Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Well I actually started this project a couple years ago, but I thought I'd go ahead and start a project thread for it. I'll get you all up to speed where it is now and then start posting as I make more progress.

Started out with a 1972 3/4 ton 2wd Suburban. This is what it looked like just before I drove it to the body shop. I stripped it down about as far as I could and still be able to legally drive it down to the shop.

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Instead of converting the 2wd chassis to 4wd, I bought a 4x4 truck frame and started building a 4x4 suburban chassis from there. This is the way to go when coverting to 4x4, especially since I was pulling the body off anyway. I put on 4" Tuff Country springs, a Dana 60 front, and a 14 bolt detroit locked rear.

Attachment 401045

More to follow........

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Looks like an awesome project. Glad you got a good foundation to begin with. Definately keep us posted on this build. Not enough blazer and suburban builds on here for my taste.

Also I noticed all of the patch panels in the back of the suburban. Your project doesnt seem rusty; it really needs all of those panels replaced?

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Nice project!

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Yep, those are the patch panels I knew I needed before sandblasting it. It needed the normal 72 Chevy stuff: rockers, floors, front pillar, and kick panel patches,..... on both pass and driver side. Otherwise the rest of the body looked great.

As you'll see later I ended up needing even more patch panels after sandblasting!:dohh:

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

So then I drove the Burb to the body shop, were the pulled the body off the frame and took the front end off and apart.

Also had them build a tube steel dolly so the could move the body around and trailer it down to the sand blaster.

Here is the 2wd rolling chassis I've since parted out and/or scrapped.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

I'll continue on with the body,....

So the body went of to the sandblaster, and here is what she looked like when she came back,...along with some self-etching primer.

Firewall and interior looked pretty good, except the rockers and floors of course!

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Passenger side looked awesome.

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Roof looked real good.

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And last but not least the drivers side was a mess!:eek::eek:

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By the way those are new door skins on both doors.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Don't you hate it when you find more body damage after the paint comes off? Still; from what I can see that is a great looking project suburban. Can't wait to see more progress of it. Quick question, when you took the upper chrome moulding off of the suburban. How did you get it off of the upper tailgate hatch. I cant see where it bolts in. Was it a glue on piece? Thanks.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

If I'm remembering correctly all the upper molding on mine, including the hatch, was just pressed in. No glue anywhere. I just pulled off the molding, which I didn't worry about saving since I wasn't going to re-use it. Most of the time the molding clips snapped off and just left a little pin in the body which I pulled out with some needle nose pliers.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Next, my paint & body guy prepped and painted the roof. I used the original white color, PPG 2185 White.

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Then he shot the bottom with undercoating. I used the existing plywood floor. I thought it was in okay shape and I didn't want to invest the extra time and money to put in new wood. Hopefully that works out for me in the long run.

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Before we dropped the body on the chassis he shot the firewall with some paint. The blue paint is PPG 19220 Riviera Blue, from 1996 Porsche.

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Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Burbs rock!!!!!

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

A few more pics of the Burb at this point of the project:

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Great looking project! I really like that shade of blue on these trucks! ...Joe

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

So now for the difficult body work. Here is the damage again on the driver's side,....pretty nasty. You may also see some of the layout lines for the patch panels. We are attempting to "Frankenstien" this side together with 4 patch panels. A long bed lower front quarter, a shortbed bedside, a lower rear Suburban quarter, and a Suburban tail light section.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

We wanted to get the body bolted to the frame before we started cutting sheet metal. Probably a good idea just so the body doesn't twist up or loose its shape. If we tried cutting it up on the dolly who knows what may have happened. So with the body bolted up he started cutting:

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Before I could get back to the body shop my guy already had the bedside patched welded up. I think it turned out pretty good.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Then he buttoned up the lower rear quarter and tail light section:

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and that's where its at right now. I dropped this thing off at the body shop a year ago. Its been a slow go, but hopefully six more months and I get it back with all the paint done. We'll see:confused:

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Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Cool build, I am subscribed.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Okay, so now you're up to date on the body. Let me go back and get up to speed on the frame/chassis.

I wanted to make this a 4x4, and at first I was looking into converting the 2wd frame to 4x4. I was having a hard time finding the leaf spring hangers, and I figured out from this site that the wheelbase and frame from a longbed truck is basically the same as a suburban. I found a 4x4 longbed frame locally for $300, and bought it. It was already sandblasted and powdercoated. This I think turned out to be one of the decisions I made. Way less work than converting a 2wd chassis, plus I wasn't going to use any of the stock 2wd drive train stuff anyway.

As soon as I got the truck frame I hung some 4" Tuff Country front springs and 6" rear springs. Also picked up a 14 bolt rear 4:10, put in a detroit locker and disc brake conversion. And bolted up a Dana 60 front, open w/ 4:10's.

I lost the pics I had of the frame, springs, and axles only, so your getting a peak at some of the other upgrades I made.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

So in order to make this Burb a little special I decided to go with a GM crate motor,...502 HO, 450hp and 550 torque. I also moved the engine forward an 1-1/4" to be sure the valve covers and HEI distributer clear the firewall. I used the stock 4x4 engine crossmember and small block motor mounts, but in order to do so I had to ditch the 6 qt. oil pan that comes on the motor (and doesn't clear the crossmember), and install GMPP's 4 qt. oil pan which they recommend for corvettes, chevelles, and other custom applications........So far so good.

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I also picked up a used turbo 400/np205 combo. Had the t400 rebuilt, and re-sealed and gasketed the 205. I moved the transmission/TC crossmember back an 1-1/2". The 1-1/2" for the trans and the 1-1/4" for the motor add up to the 2-3/4" in extra length of a turbo 400 versus a turbo 350, which was originally in the 4x4 frame.

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Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

The next chassis project I tackled was extending the truck frame and making it a suburban frame. I picked up a pair of rear frame horns from a board member. I spliced em in, filled in the oval truck body mount holes, re-holed sawed a round suburban position #6 body mount hole, and then added about 8 inches of plate to box the frame in that area and add strength.

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I also bought a Valley Industries hitch for a "67-72 Carryall" and bolted it up. I really like the way this hitch bolted up, although I had to make a modification to it to make it work the way I wanted. I bolted the two side brackets thru some of the existing rivet holes. In doing so the brackets were about 1/2" away from tow bar on each side. I just made pair of 1/2" spacer plates, drilled 4 holes in em and slid them in and bolted everything up. I think it turned out nice.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Just a thought, but have you test fit your fuel tank yet?

Also you might consider having your body man install the gas door out of a 88-98 pickup, it will look way cleaner.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

cool build..

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Since you mentioned gas tank let me share what I did. I know the stock gas tank capacity isn't going to cut it with a 502.

I decided to try and install a Northwest Metal Products 37 gallon tank for a 69-72 Blazer. As you can probably guess from my screen name I've got a K5 Blazer too, and its also a 72. I figured since the truck and suburban frames are close to the same, the Blazer should be too, and I didn't see why a "Blazer" tank wouldn't fit. As it turns out it does fit. I'll confess its slightly off center between the frame rails, and I sorta ditched the directions provided and figured out how to mount it myself. I don't know if this was due to it going into a Suburban, or just manufacturing variances from Northwest Metal Products. Again I think it turned out allright.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Better fill that puppy up while gas prices are low :lol: Love the build!

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

looking real nice and clean, job well done so far, what rims and tires do you plan on running?

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

I know what you mean! Heck, by the time I get this thing on the road gas could be $10 bucks a gallon! :dohh:

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Cool, and the upside is, that tank is a good ways forward, so if you should go through the very unfortunate experience of being ass ended, there is a much smaller chance of bursting into flames.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Thanks for the complements and ecouragement.

I guess I'm kinda going with a semi-stock/resto-mod/sleeper look. Just drivetrain upgrades and mild lift. Also going with a stock interior,....3 rows of bench seats,....stock door panels etc. So with that in mind I'm leaning towards some stock steel wheels and chrome 3/4-1 ton hup caps, along with some Goodyear MTR's,.... 33's or 35's. Not sure if this thing is going to fit thru my 7' garage with 35's and a 4" lift, so that'll determine the tire size. Can't be leaving this baby parked outside with all that's invested.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Nice job job far..

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

So finding a set of headers was a serious challenge,...BBC in a 4x4 frame with a SBC crossmemeber. GM Performance Parts tells you to use 2" primary and 3" collector headers for the 502HO. Not to many header companies make 2" primary headers, and I definately didn't want to choke down the motor with some 1-3/4", which everbody makes. I think just Hedman and Hooker make 2" BBC headers. I ended up going with Hedman. It still wasn't simple, I tried 4 or 5 different sets, and the only way I was able to make it work was by combining 2 sets. I used a 67 chevelle driver side and a 72 Chevy 2wd truck for the passenger side. Since Hedman sells a drivers side only for the 67 Chevelle, so I only actually paid for a set and a half of headers. I still also had to do some grinding to the frame to squeeze them in, and I shortened (cut and re-welded the flange) the driver side collector by about 4",...it was too long and too close to the trans crossmember,...not enought room to bend the exhaust pipe over the transfer case.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

After the headers it was time for exhaust. I'm going with dual 3" aluminized pipe. Its a universal set you can get from Flowmaster, it has two pieces of every bend,..22-1/2, 45, 90, straight, etc. I also went with a pair of stainless steel Magnaflow mufflers. I cut and welded the pipe up,..and around the transfer case,...pretty tight fit!,..nice not having the body on! Going to dump em out in front of the rear tires. Also going try and paint the aluminumized pipe with VHT ceramic heat paint in the future. Not sure if a h-pipe is going to work out yet,..gotta fit up the drive shaft and see.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

looks nice, any trick to welding that aluminized pipe?

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Thanks......If there are any tricks I don't know them! I'm not really a welder, I just pretend to be one in my garage.

I used a 120 volt Hobart 140 with shielded .030 wire, and #2 setting. The pieces that slip fit together welded up easy. the pieces that just butted together were tough, I kept blowing holes, but finally got it. If I had it to do over it I'd go with .024 wire, gas, and the lowest setting (#1). I tried welding the shielded .030 wire at the lowest setting but it wouldn't burn/melt.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Next up for the build was a GM Performance Parts serpentine system. IMO this is the way to go when starting from scratch on a big block swap. I looked into trying to find all the original v-belt brackets, pulleys, etc. But it probably would have cost me more than the GM kit ($700) when you add it all up, not to mention the time searching this board, ebay, etc. This is a slick kit! Everything bolted right up with the exception of a couple of bolts that were the wrong size. No big deal just picked up a couple new ones from the hardware store.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

....then I bolted up the core support, new 4 core radiator and shroud.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

.....and the rest of the motor dressings,

Holley offroad carb, 770 cfm
Summit Racing HEI distributor
Holley air filter
some K & N breathers
Summit upper and lower radiator hoses.

I took this stuff off before towing the chassis to the painter.

Now you are all up to date on the progress of the chassis.

I'm just waiting (and waiting, and waiting!) to get it all back from the painter so I can continue the build.

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

Lookin good!

She is coming along now...

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

What an outstanding project. Gonna be a killer Burb!!!!

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

big blocks are awesome!! very nice!!

Re: Project: 1972 502 HO 4x4 Suburban
 

While my paint & body man is still taking his time, I'm scrounging up the rest of the parts to finish the Burb. I picked up a set of 16x7 Ford steel wheels off ebay and had them powdercoated semi-gloss black. Have also got a set of 3/4 ton hubcaps, which I'm going to have restored soon.