New from Memphis

[facelessnumber]

I'm Drew, live in Memphis, TN and originally from Jackson, MS. I've has this '87 Suburban here for about two months:

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That pic is from the night I bought it, so pardon those heinous Autozone fender emblems. Actually I haven't removed them yet 'cause I'm not sure whether they were put there to hide something and I don't know if I'll hurt the paint pulling them. I'll wait until I can get some stock emblems on hand. (By the way I'm looking for some "Silverado 10" emblems.)

I bought it as a work beast, but unfortunately I fell in love with it and now instead of beating the hell out of it and not caring like I intended to, I'm fixing it up and keeping it clean. It's absolutely rust free, got a perfect body, excellent paint. All it really needs cosmetically is new upholstery on the front, a dash cap and a windshield.

But when I first got it, it also needed an engine. What the dude swore was a "lifter tap" turned out to be a piston skirt sitting in the oil pan. So I dealt with that problem by freshening up a low mile '94 TBI 350 and installing that. Here it sits:

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I also had no keys for this truck. Previous owner lost them, so he cracked open and ruined the steering column. I scoured every junkyard in town for a squarebody tilt column and came up empty handed, until I discovered I could modify a column from a fullsize GM car. (Caprice, Parisienne, LeSabre, etc.)

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Pretty close, right? I had to buzz off the firewall mount and replace it with the one from the truck column, and modify the dash bracket a little bit, but otherwise my '84 Buick steering column was a perfect fit:

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Looks right at home, everything works!

Next thing I'm going to do is throw some new brake pads and KYB shocks on the front, and then I'll just whittle away at my list over the next few months/years... Need a couple of new tires on the front, I want to put headers on it, windshield, upholstery, dash, stereo, some wheels eventually, maybe level and lower a bit... I swear this was supposed to be a beater, but it's fast becoming a daily.

I hope to gain a lot of knowledge from this forum, share what I learn, and make a few friends on the way...

 

[Old77]

Nice burb man!!!

 

[89Suburban]

OMFG I love it, welcome aboard!!!!!!!! Thank you for saving that beauty!!

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[facelessnumber]

Man that's some enthusiasm right there! Thanks, y'all... I'm gonna get right and take good care of it. It's already much better than when I got it. Runs nice anyway.

 

[Stroked]

Huh, I can't see any of your pics. Stupid work computer...

Welcome aboard anyway! I'll check out the pics when I get home.

 

[83swb]

I'm not a burban fan, but if I were ever own one it would be yours! Beautiful truck

 

[bucket]

Howdy! Nice Burb indeed!

 

[RetroC10Sport]

I honestly thought those were 1964-67 GTO emblems. hahah

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[HotRodPC]

How the hell did I miss this guy coming in? He comes in with Pics in post #1 of his Intro !!!

You'll fit in real well here Drew. Welcome to GMSB.

Pic ***** it up, We love truck porn !!!

 

[HotRodPC]

We need to hear more about this Full Size Gm tilt column fitting. Same switches and all? What did you mean by buzz the truck column firewall mount? Is it welded on or what?

 

[89Suburban]

I honestly thought those were 1964-67 GTO emblems. hahah

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Posted on my iPod 4th Gen using PUNCTUATION.

 

[facelessnumber]

We need to hear more about this Full Size Gm tilt column fitting. Same switches and all? What did you mean by buzz the truck column firewall mount? Is it welded on or what?

I could write up a tech article if there's enough interest... Basically, the end of the column that mounts to the firewall on the Caprice/Cad/Parisienne/Olds/LeSabre column is welded on, and I had to knock that off with a grinder and smooth it out. Fortunately that part of the truck column bolts on and can transfer over to the car column.

There are two different ways the steering shaft can attach to the gearbox; one is splined and the other isn't, so make sure whatever you get matches whatever your truck has. I'm not sure whether the trucks are all the same but I know the cars aren't.

The dash mounting bracket on the car column isn't quite the same as the one on the truck, but it looks close enough that you'll get pissed off trying to make it work for an hour before you realize it ain't happening, so use the truck bracket. Even with the truck bracket though, the holes didn't quite line up with the studs. They miss them by about 1/4". There are several ways this could be fixed. Weld tabs onto the bracket and drill holes in them for instance, but I opted to cut some tabs off the car bracket, just 1.5"x.75" strips of metal, put them on the dash studs and sandwich the bracket in between them. It's very secure that way, and the main reason I did it was to preserve a safety feature of the column - that bracket looks like it's meant to break loose in a crash.

The shifter linkage attaches just fine. I imagine you'll want to make sure if you're running a TH350/TH400 that you get a column from a car that had a 3-speed auto, or if you have a 700R4 as I do, that you get a column from a car that had a 700. That might not be a big deal, I don't know.

As for the wiring and whatnot... Some of it was identical to my truck, some wasn't. If you keep the years close you'll probably have a better chance of similar wiring and less guts you'll have to swap over. (Whatever doesn't match up, generally will swap over though.) One thing to pay attention to is the wiper controls. The delay and non-delay controls are different, so either get the same type, be ready to transfer your signal lever, or use this as an opportunity to install delay wipers and/or cruise!

I did have to paint my column. You can use pretty much any non-airbag GM steering wheel, including your stock one. In the end, the only way you can tell the column doesn't belong in my truck, is maybe some walking encyclopedia of squarebody trivia would notice the knobs on my shifter and tilt levers aren't right. I could have changed them but I actually liked the Buick stuff better.

 

[HotRodPC]

Yeah, I'm sure there is enough interest. We've got a Jeep Steer Shaft Mod here too, so this can go in the same place.

As far as the 3 speed or 4 speed, I don't think matters. If it does, then it would be full size cars with the 200-4R trans. Those ones with the Olds 307 or 403 will have 200-4R. I'm wanting to say that maybe F bodies, (Camaro and Firebird) We the only only cars that got the 700r4. The rest got 200-4R.

 

[1ATony]

Welcome to the site

 

[Mr Clean]

from N.E. Texas!