My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

Thought since I was going to try and get my Suburban back on the road I would start a thread for it and share with you guys.

This is my 1980 Chevy Suburban that my dad bought brand new in Germany when we were stationed over there. It has been in the family ever since and I became the new ower of it about 11 years ago when he passed away. I drove it for a few years and then between the gas cost and not really needing it (I also think I developed a knock of some sort, don't really remember) I decided to park it. The tags have an '03 registration so it's been sitting since at least then. Well long story short I've had very bad luck with cars lately and decided that it would be cool to get "The Beast" back on the road!

So after some creative winching and towing on Saturday I got it up in the driveway...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...105_125750.jpg

Here is how dirty the engine is....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...105_132259.jpg

After that is was the wife's birthday this weekend so we went out, and I got back to it on Sunday....

I had it sitting on the battery charger all night and it wouldn't start, well the starter solinoid would click rapidly but that's about it. So I figured that the engine had some surface rust in it and needed to be freed, so I put my oldest son to work (passing on the tradition. :chevy: ) and he got it to rotate a few times but when I turned the key it still just clicked. So I figure I need to drop the starter and bench test it. So I decided to break out the pressure washer and give it a good rinseing off!

Here's some more pics of it cleaned off....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_121848.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_121907.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_121915.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_121931.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_122002.jpg

Here are some interior shots....over the years it became extra seats storage..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_122224.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_122423.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_122551.jpg

and here is a pic of the boys working on it....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...106_124303.jpg


So hopefully here soon I'll have it back on the road and I can start fixing it up!

This is what I would like it to look like when I have the time and money! Obviously with the stock Maroon and white paint theme instead of the blue here...
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/a...1&d=1262146583

My dad never wanted to change or modify anything on the truck as much as I asked him to so I think a completely stock looking truck with my touch to it would be a cool tribute.

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

thats awsome... how long did it stay in germany before returing to the usa???

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

We got back states side late in '83 if I remember correctly, so it was only there for a few years.

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

very cool. My father used to have an 89 burb we call "The Beast"

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

That's cool! It got it's nick name from our friends growing up, everyone just called it "The Beast" so it just sorta stuck.

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

i think you should get the motor trans rearend and brakes right and good and slam it ljust like that.. pinta look

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

Having a vehicle get passed down through the family is something special, allows a lot of memories to be made... my brother has an old school Ford that was passed down from our grandfather, a `59 I think. But I definitely look forward to seeing your tribute to your father.

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

LOL!!! Honestly it probably will! Just due to funds, it's cheaper to slam it than repaint it!

I agree 100%! My Family, friends, relitives, friends of friends all know this truck and have a memory of it. So it is definetly special and I hope that my boys will have tons of memories with it as well. This is kind of my way of remembering my father...every time I see this truck I think of him and how he use to sit in the engine bay and work on it....

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

my suburbans name is "The Beast" as well haha:metal:Attachment 827416

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

My wife calls mine "the beast" too.
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f2...10524-1729.jpg

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

That's AWESOME!!! I have a feeling there are a lot of "BEAST's" out there.

Well while I was working on my Accord today I had my older son take out the starter so we could try and "bench test" it. Well after a few tries he had it out. I tried hooking up my battery charger on "start" and got nothing...so either I'm doing something wrong or the starter is dead. I also noticed that the rear seal on the transmission is leaking so that's gonna need replaceing.

Well in the mean time I figure I would have him clean it out and reorganize the "seat storage"......man there is a lot of seats. And since the pictures above were with my cell phone I thought I take some with the camera this time (not that they are much better).

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/PB130025.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/PB130027.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/PB130032.jpg

The blue seats are obvisly not stock, all this truck has ever had was a driver seat and a passanger seat and that's it! us kids just had to roll around in the back on a hot rubber mat! LOL!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/PB130030.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/PB130031.jpg

And here is a pic of all the seats and stuff I have had stored in it all these years...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...n/PB130028.jpg

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

What an awesome story it fits its name real well haha :D Good luck on getting it back on the road again. Hope it goes by semi quickly so you can get out and drive it and enjoy it with the whole family. :metal:

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

i wish i could "like" things on here like you do on facebook.. id be liking this whole page !:four:

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

That's funny you say that because I find my self surfing the forums all the time and looking for the "like" button on posts and forgetting I'm not on facebook! LOL!!!

But thanks for the "Like"!!! :metal:

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

haha hell yea! heres some new pics of my beast!
Attachment 828632Attachment 828633:two:

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

realized I haven't updated this tread since I started it but it's really because it has been a whirl wind kind of year and this project hit the back burner again.....but I have been surrounded by lots of "squarebodies" lately so I have had the itch to get back at it!

Here's a few pics from over the weekend...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...D905898C0E.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...D8FE2FA3B0.jpg

I've decided to pull the motor and rebuild it, so once I find a cherry picker I will begin that process!

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

So not much of an update but I did get a new valve stem put in the passanger side front tire and it now holds air. Also got it turned around and in the driveway so hopefully we'll get the starter in it by the weekend and hopefully get it to turn over!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...psde561d96.jpg

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

Well 1st attempt at Suburban revival.....FAIL!

Swapped in a known good starter and hooked up the battery charger, turned key to "on" and had power (stupid heater is still stuck on high), turned key to "start" and nothing. Tried it again and same results. So I figured it has to be the battery since it's so old. So I pulled the one out of my DD Silverado and turned the key to "on" had power just like before, turned key to "start" and same thing....only difference is after the second time I had no power at all.

So I guess this is going to be a little bit more complicated than I anticipated....

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

Keep working on it! Trouble shooting can be hard, but just take it one step at a time.Are you sure the engine is free? You might want to pull the plugs and put some oil in there. Try and turn it with the front balancer or with the fly wheel teeth. ;)

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

I did make sure the motor is free, I used a socket and breaker bar on the crank pulley and it moved freely.

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

OK so I checked the wires last night and other than being covered in crud they seemed fine, I also checked placement since I had my 14yr old son put in the starter and that was correct. So I threw in the old battery and hooked up the charger again and again same thing, key "on" had power turn to "start" and nothing, it seems to try but to me it sounds like there isn't enough "umph" to turn it over. I don't want it to start I just want it to turn the engine and then I'll go from there. I'm going to have my son pull the plugs today while I'm at work and then when I get home we'll try again maybe that will help it spin, even though it turns pretty freely by hand....

I also noticed while I was under it that there is a lot of rust on it! Being from Colorado I'm not use to rust, but my dad had it in Minnesota for two years before he passed while working on a contract and I guess the two years of the salt has eaten this truck! Any tips or tricks that I can do now to stop it from getting worse because I'm a LONG way away from body work.

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

You've got a bad ground on the engine, check or replace the ground straps. Check all the grounds in the engine bay. No doubt one of them rotted while it was sitting

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

I only know of the ground going from the battery to the engine and it's actually mounted on the first bolt for the exhaust manifold. Where would I look for the other "ground straps"? I didn't think they used those on older vehicles....

another thought I had for further down the road, I noticed that this motor has a TON of vacuum lines all over it and an "air pump" also an extensive EGR set up, can all this be removed once I get the motor running, so the engine bay looks cleaner?

Nick

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

there should be a ground to the frame from the engine, ground to the battery from the frame. Also a ground from the engine to the cab doesn't hurt (there is a stock one on my 86).

Whats happening is you're getting enough power to turn everything on, but when you try to start it the grounds aren't good enough to carry the amperage needed to turn over the starter. Wouldn't be a bad idea to unbolt the grounds and clean them.

If your area does not require testing older vehicles for emissions, you shouldn't have a problem removing the AIR and EGR systems.

Re: My Suburban "The Beast"!
 

Make sure it is all the way in park or try neutral to start it if that doesn't work check for power at the small wire on the engine side of starter, it may actually be the neutral safety switch on the bottom of the steering column which is used to start in n or park only. I would check for power if none then you know the rest is good.