My 1990 Burb Project

[Urban Suburban]

Hello everyone, This is my newly acquired 1990 Chevrolet 1500 2WD 6.2L Diesel Suburban.

All in all it is in pretty good shape. I used to have a 2005 Yukon Denali that i used for towing the ca trailer and hauling stuff. Back when I bought it I had second thoughts as to an older Burb. Blah blah blah... any way its gone and here are some pictures of my Burb.

My plans are to keep it fairly original with the exception that... I prefer the older (85-87) Chevy truck look, so I plan to make it look that way.

Other than that it needs some major cleaning and detailing small amount of rust repair. and of course paint.

Here are a few pictures. there will be more to come

[Urban Suburban]

So I have been busy working away on the Burb. Here is some of the progress of what i have been up to

First I changed the front rad support and grille setup. My old one was damaged and the headlights could not be properly aimed. Also i prefer the older look.

next was to change the steering wheel and wood trim inside. I am not a fen of the newer wheel and the wood trim. I was able to get the long dash trim from a parts truck. The speedometer trim was stainless but not in good shape. I had my friend @ Hotline Laser Creations cut new stainless for the cluster and door panels. He cut the custom logo into the door panels.

and last for now was the rocker panel. It was was only $26.00 to buy a new rocker so I cut out the old one and replaced it with a new one. Welded it in and covered with epoxy primer for now

More to come.... Thanks for looking

[thirdstreettito]

Nice love the 6.2! As you can tell from my sig I love burbs!

[Urban Suburban]

Its my first diesel and so far I am liking it very much. I will post some more pictures soon but I put some 15"x8" ralley wheels on it on the weekend until I can afford to get the aluminum ones re finished. I also installed (the right way) third row seating. I have seen some people do it scary ways.

[meter swinger]

Thats a great burb. I love the tailgate rearends. Whats the suspension plans?
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[Urban Suburban]

Thanks, I am not a barn door guy, although they are easier to get in and out of. I dont really have any suspension plans. I may put an air lift kit in the rear suspension to help with trailer towing. I like the stock stance on them. Perhaps if it were a 4 x 4 i would go a different direction

[meter swinger]

Air lift would be nice. I need to get that done on my dually one of these days.
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[6 2 Carl]

I also hate the fake wood grain in the newer suburbans. How much would your buddy charge to make up another set of door panels and gauge clusters?

[Urban Suburban]

Originally Posted by 6 2 Carl

I also hate the fake wood grain in the newer suburbans. How much would your buddy charge to make up another set of door panels and gauge clusters?

I will ask him. There are two ways he can do the cluster, mine he cut it on vinyl tape (cheaper) or he can cut on 1/8 poly (you would have to remove your wood). The cluster is 3 seperate pieces but go together perfect like in my pics. ( better install seperate).

Let me know and I will ask
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[Urban Suburban]

well its been a busy few weeks working on the truck and other things. (fight with a VV carb in my 81 Marquis) Well I have changed up the alum. wheels for 815 x 8 rally wheels as the others needed to be resurfaced (had to get 2 sets so I have another set for sale if anyone is looking) . I decided to go with 85 Monte SS beauty rings as the ones on these rims were not in the best shape. I find the show the rim a little more than the factory rings, something different then the norm.

Monday i was driving the truck and the service engine light came on?!?!? shortly after that the brake peddle went spongy. Turned out that the rear seal let go in the master and filled the hydra-boost with brake fluid. so i got the master changed and the truck bled. Then went to scan for trouble codes... none to be found. I hope it was related to the rear ABS???

right now i am working on tinting the rear glass as i put a clear one in because i don't like how GM factory tinted those rear windows

more to come soon i am sure.

[6 2 Carl]

Originally Posted by Urban Suburban

I will ask him. There are two ways he can do the cluster, mine he cut it on vinyl tape (cheaper) or he can cut on 1/8 poly (you would have to remove your wood). The cluster is 3 seperate pieces but go together perfect like in my pics. ( better install seperate).

Let me know and I will ask
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The vinyl tape will be fine. I wouldn't need the chevy emblem on the door panels either.

Not a fan of the aluminum wheels? I went the other way with mine. It came with the rally's but I ended up getting two sets of aluminum wheels for it.

Where did you get the rocker panels?

Thanks,

Carl

[Urban Suburban]

The set would be 60.00 plus what ever to mail
it. I am sure that not much.

I do like the aluminum wheels but mine need to be refinished so until that happens this was a cheap alternitive.

Rockers from cross Canada.
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[Hoods69BadBowTie]

Awesome looking burb and that's pretty sweet it has a 6.2 as well nice find. Looks like you got a great start keep up the good work I really like the custom door logos as well they look right at home.

[gearheads78]

Whats the mileage you can get out of that thing? I have been thinking about using a 6.2 or 6.5 when I build mine.

[Urban Suburban]

I have not worked it out exactly but I have been reading 24-29 mpg on a stock maintained unit
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[6 2 Carl]

I have gotten as high as 29 miles to the imperial gallon on the highway with mine. Pure city mileage and driving it hard is around 18 mpg. I see low 20's on most tanks with my current mix of city and highway driving.

[Urban Suburban]

I picked away a bit more on the weekend with the truck. Finally the rear glass is all dry now!

I also fixed the little rust spot about the size of my fist on the roof. I forgot to take a picture before i started but it was about the size of my fist and can been seen in earlier pictures covered with a roll of painters tape or two.

ground out bad metal and replaced with new


Mar-glassed the area in preparation for primer


Epoxy primed the area for time being.

The quarter and roof were never lined up very well from the factory. I left it as it was rather than getting too far into it. I have noticed several later models with the same issue.

[Urban Suburban]

I have not taken any picture yet but have been busy working away on the Burb. first i tried to grease the front end and fount both upper ball joints wouldn't take any grease so i decided to put a set of upper and lowers in it. While doing that i noticed a small crack in the frame near the steering box. I pulled the box out and welded the frame and manufactured a 3/16" plate to reinforce the area so not to re-occur.

last i am still working on my cold start smoke problem. I have replaced the glow plugs as some were not working and now I will be looking into cold start solenoid system (after i try to understand it)

[68Timber]

Nice work. Count me in the "Love the 6.2" club.

[Edahall]

Originally Posted by Urban Suburban

I have not taken any picture yet but have been busy working away on the Burb. first i tried to grease the front end and fount both upper ball joints wouldn't take any grease so i decided to put a set of upper and lowers in it. While doing that i noticed a small crack in the frame near the steering box. I pulled the box out and welded the frame and manufactured a 3/16" plate to reinforce the area so not to re-occur.

last i am still working on my cold start smoke problem. I have replaced the glow plugs as some were not working and now I will be looking into cold start solenoid system (after i try to understand it)

What brand / model of glow plugs did you buy? There are some that heat up a lot slower but can be left on a lot longer without the risk of melting. For my 1982 Suburban 6.2L, I bought slow heating glow plugs but rigged up a push button type system. It comes in very handy in places like Montana where it gets very cold. I can run the glow plugs for 60 seconds and cycle them on and off while the engine is warming up.

[Urban Suburban]

I put OE in from the dealer
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[Urban Suburban]

So i had some time to kill this weekend waiting for Thanksgiving dinner and the family to arrive so i decided to polish a rim off my truck. These are the wheels that came with the truck but i took them off because the looked tired. For some reason this one i started with had no clear coat on it. The other 3 do and i will have to find a stripper that will remove it.

This is the rim before on the truck.

After some sanding and buffing:







and 4 hours later:

[Urban Suburban]

So I have been away from the site working away on the trucks and to add insult to injury I figured i would have the engine in my 64 Pontiac done at the same time.

I decided to do the rear cross member on the suburban. I personally like the tailgate on this generation truck over the barn doors.

Here are a few pics...

more to come

[Urban Suburban]

So I ordered the new rear cross member after being told it was a direct bolt on part. Short of tow spot welds it is. I cut away all the bad metal and replaced it a section at a time so that i did not change the shape of the truck so that it would be easy to line up the new cross member and tailgate. Also I had to put some thought into how I was going to get that cross member in there with out cutting good quarter panels and not lifting the body off the truck. I ended up drilling all the spot welds for the rear valance part to remove it and then I cut the cross member in half and put the two half's in and welded the half's back together. Once that part of it was back in place I re-welded the spots for the valance back together.

[Urban Suburban]