53 Surburban "Family Truckster"

[GEARBOXGARAGE]

Marc,

Looking good, the Impala wheel will add a nice touch. Keep it up!

[Advanced Design]

Great pictures of the gathering Marc, thanks for sharing. Really cool look to his designs.

And thank you Marc and Jim for the battery drop down box....I really had a mental "blank out" on that one. That is the value of asking a question and kicking things around.

[dug224]

Great progress on a nice build. dug

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by dug224

Great progress on a nice build. dug

Thanks Dug. I have been working on it and I need to get some pics updated. I got a very nice chrome grille from a friend for basically free.

Stay tuned.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Nice score on the grille! Looking forward to the updates Marc.

[youngrodder]

Well I made it back late this afternoon from the Columbus GG show. It was great. I got to meet Bob "Old N Slow" and check out his truck. Very cool when you can have a human interaction with someone that you have only talked to or followed on this forum. I also meet Justin from Pro Performance and Scotts from Scotts hot rods.

I bought a couple of cool piece for the Suburban. I have been thinking of making a cool roof rack and filling it with random stuff. Here is a pick of what I'm thinking.

I bought the following:
Vintage luggage to either go in the subruban or on the roof rack.
A crusty guide light that will clean up great. Cool light for $20
I also put down a deposit for my Porterbuilt drop member with Justin at Pro Performance. No turning back now.

Marc

[Iceburgh]

I love the rack

[Advanced Design]

Me too. Sounds like you had a good time. Get's the juices flowing to do more fabrication. I was 20 miles from GG in Columbus and didn't have time to make it there.

Suitcase is cool. Reminds me of my buddies Suburban done in an "Island Bus" theme.

[youngrodder]

Ok, I got some time on the Suburban this weekend. I need to travel to Chicago for work so I will be off it for the next few (hot) days.

I started by drilling and tapping (2) passenger side door hinge bolts that were snapped off. That went pretty well once I sourced a 3/8 24 (fine) thread tap.

I treated the back side of the cowl areas to degresser followed by metal prep then por15. I wanted to treat this area on the backside prior to welding up the cowls.

AD trivia time. What year AD cab came with louvers on both the drive and passenger side cowls???? Anwser.......only available on 1953 . I have always liked louvers and this was an idea I had when looking at the remains of a cowl patch that I used on my 48. On my 48 I filled in the driver side flapper door and passenger side louvers. For some reason in the pics the louvers look upside down. I can assure you that they match the passenger side.

I also sent my seat riser with my buddy that is taking a customers 69 Camaro to a media blaster.

I need to keep pluggin away because Advance Design is making us all look bad with his progress....

Until next time.

[99 to Life]

looking good, I absolutely luv the louvers on these trucks. also the upper cowl vent that most guys weld shut. Gotta luv those little things that actually serve a purpose and look cool. keep up the work, can't wait to see another burb on the road.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

looking good, I absolutely luv the louvers on these trucks. also the upper cowl vent that most guys weld shut. Gotta luv those little things that actually serve a purpose and look cool. keep up the work, can't wait to see another burb on the road.

I agree. On my 48 I kept the upper cowl vent but changed to open by power. For the 53 Burb I plan on keeping it keep the upper cowl vent OE.

Marc

[99 to Life]

power vent, sounds cool, prolly got rid of all the mechanical linkages? got any pics of your set up?

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

power vent, sounds cool, prolly got rid of all the mechanical linkages? got any pics of your set up?

No pics and now it is barried up under the dash. It was a power motor kit I bought from "Rocky Hinge" company and it came with a small motor, switch and aluminum arm. I just drilled a small hole in the side of the vent and it worked great. Yes, I removed all of the manual linkage.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Looks great Marc! You have solid corners now and will be good for another 60years. Very well done.

Way back I didn't like the vents and now I wouldn't give them up. Functional and something interesting to look at.

If you count the 10 years my 'Burb sat in the back of the shop my progress is pretty dismal....trying to make up for lost time I guess!

Keep the updates coming!

[Iceburgh]

you going to have A/C in the burb?

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Looks great Marc! You have solid corners now and will be good for another 60years. Very well done.

Way back I didn't like the vents and now I wouldn't give them up. Functional and something interesting to look at.

If you count the 10 years my 'Burb sat in the back of the shop my progress is pretty dismal....trying to make up for lost time I guess!

Keep the updates coming!

Thanks Doug. My 48 was a long 11 yr build. My suburban I would like to complete in about 3 yrs or less. With the 48 I always felt that I had a vision and I didnt want to sacrafice the final product. People either tend to have time or money. Back then I had more time than money.

I also received a care package of parts from Alaskan Dragger this afternoon. This is the third care package of parts for from the great north that he has sent me. He has helped me locate some hard to find parts. He is a great guy and as honest as they come.

I hope to keep my updates coming.

Marc
Marc

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Iceburgh

you going to have A/C in the burb?

I might not intially. I have it in my 48 and I'm yet to get it charged. I like driving with my windows down alot. Since I will be running slider windows in the back it might move some decent air. I had a guy really help me out with a sweat deal on the back side glass (:.

If I run it I like the look of Restomodair. www.restomodair.com
It looks expensive but unique.

How about you?

Marc

[oldman3]

AD, Iceburg and Marc, you guys are hogging up all the space on here with these burb builds, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it...Jim

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by oldman3

AD, Iceburg and Marc, you guys are hogging up all the space on here with these burb builds, and I'm enjoying the hell out of it...Jim

If I had to pick an order of who finished first it would be the folowing:
Iceburg
AD
Me

AD and I have a track record of dragging things out.

Marc

[Iceburgh]

Life is about to get in the way....I would like to have mine done by October but reality is Feb

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

If I had to pick an order of who finished first it would be the folowing:
Iceburg
AD
Me

AD and I have a track record of dragging things out.

Marc

It is like you know about my usual glacial progress! Betting on you to come in second! And I agree Iceburgh first.
Your floors look good too. The break over on the edge is crisp.

Hey Jim...I've been the space hog.....Marc and Iceburgh have been more reasonable. Just pretty excited to finally build my Burb.

[oldman3]

I'm not complaining, I enjoy all three builds, just wish I had one...Jim

[NEWFISHER]

Looking good Marc!

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Looking good Marc!

Thanks man...It's getting there.

[youngrodder]

So my passenger side rear fender was involved in some type of accident in its life and it resulted in a very squared off curve at the bottom as well as unrepairable damage to the fender crease/body line. The rest of the fender is in good shape and these suburban fenders can be hard to come by. I decided to get a patch from a lower fender that was not in good shape and graphed on a new lower section.

Once I cut the old fender off and lined the new one up it became apparent how flat the original fender was from the damage and poor attempt at repairing it someone else did. They recreated the curve of the fender with bondo....In on order for the fender to match the curve of the patch I made relief cuts in the fender to help shape it to the patch. I have never attempted anything like this but is worked fairly well.

Also I worked on all of my rear door latches and linkage. With what I had and some parts I received from Alaskan Dragger I was able to get all my rear door hardware handled. This is cool because I was stressing about being able to make functioning rear doors. When I purchased the Suburban the rear doors were inoperable.