OFFICIAL* Dante's Peak Suburban Build *

[Metrodps]

Metrodps submitted a new Build:

OFFICIAL* Dante's Peak Suburban Build *

Well I thought I should start the OFFICIAL thread. It seems like an easy enough build for some one to do. So lets examine the facts.

Equipment needed:
1987 Chevrolet V10 Suburban
Con-ferr roof rack
Carr light bar
Warn Trans4mer brush guard
Safari snorkel for an FJ80
Valley or Hickey Rear tire carrier
Lights, lots of lights!

So lets start with the Suburban.
Movies:
It is a 1987 from the door sticker and the verify sheet from the sell using the vin 1gkev16k6hf that it is a 1987 Chevrolet V10 with a 350 TBI. We know it is an automatic transmission from the movie and Cinema Vehicle Services pictures. In these pictures we can also tell it has a rear AC unit. It also has the end gate. It has auto hubs on it. It has the light blue cloth interior with front bucket seats and no third row seating. It's RED!
View attachment 230337

Metro's:
1988 Chevrolet V10 Suburban 350 TBI
4 speed manual transmission
No rear AC
Has the end gate
Has auto hubs on it
Cloth interior in tan with front bucket seats no third row seating.
It's Brown and Tan.

So now we have some question on the obvious.
Your colors do not match.
Not yet but I do see red paint in the future. I'm talking to a person to do some work for them in exchange for painting it red.

The Roof Rack:
In the movie they used a Con-ferr Porthole roof rack.

Con-ferr is no longer in business so one would need to find a used one.


This style is the Defender sold by Off Road Unlimited of Burbank California

Front Brush guard and winch center:
We see a Warn Trans4mer brush guard all dressed up and a little customizing.

The Light rack:
It appears to be an old style Carr light rack

Easy enough to come by on Ebay or JC Whitney

...

Read more about this build here...

 

[y5mgisi]

Subscribed!

 

[Metrodps]

Rack Issue

I found a Con-Ferr roof rack on Ebay and it was 42x60 a little narrower than what I wanted but it will work. Here is the pictures of it. I will need to either make or find mounts for it. This section will deal with installing the rack when we do it.

UPDATE 23 July 2013
Well as I feared the rack is to narrow by 18 inches so it appears the one in the movie was 60" x 60" Ours will have to be cut and some how have 18" inserted in it in the center.

So I am looking for another one and also trying to find out what it will cost to modify the one we have.

19 June 2013 14:39 hrs
Just got off the phone with offroadunlimited.com and they are going to supply us with the mounting hardware for the roof rack. Here is a picture of the mount you can compare it to the one on movie truck.

offroadunlimited.com make a basket called the Defender. The Defender Racks are made from 16 gauge fully welded 1” round steel tubing sporting a quality black textured powder coat finish. All racks come with light tabs (4 front 2 rear) to accommodate your off road lighting needs.

Off Road Unlimited in Burbank bought Con-Ferr out and took over ownership several years ago. Maurice Rozo bought and took over the Con-Ferr name and parts from Pete Condos.

Be sure to check out their web site for all kinds of neat toys. offroadunlimited.com
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I have been in contact with WARN and they are helping in completing this build. The set up on the truck is actually called a Combo Kit. They found the mounting instructions and even a CAD. We found the center part (winch cradle) in California. The problem was that it had no brush guards.

With the information a person would be able to replicate the part.

I am working on making the foam board mock up for the center like the movie set up.

 

[Metrodps]

The snorkel install. 4 May 2014
Got the holes drilled in the front up rights for the top round lights on the front today and got all of them mounted. Next moved on to the snorkel (Toyota 80 Series SAFARI Snorkel # SS81HF) since the template is for a different vehicle we had to improvise.

We cut the cardboard box to make a template of the snorkel with the hole pre-cut. Next we took the Toyota template and centered the pilot hole to the card board cut out.

Next we trimmed the Toyota template to fit the top edge of the card board on top (edge we held to fender top). Once we had revamped the Toyota template we taped it to the fender and marked the holes.

Next was the leap of actually cutting the hole in the fender. It is very important to take your time doing this! We kept using oil and wiping the slurry off the hole saw. By the time we were done we were working under lights.

So Monday we will be doing the actual mounting and tweaking of the bend.
There are two studs that you need to change to bolts so that are long enough to fit the K5 and suburban fender. (8m x 1.25mm x 31.75mm) They are the first and second lower from the front.

Then I had to cut the support in the crumple zone and will later have a flat metal insert tack welded to the rear of connecting hose. I will make a flat metal cover to put in front held by screws to stiffen inner fender.

Taking the battery and over flow off before starting makes things easier to work in area. Here is how the snorkel looks before heating it.

So to get the correct angle on the snorkel it was filled with sand and heated. This is a long slow process!! You apply heat to the over all area and keep moving around the elbow section. We heated above and down in to the flat area. This is a strap attached to the snorkel and a fixed item to pull it towards the pillar. As we got it closer we keep the strap tight.

Next the bracket that was supplied had to be almost flattened. The three screw side was trimmed to allow the bracket to fit the truck. The back edge was angled and taken down to the mounting holes.

Here it is attached and looking like it was made for the truck from the factory. Looks like time for a poser picture!

-----------------------------------------
We were talking about the lights today and I thought I would add them in this section. So what kind do you all think they were?

Since were here I will address the antennas too. The front looks like either a cell or 460 MHz. The black one I say is CB and last one not to sure of.

UPDATE !! September 2013 3:15 pm
CARR Joins Build team as an official sponsor!

UPDATE 19 August 2013 4:18 pm

I just got off the telephone with kchilites.com and they are now on board as an official sponsor. They will be providing the lights needed for our project.

We welcome KC Hilites to our build and thank them for their support in the off road community. Be sure to check their web site out. kchilites.com

The switches for lights.

With the help of members we figured out the switches might be made by Pro Comp

 

[Metrodps]

This section will deal with Painting the truck.

Martin Senour Paints/Sherwin Automotive Finishes joins us as a sponsor on our project and will be providing us with materials to paint the vehicle.

GMC paint code 514 Red (Crimson)

Truck went in for paint work on 11-24-2013

17 February 2014
A little color starts to shine. Sorry my camera started acting goofy color is not showing correct.

Little upset his helpers sanded off the door tag I had it taped to protect it. Now if I can find the company that makes repos for $65

25 February 2014

 

[thatK30guy]

Con-Ferr isn't no longer in business. Off Road Unlimited in Burbank bought them out and took over ownership years ago.

Now I'm not sure if they still produce the parts anymore but it never hurts to call them and ask.

Maurice Rozo bought and took over the Con-Ferr name and parts from Pete Condos quite a while back. I have an old antique Con-Ferr catalog that shows everything they made and offered to the aftermarket world. I remember ORU's intention was to keep the product going but not sure if they still do or still offer a few things such as the roof racks which were the biggest sellers back then.

 

[thatK30guy]

Check here for ORU's line of Con-Ferr stuff: http://www.offroadunlimited.com/orustore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=169

 

[kellyjohn]

I saw a thread like this a short while ago.

Great subject matter!!
Loved the movie.

Cool Rig for sure!

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=288996&highlight=dante's+peak+suburban

The behind the scenes "movie magic" had som interesting facts about how they pulled off the car stunts in the film.

Greg72 did a similar thread, you may want to glean some info from it---unless you have already been there??

 

[Metrodps]

Con-Ferr isn't no longer in business. Off Road Unlimited in Burbank bought them out and took over ownership years ago.

Now I'm not sure if they still produce the parts anymore but it never hurts to call them and ask.

Maurice Rozo bought and took over the Con-Ferr name and parts from Pete Condos quite a while back. I have an old antique Con-Ferr catalog that shows everything they made and offered to the aftermarket world. I remember ORU's intention was to keep the product going but not sure if they still do or still offer a few things such as the roof racks which were the biggest sellers back then.

Yes I know Con-ferr is out of business...

The Roof Rack:
In the movie they used a Con-ferr Porthole roof rack.

Con-ferr is no longer in business so one would need to find a used one.

I will have to follow up on your lead. Thanks

 

[Big Ray]

Check here for ORU's line of Con-Ferr stuff: http://www.offroadunlimited.com/orustore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=169

dayum they're expensive


this justifies buying a welder

 

[Metrodps]

Great subject matter!!
Loved the movie...........

Greg72 did a similar thread, you may want to glean some info from it---unless you have already been there??

Yes, Yes he did!
I got some production stills from the movie today and; well lets say we were deceived.

and just another street shot. Still looking to get better view on trans4mer so if I need to have one made up.

The decal was a water slide they printed.

Thanks to MrK5 he was able to reproduce the door decal.

 

[Big Ray]

some motivation!

 

[Metrodps]

I want this to happen because it is not a lot of mechanical work and I have a great body for this build. Yea sure I am going to have to bust my butt to find some gold or silver as well as doing a lot of reloading for some of the work that I can't do. I think this type of project is some thing I can do. ( We did it with the help of my brothers and great friends)

But we will see the project is not that hard just a lot of searching.

 

[dremu]

Rear tire carrier off an S-10
The Tire carrier:
Here is the one in the movie and as best I can tell it is a stock S-10 tire carrier. This is on the list of locating one and acquire it.

That there is your basic aftermarket tire carrier for the fullsizes, not an S-10. They were a dealer-installed accessory, but not factory-supplied. Valley Industries made lots of them, but they seems to have gone under too. Here's the '77 dealer version (at bottom):

Here's what it looks like without the tire:

And with the unit swung away, you can see the bracket that screws to the tailgate:

Anyway, your best bet is gonna be to find one off a Blazer, as lots of guys remove 'em. (They don't hold larger-than-stock tires real well and tear up the sheetmetal.)

Metro, I have a few extra bits for mine, so if you find a mostly-complete one, PM me and we'll see if I have the pieces you need.

-- A

 

[84400]

Cool build. For some reason I thought that the movie burb was lifted.

I saw a lifted crew cab in knight rider the other day. Thing was olive green with a winch. Always cool to see old square bodies out side of fall guy. Smokey and the bandit had some cool rigs too.

This should make for a cool burb.

 

[Metrodps]

dremu I found one on CL for a Bronco. Waiting on pictures. It looks like I will need to make one. I know I read a post where some one had the mounting brackets still on their truck. The tail gate was gone they only had the mounting side parts.

My plan is if this comes together is a road trip to Wallace, ID by way of Idaho Falls to take some one along with me for the ride.

I located a Con-ferr basket that is a little different but real close. Basket measures 60" x 42" it is narrower than what I think the original was.

I have 5days to get enough money borrowed to get it. When you do a search for "Dante's Peak Suburban" CK5 comes up first in the images.

 

[Metrodps]

That there is your basic aftermarket tire carrier for the fullsizes, not an S-10. They were a dealer-installed accessory, but not factory-supplied. Valley Industries made lots of them, but they seems to have gone under too. Here's the '77 dealer version (at bottom):

Here's what it looks like without the tire:

And with the unit swung away, you can see the bracket that screws to the tailgate:

Anyway, your best bet is gonna be to find one off a Blazer, as lots of guys remove 'em. (They don't hold larger-than-stock tires real well and tear up the sheetmetal.)

Metro, I have a few extra bits for mine, so if you find a mostly-complete one, PM me and we'll see if I have the pieces you need.

-- A

Space for carrier install

 

[dremu]

Does this look like it? Just found it on ebay in PA

That looks like five lug, so I betcha that's the Bronco one. Don't rush it, the right ones show up from time to time. I'll keep an eye out on CL local if I think of it too.

-- A

 

[blazinzuk]

I is always down for a trip and any final fabrication needed, we got a queen size bed in the spare bedroom man so if something cant be found we shall build!

 

[Metrodps]

Well I won the Con-ferr Roof rack on eBay today so that now leaves paying for the rear tire carrier and obtaining the Carr light bar, lights and snorkel. There is a member here who owns a WARN Trans4mer who said he would help on getting measurements and pics.

So it is starting to come together.