'60 GMC Suburban (Project D-Daddy)

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by protrash64

Uhhh??? Time for bags???

I wish I had the money. Maybe I might have to this summer...

[Surfdaddy]

Air bags is what I though of also. How are you going to lower the front without the thing being on the stops. Also How'ed your V6 emblems stay so nice in all that rain?

[Corts60]

And now with the front end lowered:

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by Surfdaddy

Air bags is what I though of also. How are you going to lower the front without the thing being on the stops. Also How'ed your V6 emblems stay so nice in all that rain?

Well the front is torsion bars so I just backed those off about 10 turns each.

The emblems? Well...I guess I might have cheated with a little Blue Magic polish. But the truck was in eastern Oregon for 40 years and the weather over there is much, much nicer to vehicles than here.

[Surfdaddy]

I pick up the hub caps on Friday and then I'll see about plating the emblems. I had to buy ione from ebay as a spare since they may not be able to repair one of mine that I think may be too rusted. So, if you lower the front by 10 turns do you need heavier shocks to stop the front end from bouncing on a rough street or the freeway chop? The reason I'm asking is that I have'nt had this kind of front end before, and I would like to know what people do with them. My brother had a 62 chevy but we lifted it so it was very stiff.

[Corts60]

I'm probably about two inches off the bump stop right now in the front. My truck sat at about the same heighth, maybe a little higher and I never had any road chop or bottoming out issues. I hope to not have any with the suburban. We'll see I guess. My biggest worry right now is how to get the rear off the bump stops.

[KIC]

Great to see it running. Mine sat for 16 years, and 12 of those were without the spark plugs in. My brother started working on it one Saturday and pulled the plugs. Left the project and never put them back in.

Fast forward 12 years and I put some trans fluid and Marvel Mystery Oil in each cylinder. Let it sit a week, put it in gear and rocked it back and forth during the week, put in a battery and spun it over shooting out the oil and tranny fluid, a little gas in the carb and it fired up ! ( Ok it smoked like hell burning up the oil/tranny fluid)

Those V6's are awesome !

[Surfdaddy]

Cort, found the seat material but it's 89 bucks a yard. I think about 2 yards to do the seats. I'm trying to still track down the guy I used to work for who may still have a bolt in his company. I'll let you know if I find it cheaper

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Sweet looking burb..

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by Surfdaddy

Cort, found the seat material but it's 89 bucks a yard. I think about 2 yards to do the seats. I'm trying to still track down the guy I used to work for who may still have a bolt in his company. I'll let you know if I find it cheaper

That's great man...but sure is pricey. I think I promised my '78 new seats before I go spending that money on the burb. But I am still interested.

That's crazy that there is a roll of it laying around though. Great research!

[jonzcustomshop]

the jeep springs barley work on a fleet, pretty much any load compresses them to the stops, a sub is probably too much weight with all that steel and glass...
maybe try some coils out of a chevelle , or a 77-91 caprice, they might be softer than a truck spring

[Palf70Step]

Love the burb. Can't wait to see how this one grows.

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by jonzcustomshop

the jeep springs barley work on a fleet, pretty much any load compresses them to the stops, a sub is probably too much weight with all that steel and glass...
maybe try some coils out of a chevelle , or a 77-91 caprice, they might be softer than a truck spring

Will do! Got a question though: If you look on page two I think I have a pic of the old spring and new spring together. On the old spring there are two spacer/bracket things. Would something like that work on the jeep springs to keep them off the bumpstops? I am just trying to justify the $40 bucks I spent on them.

[jonzcustomshop]

I don't think so, looks like the jeep springs are too weak, might as well give it a try though.

had you thought about lowering blocks, those and shaved bump stops might get it down where you want it.

check out this thread, I think it is where I read about the chevelle springs....:
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...t=static+drops

[allaboutchevelles]

Hey guys, Im building a 64 C-10 fleetside shortbed truck. My truck is going to have a stock frame with no mods done. I do want to drop it down to sit level front to back so you dont have that big gap from top of the tire to fender. What the deal with the jeep coil springs for the rear?? Im not going to haul anything in my truck , going to have nice wood bed in it. I know I will have to buy some maybe 3 inch shorter srpings for the front but im not wanting to spend alot of money on this suspension. What are my choices from a junk yard??

[Palf70Step]

The Chevelle springs make sense to me. I used C10 springs to jack up (way up....hey it was the 70s) the rear of my chevelle, so using the Chevelle springs to lower makes sense. I do know they are an almost perfect replacement between the two.

[creep]

Cool 'burb Cort (and you won't even have to change your screen name)! I remember seeing spring spacers for Jeeps to give them a small lift, maybe 2". That might be a route to look into. I don't remember how much they cost though.

[Corts60]

Thanks for the info guys! I am actually going to contact the guy I bought the springs from. He said if they didn't work out, he had some other options to try from. I think one set might have been lift springs, which might put me right where I want to be. We'll see.

[kieth]

I bought air bags from airbagit, lots of folks diss them put I have had no trouble, I bought 4 8" bags for $160.00 40.00 per bag, the mounting brackets were $129.00 per set front and rear I used them for the rear only now, but one could fab your own brackets, I could draw them up and fax the brackets pattern to you in this way you would not spend too much , get a good ride and have control of the rear height. Kieth

918-446-2245 Tulsa, OK

[irish1966]

I just got thru reading your build. Looks deadly man!! We will have to get a meet together soon.

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by irish1966

I just got thru reading your build. Looks deadly man!! We will have to get a meet together soon.

Thanks! Yeah we definitely need a Portland area meet up. Maybe in the next couple weeks when I actually get my suburban on the road. And if we can find a day of sunshine.

[Corts60]

OK, I decided to drop off my gas tank at American Metal Cleaners here in town. I bought a 55-59 sending unit from a local classic supply shop and I matched it up with the OG unit. The bolt pattern and depth is the same but the float is 180 degrees from the OG; I think it is going to work just fine since there is nothing to interefere with the float/pick-up tube. I'll post some pics tomorrow hopefully.

I should get the tank back next week and then as soon as I get some replacement tail light sockets, I should be on the road. (Fingers crossed)

[Corts60]

OK, here are the pics. Notice the float and pick up tube are 180 out. The hose connection has to face the same way as the old sender because of the bolt pattern. There are actually two holes that are farther apart than the rest, so it can only be bolted up one way.

[Palf70Step]

Looks like someone did that in a mirror.

[wutnxt]

Hey it looks great ....You have a great build....I will be back to watch how you make out