The free 87 Suburban

[mopar57]

Those old square bodies are still tops in my book.

[squirrel]

Oh yeah! I even bought new wiper blades for it, and ordered new front shocks. And found the problem with the heater, the temp door cable is loose.

[SuperBuickGuy]

Giving it some love on Valentine's day, you're all heart

[squirrel]

yup, it runs just fine. Transmission works, the front end shakes some at high speed (I think it's wheel tramp due to worn out original shocks?), the heater isn't working, but it's still a pretty useful old truck.

[DanStokes]

But it RUNS!!! Gotta give it credit for that.

Dan

[squirrel]

been a while since I updated this thread. Anyways....I put the old wore out motor in my 57 Suburban in 2013, and put 50k miles on it. I did eventually change the valve stem seals, and it mostly quit smoking. But it kept plugging up radiators, so much crap in the cooling system. And it never did have a lot of oil pressure.

And the 87...Steven got a little sporty car several years ago, and kind of quit driving the Suburban a couple years ago. Last week I realized I needed something to haul robots with this spring, so I asked to borrow it, so he got it going again. The power steering was growling and not working in parking lots, so I put a rebuilt steering gear in it, which seems to have fixed it. I will probably also replace some of the weatherstripping, cold air blows in around the windows this time of year, and hot air in the summer.

It's looking even more neglected than it used to.

[squirrel]

yeah...but the small block does ok, he's not a speed demon (I guess he didn't inherit that gene). And the difference between 11 and 13 mpg is pretty big these days

[Mater]

also can't he use an engine from one modle year newer??? just get a big block form a 90 problem solved lol

[squirrel]

yeah, good point!

[A/Fuel]

He's living in Chandler, they have smog testing there. It recently passed the test with almost zero emissions....but it needs to pass a visual inspection too, and you never know how serious they'll get.

If they can say I have a catalytic converter when I don't, surly they can mix a big and small block up.

[Beagle]

I was wondering by the pictures if you not only got a crate engine but a sssmaaall block too!

Yeah, what's up with this economy car motor?

The bouncy speedometer fix and window channel stuff will definitely improve the drive! Stuff like that irritates me, and when I take the time to fix it, it's usually not a lot of time. Then I wonder, why the hell did I wait so long?

[squirrel]

He's living in Chandler, they have smog testing there. It recently passed the test with almost zero emissions....but it needs to pass a visual inspection too, and you never know how serious they'll get.

[TheSilverBuick]

I was wondering by the pictures if you not only got a crate engine but a sssmaaall block too!

[squirrel]

yup, stock replacement specifically for 87-95 chevy 3/4 tons.

I'm hoping it'll last a while...and encourage him to fix a few other things on the truck, such as the leaky window channels, worn driver seat, bouncy speedo, etc. To make it nicer to drive.

[milner351]

New engine- just a stock replacement? 350? hopefully it serves him well for many years. Atleast parts will always be cheap.