70 K20 Suburban

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Rusty burbin

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2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
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Jonah
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Gregg
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4084

I've been working on my rig for about 6 years now and it has come a long way. It started out as a rusty bondo covered Craigslist truck that I overpaid for. The manual hubs were hollow and the motor had a spun bearing...





I started off with a crate motor (also found on Craigslist) it's a zz4 350 that had never been installed in a truck, never even started. I stole it for 1,200.00. A couple friends and I put everything on top and installed it. 2 of my 4 sons were there for moral support. [emoji2]

that's me and the old iron.

on our way home with the new power plant.







hand throttle from an old friction type gear shifter off a 10 speed.

it works perfectly and cost $1.50 at a yard sale. No JB customs 100.00 bulky thing here. LOL. [emoji12]

new to you Doug Thorley Tri-y headers for that low end grunt.

you can see my Bosch weldanator and York 210 to the left of my cleaned up holley 750.

Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

I hope it's okay to post more stuff even though is about the same build. [emoji51]

built a serious rear bumper! It's like a Sherman tank! ... in fact it is a tank, an air tank for my York to keep full. Gotta have air on the trail.







detroit locker in back.

pulled the 3rd member and got everything dialed in.



some rock lights... these are temporarily installed. We needed something to get us through king of the hammers. [emoji41]

duel 3 chamber Flowmaster's

the copper is a tube over tube heat exchanger for hot water on the trail. A nice side benefit of this is that my truck runs like 15-20 degrees cooler! Who knew?!

lots of rust!





cleaned up and ready for some patches.















Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

new rocker panels at all 3 doors.

figuring out fitment of the new bucket seats... "new to you" that is.

shaved the rain gutters off the back... I decided to keep the rest after reading some truck forums about how your doors will leak terribly.

my little helper got stuck... after having 4 boys I finally got the "son" I always wanted. Lol! [emoji2] my 3 year old daughter loves to help daddy work on the beast. "I fix beast with you daddy?" As she taps on parts with an end wrench. I sure love that kid! [emoji173]

welded up like a hundred dime size holes from the factory trim package this thing was born with.



Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

pulled the dash, cleaned it and painted it... it was the best way to clean up the wire loom and get my dynamat, carpet pad and carpet up the firewall.





around the windshield was totally rotted out and around the A pillars too. What a nightmare! I'm not a body guy so I really had a lot of teething to do before I dove into this. I did this summer 2016 after teaching myself on the floors (covered by carpet) and some flat stuff outside. Then the rockers and then this. It was quite the learning curve!









it certainly came out Ok... from a distance anyways. [emoji10]





Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

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Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
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4084

first try at a central console... it progressed nicely into what I still have in the truck.



my 5 year old son came in as I was soldering some wires and said "you're like a scientist!" I think he meant like a mad scientist. Lol.

it houses my CB radio, a power investor for 110w power and my viper alarm.

time to kick that tinny sounding stereo setup out and get some bass in there! It needs to be loud to overcome the road noise from the new tires and the duel exhaust.

I originally had the woofers in boxes loose in the very back but any one who's ever had the rear end buck around going over whoops knows anything that ain't strapped down is gonna have a mind of its own. That's why I built them into the side panels behind the rear doors... well the rear door and the fixed side where the door would be if this was an original euro truck. (The waffle covers have been painted since these pictures)



the view from the pilots seat.

got some 33's and hated them instantly so 2 days later I got some new rims and 35's. It took 6 months to sell the 33's but I ended up making a few bucks since they were mounted and ballanced and on decent rims.

I built a frame to mount my gear box to. It has 3 hitch points and is held in with 3 pins. We pulled a 20 foot trailer loaded up with gear and my buddies rhino from Riverside to Johnson Valley for king of the hammers. It was solid as an oak!

That's about 50% of the stuff done so far but it gives an idea of where I'm taking it. I'm going to pick a part this weekend (they're have a half off everything sell) and I'm gonna grab a 4L80e transmission. It's gonna cost about 100$


***(Update 4-11-17)***

I found a np205 t-case literally sitting on the ground 2 weeks ago at pick a part and haggled the guy down to $57.89 it's been stripping and cleaned and is at the machine shop getting cut for a 90mm input bearing so I can run the 32 spline shafts. I have a np203 that already has the 32 spline input and my order from Jeds should be here in about 3 weeks. I'm gonna pull the body off the frame to remove the old 350 trans and 205 and replace it with a rebuilt 4l80e - bomb proof 203 / 205 doubler. I'm lifting the body cause I figure it easier to work from the top down than the bottom up... plus fabing up new cross members and rerouting exhaust and so on is a B doing on your back... plus it needs new body/cab mounts so there's that too. The plan is to have triple stick shifters in the stock location.
this is how the 205 looks now.

I didn't find my 4l80e during the sale they had... but I grabbed one yesterday 4-8-17.


I'm still waiting on my doubler adapter and it turns out that my 203 is in need of an input gear and low speed gear. The spragues are pretty beat up from someone jamming the tcase into gear.


Anywhooo, I've had fun building this thing a plan to have a ton more. Not to mention all the trail rides and campouts we've had and the ones to come with my new OB family!

***(update: 4-17-17)***
Swapped out the old holley 600 for my newly reconditioned 750 cfm truck avenger style off-road carburetor. FYI if you want a truck carb and only have one for the street all ya need is offroad needle and seats and a cross over tube so ya don't flood out on gnarly off camber trails.




cross over tube and needle/seats aren't the only difference. The truck avenger carbs have side hung floats and these big holley's have center hung floats. But they still work well in the rocks.




I had to fab up that little bracket that holds my pressure regulator... it came out pretty clean.

There was a huge and immediate difference in performance. Man I missed having that thing!

Rustyburbin (OB#4084) from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Anders0nic

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If you get rid of the rain gutters can't you get the upgraded window seals that prevent leakage? Think of the amount of wind noise reduction could be had with those drip rails gone. Plus, because hotrod...


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk
 

Rusty burbin

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2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
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Jonah
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Gregg
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Looking good!
Not sure if there's anything to get rid of that critter stuck in your wheel well, but it adds character so I'd keep it. [emoji106]
[emoji1] haha! Yeah, I started feeding her and now she's always around somewhere. Lol!

Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

If you get rid of the rain gutters can't you get the upgraded window seals that prevent leakage? Think of the amount of wind noise reduction could be had with those drip rails gone. Plus, because hotrod...


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk
I have new oem seals that work pretty well... I actually wanted to keep the gutters originally but there was so much rust and rot I thought that I'd have to get rid of them to make the rust repair easier. It ended up being relatively easy, plus the header bow kit (that's what they call the 3 pieces of metal above the windshield) had the gutter stamped into it. I felt like it would be kinda dumb to cut it off of a brand new part... so I kept em.

As far as wind noise goes, I'm pretty sure when I fab up my roof rack I'd get it all back and then some. Lol.

... it is a hotrod right now! [emoji12]

Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
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Gregg
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4084

Very cool build! I like the heat exchanger for hot water. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk
Thank you. It was fun to build and show to my friends b4 I installed it. Some just scratched their heads an had no idea what it was. Lol.

Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 

Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

Very cool build! I like the heat exchanger for hot water. [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using OB Talk
Thanks. That thing came out pretty cool. I have enough parts left over to make another one... I might do that and offer to ob members.

Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 

Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

So I'm accumulating parts for my doubler. I'm currently running a 205 t-case and since I want to replace the entire driveline and move the engine forward I've decided to lift the body off the frame and work from the top down instead of the bottom up. Building a new driveline requires some custom fab work... new cross members, engine, trans, and t-case mounts.

In my efforts to get all my parts I decided to get another np205 to rebuild and assemble everything in the shop to save time during the actual install.

I sourced several but all too expensive except for one... small problem, it was 250 miles away! The cost of the t-case was low enough that it made since to make the 500 mile round trip. Here's what happened. I told the dude that I was gonna scour the junkyards and if I couldn't fine one I'd head out the next day. I went to 3 pick a part yards that day, I didn't even carry my tools in because it was hot and they're heavy! And guess what I found laying on the ground!?!? A blessing from the transfer case gods just sitting there!!




I got the np203 from a buddy and all the miscellaneous parts from Tod Gordon - t-case specialist.

I cleaned up disassembled everything and sand blasted and painted the cases and retainers.







Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 

Rusty burbin

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Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
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Jonah
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Gregg
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The 205 was behind an old Muncie 465 trans so it had the small 10 spline input shaft which wouldn't work for my purposes. I'm going to run the 205 t-case behind the 203 range box all behind a 4L80e transmission so I need the heavy duty 32 spline shafts all the way through. The 10 spline shaft has an 80mm bearing and the 32 spline shaft requires a 90mm so off to the mill!


That belly is unfortunate!



The final pass was so light you could barely see the cutting surface.




Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban
 
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Rusty burbin

Rank V
Launch Member

Member III

2,741
Hesperia, CA 92345, USA
First Name
Jonah
Last Name
Gregg
Member #

4084

I'll be fabing up the shift linkage too. I'm gonna run 3 shifters for maximum capabilities. It will enable me to seperate the front wheels from the rear if I ever need too.


Stick 1. Rear wheels - high/neutral/low (HNL)
Stick 2. Front wheels - HNL
Stick 3. Doubler - HNL
Add the full manual 4l80e and I'll have tons of potential for wheel speed and torque multiplication.

With the 205 in low I'll have the stock 1.96:1 and with both t-cases in low I'll have approximately a 4:1 ratio. Combine that with the 4:10 diff gears and it adds up to something like 700:1 at the wheels.

So yeah, I'm pretty excited!

Rustyburbin from SoCal 5 kids, wife, dog and a 1970 K20 Suburban