1971 4x4 Suburban Project - the 'Family Adventure Wagon'

[HO455]

Looks like a couple of future hot rodders in the making.

[allchevy58]

Nice looking Suburban, like what you've done to it. Maybe we'll see you around town.

[ManNamedJed]

Originally Posted by allchevy58

Nice looking Suburban, like what you've done to it. Maybe we'll see you around town.

Thanks. Cool to see there are several Reno area members here!

[ManNamedJed]

Added some slip on seat covers today. My seats are actually very nice and the front has been reupholstered by the previous owner. But I've got kids and a dog, so I wanted to protect the seats.

I would have loved to find some that resembled the 'highlander' plaid, but didn't find anything. So I decided to go with traditional horse blanket. They certainly look period correct. Reviews for the $40 ones on Amazon weren't encouraging, so I got these from FIA out of Canada. I'm pretty happy with them. They are certainly heavy duty.

My back / middle seat is from a 74ish suburban so it is a 70/30 split. Good luck finding anything to fit that. However I realized I'll usually have the small seat folded up, so I got a small bench seat cover like for an old toyota and it did pretty good for the long section, just a bit long.

[ManNamedJed]

Still struggling with my vibration. Put it up on stands today and found this. Driveshaft has some up and down motion. Not sure if it is the shaft or the axle. Axle was used, driveshaft got shortened when it was all installed.

Emailed the company that shortened the shaft and will see what they say.

Can't figure out how to embed the video, but here is a link:
https://youtu.be/hykrsMDBKdg

[ManNamedJed]

Longer version, in case anyone is that bored....

https://youtu.be/IF4LGGbXGSE

[LockDoc]

-
Looks like the whole assembly is moving in and out of the third member. I wonder if it is the bearing that is bad. That would also let the shaft move up and down.... Dunno' I will look at it again

LockDoc

[ManNamedJed]

Got my driveshaft rebalanced. I noticed when I brought it back in that it had one weight on one end. Now it has two weights on one end and a weight on the other end.

My vibration is still there, but significantly reduced. What remains could be a bit of tire vibes or due to pinion angle. Its good enough I feel okay driving it.

Also scored a serpentine belt kit at Summits scratch and dent pile. Was $987, got it for $380.

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by ManNamedJed

Got my driveshaft rebalanced. I noticed when I brought it back in that it had one weight on one end. Now it has two weights on one end and a weight on the other end.

My vibration is still there, but significantly reduced. What remains could be a bit of tire vibes or due to pinion angle. Its good enough I feel okay driving it.

Also scored a serpentine belt kit at Summits scratch and dent pile. Was $987, got it for $380.

Glad you got part of it resolved anyway. That is a steal on the serp setup. Was there something missing?

LockDoc

[ManNamedJed]

Still chasing a vibration!

Found one rear tire had a bit of a bounce, and decided the hub was a touch loose. Tightened and and no change.

Took it to the place where I had the driveshaft shortened and took him for a ride. The best he could come up with was that the transfer case output seemed a bit sloppy. So I'm going to do a fluid change and replace the output bearing and seal. Not very optimistic that is the issue.

[ManNamedJed]

Decided to take a break from chasing the vibes and do some simpler projects.

My headlights have been a bit flaky, so I decide I might as well upgrade them.

I did some research here and liked the H4 and relay upgrades some guys do so I decided to take that route.

Bought Cibie 82440 H4 housings on ebay for $94. Also bought a H4 relay harness for about $20.

On Amazon I bought some H4 80/100W bulbs.

Got everything installed in about an hour. Haven't had a chance to drive at night yet to test and align/aim, but they certainly are brighter than stock, and now the headlight voltage doesn't need to go through the dash switch.

[ManNamedJed]

I also did some tuning. I thought my advance came on early and had too much, so I changed some things. I have the MSD Streetfire HEI.

I changed springs to the next level firmer based on the spring kit instructions. I also added the vacuum advance limited to setting 'B'. This was all based on what I've read has worked well for others.

My carb is an Edelbrock 1406. I've read many people swap the jets/rods for those that come stock in the 1405. So I made that change too.

The result was a nice improvement in responsiveness and acceleration. I feel it has a fair bit more power from 2-3000 rpm. So if you have a MSD dist and/or a 1406 carb, I suggest trying out these changes.

[HO455]

You might try to find a shop that has one of these analyzers to locate your issue.

https://www.vehicleservicepros.com/i...iagnostic-unit

[Ol Blue K20]

Subbed to watch!

[ManNamedJed]

Originally Posted by HO455

You might try to find a shop that has one of these analyzers to locate you issue.

https://www.vehicleservicepros.com/i...iagnostic-unit

Sweet - another tool I need!

I don't imagine that's something NAPA will rent/loan.

I overheard two guys talking at the airport about Dodge using a system like this to diagnose vibrations. I wonder if the local dealership has one.

[HO455]

I'm not surprised to hear a Dodge dealer having one. I've had a little exposure to a couple of later model Dodge 4x4 3/4 tons and drive the drive train vibration issues when they get up around 100k on them. All that Cummins torque takes its toll.

[mrtoni]

Kinda looks like yours. Got an extra

[HO455]

North Cascades!!! I love that place! If you ever have a chance to go, do it!

[CG]

I should have picked up a bunch of those when I was up there. Stupid Stupid Stupid lol.

Im not sure if you can even get them online anymore.

[mrtoni]

The shipping was the killer. $12 bucks

[ManNamedJed]

Originally Posted by mrtoni

Kinda looks like yours. Got an extra

Sweet! Where do I get one of those?

[mrtoni]

So they’re 16.99 plus 11 shipping ouch! Good news. I bought an extra. $25 and I’ll drive it over from sparks. Or google northern cascades institute

[ManNamedJed]

Thank you, I appreciate that.

Here's the link for anyone interested:
http://north-cascades-institute.shop...r-14-x-22.html

Yeah $17 for a 14" poster is pretty steep. Too bad it isn't blue!

[ManNamedJed]

I had decided that my 'vibration' might actually be a very obnoxious exhaust resonance / drone. The vibes are the same frequency as the exhaust note. It had straight back dual exhaust with no cross over and straight through mufflers, which from what I've read, would be prone to such things.

I'd already bought some 2.5" 'ram's horn' manifolds to replace the stock cast iron truck manifolds, so I decided it was time to put them on.

Not sure it makes a big difference in performance, but they look nice.

[ManNamedJed]

Took it to an old school exhaust shop and talked it over with the old guy who's been doing it for 50 yrs. Told him I wanted it quiet. Got it back with a 14" magnaflow that was NOT quiet.

After some back and forth they agreed to make it right and got this set up. Dual 2.5" pipes to a single muffler with a 3" output. Sounds nice and mellow.