Projects 1951 Chevy Suburban Mild Kustom Build Thread

Badass ride! Looks great!

 

Coming along beautifully!

 

Thanks buddy. You know how much has been done on this since I got a hold of it.

 

Thanks man. It's been a love hate relationship but it will be all worth it in the end.

 

Love how this turning out!

 

Love the color treatment and especially the choice in headlights. Very nice. Enjoy

 

Very nice. I like what you're doing. That's going to be sweet.

 

Looks great. Beautiful paint job!
I have a soft spot for these as I drove a 50 GMC panel as my everyday driver for 4 years.
Never seen one yet that didn't have cowl and floor pan rust.

 

Thanks for all of the replys guys. Once the body gets back home it will be time to install the motor and tranny. Now I know everybody says 350 SBC's are like belly buttons but that is what is going back in. 350/350 combo proven and dependable. I plan on driving this to out of state shows so I really didnt want anything too radical or off the wall but I also didnt want it to look like every other motor at the shows either. I started with the valve covers and liked the period chevrolet script stamped steel ones. Painted them all up and stuck them on. Booorrring! So I liked the way the Olds covers had the spark plug wire loom and bought the Fauxsmobile loom. I know, I know, not cool but I wasn't going to use the vinyl sticker saying it was an Oldsmobile Rocket. I hunted down some new Chevrolet script dash emblems from a 53 Chevy and painted the loom to match the color scheme of the truck.



Now for the top end of the motor. I had already had the polished intake and 3X2 setup on the motor but i didnt care for having to keep it all shiny and clean. It was more Hot Rod than Custom so I decided to do something different. I loved the look of 6X2s but that has been done to death also. I thought of a 4bl with a custom air cleaner but thought that it would look more street rod than custom. What to do? What to do? I didnt like how the the motor looked so small and low in the engine bay either. Blower would fill it up nice. Too much $$$.. Then I thought of the 2X4 cross ram with 3X2 to a 4bl adapter on each side. That would raise it up a full 16in and splay the carbs out nice. Motor won't handle all of that fuel and I sure dont want to sinc them all so the outside four were blocked off.

Before...


Here it is after i cleaned and rebuilt all of the carbs and sprayed the motor chevy orange.



I'll be using the the Vertex dizzy that looks like a Magneto and run black wires with green tracers. It should tie in real nice.

 

Thanks Matt. That Dodge you are working on is killer!

 

WHOA!!!!! Looking good Kerry, looking good!

 

Thanks Kenny. I can't wait to start putting it back together and see the final result.

 

What a project! But.....worth it in the end! Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Thanks! Looks like you might even see it in person at one of the local cruise ins since you live so close.

Kerry

 

I was getting bored some of the nights I wasn't able to go help sand on my truck after work and decided to finish the upholstery buttons I made. Well...Let me start by saying I didn't want to make my own buttons for the upholstery. I actually wanted square buttons that i could turn to make a diamond shape. I searched high and low all over the www. I found some, but they were in China, and I had to order a minimum of a thousand or something. I really didn't like the ones I found too much anyway. The colors I picked aren't found together usually unless it is Halloween. I was born in October so that might explain my color choices.

Anyhoo...I got to thinking about using acrylic and layering them just like they did back in the day for the dash switches. Thats it! That is the way I'll make them. I have access to the plastic through the sign company I work for, we have a CNC machine to cut them, and I program everything that gets cut on the machine. Perfect. I hunted down the actual material used to make the buttons and found the inserts for tying them in, and the prong back inserts to use on panels.

It was a little tricky but i had to glue two 1/8'' sheets together first. This is the hard part. I had cut the sheet in half so it was close to the size I would use up. I poured the acrylic glue all over the bottom green sheet and layed the orange over top. This is where it gets tricky. The glue is a chemical that attacks the acrylic and makes it... well...a liquid in a way. The more you flood the glue, the less chance of air bubbles you will have. The glue should weld the two together. I placed weights all over to ensure all of the surface was touching. Left it to dry overnight and started cutting on it the following day. I measured the button inserts and set the size and depth of the cut to make a pocket in the center. I also cut the squares with a 45 degree conic bit so the layers would show. I think I cut over 200 of them and ended up with 142 usable ones. Remember those air bubbles I mentioned? Yep...got some in there. They look like a white dot in the edges. Oh well...shit happens...now to cut the black pieces to cap them off. These had to be glued by hand after the button inserts were pushed in. Once those were all done, all the edges had to be fine sanded and then polished. These were very time consuming. I hope I have enough to do the interior!







Despite being acrylic, they are very durable. The buffer caught a few and launched them into the wood behind the buffer and bounced out across the garage. Not even a scratch.

 

Subscribed!! I actually dig the blue. But that's me. But the new paint screams cool! I have a set of those Buick headlight rings too. But haven't got to body mods yet. Keep up the great build thread.
Also I love the induction setup. Definitely unique and that's saying something on a 350. 350 get a bad rap. But there's a reason they are "over used" bc they are reliable and easy to get parts for.

 

Thanks, the blue kinda grew on me after awhile but it still looked like a big Easter egg to me.

 

WOW! Thats all I can say. Your Burb kicks serious butt. I subscribed!

 

Thanks for the compliment Big Rick. I hope to get it back soon and update this thread more frequently as the truck goes back together.

 

Killer burb! Diggin the level of detail you're goin for!

 

Damn! Really lovin this truck!

 

Love the build...

Might want to do some research on that Dizzy before you put it in... LOTS and I mean LOTS of problems. That and the Joe Hunt version. Check with GMC bubba. (ign guru) only way to make them work is to put the coil on the outside...

Levi..

 

Thanks for the replies guys!

Yeah, I saw something in a recent thread on here yesterday about one. It figures. I bought a used one a year ago. Thanks for heads up Levi. I'll check with Bubba.

 

nice burban. I'm building a 50 burban that is carmaro cliped (it is a 71) did you used drop spindels to lay out on bags?

 

Actually I did have the drop spindles on it with the bags only to find out that the track width of the camaro frame is too wide to drive with it that low. The tires rubbed real bad and I had to raise it up so far that the geometry was beyond getting an alignment done. I removed the spindles and kept the bags. You won't need drop spindles with the bags to get it low enough. I can't even get my floor jack under the cross member without airing it up.

 

thats good to know I was about to order drop spindles. now I need to find a set of stock camaro spindles. the guy that started this build put 78 impala spindles to get 5.5 bolt pattern to match the 9" ford rear . I have changed it all 4wd s-10 rear with a 2 link bag behind bar set up and trying to get the front finsh

 

That's a sweet, sweet ride you have! I love it bigtime!

 

It's been awhile since I posted any updates but its been going slow. Here she is when we loaded her up to bring home.



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I had to clean all the overspray and repaint same areas on the frame that didn't get covered up. Once that was finished it was time to plumb the fuel line, air lines and tidy up some misc. stuff. I also painted the front floor pans with rust preventative paint. Next came to install the door glass, Lincoln buttons, vent window, door latch, and window regulator.





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It was time to make some room in the garage and put the tranny and engine back in. I played hell getting the motor mounts lined up but I won't go into that. Put the drive shaft in and installed the shifter. The shifter rod needs to be replaced with a tall lever or bench style because it hits the seat.



I fit the dash in and was time to mount the steering column and get it where it needed be. I had to make a mounting plate because I originally ordered a stock length column but decided to change the dash later in the build. It needed to be 2 inches longer to work. Checked the tilt and wheel clearance between the seat and disassembled.
I then jumped back on the motor and installed all the cool stuff. I had to make sure my guess that the hood would clear the carburetors was correct.



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