July Updates – 1966 GMC Suburban

1966 GMC Suburban Frame off resto – MONTHLY UPDATES
Purchased 1-21-2021

Day I brought the Suburban home | January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December | January 2022 | February | March | April | May | June | July | Misc Updates
Some of the parts bought

Prepped and painted my Edelbrock manifold. Painted it a black satin basecoat/clearcoat.

Ordered my valve covers – Matte black with Chevrolet lettering.
Made by Billet Specialties.

7-6 Been working hard on the blocking and priming. Gearing up to pull the body off within the next month…I hope. The Blueprint 496 won’t be here for another couple months though.
Ordered my Holley Sniper kit with the Hyperspark distributor and ignition box

20210707 112053
Suburban Fenders

7-7 – Blocked and sanded the fenders. Got them in second prime

dash bezel
GMC Gauge Bezel

7-12 – Came in Sat and Sunday and worked approx. 6 hours total on the body getting it blocked out.
Started working on the gauge bezel. With the dash panel I purchased, I had to trim the main portion out and use the surround itself. Also the dash is pretty thick and covered about 1/2 of each of the mounting holes. So I went ahead and filled them. I’ll drill new holes.

July 14th – Painted the undersides of the inner fenders. Then masked up and did the topside.
Note that I welded a plate and smoothed out the battery area on the right inner.
I went with Dodge B5 Blue (Surf Blue). I had a 2015 Charger SRT392 in that color. I really think that will look great on the Suburban.

7-24- Been busy this week. Picked up the rear. Been doing interior bodywork (wells, sides, dash…). I welded some small plates and smoothed some holes that weren’t needed. So dash is all done.

Got my TCI Super Streetfighter Transmission (311005). Great packing job by them. Haven’t gotten a convertor yet. All I need is a 2200-2400, but will probably end up with a 2400-2600. I’ve ran a TH350 with a big block before and had no issues. The sprag is the main problem as it can’t handle the torque/horsepower. The Super Streetfighter has the upgraded sprag.
Rear is 3.73 with a Yukon Posi

July 28th – Still working the inside back…wells, and sides.
Took a video of the original 305 V6 (only came in the GMC trucks and suburbans)
Also built a new cab caddy. I used the casters off my old cab caddy.

7-29 Received my final gauge (at least for this dash panel-
All gauges are the American Muscle series and all are ‘full sweep’ gauges.
Dash panel surround is the original. With this panel you have to cut out the original and fit it to the dash panel.

Auto Meter 1253 – Oil
Auto Meter 1282 – Voltmeter
Auto Meter 1255 – Water Temp
Auto Meter 1288 – Digital Speedometer
Auto Meter 1298 – Tach

July 30 – BIG DAY – I took off the body with the help of my wife. This was a big day. I was looking forward to it. Still a long road ahead. Just got an email that my Billet Specialties Dagger wheels just got shipped. I ordered these I thing at the beginning of June. I ordered them through Summit Racing. They’ve always done me good. Stay tuned!!

7-31 Sat
Went in and cut the shackle rivets off (16) along with the crossmember rivets (8) as I will be installing a new one. Also drained the radiator to gear up for removing the motor and trans.
I also removed the fuel tank.
Found out the transmission is a powerglide

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