86 Suburban w/ 56k miles

[Corts60]

I was scrubbing the tank, prepping it for POR15 and found another build number. 83. It’s written everywhere: under dash, on firewall, on rad support, on frame. Pretty sweet that it is all still legible.

Got the new sender installed, going to paint the top of the tank with POR 15 and repair the few surfaces on the frame where the anti-squeak padding was holding moisture and causing rust. The rest of the frame in that area is still factory black and shiny which is awesome.

Next will be all new fuel hoses, gluing on the new anti-squeak pads and then getting the tank back in.

[Corts60]

Well I got the fuel tank and all new hoses installed. Hooked up the new sender and…nothing. It still doesn’t work. Kinda made me mad a little bit. But, oh well we’ll continue troubleshooting. I thought maybe the gauge went south on me so I figured I’d get a new one. But then while I was looking up a new gauge, I started eyeballing the aftermarket tach kits and thought, yep, I’ll add that since I’m in the dash anyways.

So I got that installed tonight and works wonderful. I’m very impressed with the quality of the LMC tach kit. It’s probably the best aftermarket/reproduction part I’ve ever seen. It’s nice to see some high quality parts coming back on the market.

Now I have to focus again and solve this dang fuel gauge problem. I’m almost certain I have a break in the wire somewhere….

[evan]

Originally Posted by Corts60

Well I got the fuel tank and all new hoses installed. Hooked up the new sender and…nothing. It still doesn’t work. Kinda made me mad a little bit. But, oh well we’ll continue troubleshooting. I thought maybe the gauge went south on me so I figured I’d get a new one. But then while I was looking up a new gauge, I started eyeballing the aftermarket tach kits and thought, yep, I’ll add that since I’m in the dash anyways.

So I got that installed tonight and works wonderful. I’m very impressed with the quality of the LMC tach kit. It’s probably the best aftermarket/reproduction part I’ve ever seen. It’s nice to see some high quality parts coming back on the market.

Now I have to focus again and solve this dang fuel gauge problem. I’m almost certain I have a break in the wire somewhere….

Nice. I've been looking at that tach conversion kit but they don't have the style to match my speedo in stock. I'll keep an eye out for it though. That looks great.

[LT7A]

That tach conversion is really clean. I'd like to do it, but I think I'm just going to go with the aftermarket column mounted / fold away tachometer option.

[Corts60]

Finally we have a nice day in western Michigan!

[Corts60]

This week I replaced the rusty original 2 1/4” tailpipe with a new 3” factory style like my ‘88 has.

[Palf70Step]

The wheel and tire combo looks good. Glad you kept some sidewalls on the tires. Looks so much better than the rubber band look.

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

The wheel and tire combo looks good. Glad you kept some sidewalls on the tires. Looks so much better than the rubber band look.

Thanks Bill! Yes, having sidewalls was important to me. My goal was to recreate the classic 275/60/15 look on a 17” wheel. I really wish they made a white letter 17” tire.

I went with this size also because it is almost the exact same height as the 255/70/15 so I don’t need to change speedo gears or anything.

[Advanced Design]

That looks very good. Love your Suburban!

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

That looks very good. Love your Suburban!

Thanks Doug!

[Corts60]

That’s more like it.

[Palf70Step]

[Corts60]

Thanks Bill!

I think it looks even better outside!

[Corts60]

Time to get this thing a little lower now. Drop spindles and rear shackles should be here in a couple weeks!

[Corts60]

Moving right along, time to tear down the engine for a new Melling MTC-1 camshaft. I plan to tow my boat quite a bit in the future and need a little more uumph than the underwhelming 165 factory horses. Haha

This is as far as I got today.

[Willowrun]

Cam swaps with the engine installed always add some fun to the mix. Interested to hear your seat of pants comparison to the stock cam.

[Advanced Design]

Will be a nice project to do. I will be following along too.

[Corts60]

Waiting for the engine parts to show up, but my lowering shackles arrived so I thought I might take a swing at those tonight. Boy will this be fun….

Turns out the ol’ assembly line put this bolt in so there is no way you could ever get it out. Time for the sawzall.

[Corts60]

Yep, I immediately regret digging into the suspension right now. Every bolt is frozen and needs to be cut out. Jooooooyyyyy.

[Corts60]

Well this escalated quickly. Every bolt was seized in the leaf spring eyes. I ended up cutting out everything. So! New leaf springs, hardware, and u-bolts are on the way. And can someone tell me what GM was thinking on the forward leaf spring perch, putting the nut in that little pocket? How is anyone supposed to get in there!

Here she is as of today. The axle is just laying there loose. I’m going to drop it off at a shop in town and have the pinion seal replaced while I’m in here.

[Corts60]

Got everything apart and all the perches and frames cleaned up ready for install. Now just waiting on parts!

Have to get a neighbor over here to help me load up the axle so I can take it to a shop for new seals.

[Advanced Design]

Nice work on the drop, the Burb looks really good!

[Corts60]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work on the drop, the Burb looks really good!

Thanks!

The rear is gonna have to come down some more for sure. I went to the shop and hooked it up to the boat trailer. She still sits too high even with a load on it, so I’ll be ordering the 4” drop leaf’s later this year.

[Corts60]

I ended up having some custom 1” wheel spacers made for the rear. The tires sat too far inside for me. These spacers are hub centric and very high quality. Pretty happy with them.

[OutlawDrifter]

Suburban is looking good! My K2500 has a 2" spacer on the rear, not big on the sucked in look myself.

Will you need to do an air bag helper with the 4" drop leaf?