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1995 K2500 Suburban Rescue Project

6053 Views 68 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  The Grinch 77, 
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I posted a bit about this on the what have you done today thread, but I'm going to keep it in its own thread now.
This popped up about a 1/2 mile down the road from me. The guy had it listed at $1400. I went to see it and it wouldn't start. Was getting fuel, but just wasn't catching. He said $800 as is our $1000 of he got it running. I told him if think it over while I ran some errands. He texted me a video of it running 20 minutes later. I'm guessing he used the can of ether that was in the truck that he wrote was from the previous owner.... Anyway, ran well, good oil pressure, a little blowby, but not bad at 241k miles. I decided to take a chance and attempt to fix her up and sell her. I gave him the $1000.

Good:

-glowshift gauges in a 4 gauge a-pillar pod: Boost, transmission temp, air pressure(?) and an empty spot.
-Trans reportedly had a bad front seal that was just replaced.... doesn't leak now.
-Runs, drives, stops... probably worth a grand right there
-Clean frame and floors
-All gauges work
-All interior and dash lights converted to blue LED... not my style, but will make it easy to sell
-High idle switch on dash
-Torque converter lockup switch on dash
  • Mystery switch on dash
  • No nice paint to worry about scratching
-4WD
-G80 rear end
- Headlights are good
-Turn signals and running lights are all converted to LED

Bad:

-Rot on some door bottoms and barn doors have some rot on the bottoms
-rot on rocker under passenger rear door
-Needs a new driver door and fender.. someone backed up with the door open
-Tires are crap on aftermarket Vision wheels
-Glow plug harness was not connected to a couple of the passenger side plugs and was the original harness, I think. I'm guessing that was the hard start issue.
-The hood stack. Jesus. What is wrong with people? So... no exhaust and needs a hood
- Front bumper and grill are crap
-Driver side spray painted white.. ???
-Driver seat needs repair or replacement
-Stupid cone filter on turbo, no air cleaner assembly
-AC delete (might be considered a good thing?)

So that's the beginning.


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Picked up a good driver door from a Tahoe as well as the driver seat. Frame is broken but it's way better than mine, so I'm gonna cut a section of mine and weld it into the new frame and hopefully get one good one out of the 2. The door is green.... so a white suburban with maroon barn doors and a green driver door... classy. Pics tomorrow.

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Pulled the rotted out driver door yesterday morning. I don’t think I’m going to bother painting anything. It’s a work truck, so it’ll be a harlequin. Function over form. Got my advance auto parts delivery later (after dark) with my new hinge pin kits, so it sat without a door last night. Luckily, it didn’t rain. The tint may be a bit off on the new window, but I pulled the old glass out. Swapped the door handle to keep the suburban key working, then realized the key doesn’t fit it anyway. Guess I’ll try to make a key at some point, or just buy a new lock set.








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I see daylight. And the new door is just a tad cleaner.





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Oh, and the hinge pin kits



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Thanks again Facebook marketplace. I picked up a bunch of parts for a super deal.
Here’s what I picked up:
A late model complete air cleaner assembly
A NIB glow shift black 7 series 3 gauge set with boost, trans temp, and exhaust temp gauge and all wiring, senders, and pillar pod
A NIB quadstar flight systems PMD with cable and #5 resistor
A NIB Diamond Eye 2-piece crossover pipe
A NIB PT Wiring Holset 35 install kit
A good wastegate actuator
A good passenger battery tray

I paid $450 for everything. I’ll probably sell some of that stuff as I’m not sure I’ll use everything. By my calculations, this stuff would cost me $997 plus shipping and that doesn’t include the air cleaner, which usually goes for about $150.

















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OkDually
Nice find!
Those k47 intakes are getting harder to find
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Yes, I sold my spare well before I picked up this suburban, so I thought I would be SOL. The guy had it stashed under his work bench and offered it up for $50 on top of the other parts. Score.


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FLWHEELIN
If you decide to sell the HX35 install kit or the crossover pipe, let me know. Definitely interested.

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I’ll post up an ad in the classifieds if I do.


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Finally got off my butt this morning and used my engine hoist to lift the new door into place and got her set in. That thing is a beas

t. I truly thought I’d be able to lift it into place by hand and hold it while I tapped the pins in. Wrong.

Oh, apparently it’s now an SS model


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dieselolds
The original GM doors are a bit on the heavy side no doubt about it.Much heavier than the aftermarket doors even when those are fully assembled with glass,etc.

That’s why I didn’t buy new doors for my 90s trucks.I knew the originals are the only thing that close and seal correctly against wind noise.I’ve had aftermarket doors in the past on other trucks that were horrible.
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grabowski
Great work!
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So an after the holiday update:
I got the Jewish driver seat frame and it looks great. I also got the cheap new seat bottom cover. It’s a lighter color, but it’s not torn to crap, so I don’t really care. I’ll try to get it assembled and get some finished pics.








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Well, the saga continues. I just ordered a hog ring pliers kit to reassemble the driver seat correctly and I threw in new headlight buckets and new headlight housings to use the H4 LEDs that the PO had installed…at least I think those are H4s…right? Anyway…there’s a chance I might keep the Burb and sell my K3500 flatbed…or keep them both.. or sell them both…or buy more trucks…



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I pulled the batteries on the project suburban to give them a full charge s she’s been sitting a few weeks. I’ll be putting the wastegate actuator back on in the next few days and adding the new used air cleaner into the mix. I really didn’t like the coat hanger or whatever holding the wastegate closed when I bought this truck. The vacuum actuator is actually a pretty decent design in my opinion. The vac pump is easily replaced when it wears out, so why mess with it? Just make sure the lines are good and everything works pretty well.
And on another note…there’s a local guy with a Cushman mini truck looking to trade for a diesel truck…I told him I’d send pics tomorrow. I might just have to let the burb go if the deal is right.



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Deal want right. Sticking with the suburban. I got the new seat frame and cover together today. Not the greatest fit, but it’s a lot better than the torn to crap original cover. And it might settle in better once it gets used a bit. I just have to cut a hole for the seat controls.





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Controls are in.



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I got around to putting together the new headlight housings

and buckets. The light housings had some weird tabs spot welded on, so I had to pry those off, but they’re good to go now. All in, I’m at about $85 for housings and buckets. I’ve already got the LED bulbs. I should probably buy new adjusters while I’m at it….dang. The list goes on.




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FLWHEELIN
Nice job on the seat bottom. Keep up the good work

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Like I said, not the greatest, but it’s way better than having a torn up seat. The color is lighter, but I’m more concerned about function over looks. The camera makes it look way lighter than it actually is.



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