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'85 Subruban K20 Build Thread

P

PsRumors

1/2 ton status
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Nov 11, 2006
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Location
Cartersville, GA
Last fall I purchased the below '85 Burb. It had a bad engine but a very straight body and clean interior. It is a k20 Silverado and is loaded.

I don't know of another option that could be had on these other than a roof rack. We are talking front and rear air, front and rear heat, rear window defroster, cruise, tilt, power windows, power locks, 4 speed auto and of course quad shocks.

My plans were to find the cleanest cheapest Suburban I could find with a decent exterior color with gray interior and give it a good work over. Wanted something that would tow the boat and haul the family (6) easily. A vehicle I could build and drive at the same time.

I got the 454 in last fall shortly after the purchase and it has been more driving than building. My oldest son Devon is 15. Come August he will be 16 and anyone with a 16 year old kid knows I wont see him near as much between school, work, cruising and dating.

I had an epiphany. Lets build the Suburban. A plan was put together and the Amex was broke out. Below is what we have purchased. Hopefully it will all start coming in the first of next week and hopefully it will be together by the middle of July.

Dana 60 4.10 gears
14 Bolt FF 4.10 gears w/ disc brakes
NP205 Figure 8 bolt pattern 32 Spline input with fixed outputs
4L80e to 205 adapter from Advance Adapters (51-0410)
4L80e (2wd output shaft (24218219) for proper spline engagement) from Bowtie Overdrive
Compu-Shift Trans Controller
Tough Country 2" HD front springs
Below is all ORD;
2 1/2" shackle flip
Front Shackles
Front Upper Shackle Hanger
Front Greasable Bushings
Front U-bolt Kit
Rear Greasable Bushings
Rear U-bolt Flip
Steering Brace
Driveshafts will be coming by way of HAD once we are to a point we can measure.
POR-15 for axle coatings


85_K20_04.jpg


I plan on udating pictures as we go. Once I have everything here for the axles the burb will be taken out of service, put in the shop and dismantled.

Let the fun begin!!! :crazy:
 
looks sweet..hell i upgraded to the 44 and sf 14 bolt..lucky you got the $$..i'm about the age of your ,oldest son..i'd take all the old parts and build a rig for him!

it sounds like your "afraid" of not seing your son often, sounds like me and my dad. my truck brought us together, well besides the fighting inbetween every other bolt but really try it!

what tires do you plan on running? and watch bowtie overdrives work, they are super sloppy with the o.d. external wiring kit...really, like check all their stuff over! good luck with the project and lets see some pictures!!!!!!
 
Going to run a 33x12.50 something, probably BFG T/A.

You are the first person to say anything bad about Bowtie....I just dropped $3700 with them....hope it wasn't a mistake....pictures will be forthcoming as the work progresses.....
 
and your going to run 60 front and rear? i'll trade you my 44 front and sf rear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sounds sick none the less..

yeah, ti could have been bad luck, i wrote a review..

liftedtalk.com/review.html missing parts, wire ends not crimped, external means internal..etc. etc. i'd buy from them but would check everything myself.

****ty instructions as well, they are about the size of 2 1/2 stamps and blurry...i wish you luck, if you know what your doing then you should be fine.
 
Thank you, thank you thank you! I was wondering if anyone made shiftware for the 4L80E (Compu-shift).
These guys are ~3 miles from my house; awesome.:bow:
 
check every wire and fitting they give you...some wires aren't crimped

and i must say your motor looks sick..like a pack of lifesavers, or fruit loops or something.
 
Well Santa came today. Brought me all my ORD stuff. Along with the springs from Tough Country. Treated the 14 bolt to a Por-15 treatment and some disc brakes. Couldn't get the fill plug to come loose so I ordered a Mag-hytec rear cover with drain and fill holes.

Disassembly will start tomorrow. Jury is still out as whether to do it one axle at a time or put the whole truck on stands and remove everthing all at once.

Axles.JPG

ORDStuff.JPG

205Adapter.JPG
 
Well, things went pretty well today. After a little bit of towing duty and trash detail this AM the burb was put on blocks and the dismantling started.

The rear axle is out and the stock shackle brackets are off. I removed them by way of an air hammer and chisel. The first bracket took forever. I had never used an air hammer and it took some technique. I spent more time waiting on the air compressor to keep up on the second one. It went much faster.

Tomorrow the fuel tank will come on out and the ORD flip shackle will get bolted up. By tomorrow evening I hope to have the rear back together.

This is my son. This is his first real auto project. Shame on me I know. He is 15 and not very mechanically inclined. Smart as whip though. His plans are West Point and on to the Marines. He is having a blast with this project.

DevonJack.JPG


You can just get a shot of me under there removing the driveshaft. Luckily there is 0 rust on this thing. Every thing came out pretty easy.

ME%20DS.JPG


This is where the new ORD shackle flip will go. Isn't that frame nice for original?

Frame.JPG


Old axle and shackle mount

OldShackle.JPG

14bSF.JPG


BurbNoRAxle.JPG
 
Keep up the great work, looks like it is going to be sweet.

I know how you feel with your kid. My dad started teaching me mechanical when I was 8, but he was afraid I would outpace him. What do you know, I have outpaced him, and he asks me for all kinds of information. It has made us closer, and we are now working to get his garage cleaned out, and restore his 41 Chev flatbed. And all of my siblings come to me, they refused to learn from dad when they were younger, and regret it now.
 
Well, got a little more complete. Work slowed progress. I was hoping to be at the front axle but still have another day on the rear. Still have to make up the brake lines and order shocks. Forgot all about shocks. Will be running a Rancho RS9000.

Any, dropped the fuel tank to get the shackle bracket mounted. Wasn't too bad. My son wasn't available to help put the tank back in and that is a PITA.

Shackle1.JPG


Had to temporarily mount the springs to see what would need to be done to my exhaust. Had to cut it right at the hanger. Brand new exhaust too. Had it installed when I swapped in the 454. Shouldn't be to hard for someone to fix.

Shackle3.JPG


All shackle and spring bolts are greasable. That will be very nice.

Shackle4.JPG


BTW, the removal of the old bushings in the first spring took me about 3 hours. Once I realized how the best way I got the other spring done in 20 minutes. Remove all of that old rubber and metal is a pain.

Spring%20Eye2.JPG


The axle is mounted.

Axle.JPG


I picked the rear up by the pumpkin and put a wheel up to it. This is going to be taller than I had planned I do believe. I forgot to measure prior too the work so I wont know my lift amount.

The tire in the picture is a 31, planning on running a 33 I believe.

burb1.JPG


burb2.JPG
 
Well, I was hoping to get quite a bit done this past weekend but we all ended up sick. It is wonderful when a house of 6 is all sick with vomitting and diahrea.

Any way, all better today and got to do some work. Got the front axle out and the FUSH (front upper spring hanger) from ORD installed along with their steering box brace. I had no exsisting cracks so all I did was the bolt on brace. Went rather smoothly.

The FUSH wasn't to bad. The longest part was opening the bushing hole in the frame to accomadate the shackle hanger. Wish I had a plasma cutter but the die grinder did ok. Just took forever.

ORD%20FUSH1.JPG


All scratches got cleaned up and treated with POR-15. Don't currently have rust and don't want it to start.

ORD%20FUSH2.JPG


ORD%20Steering%20Brace1.JPG
 
Tommorow I will get the front axle set back in and have it sitting on all 4s. I need to measure pinion angle on the rear along with checking out the height of the rig. Make sure I am at least level but prefer a little ass high.
 
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