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89 Suburban DD Build (finally a 3/4ton)

eclipse85k10

eclipse85k10

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My 89 Suburban has been my daily driver for 4 years. Bone stock minus a stereo, the only thing I have done to it since I've oned is replaced the 700r4 added some BFG 31s and racked up about 50k miles. She has paid for her self, made it to Reno and had to be towed when I moved back. The 350 was slowly dying but I kept adding oil and driving everyday. And then my sister-in-law barrows her one night and she over heated and now has a rod knock.

So now that I've moved back to Spokane and have a nice garage its time for a rebuild. Since I relied on her everyday I never stopped to paint her. The body is really straight, just the wonderful peeling paint. My plain is to get her repainted before I rebuild the 350, otherwise i'll never get to painting.

My biggest PITA is the roof, its almost all bare with surface rust. Has anyone repainted there burb in this condition and if so what kind of primer did you use? I have gottan several suggestions from epoxy to etching primer.

Since she will remain my daily driver and has been very good to me I'm going to stay mostly stock.

Possible upgrades...
2.5" lift
Rewire headlights to relays
New headlights... HIDs? Aftermarket housings?
3/4ton haven't decided
heated seats (anyone try LMCs?)
Roof mounted LCD for rear seats
New Controls for rear heat/air
Lighted Visor (i'm obessed with them)

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Update 9-7-20
The ole blue Burban died on my a few years ago and had trouble getting the tbi running. After many struggles going thru the engine over and over again the Burb drove it's way out of the backyard on its own. Time to get it fixed and driving again.

Plans
XJ steering shaft
Crossover steering
LS Swap /4L80E
Rear shackle flip?
Extended front shock mounts

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I also either need to fix or remove the rear spoiler. Few years ago I bent it on my garage door backing out and one of the mounts its broke and pulled out of its mounting holes.

before

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Looks pretty straight. I bet a paint shop could handle the roof rust, so I'd leave it to them.

As far as the headlights, at this point I'd say don't buy the EuroLamps. They are not any better than stock IMO. In addition, you have to buy the LMC HD harness, and that requires re-pining the sockets (which is trivial) but that only fits standard H4 bulbs, and the EuroLamps using H7's. Search my threads and you'll see I am going to try to convert the 150mm headlamps to 165mm which looks like it will be fairly easy, and then you can get Hella e-Code headlamps which are significantly better and you can use much brighter bulbs without blinding people.

I'd love the heated seats ... I'll be watching to see how that goes.

So ... what color are you going to paint it? :D
 
I was checking out your headlight thread a couple days ago, interested to see the final result. I just wish they made silverstars in this size. I put silverstars in my 85 k10 and I love em, cheap and easy.

I'm planning to repaint it the same dark blue and possibly go with a charcoal instead of the silver.
 
Come paint mine next!

As for headlights, do the relay mod. I highly doubt you will want more than that, mine are FREAKING bright!

Do a good job wiring it, and you will have no issues.

Try it before you go HID. I love the HID's in my bmw, but putting HID bulbs in crappy housings is a nuisance to everyone else on the road.
 
Current Body Work pictures in my new garage and a few pictures of my stereo. MB Quart Q's installed in the doors (what a PITA!) an my custom mounting plate for my eclipse deck with fog light switch

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Any suggestions on the door speaker mounting? I cut into mine, and realized i hit some supports, and gave up.
 
Put some 6x9's in the side of the rear wall, about where the rear passengers arm rest would be but in front of that. ;)

You can also buy kick panel enclosures by Q-Logic, they are on Amazon and eBay and frm Q-Logic directely.
 
eclipse85k10 said:
installed in the doors (what a PITA!)
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DHCOMP: this word combo is pretty common with electric doors, probably manuals also. :doah:
nice work eclipse, sanding down a burbon must be a ton of fun :)
I've got a few holes to patch, so I'm going the lazier, more expensive route and having Macco do it lol
 
I put those Q-Logic kick panels in my 85 K10 and I hate them! Of course when I bought the MB Quart Q's and the stereo shop who sold me them they forgot my speakers were 6.5" and the kick panels were 6" I modified them for the 6.5 but no room for airflow behind and they sounded dull. Plus on the driverside they killed my foot room and got in the way of the parking brake.

When I got my suburban I took MB Quarts out put them in the doors. I love how they sound but cutting was I pain cause of the mounting for the power motor in the bottom. I got lucky and managed to get a big enough nasty hole to fit my 6.5 speakers after many broken jigsaw blades.
 
eclipse85k10 said:
I put those Q-Logic kick panels in my 85 K10 and I hate them! Of course when I bought the MB Quart Q's and the stereo shop who sold me them they forgot my speakers were 6.5" and the kick panels were 6" I modified them for the 6.5 but no room for airflow behind and they sounded dull. Plus on the driverside they killed my foot room and got in the way of the parking brake.

When I got my suburban I took MB Quarts out put them in the doors. I love how they sound but cutting was I pain cause of the mounting for the power motor in the bottom. I got lucky and managed to get a big enough nasty hole to fit my 6.5 speakers after many broken jigsaw blades.
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Any pictures of positioning w/o the carpet piece on? I hit welds, as you did, and burned about $30 worht of dremel cut-off disks....
 
man I did that a few years ago, I should have taken pics.

dhcomp, how do those 6x9s sound in the back? I still haven't replaced my rear factory speakers yet and was thinking of some 6x9s
 
eclipse85k10 said:
man I did that a few years ago, I should have taken pics.

dhcomp, how do those 6x9s sound in the back? I still haven't replaced my rear factory speakers yet and was thinking of some 6x9s
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They Rock. Pushing 100w/channel to them, and the side panels are basically large sealed enclosures.
 
dhcomp said:
Any suggestions on the door speaker mounting? I cut into mine, and realized i hit some supports, and gave up.
Click to expand...

I've done it a few times with some 6" speakers in the same location as the original poster. In my 91' Suburban and also in the 89' Blazer. When the regulator arm comes down, it get's awfully close to the speaker magnet on the back side so the speaker location has to be as low and towards the hinge as possible. Depending on the magnet size, I did use a 1" thick spacer to make it work well. I covered it with some felt to blend it in with the interior better.

I plan on putting my tweeter in the silver (or wood) band area....similar to the original poster. Just up a few more inches.

I plan on installing some of the extra stuff I have laying around into my K5. I did pick up some front component speakers as they are the primary listening speakers so I wanted those good quality. I don't recall the name brand I got but was originally looking at some Focals....these sounded better! (Found it....Hertz Speakers) I'll use a JL Audio amp and a Kenwood amp. Also have some 6x9 Kappas for the rear area. I will borrow my (2-10" sub) box from the suburban when I'm not driving it. Should sound good when installed!
 
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My 6.5s are mounted as far forward in the door as I can, any further and they'd hit the inner wall when the door is closed.
 
Picked up this relay box out of an astro van. I'm hoping I can rig up it to run my headlights and any AUX lights off relays and fuses. Haven't figured out how I'm gonna to use it yet. I was also thinking of trying it out on my truck first, since its wiring its already a mess.

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