1965 Suburban Resto-Rebuild

[hemifalcon]

Well.. I know sometime mother nature steps in and puts a stop to some of our projects.. But, not typically like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftSNLo0uRDI

yeah.. a robin decided to make a nest in the pedal assembly still mounted in the '65 C10 parts cab.. I went to my mom's house to take some measurements to cut pieces out of it one more time--and the robin flew out.. And--lo and behold--there's eggs in the nest.. I will allow nature to run it's course and find other things to work on in the mean time..

[MikeS.]

The nest has stopped all work on this great thread?

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by MikeS.

The nest has stopped all work on this great thread?

Mike..
as sad as it is--there was a really heavy rainfall about 2 weeks after this video was posted, and the newborn birds drowned in their own nest.. it was removed and the cab was then disassembled further. I chopped it up and a local scrap guy was happy to take the remnants. I however cut out some parts that I'll end up using.. And, i did some more cutting on the suburban in preparation for the grafting of some new-old metal.







...the primary reason that this project is on "pause" right now is that I undertook another project, as in building a garage. I started this on May 10th, and this is where it's gotten so far.. Unfortunately I live in a townhome with only a two car garage--and my mom has a small garage which she doesn't used. So, I turned her 14x24 into a 30x24. It's been an interesting experience as I've never done any construction work before. So, it's been a slow, painful, but learning, experience.
Here are some pictures of that.

[hemifalcon]

Well--I'm finally turning SOME attention back to the suburban.. Going to get the frame painted during the next 5 days.. Gonna have to flip it a few times to get it all coated.. I'll hopefully spray tomorrow or Thursday the first coat..
And yes--the trans x-member was removed thinking that I'd be able to pull it out without expanding the frame--well, that didn't work. I'll be bolting it back in with some Grade-8 stuff.







and I will hopefully have the garage done by the end of October...



It's kinda packed right now.

[piratexpress1369a]

nice job on the widen of your garage ..why not powder coat your frame

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by piratexpress1369a

nice job on the widen of your garage ..why not powder coat your frame

I already have the Master Series coating--and I like the way it lays out on the front cross member and other chassis components so far.. I'll just finish out the chassis with it for now. Thanks for the garage comment.

[hemifalcon]

..ordered my Wheel Vintiques 15x7 Steel rims and grabbed a set of original "COPO Style" hubcaps from a dude on the H.A.M.B.

and.. put the first coat of 4 on the frame tonight.. Took this picture over an hour after spraying--the mist is still in the air..

[hemifalcon]

shiny things.. going back together finally...





I should have been at this point months ago--but better late than never..

[Nobby]

Frame looks great...Love the shop and the 61

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by Nobby

Frame looks great...Love the shop and the 61

Thanks Nobby... Just trying to get caught up with the 'sub's progression.
.. Here are a few extra pics of the Biscayne..

[Dinos63]

nice work and you have been doing a ton of it!!great job on the garage and the sub!!

[jdoisher]

I love the car!! Don't change a thing!!!

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by Dinos63

nice work and you have been doing a ton of it!!great job on the garage and the sub!!

Thank you man... Just trying to keep my project from stagnating.. I get to look at your guys rides getting down on the ground--I want to drive mine again during this lifetime.. By the way, dig that dually you're building..

Originally Posted by jdoisher

I love the car!! Don't change a thing!!!

Don't worry, my '61 isn't getting changed anytime soon...

[hemifalcon]

Here's a pic of the chassis.. I tightened up everything in the rear end today--just need brakes, lines, and other smalls to finish it up.. I had to order new control arm shaft seals from LMC tonight--wish I had those already..



And, so I think I'll start trying to restore the steering wheel.. There are only very minor cracks at the juncture with the wheel center.. I've done some reading up on this sort of stuff--and look forward to fixing it up.. Here are the NOW pictures..

[allaboutchevelles]

I look foward to seeing how you repair your steering wheel. I just rebuilt my steering column and my wheel needs the same thing yours does.

[McMurphy]

I bought a spare and am going to try the diameter reduction that Astronaut did.
You may want to look at his Project Goldilocks build page 9 for how he worked it, might give you some ideas on how to approach your repair job.

[hemifalcon]

So, trying to stay on course with one project piece at a time... I started to do some resto-work on the steering, but on an old VW wheel that originally came off my my '62... I figure if I can make this one look pretty again, then making they Sub steering wheel will be a piece of cake.. here's some of the pics with the 'epoxy' setting up and some before pictures with all the cracks and damage showing.. This is merely an experiment.. I'd rather try this then pay the normal $300 that most restored or aftermarket wheels are going for in original appearance..

















I got the front suspension all assembled, and started doing the brakes.. However, when I went to slap on the aftermarket disk brake backing plates, there was a bit of a problem.. The lower control arms were contacting the back of the plates pretty significantly, so a window had to be created.. I have the drivers side pretty much roughed in.. I'll have to finish it up and then match it on the passenger side.. Oh well--I'll have to slap some more paint on them once done--but I don't want any interference there..

[hemifalcon]

There was a pretty good batch of 60-66 Chevy and GMC trucks at the Iron Invasion show in Woodstock yesterday.. I took a couple pictures of a cool '64 Panel that the owner had used as a camper for years..He also had a T-5 trans from an S-10 in the panel, weird thing was there was no transmission mount.. Meaning--the trans was only mounted to the engine with no tail shaft support.. I thought this was somewhat strange.. I asked him about it, but he said he did not do the work to swap in the trans. He said he has pulled a 13-foot camp trailer with the truck and never had any problems with the trans..

One thing I was wondering--did most trucks, panels, and suburbans come with the split driveshaft utilizing the center support bearing? I don't much care for the design and I'm glad my '65 has the solid one-piece driveshaft... Here are some pics..





And, here was a really great truck with a transplanted 4BT diesel.. Really nice install..

[pdxhall]

I cant' really tell from the pictures, but if you didn't do it, one thing that will give you better luck with patching those cracks is to open them up with a dremel or file down to the metal core of the wheel. Not too wide but just enough that the epoxy can be pushed all the way into the crack. I've done a couple of wheels now and it works very well by doing this. Also the less epoxy you build up, the less you have to sand back off. IMHO

[hemifalcon]

I did use my Dremel to enlarge the cracks slightly and clean up the surfaces which the epoxy will bind to. I didn't go too deep though as I figured that itd be best to keep as much intact material in there as possible.. As you can see-the center of this wheel was in bad shape to start and required a large amount of material to try and rebuild the area.. I don't know if it'll hold up-but I'm trying it anyway....
Posted via Mobile Device

[pdxhall]

Okay, that's cool. You just want to make sure you get the epoxy into all of the crack or it can continue cracking in the area that is not epoxied.

[McMurphy]

Your test wheel looks great !
Any chance you could post a pic (here or in my build) of the epoxy you used and where you got it please?
I am a total noob at some of this stuff, and any help from someone who has had obvious success would be awesome !

[hemifalcon]

Originally Posted by McMurphy

Your test wheel looks great !
Any chance you could post a pic (here or in my build) of the epoxy you used and where you got it please?
I am a total noob at some of this stuff, and any help from someone who has had obvious success would be awesome !

McMurphy-
Actually--I am trying JB-Weld on this one.. But, I also picked up some PC-7 which is a "regular" epoxy. Again--I'm must trying this for the first time and there doesn't seem to be a single perfect answer for the repair. So, i'm just trying these products for now.. Being that JB-Weld is typically used on metal repairs--it may not work.. But, ya never know.

[hemifalcon]

I was hoping to get all the brakes set up today on the chassis--but I think I confused the guy at NAPA with the different parts requests for the '71 front disks and the '65 rear drums--he ended up giving me the wrong bearing seals for the front rotors.. So, i got stopped there--then started re-assembling the rears with new wheel cylinders--and re-used all the other parts from when I did the brakes in Cali last fall. Then, I realized I hadn't freshened up the parking brake cables--
But--in that process, I realized there are these little rubber boots on the cables to keep water from entering the cable lining.. Anyone know where I can get these?? I figure otherwise I'll find a replacement which appears similar locally. I tried looking in the LMC book, and all the images are of a different type of parking brake cable assembly and bracketry along the trailing arms..

Lastly--WHY DOESN'T CHINA PUT THE DAMNED ADJUSTER SLOTS IN THE BRAKE DRUMS??????

[likaroc13]

Originally Posted by hemifalcon

Lastly--WHY DOESN'T CHINA PUT THE DAMNED ADJUSTER SLOTS IN THE BRAKE DRUMS??????

ha, know your frustration! ...ordered mine from Carquest through a friend, & we didn't notice until it was time to install them on the new rear...we searched every parts store in town, & every drum was the same...my dad ended up having a friend machine the hole