Edited: 5/21/2010 10:20:30 PM by jumbo72
Edited: 5/21/2010 3:32:27 AM by jumbo72As some of you know, it's been a long, hard road for me ever since i bought my 87 suburban in August of 2007. The whole reason i bought one that was already done was so i could drive it while putting my own mark on it and redoing stuff to my style. I was so happy when i finally got it home and got it all cleaned up: I drove it 3 times, the last time i heard something dragging, got home and looked under it, the muffler had fallen down. So i crawled under it to tack it back up and found this: So after hemming and hawing (and asking a lot of advice on ssm, haha) i decided it was way to unsafe to drive until i could get it fixed. Here's where the story gets super long, so i'll pare it down the best i can. Was supposed to have my (local) buddy work on it one weekend, just to do the welding (shock mounts, bag mounts, box in bottom of notch, fix hole in frame, etc) while i replumbed and rewired everything (the switchbox was all jacked up, it took me forever to figure out what switch did what, they were half backwards). Well, that fell through (this was in December 2007). He quit answering when i called and would not call me back, i finally had to find out through another friend that he had 6 full bag jobs to do before mine, so i started looking elsewhere. Finally decided to tow it to Austin, TX to get fixed right. Took it down there February 15, 2008 (Valentine's Day weekend, TRUST me, i know, hahaha). It was going to be a while but i was told i would have it by All Star (9/0 for sure. Sometime in July (or August, i can't remember which) he said the body was off and the frame was bare. This is what was found.
Edited: 5/21/2010 3:34:48 AM by jumbo72
crappy frame pics continued: So we decided to do a full frame build on it. Long story short; stuff came up, it was supposed to be on the frame table by Christmas, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. He finally called me in November and said his mom had to have heart surgery and he would not have time to get it done by Showfest, so if i knew someone who could to come get it. I called Gavin in Dallas, he'd told me from the beginning that he'd help me with it as much as he could, so he went and picked it up for me. This is how he picked it up, the bags and stuff were gone, there was just metal tubing welded in to keep it up so it could be towed, front clip and body held on with a few bolts apiece (just temporarily put together so it could be towed). The night that he brought it home, Gavin called me and we talked about 2 hours on the phone. The general consensus was that since the yellow burb was so fubar'ed, it would be much easier on Gavin and much better for me to just part out what we could, scrap the rest, and start all over with a bone stocker. This was what Gavin found me: 1989 GMC Suburban, power everything, fairly straight body, interior in pretty good condition, with a TBI 350 that was rebuilt 29k miles ago for $600. A pretty damn good deal if you ask me. Now if i just would have saved the $4500 plus appx. $1500 i spent on the yellow POS and started with this in the first place, i'd be sitting a whole lot prettier, lol.
Well, he sold what he could from the yellow POS to get some start up money, then did this: Well, since i'd towed the burb to Austin, i'd sent the dude $5k, but i was'nt going to wait for him to pay me back before i started paying Gavin for doing the work, so i nutted up, sold almost all of my guns, saved as much as i possibly could, and sent him the cash just before Christmas 09. porterbuilt dropmember Dallas Hot Rod Parts Control Arms the beginning
Dang when you put it all in pics and paragraphs it looks like it all happened in a week! HAHA! Its been a fun build but didn't happen in a week. Its layin an inch from the door and lookin damn good!
Edited: 5/21/2010 3:17:04 AM by jumbo72
Well, i got interrupted before i could go through to the latest pics, my 10 month old woke up with a 101 fever, so i had to get him changed, fed, cooled down, and back asleep. then i was going to go back to sleep. But after i took him upstairs, i was awake again, so i'm going to finish it out and let yall comment on it. Gavin's been pretty good about sending me pics, i'll post 'em as soon as i get 'em from now on :D framed up with the Porterbuilt dropmember test fitting the body Watts link on the 9c1 police interceptor rear end (disc brakes, limited slip, 3:43 gears and 2" narrower, a perfect fit) Here's the latest set of pics i've got, frame done, body back on, ready to get the floor welded back in, plumb and wire the air system, and start putting the interior back together: this is how much of the rocker will be bye bye :D
---------------------------------------------Originally posted by BankruptRamDang when you put it all in pics and paragraphs it looks like it all happened in a week! HAHA! Its been a fun build but didn't happen in a week. Its layin an inch from the door and lookin damn good!--------------------------------------------- Really? It did'nt happen in a week? If you read the very first line of the thread, i said i bought it in August of 2007!!! I've been waiting to rail this motherfucker for almost 3 years!!! hahahahahaha. I'm glad you stepped up and helped a fatty out!!
still got to put in the 08 silverado dash, vintage air kit, edc, and some other things. Here's some misc. pics, these were all sniped from Gail Mainard's facebook page (he's doing some fiberglass work for me): making new centercaps so i don't have to use wheel spacers: dakota digital gauges will go in place of the stock cluster: Vintage Air streamline A/C controls going in the pocket underneath the head unit in the dash kit: That's all i got for now, hopefully i'll get some new pics pretty soon (or a video of Gavin starting it this weekend, lol) It did'nt make it to Showfest, but it's cause Gavin got sick as hell and almost blacked out trying to load it on the trailer. It should be almost completely done (bodywork, hopefully paint and almost all the interior minus the stereo system) by All Star, hope to see yall there (really hope the wife lets me go, haha) Yall let me know what you think.
Looking good man. Seems like there are too many stories like this of buying something with crappy work and shops not able to come through. Glad to see you havent given up.
it's nice to see things are finally going in the right direction for you! I happy for you bro. cant wait to see this thing on the ground!! so what was up with the center caps again I guess I didn't under stand? lol
The centercap problem is really a wheel problem. Jumbo got the last 4 5lug KMC Maven wheels in the world or something like that. They were discontinued so finding them was a challenge. 3 of them had to be redrilled to the correct 5 lug and one had to have the center bore opened up. The offset is not correct for this truck but the lug pattern works. The front hub sticks out too far so instead of wheel spacers we decided to modify the centercap. It was concaved and hit the hub so Gail is building up the center, glassing over it and then trimming the back so it will clear. Thats what you gotta do when a fat guy says heres the wheels, make em fit! LOL!
thanks for the update, been along for the ride the last 3 yrs.............tell your wife to let you take it to Scrapin, been wanting to see it and feel like I know you, lol!
---------------------------------------------Originally posted by lost causeit's nice to see things are finally going in the right direction for you! I happy for you bro. cant wait to see this thing on the ground!! so what was up with the center caps again I guess I didn't under stand? lol --------------------------------------------- Well, i had to have those wheels because they're KMC Mavens and they came out about 6 months after my daughter Maven was born I had a set of 20's for my s10, but sold them when i bought the burb (they were the 10 hole universal 5 lug pattern but did'nt fit the burb). Well, when i finally got funds to buy 22's, there were like 150 sets on ebay, but i found out real quick that the ebay sellers were just drop shipping them, because they were discontinued. I emailed every online wheel store i could find looking for a set. I finally found some 24's on ebay for $1200, but they were for a Dodge Magnum, since i was going to have to redrill the rotors anyway (i was originally going with a 99 up full size spindle so the hub did'nt stick out since the centercap was concave, redrill the studs to go from the 99 up 6 lug pattern to the much more common fsc 5 lug pattern), and i would have had to bore out the center. I did'nt really want 24's, they're a tad too big for my taste, and i would have had to use rubber band tires (making it much easier to bend a rim that was almost impossible to find in the first place), but that was all i could find. I bought them, then later that day i got a call from one of the wheel companies i'd emailed saying he had 3 22" Mavens with the bolt pattern i was looking for, and found a 22" blank Maven that he could send out to get drilled to whatever pattern i wanted. I told him i already bought 24's, but i really wanted 22's, and i told him the 24's were $600 less than he was wanting for the 22's. So he said if i bought the 22's, he'd sell them to me for $1100 plus $50 shipping. I called the ebay guy and told him, he had not shipped them yet, i asked if he could refund me what i paid minus $100 for his trouble and ebay listing fees and stuff, and he agreed. So i got my 22's 2 weeks later. Apparently, the 3 he had were the universal 10 hole wheels, and the blank one he had drilled (pretty shittily, from what Gavin said), and he did'nt get the bore size right. So the whole point of this novel is since the hub on the front wheels sticks out too far for the convex centercaps, i had to have new ones made that the hub would fit underneath so i did'nt have to use wheel spacers.
kinda, if things would have worked out for me, i would have driven it home 2 weekends ago, lol. Just kidding, Gavin, you know how much i appreciate the hard work you're doing!!!!
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Posted: 5/21/2010 via Website
