thoughs?

Pirate:
No they don't. The door handle/button on the outside needs to release the passenger door first, then the latch for the driver's side door can be opened with its own release.

[hemifalcon]

So--after working 12 days straight--I finally got back under the burb today. I spent about 2 hours needle-scaling and scraping undercoating and the burb. I have a long way to go--


pass side mostly done



center view showing untouched drivers bottom.

[bj383ss]

About to be doing the same thing. I will have to pickup one of those scalers.

Bret

[hemifalcon]

Here we go a little deeper--I yanked the rear floor section out tonight. I'm almost done with removing all the undercoating and I think the wheel wells will be the biggest pain as it's really thick and stuck on pretty good. Oh well--just letting the air scaler do it's job. I only ended up breaking two bolts during removal of the rear floor--but decided to finally do it. I will now have to wrestle with the idea of installing a "truck-style" rear floor--or if I'll do the plywood again. If I do the plywood--I'll have to source similar style rubber coating--shouldn't be too difficult. Or--maybe carpet?? Likely rubber.. ORRRRRR--maybe put some nice stainless runners atop the plywood or a raised protective surface?? I dunno--we shall see. Either way-having the floor out makes clean up very easy..

Here are the pics--
someone really hammered the hell out of the inner parts of the wheel houses.. I don't know why--




you can see the two halves of plywood-measured out at 5/8" thick. The rubber top almost seems like it had a layer of asphalt between it and the wood--it does NOT peel off.


rear lip detail.

[piratexpress1369a]

are you going to put new plywood in or go steel floor ...i have the wood floor in mine but not sure what i was going to do with it

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

are you going to put new plywood in or go steel floor ...i have the wood floor in mine but not sure what i was going to do with it

Tossing ideas around for a little bit. Besides--every time I think I have this thing figured out and the "next step" planned--something else comes up. After wrapping up all my undercoating I think I will paint the interior. Then--put the floor back in. When that time comes I will hopefully have a plan figured out on what I want to do with it. Floor will definitely be wood--not sure what route I'm going to take yet.

[piratexpress1369a]

i understand that ..no matter which way you go it will work out the best

[hemifalcon]

Happy New Year guys and ladies..

SO--here's what happens when you spend 2-3 hours removing undercoating.. One more wheel well to go and I can get some paint on the underside. I opted to buy the 3M Schutz undercoating--so that will be going on in the next week or two (can't wait to make THAT mess..)







I knocked the dents out of the passenger wheel well--and found some rust on the rear edge of the inner flange.. I'll now have to fix that.. My girlfriend also put a hammer and dolly in her hand for the first time.

[Modges'66]

Wow!
Glad that I am done with that stuff!
Nice job, I love those 'burbs! I had one in high-school!

[piratexpress1369a]

wow that is really clean ..yes mine were that clean lol..nice job

[hemifalcon]

Okay... Before I give up on the idea of the truck-bed style of floor--I need to give it a shot..
If anyone has some shortbed or longbed bed strips--I would like to buy them. They don't have to be pretty--just solid and straight.. I'll worry about pretty ones later.
pm me if you have any that you're wanting to part with..
If so--Quote me also on a price for shipping to 60002!

[TJ's Chevy]

Yeah I know exactly what it is like to have your face dusted over. lol! Nice work so far!

[hemifalcon]

Finally did a little work on some small stuff on the burb. I cleaned up all the rubber roof gasket which goes between the roof supports and roof skin.. They had black spray paint and gunk on them from a previous owners wise idea of using a rattle can recklessly..

Then-started assembling the slider windows.. I had purchased a different set from forum user that had been half-ass repaired--so I re-did them again.. I had them powdercoated black and they kept staring at me.. So-I cleaned up the glass panels and started the job.. Only thing I'm thinking is to buy the better exterior seals from Steel Rubber. Damn they're expensive.. So--here are some photos.. (not really fun stuff..)



Those are standard 9/16" Arrow staples which were re-shaped and pushed through the fuzzy's.. Squished in and folded over. Worked pretty danged well.





The angled end of he fuzz was fixed-they were tweaked from shipping.



Glass slides very nicely with a good tight fit. NO more silicon crap to hold it together.





I found a guy on the auction site who sold me a single slider latch for $70/shipped.. Hoping to get it later this week--supposedly just has scratch on it--but I figure I can re-finish it and use the lift portion for my latch.

[Low Elco]

Great work on a cleeeeean truck!

[hemifalcon]

Okay..
One small but PITA hurdle jumped.. Between lots of little other projects--I finally got this done. I also finally got my metal bed slats from California for mockup of the rear wooden floor..
Here's the shiny black paint with silicon rubber at all the seams spread in..





And...here it is with the 3M Schutz sprayed on.. I am very happy with how this turned out. The instructions for the stuff said to spray between 40-60psi--I liked it best at 45psi and it sprayed on very nicely.. I like the texture and appearance. Took a full gallon to cover the bottom--and I could have gone with another 1/2 gallon to make it nice and thick--but I'm not unpleased.. Nice stuff..