Project Patina Azul
 

I first found my Burb about 4 years ago while cruising around after lunch on a deck job I was doing.I drove by saying ''man that is sweet'' to my helper/friend.I didnt have time to stop and ask about it,so I made a mental note of where it was and went back to work.Then a few days later after I finished the job I stopped by and knocked on the door.The guy was about my age(35) and was a pretty cool.I asked him about the Burb and he told that he got it over 10 years ago for $400 with no motor/trans!He was telling me how it was backed under his carport for 8 years and thats why the front clip is more weathered than the rest of the truck.He told me several people over the years have offered to buy it, but he stuck to his guns and said sry,not for sale.We exchanged phone #'s b4 I left and he told me I was the only person that he had given his # to about the burb.Here are a few pics of when I found her:chevy:
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ke/burb027.jpg
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ke/burb025.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

I would stop by every once in a while to look at the Burb,day dream a little and then try to whittle him into selling me the Burb;)Early this year we had a swap meet at the Travis County Expo center.I drug my son Bryce behind me all day in a radio flyer wagon.He had a blast.Igot some nice aluminum pulleys that he was constantly throwing outta the wagon to the amusement of many of the people around us.After the swap meet I went over to visit the Burb.I had my truck with me that time and showed him all the things I had done to it and gave him a run down of the trucks history since it has been mine.He then told me its obvious how much I care about my truck and that he thinks the Burb would be better off in my hands than his.I didn't have much money at the time so we made an agreement that he would sell it to me when I had some cash

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

After finding this site and looking thru a lot of cool trucks,I found the Burb section.While looking around in there,I thought to myself....I gotta get that Burb!.I had a 94 Honda accord that I got for dirt cheap and it ran like crap and the PO's had trashed it.I sprayed it off with a hose,took a pic,put it on CL for 1200.Sold it with in an hour for 800!I took the money the next day and made a deal, 800 for the Burb!!

I turned this POS Honda

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ke/HONDA-1.jpg

Into this Beautiful Burb
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter006.jpg

I would say thats a hell of a trade up!!

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

I called a friend of mine who has a wrecker service(good friends to have) and he hooked me up with a deal to get it home.I was following her home for a while with a giant smile on my face
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...rbnight001.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Nice score! CLR it :cool:

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

I took a few pics that night to get some before shots.I knew I would be all over it in the mornin:chevy:g.

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...rbnight014.jpg
You can see where i rubbed my hand to remove the oxidized paint
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...rbnight019.jpg
Some interior pics

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...rbnight008.jpg
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...rbnight009.jpg
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...rbnight013.jpg
and the SPID
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter003.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Thanks man.Still not done posting,just started the build thread a few min ago.Stay tuned:chevy:

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

The next morning I lightly scuffed off the oxidized paint with a green 3m pad and the hose
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter006.jpg
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter015.jpg
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter011.jpg

I just took some dry rags and wiped down the interior.I swept a lot of tiny mouse $hit and chewed up acorns out as well the remains of an old funky mattress from rear.The interior is in super nice shape in my opinion.the cloth on the rear seat is still nice a pliable and nothings been cut up or changed.Except for the damn speaker holes evryone cuts in the doors that is.The driver seat is ripped up a bit but I couldn't be much happier with the shape of the interior
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter001.jpg
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...ayafter013.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Looking forward to following this!

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

nic thread i will follow this one!

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Now that she is cleaned up a bit,its time to give her a heart.The donor is a 95 GMC Vandura 3500.It has a TBI350/4L80E .This use to be my Dad's van and I drove it for two years until it would no longer pass the emissions test.I put my truck battery in the van and it started right up after sitting for a little over a year.After that I began the tear down process to extract the engine and trans
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...urbproject.jpg

I used my sawsall to cut out the bottom of the core support so the engine could come straight out.Then I had my neighbor use the John Deere from work with forks on it to come pull the motor.After he slid his forks in just on top of the air cleaner,I use 2ton ratchet straps to secure the engine to the forks.A few slick maneuvers by my neighbor and it was on the ground
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...Motortrans.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Its amazing how much beer you can drink while making a build thread;)

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

While I was cleaning out the Burb I found a few bits of paper work.I found a registration receipt from Mesa, Arizona.There was also a regi receipt for a 70 truck with license plate LADDA.I hope this rings a bell with a member or something and I can learn a little more history on the Burb.The Burb receipt was dated 95 and it has Texas stickers good to 96,so I think its safe to say it came to Texas in 95.

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

I'm using the van gas tank and lines so I don't have to buy anything like a new pump and all that.The van tank is 2 inches wider than the lower portion of the Burb frame rails.The van tank is much bigger than the factory Burb tank,I would say close to twice the capacity.
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup007.jpg

After removing the Burb tank,feed and return lines,I fed in the van fuel lines and loosely mocked them up to make sure they reached the tank.The Burb tank and lines will be going under my truck to get the gas tank outta my cab.Hey...there's a budget mod right there;)
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup003.jpg

Then I ground off the rivets for the rearmost cross member and removed it to be positioned after the tank mock up
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup002.jpg

I took careful measurements and slit both sides of the lower frame rails leaving a small section uncut every 6-8 inches.
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup004.jpg

Then I used my mini sledge to bend the cut sections up to make a 90 degree angle.The uncut sections I mentioned earlier made a great place for me to hammer and tuck the section flush with frame cut.I will weld this in after all the mock up is complete to box the frame a bit to add back any strength that I may have taken out slimming it down
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup008.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Today I mocked up the tank and slid the cross member up to it.I gotta say the fit is very nice.It looks right at home,no rubbing the sides,3/4 inch clearance on top and the bottom of the tank has nice clearance too

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup009.jpg

Now I need to mock up the van tank straps on the cross members for a factory looking install.
http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup010.jpg

There's about a foot of space from the bumper to the tank.With the cross member there bolted back in place that should be enough clearance to be safe from a rear collision.

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup012.jpg

The only issue I have with the tank is the filler location.With the tank positioned as it is the filler neck is just under the top of the frame rail.I have center of the filler marked for reference.

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...kmockup013.jpg

I'm going to use a 2 inch or 2 1/4 hole saw to make a hole for the filler tube.Then I will reinforce the frame accordinly

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

cool story and build....persistence pays off....always:D

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Thanks Geoff, persistence does pay off.I spent the better part of 3 years workin on this guy trying to buy the slots I now have on my 70.He sold the truck they were on and I made him give me the phone number of the guy he sold the truck to.I called the gentleman up and told him the story of how I had been trying to buy those slots off the other guy for 3 years.How I offered money,another set of wheels,do all the jack work,pay for mount and balance of his tires and the whole shebang.The guy was quite impressed with my story and determination to get the slots and agreed to sell them to me for the same deal as I had mentioned above.Now I have my period correct sweet looking slots and a cool story to tell while standing around our trucks enjoying a cold one:chevy:

http://i1116.photobucket.com/albums/...Mytruck003.jpg

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Now that I have the motor/trans out of the van,I was thinking about using the stock harness.I am not the best when it comes to electrical stuff so I made a thread about my wiring issue.I had some good responses with great info.The people who had mad the stock EFI harness work said it was a PITA and they would never do it again.MARKDTN came thru for me with a harness from Howell.The part# is H9395 at the bottom of the page,here is the link: http://howellefi.com/gm-tbi-products...sses-only.html
If anyone is thinking of doing this conversion this is your harness.These TBI motors are plentiful and can be had for cheap.I got mine for nothing!!

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Link doesn't work :chevy:

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Link should be fixed in the previous post now,sry about that:chevy:What do you think about the fuel tank install?

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Link works fine!!!

Tank looks like it was made to go in there!

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Thanks VA72C10,thats the look I was going for.Now that I know I'm using that harness I need to replace the freeze plugs on the motor while its out and get it installed.Then I can mock up my exhaust.I am going to use the van Y-pipe since it has the O2 sensor in it just after the Y.The van tubing is 3'' as well so it should have a nice deep exhaust note exiting all the way to the rear.I have an old 2 chamber flowmaster that I am going to try out to see how it sounds.I'm going to pull the front clip this weekend and get the engine bay prepped.More pics to come soon.Let me know what yall think.Thanks:chevy:

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

ohhhhh ahhhh .... very cool .. BIG thumbs up to guys with no garage!!

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

Thanks man,its sucks loosing washers and stuff in the dirt not having a nice concrete floor.I had a scorpion crawl all the way up my forearm and almost into my sleeve before I shook him off and stomped him!!I plan on building a big carport soon,large enough to fit 4 trucks with room to walk b/n them.Them pour a floor and hang cool crap from the rafters;)I'll post pics when I start digging holes for posts.Taking the Burb front clip off this weekend.Will post pics of engine bay clean up.Yall be good:chevy:

Re: Project Patina Azul
 

As soon as I saw the KDKB sticker on the glove box, I knew where it was from. Looks like the burb a friend had, but it was shiney back then.