1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

I finally made it home, 180 miles ---4.5 hours. I thought I was going to put my F150 on the trailer and tow it with the Burb. I was happy to know this is a one owner truck and all original (for now). Yes a true suburban barn find. It even has the manual in the original bag. When I got it off the trailer I started working to get it running properly i.e. carb rebuild. then I gave her a good bath. The engine and trans will be the only thing I sell

Plans are as follows:

• Keep middle and rear seats change front to custome buckets and console
• have my eye on2009 lq9 6.0 and transmission
• Gear vendor! yes it will have 8 speeds
• PB suspension
• Front and rear A.C. (may need some input on that)
• custome two tone paint (something different)

I called PB today and explained what I wanted to do I had three things that they needed to work araound for the suspention. I want to be as low as possible and still keep the third seat ( I would be okay if it was raised) I also tow a trailer. I'm installing the gear vendor.

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Very cool!
Let's see more detailed pictures of your new old burb!

You could take the seat brackets off the seat, and then mount it to the raised floor so it isn't sitting so high. (Hold onto the brackets though, they are pretty hard to come by).

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Great find. More pics!
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Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Good idea, one that I will use, and PB said the same thing

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Sound like we are doing similar projects. Looking forward to see your Sub come together.

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Nice find for a great build congrates. What is a gear vendor?Does the old motor run good. If so what r u going to do with it?Iam about two and a half hours south o u. Keep the pics comeing.:chevy:

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

First off let me take care of the gear vendor question. My brother has one in his 1997 F350 4 door longbed 4x4 with 38" tires 7.3 powerstroke he gets on average over 22 MPG it turns his trans into an eight speed. I had this Idea before to do before anything else. http://www.gearvendors.com/ Stacy David put one in "Copperhead"

Yes the motor does run fine I just spent some time with my dad on rebuilding/cleaning the carb and adding an inline fuel filter. According to PO motor was rebuilt about 20k ago and the trans had new seals installed at the same time. I will be removing them soon and they both along with radiator will be for sale on here and CL. Dogpound if you are interested throw me a number for them both. I need some body panel money!!!

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Nice Build!

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

So it starts.... I ordered parts, and took off the front end. Found the bad news of how bad the radiator support is. I ran out of time today or that engine and trans was next. Is their anyone who sells the back hatch new? I really need another one or a really good used one.

Going to go pick up all those bags of sand and ospho to rid all the rust

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Looks like a good starting point, I will have to follow along with this one...

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

so we have seperation and the frame is off to garage to remove all the suspension

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Unfortunately, nobody makes a repop hatch for these. You'll have to look for one for sale.

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

somethings missing....oh yeah a porterbuilt mild drop front and rear

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

So I thought I lived in a town that was suburban free but boy was I wrong when I looked in my rear view mirror to see, maybe, the best looking ambulance suburban ever.I literally stopped traffic to talk to the ownerAttachment 1052782

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

I'll be watching you're build, nice find.

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Got the frame sandblasted and primed today with help from Dad and his "secret" rust prevention primer. At the price of that stuff I thought it would have gold flake in it. Anyways I was very pleased with the how it turned out.
I need help on frame colors. I know it's a little soon without having the PB installed but I'm at a loss on what to do for color. I want the frame and suspension to stand out and be different from the truck color so if anyone has any sugestions or good pics bring them on.

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

a combination of black/silver would look good :)

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Sounds like a great project!

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

I was going to go that route on the burb's exterior wanted a little something off the normal. So ask and you shall recieve... Went to a garage sale today at an airplane hanger and found a one gallon can of DuPont imron bright blue
and bought it for $10.00.

Alright so I have two next steps now (1) move cab on body flipper and start rust repair/ body work, (2)figure out a budget for the front and rear mild drop member$$$

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Been a little busy to post some new pics of the burban progress in a while so here you go. I was very fortunate to have a body flipper which will make panel and floor replacement as easy as possible. That along with a old school lenco panel spotter (who's cables weigh approx 5 million lb's)and of course a plasma cutter.

On a different note I may splurge a little on the engine and transmission. That ls3 package is looking better and better every day http://www.jegs.com/p/Chevrolet-Perf...22872/10002/-1 has anyone on here done this install yet?

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Love the FL Burb projects. Looking good man.
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Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

That ls3 package from jegs is pretty sweet looking

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

I'll say, but man is it pricey.

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

So work got in the way and the burb got pushed on the back burner. I had some time today to remove everything else in the cab. Those seats were a blast to remove with all the 40+ years of road gunk and a splash of concrete on all the bolts under the wood floor. Kinda tough to heat them with a torch and not burn the wood.

so this project is going to be started and done simultaneously with burban!!! 1955 chevy truck. Picked this up about 5-6 years ago with dad with plans to make it 4x4, but we both agree 2wd and slammed to the ground on air bags looks and sounds better:metal:

Re: 1972 Kid Carrier Project
 

Gear Vendors sucks....costs tons of money plus all that custom fab work required and the o/d ratio isn't very good (that's why Copperhead was still turning 2500rpm at 60). these really belong under a motor home or in a vehicle that is always towing heavy loads where the extra power and gear splitting is most useful. otherwise just a modern overdrive trans and moderate rear axle will net you the best mpg. my dad's 87 burb c10 didn't really lose any mpg going from a 3.08 to 3.73 (soft gear made for a lot of shift hunting) and his current 99 burb c1500 350 w/ 3.42 rear gets 22mpg on the highway.


i see no reason to change when the original 307 in my 72 Burb C20 runs so beautifully (thanks to a Petronix kit and a Q-jet swap). but those modern LS engines are awesome and you can't beat fuel injection on cross country trips (carbs don't automatically adjust to altitude changes). i'd love to stick the 4" stroker crank from a z06 motor in a 5.3 for the best balance of pulling power and economy.