53 Surburban "Family Truckster"

[oldman3]

Nice job on the seat...Jim

[lower50's]

No one other than all of us will ever see the difference. Nice.

[reaper71]

Simple fix to a big problem!
nice work Marc.

Mark...

[Advanced Design]

Hey Marc, good solution, well done!

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Nice job on the seat...Jim

Thanks Jim

Originally Posted by lower50's

No one other than all of us will ever see the difference. Nice.

Yeah, I knew I could trust you guys..ha ha

Originally Posted by reaper71

Simple fix to a big problem!
nice work Marc.

Mark...

Thanks Mark, I do think that it will help to fit it in there with the wider tubs.

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Hey Marc, good solution, well done!

Thanks Doug. I was glad it turned out. I was growing tired of staring at it...

Marc

[RockinKees]

Nice simple fix, no one will notice

[youngrodder]

I had a pretty cool truck weekend. It started on Saturday when I was convinced to go to a local car show at Gilmore Car Museum. It is a must stop if you ever find yourself going through Kalamazoo, MI. I started up a conversation with the guy with this nice AD truck. It was very well built. 675 hp out of an LS1 engine. It was in Street trucks earlier this year. Through our conversation I mentioned that I was looking for a rear suburban fender (which are very hard to come by especially in the rust belt) he mentioned a guy with all sorts of Ad parts that he was selling. He mentioned that I should not wait if it was something that I wanted as this guy is selling off stuff all the time. I called him 15 minutes later and arranged a time to meet Sunday. It was an 1:20 minute drive one way.

The first thing I saw was this 55 first series Suburban which was complete free of rust and rot and I felt the price was fair. Then as I walked around the place I kind of felt like the guy was a hoarder of AD parts...He had so many rare hard to find parts. I took pictures because words can describe....it was hard to focus on anything because everywhere I looked I saw something else.

He had (2) full suburban floors just sitting in the weeds like he grew them. The seat riser was in great shape. He had (2) complete sets of rear fenders and a few others stashed away. He had countless hoods and font fenders. I bought a rear passenger side fender (best one he had) as well as a rear splash pan complete with mounting brackets. He had a lot of 54 stuff like the blue 5 window cab.

On to the pics.

Marc

[youngrodder]

More.....

[DeeJayNOLA]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

More.....

Wow!!! My wallet and SWMBO would've been at odds if I'd found this gold mine. Folks keep tellin me there's a place here (Louisiana) that's like this but I've yet to find it...

[youngrodder]

Well, I'm still alive and so is my project.

Youth football ended last Saturday. I couched my sons 3-4 grade team. We won our last game and the kids had a blast. It was a nail bitter 12-7. I have just a little bit of yard clean up and then I should have even more garage time. Porterbuilt completed the front core support bracket. I mounted it up. I like the simplicity of PB designs. On Friday I will receive my PB steering shaft bracket and carrier barring. Tonight I ordered up my (3) universal joints and steering shaft. To clear my headers I need to go with a 2 piece sheering shaft. I already purchased an Ididit column so I should have steering figured out.


Marc

[oldman3]

Nice find on all the parts, as the old saying goes "right place and the right time"...Jim

[Advanced Design]

That is a great parts find and it looks like he has parts organized in the racks. Guessing that was a fun trip!

And a rock solid Burb right in Michigan. Did he mention where it came from?

Hope he doesn't leave the seat risers out in the weeds.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Nice find on all the parts, as the old saying goes "right place and the right time"...Jim

That's right Jim....

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

That is a great parts find and it looks like he has parts organized in the racks. Guessing that was a fun trip!

And a rock solid Burb right in Michigan. Did he mention where it came from?

Hope he doesn't leave the seat risers out in the weeds.

The Suburban came form Utah. He probably will...He did have a front flip seat and driver seat frame outside. He also had a rear spare tire carrier sitting in the dirt. He had (3) spare tire mounts from trucks in a stack outside. I kept pointing out you know how much those are worth...

Marc

[lower50's]

Wow looks like a gold mine. They even look well organized.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by lower50's

Wow looks like a gold mine. They even look well organized.

Yes and no....I didn't take any pics of the disorganized stuff, but there was plenty. It was all good stuff though.

Marc

[youngrodder]

One other Suburban related item I'm working on is the PB core support mount. This will have a mounting plate/bracket at some point. We are working to figure out the placement of the mounting plate. I kept my original front frame section so I need to double check the placement of the core support on that piece and see how it corresponds with the PB part.

Other than this the only remaining items in development is the front sway bar (the tabs are already welded on the lower control arms as well as a steering linkage mount bracket because I will need to go with a 2 piece steering shaft to clear the headers...

Thanks
Marc

[Advanced Design]

Nate should give you a T shirt...ADVANCED DESIGN TRUCK PORTERBUILT DEVELOPMENT TEAM....with a pic of your Burb on it. Better yet...a jacket.

I would guess trial fitting your front end pieces to the core support...helping situate the up / down and fore / aft....would be part of the checking too?

Anyway, sounds fun.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nate should give you a T shirt...ADVANCED DESIGN TRUCK PORTERBUILT DEVELOPMENT TEAM....with a pic of your Burb on it. Better yet...a jacket.

I would guess trial fitting your front end pieces to the core support...helping situate the up / down and fore / aft....would be part of the checking too?

Anyway, sounds fun.

Yes not shown in the picture but I mounted up the front fenders. I still have the factory frame rails to check the position of the PB core support to the original one.

Nate, is a good dude. I find it fun to collaborate on figuring this out. Some of these wrinkles that have to be full figured out is why you don't see these kits listed on the PB web site yet.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Good to see you back on the Burb Marc. The core support is very trick. PB has good looking parts!

[oldman3]

That's a sweet looking bracket...Jim

[RockinKees]

Looking good Mark!!

Looking forward to more build pics in your football off-season

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by RockinKees

Looking good Mark!!

Looking forward to more build pics in your football off-season

You and me both. I did get 90% of the steering column and shaft mocked up/figured out. I'm waiting on one more universal joint to complete the install.

I will get some pics this weekend.

Marc

[youngrodder]

Tonight I worked on finalizing my steering column mount. I couldn't totally complete it as I'm waiting on a universal joint and a drop column mount. I also threw the front grill on to see how it fit now that the core support is attached. The Porterbuilt carrier barring bracket worked slick.

I also started trying to figure out how I can run 22" wheels out back. The challenge with Suburban's is how the rear fenders attached to the body. It limits you on how much you can cut out of the rear body structure. I have an idea how I might make it work. I also started to figure out how much I need to narrow my rear end in order to run a decent offset on the rear rims.

It felt good to get back on it. Oh, I have also been dying to see how my Impala wheel looked. I stole this wheel (fugitively speaking) a few years earlier at a local swap meet. I like how it looks. I also mounted the floor steering column mount.

A couple other pictures of the Suburban laid out. The rear bumper is only about 1.25" off the ground.

That's all for now.

Thanks
Marc

[youngrodder]

More pics

[Advanced Design]

That lays right down Marc...looking good.

How close is the steering wheel to the seat? In the picture it looks very close.