60-66 Suburban rear barn door weatherstrip sources?

[Chuck78]

I am the proud new owner of a fairly clean 1962 GMC panel truck!!! Wanted a panel or burb for many years, time to retire the workhorse daily driver 1989 350TBI rustbucket burb... Anyhow, needed major carb work, some minor rust spots fixed (hood sides and fender bottoms mostly), but is real clean. The other immediate issue is that I have no rear door weatherstrip on the truck at all. LMC has nothing that I can find in their 60-66 catalog for this. I figure it's gotta be a hard part to track down.

Where on earth do you get this stuff? Does it just slip over the edges of the panels or something, or are there holes in mine that are filled in where the weatherstripping snaps into?

I'm gonna have a lot of questions, glad to have found this, the stovebolt site, and the 60-66 GMC guy sites! Normally I'm a 70-81 Camaro guy, among other hobbies....

Thanks!

[1966-Suburban-V-8]

American Classic has these.
http://www.americanclassic.com
Part number DWS60RD
Mines a Gate 'n Hatch on the back, so I don't know how they fit.
LMC doesn't have much for the Suburban body style.

Dan

[kdrodworks316]

www.classicparts.com they have treated me really good

[joe231]

classicparts.com is quickly becoming my favorite vendor

[TimE]

with these guys on Classic. Never had any bad dealings with them. Parts, service and prices are all good.

[62 short step]

Yea, Classic Parts has treated me well over the years!! They seem to have everything I have always needed, except for new short fleet bedsides!!!

[DWC]

Chuck,

I bought my barn door seals from Steele Rubber products, they have a web site. They were kinda pricey but were much nicer than the pieces I took off. The seals the PO used were just a piece of weatherstrip he cut to shape and glued on. The Steele pieces have molded to shape corners and the metal tabs molded in for the attach screws. I'm thinking they were around $200 bucks though, but nice reproductions.

Just my $.02.
Dave

[Chuck78]

Alright, I'll definitely be checking them out... Sounds like Classic Parts is the place to go. I had bought from LMC before getting 89 burb parts, but yeah, they don't seem to have much at all in the way of GMC and panel specific stuff.

Can't wait to get this thing cleaned up and a few modifications done! Weighing the thoughts on carb rebuild (sloppy throttle blade shaft hole, and some gas leaks...) vs a Holley 500 cfm 2bbl... Faster steering ratio would be real nice, and probably a swap to power if I could find the brackets and parts that I need. Front disc swap and power booster with a more modern master cylinder and prop. valve would be nice as well. Then I'd have to do something with the clutch MC, since it is part of the 4 whl drum MC as of now, so might as well swap in that 5 speed at that time also! This is gonna keep on going and going... Lots more questions in the future. Thanks for the support!

UPDATE - couldn't find any barn door seals on the Classic site. Or Stromberg WW carb rebuild kits. The Am. Classic site has the barn door seals.
If I can't find an easy way to bush the sloppy throttle shaft, and can't find a good core, I may just go to a Holley 2bbl or something similar. Not looking for performance gains, just efficiency and reliability...

Here's a picture from late Saturday night, as my surprise 30th b-day party was winding down, in the back of the warehouse.... Girlfriend got me the panel (that i almost bid on when it was on ebay!) as a BIG SURPRISE b-day gift and thanks for all the remodeling work I'm doing to our 1890 victorian 5000 sq ft house that I hope to someday live in! The truck might delay that a little more!

[62 short step]

Nice burb dude!!

[greg64]

Great looking panel, Chuck! It being a GMC does it still have the big V6? I notice the emblems on the hood.

Good luck with your project.

[padresag]

steele's are the ones that you want. some of the dealers have them or you can go direct to them
ron

[Woogeroo]

my dad has bought many things from classicparts for his '53 chevy truck and has been been very happy.

I've bought things from Tucker's, American Classic and Obsolete chevy parts with good results.

-W

[1966-Suburban-V-8]

Thats a great looking GMC Panel. And pretty rare, too.
Panels are less common than Suburbans and they are less than 10% of Pickup production. GMC made less than 1/4 the production of Chevrolet.
Don't have any specific production numbers but I'd guess fewer than 500 GMC Panels were made. Now figure how many have survived until now and then how many are running?!
Great to see it has a proud new owner!

Dan

[soba_03]

Chuck,

Does that beautiful panel have GMC
V6? 305 if so you definately have a real keeper... congrats on the birthday and the new rig... have fun with it....

[dallas77]

Nice panel Chuck definitely a keeper

[Hoser's Girl]

WOW! That thing is pretty bada$$!

[Chuck78]

Yeah, the truck is really almost all original... Odometer reads 67,348. My dad said "Man, this thing is CLEAN! What makes you think that it isn't really 67K miles?" It looks to have the original generator and regulator even... there's a few rust small bubbles on the bottoms of the doors, a slight bit on the rockers, and a slight bit down low on the rear quarters behind the back wheels. Seats, wheels, paint, and new wood floor aren't original. A real nice find. Underside is REALLY clean for a 46 year old work truck... It looks great from 20 feet, but needs a restoration. Heck, even all the body mounts look to be in great shape.

The thing drives like a boat with the 50:1 ratio (just kidding) manual steering... And the old single reservoir master cylinders and front drums bother me a bit. With my 89 suburban and this thing head to head, I was out on my back with a flashlight 'til 11:30PM one night taking measurements. The whole front crossmember of the 89 should bolt directly into the old truck, so I plan on doing a swap most likely from a junkyard truck to get power steering and power brakes, as well as coils up front, sway bar, and front discs. The thing is 900 lbs or so lighter than my 89 burb, so the same brakes should make it stop on a dime! I'll swap in some of those TRW 1/2 ton H.D. progressive coils in the rear and some big block coils up front.

I must admit that my initial plan was to find an old panel and swap in a 305/327/350 V8 with TBI and a 5 speed, as well as PS & PB. Then I found out how unique and somewhat obscure the GMC engines are. It's been a long, hard week of thinking, but I'll most likely be keeping the GMC. The weight, mail order-only parts availability, and lack of any aftermarket parts were big minuses when trying to choose. Want a fair weather daily driver utility rod, and sometimes tow vehicle. Needs to get good mileage. The three on the tree will most likely take a hike eventually, for an NV3500 or something else in a 5 speed OD trans. Need to find something that bolts to the stock bell (with modifications if necessary), or else get a GMC V6 adapter to the standard GM bell bolt pattern, with crank spacer and extended length starter... These factors were all aligning against me keeping the GMC engine, but it's uniqueness is still screaming at me... My dad has an spare 88 4 bolt 350/700R4, and a 327 block... I have a perfect donor vehicle for the front suspension/brakes and TBI system, as well as engine and trans... I think I'll give the GMC a shot. Hopefully with a vehicle that's at least 600 (maybe 900?) lbs lighter than my 89, I can get it to break 20 mpg highway. I even thought about a fiberglass hood and fenders or tilt front end, to drop some pounds... Fenders and hood have rust in typical spots. Hood on sides, from water getting trapped in the bracing, and fenders down low in the rear.

The only aftermarket parts really available tfor these things are dual exhaust (that's already on it- also not original), a Holley 500cfm 2bbl, and the Buick 78-79 V6 HEI distributor and ignition swap (requires some machining and a special custom spacer). I'll be upgrading to a modern alternator at that point as well. I hope that those mods, with the aluminum wheels and maybe an aluminum driveshaft, and the 5 speed swap, will really make this thing an affordable cruiser. Also might get a custom ground camshaft made for it, as those aren't even available aftermarket! Only custom grinds!

Eventually I might find a 1980's V6 Buick TPI distributor and the painless wiring harness, and swap in some 87-90 GM TBI. With a mild street/RV cam grind and that system, it would be one of the most well behaved, reliable, and smooth operating 305 V6's out there...

Can't wait until the GoodGuy's show hits Columbus this summer... Never been to the show, but it's a nationwide turnout, and cruising near all the big hotel spots in town on Fri-Sat from 6PM-11PM is the best hot rodder's time you can imagine. Since my past two Camaros have never gotten beyond the project stage (71RS/SS still dismantled with Tremec 5 speed and fresh 406 small block waiting), this will be the first year I actually have a driveable vehicle! Sold the 78 Camaro 5+ years ago, a week before buying the 71... 78 was my first car 1993-2003, then a 79 that turned into a parts car around 2000, and then an 81Z28 project that I sold the same year as the 78 when I fell in love with the 70-73 Camaros ... Haven't had a driver since! Good feeling. This thing is clean enough to make it a driveable project!

[suzq044]

lol - you sound like we do with our 66 Chevy panel.. lots and lots of ideas. But yours sound more concrete. Good Luck with 'er & it's a great starting point.