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Not much progress this weekend. Revisiting the rear suspension.

It was a busy weekend this past weekend. On top of that, the weather was just nasty... not fun to be working out in the cold garage or on the cold driveway. As a result, not much progress was made over the last few days. Certainly not a waste though.

I did put new alternator and power steering belts on the 'Burban. In the process I realized the alternator wiring was nearly corroded away entirely, so I took the opportunity to rewire the whole thing, at least as far back as I easily could. So I guess that's progress. I piddled around with a couple of other odds and ends... tightened up bolts on the transfer case and tranny, hoping to slow any fluid leaks.

It was actually cold and gross enough outside that I figured I'd confirm once and for all whether or not the Suburban will fit in our garage. Inching forward... with the door open... my eyes poking out above the roofline... right foot outstretched, toggling between gas and brake pedals...


Just... barely... fits... My post from a few weeks ago shows the contrast, pre-lowering...


So now it's confirmed, I've got a couple of inches to spare on the height of the Suburban... but I have already confirmed that the Chevy is too long to fit (at least with the big PTO winch bumper it is). Either way, I'm not complaining. It's much better to roll the creeper around on smooth garage-floor concrete than on rough driveway concrete.

I never did post any photos or info about what made all this possible -- removing the gigantic homemade suspension lift blocks that were welded to the rear axle's spring perches. These gems appear to be stacks, upon stacks of steel plates welded together (about 8 inches of steel plates welded together), then welded to the axle.

After getting the Suburban jacked up and supported on stands (an adventure in itself), I tried to remove the spring U-bolts by hand, with a big breaker bar and a socket.

No luck.

Then I tried heating the bolts with a torch to loosen them.

No luck.

At this point it dawned on me, why not just grind right through them and hammer what's left of them out the other end.


Above you can see I have the inboard U-bolt already off, and the outboard U-bold half-way gone. Once those are gone, I get to work on grinding away the lowest visible weld bead on the block -- which isn't easy to do with all the dirt and corrosion.


After grinding the bead down far enough to expose a seam most of the way around, I just start whacking the thing with a sledgehammer. You can see above that what's left of the weld gives way, and the lift block tumbles off, leaving this...


Not too bad. Just a little cleanup with the grinder and I'm ready to button it up. I put it all back together using the 4" lift blocks that came out of the front. Probably not a permanent solution, but good enough for now.


The other side was just more of the same, which went smoothly, and pretty quickly. I only ran into one little snag, when I just barely buzzed the new brake line with the grinder and put a hole right through it.


Otherwise... not too bad a job. Putting *another* brake line on it and bleeding, etc, etc added an hour or so to my task that day, but I didn't mind too much. The 4" blocks on the rear put the height just ever-so-slightly low in the rear, but it's very, very close to level with the front (probably so close you can't even tell without measuring).


I think that gets my story pretty much up to date. After an unproductive weekend last weekend, I really need to get the gas tank situation and the choke issues (no fast idle circuit because there's no choke hardware) worked out. After those two items, I think it'll be time for some bodywork. That'll make the missus happy... she's embarrassed to have the neighbors see the beast in our driveway :)

Well looky here... a leaking gas tank.

Walked out to the Suburban after work last night, and to my surprise, I find a big stinking wet spot on the pavement under the right rear corner of the truck.


It was around 7PM, so it was already dark, and there is no light on that side of the parking lot. The camera on my Blackberry is pretty much awful, but I gotta say, the flash is pretty decent. In the photo above you can see the fuel spot on the pavement (the corner of the bumper just peeking through on top of the picture.

It's not a puddle, so the leak can't be that fast. I crouch down to take a better look (even after lowering the Suburban by 5 or 6 inches, it's still tall enough that "crouching down" to look underneath doesn't take too much).

Two nights ago I put about 10 gallons in the rear tank, thinking I had been misjudging just how many miles a given gallon of gas will take me. I hadn't noticed any leaks from the tank before, but now I've seen it in the act. The drip is reasonably consistent, maybe one drip per second. That adds up to a lot of fuel.


Long story on the dual-gas tank situation on this Chevy. I'm not even really sure myself, but there are two tanks, and the primary (factory) tank isn't being used. This one in the rear is an auxiliary tank, and it looks like maybe it's even home made. I guess I've got no reason to trust it. Perhaps this weekend I pull the factory gas tank out and see if there are any problems with it. Probably should get it switched over asap, and ditch the home-brewed tank.

On a positive note, I found two Dynomax SuperTurbo mufflers with an H-pipe for $50. Not brand new, but pretty close, and *way* cheaper than retail. Some quieter mufflers will probably make my neighbors really happy.

Out of gas... again

Couldn't get the Suburban started this morning, in the cold, windy snow. Could pour a little gas down the carb and it would start to fire up. Turns out it's out of gas, again! Either this thing has a leak I'm not aware of, or it GULPS gasoline, because I've barely driven it.

I should make this an electric Suburban.

Weekend progress, part 2: Seats that don't fall over when you turn left.

So... seats. Here's what was in the Suburban when I picked it up.


I don't know what these nasty bucket seats came out of, but they're awful. Last weekend I took the passenger seat out and just left it out. I actually took the driver's seat out too, but had to put it back in to drive it. The floor is swiss cheese from all of the screw holes the last owner put in it to bolt these seats down, and most of the holes are stripped out. I managed to get one bolt to bite, and that's how I've been driving it for the past week. So on a hard left turn, I have to pull hard on the armrest of the door or the whole seat will fall over (which, believe it or not, is kind of a safety hazard).

Two weekends ago Tami's dad drove down to Potosi with me to pick up some seats from a 2003 Silverado. They're pretty nice, what I'd been looking for, for the most part. The fabric is dark charcoal, but it's more of a tweed, probably what they normally put in base model Chevy pickups. They cloth they use in new Suburbans is a softer velour, which I really like, but these seats were $150, so I'll take it. I figure a little upholstery work may be in order when I get rear seats anyway, so these'll work for now.

One of the big reasons I wanted late-model Chevy truck seats was the fact that they have shoulder seat belts built into the seats, so I don't need separate seat belts that bolt to the body pillars.

Alright, so this morning, it's a late start, but I figure I can knock this out. I cut out the carpeting where the seats will mount (all of the carpet's getting replaced anyway). The floorpans aren't bad really, some surface rust, but really minor. I mock-up the seat placement, and mark some bolt placements on the floor with a Sharpie.

I figure there are two options here, drill more holes into this already aerated floor, or weld some studs in place. I had bought nuts and bolts, but decided that welding the bolts in as studs would a better long-term solution (and way more fun, because drilling holes sucks compared to welding).


The rear mounts are going to be trickier, because there's a hump in the floor behind the front seats, and the seat tracks actually don't clear the hump when you try to slide the seat back. So, couldn't just weld the studs in, I had to fabricate some 1" risers for the rear mounts.


I just tack-welded them into place for now, in case I decide to adjust anything before installing new carpet.


Ok, so the passenger side is done. Repeat for the driver's side and we're golden. Drop the seats on the the studs and tighten everything down. The seats are a perfect fit. The height and angle seem to work just fine, even with the rear shimmed up 1".


Turned out just as I hoped -- 2003 Chevy Silverado split-bench seat in the 1971 Chevy Suburban. This was actually really enjoyable mini-project too, even with the cold temps today. I guess not having to crawl around under the truck and get covered in grease and dirt makes a big difference.

I did a couple of other little odds and ends to wrap things up today. The headlights weren't working right so I got them fixed (good lord, what an electrical mess someone made of this thing). I think when the fenders come off for painting I'm going to just re-wire all of the lights up front. Drove it after dark tonight. Comfy seats (securely bolted down, with seat belts), bright new functional headlights, and a smoother, quieter idle... It's crazy just how much awesomer this Suburban is now. It's still every bit as ugly, but I guess when you're working on something as beat to hell as this old Chevy, the little things really do make a difference.

Weekend progress, part 1: Carburetor work, again!

On Friday the Suburban died while on a run to Home Depot to get some salt for the progressing snow-storm. Luckily Tami was out and about, and was able pick me up. At lunch I did get it started (must have just flooded it), and I put a few gallons of gas in it. Fired up fine since then. I've noticed over the last couple of days though, that the idle is a little rougher and rougher. I've been fiddling with the adjustments, but really, I'm no carburetor mechanic.

This weekend one of my objectives was to deal with the rough idle. I get it started (again, no problem starting it up, so that's positive). It's got a Holley 4-barrel carburetor on it, which is pretty simple to adjust, theoretically. First and primary adjustment is the fuel level. There's an adjuster with a lock screw on top of each fuel bowl, and the fuel level should be just under the sight plug. Basically, the site plug is a screw in the side of the fuel bowl. You take out the screw, and adjust the fuel level to the point where it is just below the screw-hole. So sitting still no gas spills out, but if you rock the truck or bump it, a little gas will dribble out.

I pull the sight plug out and there's gas spilling out. Ok... the level is too high. In the process of adjusting it downward, I managed to ruin the gasket on the lock-screw for the adjuster. I had kept all of the left over items from the Holley 37-119 Renew Kit I used last week, and *hoped* there would be an extra gasket in there. But... no luck. What I did have though, were a bunch of extra gaskets from the metering blocks, which are kinda big, with lots of holes in them. Luckily a little trimming with scissors, and I had a new gasket.

Now the Holley is adjusted, and leak free, so I fire it back up. Idle's high, so I adjust it a bit more as well, and you know, it feels really solid. It actually seems a lot quieter too for some reason. I don't know if the idle was just rough enough before, or if it was just running so rich that the motor was gargling or what, but it sure sounds better now.

Dead at Home Depot

Bah. The Sub has been running really nice since I rebuilt the carb. Always starts on the first try, runs smooth, no worries. Today we get an ice storm so I run to Home Depot to get a bag of salt for the parking lot. Getting there was no problem, but getting home... not so much.

Honestly, I think I'm just out of gas. There are two gas tanks on the truck, so I guess I first have to figure out which one is in use. It's nasty rainy out today though. Good thing Tami had just dropped E off at Preschool. She was able to swing by and pick me up... but I'm not going to hear the end of this very soon, I'm pretty sure of that.

First objective this weekend: get the 71 Suburban back home :)

It's got gas...

...going into the intake, rather than squirting out from all the worn out gaskets in the old Holley 4-barrel. And to set the record straight, this 71 Suburban does smell a *ton* better now that the carburetor is rebuilt and working as it should.

This past weekend was pretty successful. I managed to get the Holley carburetor rebuilt, and I finished lowering the truck back down to normal human height.

I grew up on fuel injection, so this whole carburetor thing is pretty new to me. Even my first car, a 1986 Audi 5000, had fuel injection (although it was some sort of hydraulic injection system, it was still direct injection into the cylinders).

So the first challenge for me was figuring out just what carb this is. I knew it was a Holley, that much was obvious. There are list numbers stamped on the choke tower or the airhorn.


Mine reads "1850-3". Here's where it's a little tricky... that list number doesn't correspond with a Holley model number at all. Had to do a little googling, and digging around on the Holley.com website, and I finally figured out that it's a model 4160: "600 CFM Four Barrel Street Carburetor; Manual Choke; Vacuum Secondary; Street Performance Carburetor for the Budget Minded Enthusiasts; Calibrated for Excellent Street Performance".

Gooood. Now I know what I'm working with. This is progress. All I want to do is a simple rebuild, so I call AutoZone to see if they have the Holley 37-119 Renew kit in stock. Bingo. Things are looking good.


This box actually says "TricKit". That's supposed to be the high-performance kit for these carburetors, with different jets, etc. The sticker on the side is correct though, and the contents of the box confirmed it, this is actually a 37-119 Renew Kit.

The instructions in this box are thin, that's for sure. There are an intimidating number of parts in the box, and the instructions basically say to take the old carburetor apart, and put it back together in the revers order. Right, sound straightforward. Let's get started...


I get to taking the Holley apart, and it's dirty, as expected. I soak the parts in lacquer thinner to un-gum them. Honestly though, I expect this thing to be covered in a little black soot, but this thing doesn't seem bad. I think it's really just that the gaskets got old and leaky, otherwise, I think this thing was alright, not too varnished up at all.

I took my time and I figure the whole thing ended up taking a few hours. Several distractions throughout the afternoon, but really, it couldn't have gone much smoother.

Here it is shiny and rebuilt:


Installing it back on the truck is simple - just four bolts, attach throttle cable, vacuum lines and gas line, pour a little gas in the bowls to get it started. Fired up pretty quickly and I adjusted the fuel levels in both bowls, which is also really simple.

As many parts and gaskets and o-rings as there are in the rebuild kit, rebuilding a four barrel carburetor (at least a Holley) is really super simple. I'm still stunned at how complex the machine is with all the fuel passages and the metering blocks, etc. Funny how computers makes modern systems seem so much simpler.

Either way, I'm good to go now, truck runs and drives real nice now, and... no more stink! Not bad for $20. That takes us to tomorrow. Goal: removing gigantic home-made lift blocks that are *welded* to the axle. I'll keep you posted...

Leaky fuel lines... leaky carburetor

I'm thinking of renaming this blog "This Old Suburban". It's got a nice ring to it I think. Other alternatives would be something like "This Old Gas-Leaking, Loud, Rusty Suburban".

It's the gas-leaking part that I guess I need to remedy first. On Monday morning I couldn't get it to stay running. Starting was fine (it's colder this week than last), but keeping it running without pumping the pedal just wasn't happening.

I noticed later in the day that there was about a 12" by 8" damp spot on the concrete under the truck. When I first picked it up, I had to fix a couple of cracked, leaking fuel lines, and I suspect this is more of the same.

So... now my priority list for this weekend starts with this: 1) fix leaking fuel lines 2) rebuild carburetor (it's leaking too).

We'll see how long that takes. I think it'll be easy and I'll still be able to get the suspension lowered and seats mounted. We'll see...

First Weekend Cont'd - Lowering ride height

So the choke's working now, it was a pretty easy fix, and now I'm easily able to start the truck up and maneuver it around the driveway and as far into the garage as I can get it. The next task to make this classic Suburban more drivable is to lower it.

Did I mention this thing is friggin' huge?


Several inches away from fitting in the garage...

The previous owner of this heavy Chevy had installed some sort of home-made lift kit on it. It basically has lift blocks under the leaf springs on the front and back. There are 4" blocks on the front axles, and roughly 8" of blocks on the rear. The ride-height is tall, but pretty level, so I'm not sure if the rear leaf packs are just worn out, or perhaps the front springs are heavier, from a big-block motor setup (it's got a small-block Chevy 350 in it now). Regardless, my goal is to just remove the blocks altogether from the front, and shorten the rear blocks.


This front block/spring is covered in what I think is brake fluid, although it might be steering fluid. The rear block appears to be welded onto the perch on the axle. Totally a home-brewed setup.

So I'll start with the fronts. These proved to be pretty simple, as expected. Biggest problem was getting it jacked up high enough to get the wheels off. The u-bolts were easy to break loose and spin off with an air ratchet. Then I lowered the axle down enough to pop those lift blocks out, and bolt it all back together with new, shorter u-bolts. Couldn't be much easier...


Now so far, the day has gone pretty smoothly, but something had to go wrong. It was clean livin' after lowering the front suspension. Tire clearance seemed to be ample, even with the big tires and losing 4" worth of clearance (makes me wonder if I ought to remove one leaf from the pack to lower it down a bit more even). With the front complete, I fired the Suburban up to back it in the driveway, making the rear axle more easily accessible from the garage.

After maneuvering the tank into position, I crawled underneath to inspect the rear suspension. Looks reasonably straightforward - I'll remove the u-bolts... grind off the weld holding the blocks in place, and go from there.

Just as I get started I run into trouble... I don't even recall why I did it, but I gave a little tug to the brake line and it snapped in my hand.


Now there's a river of dirty, years old brake fluid forming a reddish-brown puddle on my driveway. It couldn't be avoided I guess... an unexpected trip to the parts house.

It was late afternoon by now, and I did manage to get a new brake line bent and flanged, and installed on the truck. Tami helped pump the brake pedal so I could bleed the lines. I only bled the left side, and there doesn't appear to be any air in that side at least, but I probably should bleed the right side as well (the brake pedal still feels a bit squishy).

So... that caps off the first day of work on the '71 Suburban project. Things didn't go badly I suppose. Next weekend I'll start back up where I left off... lowering the rear suspension.

Weekend 2 goals: lower rear suspension; install front seats. I really should add installing mufflers to the top of the list too so I don't have to feel like a schmuck starting the Burb up early in the morning. With those glass packs on there it sounds like you're at a tractor pull at the state fair, and I'm afraid to wake the neighbors up.

More to come...


This is *after* lowering the front by 4 inches (I'm 6' tall)...

First weekend goal: install choke, lower ride-height to somewhat normal levels

It was only last weekend that I picked up this beast of a 1971 Chevy Suburban. As I've mentioned, it's friggin' huge. I've driven it around some, and I don't mind the Hugger orange color, or the rust holes so much. I'm not easy to embarrass... but the 35" tires and the massive lift kit is just a bit much for me. Plus, with that tire/lift combination, the Sub doesn't fit in my garage. So, on my first weekend with this project, my goals are these: get the carburetor choke working, and lower the height down to at least somewhat normal levels.

I started with the choke, since being able to start the truck and move it around would be helpful. It's got a 4-barrel Holley carb in it, and it looks like the entire choke assembly is broken off. I see an orphaned ground-wire connection that makes me think this originally had an electric choke on it, but it's hard for me to tell.


As it sits, I have to start the Suburban with the choke closed... keep it running for half a minute or so... shut it off (or let it die)... pop the hood and place a spring/clip on the choke plate to keep it open... close the hood and start the car again. It does a warm start no problem, but getting going in the morning is a bummer.


It's about $55 or so to get an electric choke kit, which isn't a big investment, but right now, all I need is the bare minimum to make this thing easy enough to move around. Working a manual choke is no problem, so I picked up a $10 cable choke kit from AutoZone.


Since all of the choke hardware is broken off of this old carburetor, I had to figure out just how to mount this cable, but I got something rigged up, and it works just fine. Here, I have to pull the lever to open the choke, and push it in to close it, which I think is opposite of how it's supposed to operate, but it gets the job done.

Here's T and I up on the winch bumper working on it. As ugly as it is, that giant bumper makes a great platform for working under the hood.



So, now we're operational, and I can start this thing up whenever I want. More on the lift/lowering to come...

Picking up the 1971 Suburban...

Ok... rewind a few days...

The plan was for me to drive up to Kirksville last Saturday with a buddy of mine, and he'd follow me back while I drove the Suburban. I knew this thing had basically been sitting in a barn for 5 years, but the owner said that he'd have it running, and he thought it *just might* drive all 190 miles back.

I had bought some motor oil and transmission fluid, figuring we'd change those fluids before driving it. Otherwise, I just had my fingers crossed that we'd get there and it actually would run.

So Saturday morning I get a call from the previous owner. I call him back, and I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but he says he can get it started, but it won't stay running. He thought maybe the fuel pump was bad (mentioned that in my previous post).

Fine, fine, fine. I'll rent a Uhaul and a trailer to go pick it up. Kinda takes some of the adventure out of it though...

Anyway, we get up to rural Kirksville and follow the owner through the thawing, muddy field to the barn where the Suburban has been kept. He opens the shed... and man, this thing is huge! I've owned a late model Suburban before, and I know they're big, but this thing is like a Unimog. It's got probably 6" of lift blocks under the springs, and 35" tires. I'm 6' tall, and I have to very literally climb up into this truck.

After 45 minutes or so of trying to get this beast loaded onto the trailer, we finally got it. And I mean, we barely got it. We rented the largest auto-transport trailer that Uhaul has, and if this Suburban were even 6" longer or a few inches wider, it wouldn't have fit.


After ratcheting the axles down (the straps are supposed to go over the tires, but they wouldn't fit), and securing the safety chains, we're ready to roll. By now the sun is setting though. It's been a bit foggy all day, and by the time we make it back to the highway, it's completely dark, and the fog has settled in.

This story is longer than I thought it would be. More to come about the drive back to St. Peters...

1971 Chevy Suburban - It Lives!

We picked up the 1971 Chevy Suburban 4x4 last Saturday. Took some work just to get it started to drive it off the trailer and into the driveway once we got back though. Seemed like it was the fuel pump (no fuel getting to the carb), so I replaced that. Now I've never even had a car with a carbeurator before, so a mechanical fuel pump is really old-school for me.

Anywho, got the new pump on... no dice. I was able to pour gas down into the carb (it's a Holley 4-barrel) and get it to fire up, and eventually got it running. Couple quarts of ATF and it was drivable.

History on this truck to come in a later post, but back to the maiden voyage... This morning I go out to the driveway and figure I'll try and fire it up. The previous owner had a spring clip holding the choke plates open. I removed the spring to the choke actually "choked" and it fired right up. Amazing! This thing sat in a barn for 5 years, and it still runs strong.

Well I got it started, but it wouldn't stay running. Had to keep it idling with my foot on the gas until it warmed up. Then put that spring back on the choke plates. I'm not sure yet, but I suspect the choke doesn't work at all (I think it's electric, but I haven't even spent enough time messing with it to figure that out).

Very long story short... I drove it to work this morning. It's about 3 miles, and the thing drives really nice. Shifts fine. It's loud, with some old Thrush glasspacks on it, but still, it's amazing that it drives.