New Member with a 66 GMC Burb

[McLovin]

Hey there,

My name is Ryan and I am a new member to the forum. I picked up an all original 66 GMC Suburban on Friday. I have wanted one of these for a long time and finally found one in my area and price range. It has the 305 v-6 and the 4 spd manual and is 2wd. It has power steering but no power brakes. Everything works and it is just slightly rusty in a couple places.

My short term goals for it are to lower it 3 inches in front and about the same in the rear. I'd also like to put a set of rally wheels on it 15x8 all the way around. I bought some new shocks for it and hope that helps stop it from rolling like a boat on the ocean.

It needs some general tune up items such as belts, plugs, wires ect... The carb has a slight leak and that will need to be addressed as well. Overall it is an awesome find and I can't wait to get started on it.

A couple questions for knowledgeable people on this forum. Has anyone switched to a weber carb on their 305? Is there a better carb than the stock one? I don't really want to change manifolds or anything. I just want it to be reliable.

My second question is about lowering it. I was thinking 3 inch drop springs up front and 2 or 3 inch drop leaf springs in the rear from Performance online. It says its for trucks but I figured they would work on the suburban as well?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. This is my new daily driver and I am super excited!

[gostranger]

Awesome suburban and a custom!!!! Nice score! Let me know if you need another set of the GMC custom trim incase any of your pieces are bad welcome to the suburban club!
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[RockTonka]

Looks to be in great shape...congrats!

[Corts60]

Alright! Great to see another V6 powered burn! Welcome.

[MusicMan70]

Welcome and love the Wooden bridge shots. What's the back story on the Burb?

[19GMC66]

Wow nice find! Would love to be the owner of that sub.
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[McLovin]

Thanks everybody! I bought it on Friday and have already had two offers to buy it from friends. I'm not selling! lol!

I am the second owner at this point. It was bought new in 66 and lived here in the Pacific Northwest. They bought it with no options other than power steering because the owners wife would not drive it without power steering. It was originally a 3 spd on the column truck but the original owner had it swapped to the four speed manual because he towed a big travel trailer with it and the three speed was too high geared in his opinion. From what I've been told its traveled all over the northwest and several trips to Montana with a travel trailer behind it. The back seat I don't think was ever in it. It was stored in the garage under a cover until I bought it. The truck is in great condition and everything works including the horn!

The original owners wife passed away a few years ago and the Burb just sat. He started it and moved it once and awhile but it hasn't seen the road for awhile until now.

He gave me the original owners manual, and an original GMC brochure showing all the different suburban and panel options for that year. He kept notes of maintenance done all the way back to 1967! The truck has 114000 original miles.

[MikeS.]

Nice Burb, congrats and welcome.
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[kieth]

Nice if you want to lower it and preserve its ride and handling just install 2.5" drop spindles then add rear air bags (if it has coil rear springs) air the bags up to get the desired stance (use schrader valves to increase or decrease the amt of air) later you can add a main tank and on board compressor. will not cost a arm and a leg and it will improve the handling by lowering the center of gravity. The ride will still be comfy....Kieth

[McLovin]

Thanks Keith. The rear is actually leaf springs. I think for the rear at this point I am going to do lowering leafs at about 3 inches. For the front I think I've decided to just do lowering springs for the time being and keep an eye out for a 73-87 chevy c10 that I can harvest the whole front end out of for the disc brakes, power brakes, power steering and all the other steering components. My ultimate goal will be a c-notch and air bags in the rear. The drop spindles are definitely a better choice than drop springs but I'd like to lower it on a budget to start.

Over the last week I have put new shocks all the way around, new stock style driver's side mirror, new arm rests, new belts and resealed the water neck that was leaking on the motor. This beast is so much fun to drive. It isn't fast but it sure gets a lot of thumbs up and admiring looks.

[McLovin]

Well, I've done a few minor things to the suburban now that Ive owned her for a couple months. Put new tires all the way around as one of them blew out on me on my way home from work. Came to find out it was a tire built in 1991 so it was probably time to upgrade. I polished the hubcaps and painted the wheels black. I think it looks a little better. I took the huge towing mirror off the driver side and replaced it with a small round stock one. The holes were still there where the original had been at one point. I put new arm rests inside as well. I took some trailer wiring off the back and cleaned the rear up a little bit. I plan on taking the hitch off, maybe even tonight. It was a farm build job and doesn't fit a standard receiver.

I am very pleased with this old suburban. I got 14.5 miles per gallon on my last tank of fuel. I drive it two or three days a week to work and get lots of compliments.

[nbrfd007]

Very Nice. I put on a 500 holley on mine with a Mr. Gasket adapter, works great. Alos did a HEI conversion, woke her up. http://www.6066gmcguy.org/ has a lot of great info on GMCs.

[MikeS.]

Ryan, good work, keep us updated.
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[donthekawguy]

Very nice! Some people have all the luck!

[Cooper197]

Looks like there hasn't been much activity on this in a while...but I happen to know a thing or two about THIS specific GMC.

It's currently in Washington. My dad is the current owner of this awesome Suburban, and was the one who purchased it from Ryan. It's been a daily driver, and an awesome one at that! Sure is one fun, unique truck!

[MikeS.]

Congratulations to you and your dad, it's a really nice truck.

[MikeS.]

How about some pictures of the inside?