48 Burb, bagged, 5.3, 20 year wait

[Advanced Design]

The Advanced Design trucks have been my favorite since learning to drive in one as a teen on the farm. Twenty years ago we started looking for a AD Suburban to build....remember thumbing through auto traders, Hemmings, getting fuzzy polaroid pictures in the mail of potential projects? Went through all that, drove hours to look at rusty projects that were supposed to be nice and then along came Ebay....Bought this one in Texas ten years ago and stored it the shop until we could get to it. Life, other projects, raising the kids all tended to take up available time and budget. Decided it was time to pull it up front to get started.

[Advanced Design]

Someone painted the Burb purple and did some interior work at some point. Still has the first row and second row seats.

[Advanced Design]

Apologies for the fuzzy picture....lifted the Burb for the first good look around underneath. Looks solid with just a bit of rust through where the right toe board and outer panel come together. And may find more though overall we are pretty happy.

[Advanced Design]

The 5.3 and 4L60E comes from a rolled 2004 Sierra I found on Craigslist (another great car support invention). Bought a finished chassis from Trick Trucks and Rods. The owner Tom does nice work, in this case taking an original chassis, adding a bagged Heidts up front and a parallel four link rear with a 9 inch.

Since, like many folks, I work a lot of hours, usually I only have Saturdays in the shop. Progress is often slow. Goals for this year are to swap the body over to the new chassis and install the powertrain while we finish up the 35 Chevy coupe.

The talented folks participating here motivated me to get a jump on the Suburban....after waiting 20 years didn't want to wait anymore...so thank you!

[youngrodder]

Nice looking Suburban. I'm intrested where you are going to take this one.

Good luck
Marc

[LEEVON]

Nice project. I remember the classified ad searches very well, bought my first truck in '94 (the one in my avatar). We would cruise the Sunday paper, make a dozen phone calls, follow one lead, drive to BFE, and usually strike out! It was the most fun Dad and I ever had though!

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Nice looking Suburban. I'm intrested where you are going to take this one.

Good luck
Marc

Thanks Marc! Heading toward a version of this truck I put together a few years ago are our initial thoughts.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by LEEVON

Nice project. I remember the classified ad searches very well, bought my first truck in '94 (the one in my avatar). We would cruise the Sunday paper, make a dozen phone calls, follow one lead, drive to BFE, and usually strike out! It was the most fun Dad and I ever had though!

Thanks Leevon - a lot of the fun is in the hunt.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Thanks Marc! Heading toward a version of this truck I put together a few years ago are our initial thoughts.

I like the plan. That is simular to the plan I have for my 53 Suburban that I'm currently working on.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Marc- Your Suburban build is one that motivated me to get started even though the previous project we are on isn't finished yet....and your truck is incredibly nice!

[69CST-V]

Subscribed....

[STOCKISH]

Super nice start man, can't wait for more progress!

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Marc- Your Suburban build is one that motivated me to get started even though the previous project we are on isn't finished yet....and your truck is incredibly nice!

Thanks AD...Let me know if you need help sourcing any parts. I found out that Suburbans can be difficult. I noticed that yours was converted to solid rear side windows. That SS trim with the pull handle can be difficult to locate if you want to convert them back to sliding windows. Other than that, yours looks pretty complete.

I will be showing some progress soon. I will be welding in my floor pans...

Marc

[Iceburgh]

I will be keeping an eye on this.
I am in the process of doing the same.
Like Marc said...building the Burb is MUCH more difficult then the truck was due to hard to find parts.
I was laying in bed the other night thinking how much harder it would be to build what we want without the internet....good on the guys who did it 20+ years ago

[Advanced Design]

Marc - I could take you up on that, thanks! Am planning fixed windows.

Iceburgh - Your Burb build also motivated me to get started! The internet has made it easier to find parts and share information to the benefit of this hobby / business.

....looking forward to Saturday and more time in the shop. I do have a good partner in this build as in many previous ones. We had four flat tires to fix to move the Suburban to the front of the shop.

[48ChevBagged]

I will be following along. Looks like you have a nice suburban to start with. Love seeing another one being brought back to life.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by STOCKISH

Super nice start man, can't wait for more progress!

Thanks Stockish, plan to make some progress tomorrow....and there is always the "honey do" list...mower repair, yard work, grandsons....so will see!

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by 48ChevBagged

I will be following along. Looks like you have a nice suburban to start with. Love seeing another one being brought back to life.

Very cool 48ChevBagged and thanks! Your bare steel one is awesome....and the one that I almost bought in PCB about 3 years ago. Didn't try hard enough since I had this one stashed away waiting. Appreciated your LS swap too!

[Advanced Design]

Only a little time in the shop Saturday. Pulled the front fenders and found some rust through....not too bad.

[youngrodder]

Not bad at all. This area was really rusted out on mine.
Nice progress.

Marc

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Thanks Marc! Heading toward a version of this truck I put together a few years ago are our initial thoughts.

I dont know what IT is, but that truck has IT.

[Advanced Design]

Thanks Joedoh - Bought the truck in pieces from many sources then had a long week end build with a bunch of buddies. Truck was really solid....did bagged suspension, four link, metal finished fenders and basically went from a pile of parts to an assembled pile of parts in that week end. We had a lot of fun with that.

[Coach529]

Looking forward to the build!!!

Subscribed!!

[_Ogre]

nice find. like the air police graphics
some of those government/military trucks can be real finds as they rarely left the base.

you've already posted a pic of your help doing more than my help ever did on truk
my wife is great for house remodeling but never lifted a finger on truk
i'm a little envious...



if your not doing a 100 point restoration, those suburban seats can be worth some serious coin on ebay

[Advanced Design]

Thanks Ogre, we like the air police graphic too and really wish the Burb hadn't been painted purple at some point.

The wife has helped me with all the projects over the years back to when we were dating and I am very fortunate.....she is really good with bending lines and wiring. Heck of a cook too making it harder for me to get under the dash.

Yes, those original seats probably do have some good value and they may end up on Ebay.....just dislike the hassle of selling and we haven't decided on seats yet.