1971 Chevy Suburban Redux

I’m going to tell this week’s post mostly with photos I think, as there’s not much to say other than: grind, cut, rust, more rust, grind, cut, etc. etc. One interesting thing worth writing about though… I found an old freeloader tucked away in the quarter panel of the old Burb. I was cutting the sheet metal away, and pulling out mounds of pink fiberglass insulation, when I happened upon this little guy…

I call him King Tut. And it looks like the king’s been hiding away in there for a long time. I guess he found a cozy spot, and it was so cozy that he decided he’d never leave, even if it killed him. (For reference, the fuzzy black thing in the lower corner is my gloved index finger.) Let this be a warning to all mice out there contemplating moving in to my Suburban, rent free…

Other than that little nugget of fun, it was pretty much cutting out old sheet metal/rust… here’s a look at it.

Some grinding…

and some cutting…

and some pink insulation…

I was able to test-fit the new quarter panel patch, and the fit is pretty decent. This is actually a bedside patch panel, from a pickup, so it’s not a 100% match, but fairly close. The lower edges of the wheel openings don’t fit quite right, and I’m going to have to cut to length and fold that edge in at the door opening. Here’s where it is…

The rust behind it isn’t terrible, mostly just 40 years of surface rust. I’ll sandblast it and coat all of it with POR 15. Just a couple of little holes to patch up.

Sunday morning I had a little help removing the taillights, so I could see just how bad the rust was under the paint and bondo…

Turns out there was quite a bit of history hiding under all of that mud. Much of the rear part of the quarter is alright…

But there’s all sort of holes and secrets hiding around the rear corner. I think I’m gonna have to buy the entire rear corner sheet metal and weld it in.

I also discovered one more previous repair on the lower quarter. Looks like one of the previous owners performed their own quick fix patch panel repair, and buried it under bondo.

That’s about it. Just grinding and cutting and rust. Next week will be more of the same, hopefully pus some sandblasting and some POR 15, and with *any* luck, a little welding too.

While I had the truck pulled half-way out the garage, I thought it would be a good opportunity to use the old Suburban as a ladder, and climb up on the roof and clean the gutters out. What a true utility vehicle…

That’s all folks!