Momma's Grocery Getter Suburban Project

[kerber63]

As my '63 swb project started to dwindle down to the end, I started thinking about the next project I wanted to tackle. I've always been a fan of the panels, and started talking to my wife about it. Of course, she thinks they're ugly and boring, so I started showing her pics of suburbans. She started liking them more and more, and eventually I talked her into wanting one for herself. One for you, one for me. Perfect. So I started scouring the internet and taking drives through the countryside when I had free time. I stumbled across a CL ad with 2 'burbs for sale - '64 and '66. I called the guy and talked to him about them, and he mentioned that he had a '63 as well. I drove out to his place and checked them out. The guy was definitely a collector, he had 6 trucks and 2 'burbs in his yard, with another 2 'burbs in a shop and another truck in a garage. All in various states of disrepair, but he was sitting on a gold mine. He wanted $1200 for the '64 - converted to 4x4, bad rust, nothing lined up quite right. No thanks. $1400 for the '66 - factory 4x4, dealer installed pto front bumber winch. Cool. Worse rust than the '64, holes in the roof. No thanks. The '63 was in pretty bad shape, whoever owned it before considered themselves to be gods of fiberglass. 2x4, no motor, no trans, no seats. No thanks. What's that? $500? Yes please. I am now the proud owner of a pair of '63s.

[kerber63]

Here's some pics of it after it made its way to my house. The rear bumper's in decent shape, I'll have to do some metal work to get it looking good again. Notice the hitch? It's really as big as it looks. It's welded in 6 places, and it will have to go.

[kerber63]

More pics. Rear bed panels will have to be replaced. The inside is in great shape, the barn doors open and close perfectly.

[kerber63]

More pics. 8 track player - woohoo! Aluminum grill - unsarcastic woohoo! It'll need some work too, but hopefully I can get it straightened out.

[gostranger]

wow awesome score!!!! did you end up getting the custom trim I see it is pulled off?

[kerber63]

Originally Posted by gostranger

wow awesome score!!!! did you end up getting the custom trim I see it is pulled off?

Nope, I'll have to get creative and make my own. Looking at the rest of the truck, the original stuff would've probably taken more time and money to make look good than just making some myself.

[NEWFISHER]

Killer! Is that the guy in Woodburn? I love the rack on that thing.

[kerber63]

Originally Posted by NEWFISHER

Killer! Is that the guy in Woodburn? I love the rack on that thing.

Yep, he's outside of woodburn and is looking to unload quite a bit of stuff. On my way out he said he has a storage unit full of doors, fenders, and other parts. The rack looks cool in the pics, but when it was installed they reefed on the bolts from the inside of the cab and pulled the outside skin all the way in. I'm guessing they didn't seal the holes with anything. Time will tell.

[1963c-10]

Nice project...always good to see new 63's pop up.

[kerber63]

I had some free time today, so I started ripping the front end down. I think the passenger fender is a lost cause, at some point it got smacked pretty hard. Some PO decided to use foam to fill the dent, then bondo over the foam. About 1" thick at the deepest point. PO foamed in the fender braces - I assume to make them rust quicker so they would get out of the way. The driver's fender should be salvagable, it's straight and should just need a patch and brace to make it live again.

[TJ's Chevy]

Nice burb! Fenders need some help! LOL!

[rusty76]

I'll have to watch this one for sure.

[kerber63]

Originally Posted by T.J. MCCAULEY

Nice burb! Fenders need some help! LOL!

No kidding. There should definitely be a hotline that abused trucks can call so they can be rescued from treatment like this. Sadly, I think that phone line would always be busy.

[96Indyram]

Watching along....

[Narxoleptic Customs]

I want one of these too! I'll b watching this build for sure

[chad64chevy]

cool new project, my passenger rocker had foam and bondo in them too! hell for what you paid, you got the bumpers, grille, and roof rack for free! I too have the wife talked into getting a 64-66 burb and she said I can use are 2000 Tahoe for motor and interior, but it will have to wait til after I get her a chevelle! after seeing what you did to your 63' the wifes burb will look just as killer good luck ill be watching for sure!!

[kerber63]

Originally Posted by rusty76

I'll have to watch this one for sure.

Originally Posted by 96Indyram

Watching along....

Originally Posted by Narxoleptic Customs

I want one of these too! I'll b watching this build for sure

Thanks for checking this project out, I have a feeling it'll take a while. Here's some pics of the suburban's brother. I've been there, done that, so I know I'll be able to work through all the problems.

[kerber63]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

cool new project, my passenger rocker had foam and bondo in them too! hell for what you paid, you got the bumpers, grille, and roof rack for free! I too have the wife talked into getting a 64-66 burb and she said I can use are 2000 Tahoe for motor and interior, but it will have to wait til after I get her a chevelle! after seeing what you did to your 63' the wifes burb will look just as killer good luck ill be watching for sure!!

It seems like having a wife interested in these things makes working on them a lot easier. This time around, since it's for her, I can justify just about anything - it's all about her comfort and safety (). I'll have to control my spending, which will get hard pretty quick.

[chad64chevy]

Originally Posted by kerber63

It seems like having a wife interested in these things makes working on them a lot easier. This time around, since it's for her, I can justify just about anything - it's all about her comfort and safety (). I'll have to control my spending, which will get hard pretty quick.

lol, I know what you mean! that's why I talked the wife into (letting) me use the Tahoe for what I need, but she'll tell you that she thought of using it first!

[kerber63]

Originally Posted by chad64chevy

lol, I know what you mean! that's why I talked the wife into (letting) me use the Tahoe for what I need, but she'll tell you that she thought of using it first!

Ha. As long as it's her idea, you'll never have any problems.

[kerber63]

I pulled the better fender and started stripping it. It turns out some PO had brushed something that looks kind of like undercoating over every exposed surface of the rig. It took a long time to get started, but I eventually got a pretty good system down. Total time on this fender was about 3 hours. I was happy with the result, the major damage wasn't a big surprise but I was worried about hidden stuff that I couldn't see with the "paint" on. I was happy to find just a couple minor dents at the front.

[66chevy43]

Okay now you have me hooked and signed up for this one! I also saw that listing on Craigslist out of Woodburn. Nice to see someone take it on and also have the approval from the WIFE.

[kerber63]

A buddy of mine had a front end assembly taking up space in his shop that he offered to me for free. He said he thought it might have been out of an '85, but couldn't remember because he'd had it so long. I told him I'd take it and bought bushings and tie rods. I figured it wouldn't hurt to get them, since it wouldn't matter if he was off a couple years. Turns out it's a 71/72 setup, so the new parts won't fit. Oh well, it was in decent shape so I decided to work with it.

[kerber63]

I did all the math and found that I'd spend more money on replacing all the spindle-out parts for a '72 than to buy a new '63 disc conversion. So the plan is to rebuild the '72 control arms and use the center link to make a power steering swap a little easier in the future. I know the '63 outer tie rods and '72 inner tie rods aren't compatible, so I'll rethread the '72 inner. I tried it on the old one and it turned out perfect. I'm hoping to be able to sell the '72 spindles along with my old front end assembly as a bolt-in kit for anybody local who might be interested in it.

[kerber63]

I tore the '72 front end apart and bead blasted the control arms. I pressed in '63 ball joints in the lowers. I got some por15 and used metal prep on the bare metal. It worked great, etched the metal to help the paint adhere. I sprayed por15 on the frame of my pickup when I built it, and it was some nasty stuff when airborn. This time I brushed it on the control arms and it was much less hazardous to my health. About 5 oz. did all 4 control arms.