My suburban's Twisted Little Sister

[65sub]

Originally Posted by ibrown50

Dale, that looks great, love it already, I wish I had a barn like your's

Thanks Ian. A barn full of parts just means more projects to finish

Originally Posted by lower50's

Ohhhhh yaaaaaa!!!!

Thanks Lower.

Originally Posted by JJorgensen52

I like! Getting a real strong C2 Corvette vibe from that.

Thanks JJ. I really do like early 'vettes so maybe that helped with inspiration.


We continued cutting on the hood so now the center will be hood the sides will be welded to the fenders and the front will be part of the grille surround

[62stepside longbox]

Looking good Dale, I like the corvette vibe. Now with the lights in the hood what are you going to do with the space where they were originally mounted? Some sort of custom grille?

[mjh1965]

Great work as usual Dale . Nice to see the 67 looking like a truck again.
I like your hand control picture as I am always interested in seeing different types from different countries. As you know I fit them for a living .
Can't wait to see the sub build finished . amazing work

[65sub]

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Looking good Dale, I like the corvette vibe. Now with the lights in the hood what are you going to do with the space where they were originally mounted? Some sort of custom grille?

Thanks Nik. We plan to make a completely new grille opening and put turn signals where the headlights used to be.

Originally Posted by mjh1965

Great work as usual Dale . Nice to see the 67 looking like a truck again.
I like your hand control picture as I am always interested in seeing different types from different countries. As you know I fit them for a living .
Can't wait to see the sub build finished . amazing work

Thanks Martin. Any time you want to talk hand controls I'm interested. I use several different designs and have something unique planned for this truck


We decided we should stiffen the edges of the new panels so we used a hood brace and cut it in half . Then we clamped it to the top of the new fender and tacked it on

[65sub]

The front fenders we were using are really beat up so we decided to get some repo fenders that arrived this week. They look pretty good but the grille surround piece is installed wrong but that shouldn't be a problem. We also made a piece to reinforce the back edge of the new grille surround.

[65sub]

Finally after a long time welding we have the rear gate all in one piece again. So we hung it back on the truck.

[piratexpress1369a]

Cool ... Looking awesome

[rusty76]

Like what I see.

[Palf70Step]

Very nice work. I so enjoy watching the metal work you guys are doing with this one!

[lower50's]

That is totally awsome!! It will quickly become a pass time watching people look at your burb trying to figure out all you have done.

[65sub]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

Cool ... Looking awesome

Thanks Pirate

Originally Posted by rusty76

Like what I see.

Thanks Rusty

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Very nice work. I so enjoy watching the metal work you guys are doing with this one!

Thanks Bill. We really are having a lot of fun chopping this truck up and welding it back together.

Originally Posted by lower50's

That is totally awsome!! It will quickly become a pass time watching people look at your burb trying to figure out all you have done.

Thanks Lower. I think it might make a few people scratch their heads.



To start mounting the front sheetmetal we need to finish the front of the frame. The first part we need is to mount the front sway bar. Then we'll build the frame to fit. Here's the start of the brackets for the lower control arms and the start of the links.

[65sub]

We finished making the lower control arm sway bar brackets and found that moving the sway bar mount forward to clear the shockwaves puts the ends of the bar into the tires when they are turned. So I'll have to look for a shorter bar. We also made some progress on the modified rear bumper.

[Advanced Design]

Very nice work on the bumper modification. What did you use to make the cuts? They look very straight.

[62stepside longbox]

Awesome work on the bumper Dale, really unique touch.

[Grizz1963]

Continue to be amazed and have a silly grin on my face Dale.

Bumper looking great too.

Carry on.

[343CA]

Dale the work you have done to the Burb is amazing. I thought putting a truck roof was difficult on my Suburban and you have gone and changed most of the panels in some way.

[65sub]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Very nice work on the bumper modification. What did you use to make the cuts? They look very straight.

Thanks Doug. We used a 3" cut off wheel in a angle die grinder.

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Awesome work on the bumper Dale, really unique touch.

Thanks Nik. We had to do something to it just for fun.

Originally Posted by Grizz1963

Continue to be amazed and have a silly grin on my face Dale.

Bumper looking great too.

Carry on.

Thanks Rain. We work hard to keep you smiling.

Originally Posted by 343CA

Dale the work you have done to the Burb is amazing. I thought putting a truck roof was difficult on my Suburban and you have gone and changed most of the panels in some way.

Thanks 343. We're just out in the shop having some fun. It's very therapeutic.


While we're waiting for a different sway bar to arrive we decided to continue with the front of the frame. We tacked some pieces together and set them in position. We'll make the other side and TIG weld them tomorrow. We also finished off the welding on the bumper.

[62stepside longbox]

Nice work as usual Dale, are you planning on getting the bumper chromed or just painting it?

[lower50's]

Bumper turned out nice. Is the front frame sitting at ride hight?

[65sub]

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Nice work as usual Dale, are you planning on getting the bumper chromed or just painting it?

Thanks Nik. We're going to paint the bumper but I don't know what color yet. It would be a lot of work to get this one smooth enough for chrome. It has a lot of rust pits and small dings.

Originally Posted by lower50's

Bumper turned out nice. Is the front frame sitting at ride hight?

Thanks Lower. The frame is lowered now. I'll have 2" under the front of the frame and 1" under the center. The bumper may come down below the 2". I want the truck at least somewhat driveable if the airbags go flat.



We got the second front frame section built and TIG welded them both. We'll have to get them square and parallel to each other and then weld them to the frame. We also dug out a rad saddle that has the usual rust in the bottom corners.

[65sub]

We cut out the rusty corners and then bent up some patches to weld in. We did weld all the pieces together but I didn't take any pictures. After we finished the repairs to the rad cradle we bolted the new fenders, grille surround and rad cradle together. the repo fenders of course don't line up very well. we'll fix that next time it's apart.

[65sub]

The new frame doesn't line up with the notches in the bottom of the grille surround. So we cut out an offset section around each notch then switched them side to side and tacked them in place. We set them back on the frame and they line up great.

[62stepside longbox]

Nice work on the grille support frame cutouts Dale, is the plan to weld the old frame horns to the new frame rails?

[pimpston65]

Originally Posted by 65sub

The new frame doesn't line up with the notches in the bottom of the grille surround. So we cut out an offset section around each notch then switched them side to side and tacked them in place. We set them back on the frame and they line up great.

chop,cut, rebuild!!!

[65sub]

Originally Posted by 62stepside longbox

Nice work on the grille support frame cutouts Dale, is the plan to weld the old frame horns to the new frame rails?

Thanks Nik. The bumper is going to be modified a little bit so original frame horns won't fit. We'll just make up something to fit when we get that far.

Originally Posted by pimpston65

chop,cut, rebuild!!!

Hi Pimpston Seems like we're always cutting up something.




We got some of the welding done on the grille surround. We also cut another front section off of a hood and cut a section of the brace and welded them together.