76 Suburban Build

[smog]

It is like a river adventure, one never knows what's around the bend. Its a neat build. I Look forward to seeing it come together.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by smog

It is like a river adventure, one never knows what's around the bend. Its a neat build. I Look forward to seeing it come together.

Hey smog! It’s good to hear from you. Thank you for the compliments!


After 8 long months, it’s sitting on its own weight. Basic chassis assembly is done, still need to mount transmission and all that good stuff. Waiting on new front shackles to push the axle back, it’s just a tad too far foward. But man it’s so satisfying seeing it on the bench with tires underneath without blocks holding it up lol.



Here you can see how it’s just a little bit foward. Definitely going to need some inner fenders

[Goro Majima]

Looks badass already.

[high plains drifter]

You've really put some time and effort into this and it shows. Not sure what your plan is regarding finish/ paint but imo some of that bondo/ primer would look fantastic showing thru. Regardless... nice work.

[B-MOW71]

Great work so far SLN! Lookin' good!

[twade984]

She’s looking great man! I love square bodies


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[smog]

As Goro said, it really does look badass already. The proportions are great, it was definitely worth your time.

I really like High Plains idea to leave some of the bondo visible, it’s legit.

[Gula]

Great build! I took some notes on your build for two large scale build. I too want that quad cab look.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

Looks badass already.

Thanks! Can’t wait to get some paint on it.

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

You've really put some time and effort into this and it shows. Not sure what your plan is regarding finish/ paint but imo some of that bondo/ primer would look fantastic showing thru. Regardless... nice work.

Man I’m glad you mentioned that because I’m so torn on paint lol. Part of me wants to do a nice original two tone garage kept type build and another part of me wants to make it like you said, some bindo showing through/a work in progress type build with some weathering for its age. I guess I ll figure it out when the time comes.

Originally Posted by smog

As Goro said, it really does look badass already. The proportions are great, it was definitely worth your time.



I really like High Plains idea to leave some of the bondo visible, it’s legit.

Thank you smog, it’s great to hear this from guys like you on the forum, makes me feel better about my work

Originally Posted by Gula

Great build! I took some notes on your build for two large scale build. I too want that quad cab look.

Thanks, glad I could be of help! If you want some better notes to take, go check out Joe122s class 0 suburban build on SBG, that’s where I got some of my cuts/body work ideas from. He’s legit

Originally Posted by B-MOW71

Great work so far SLN! Lookin' good!

Thank you Brian!

Originally Posted by twade984

She’s looking great man! I love square bodies


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Thanks Tom! I agree!


Tonight I was able to get the transmission mounted. Went with the SSD Trail king transmission for obvious reasons. The fit is great and it somehow lined up perfectly in the engine bay and on the chassis. Ignore my chicken scratch in the tcase mount lol. When I built the trans I flipped the tcase to be a passenger drop(Thanks Timmah for the idea) so doing that I had to make my own tcase cross-member. Just cut it out of 22ga sheetmetal bent it up and bolted it onto the frame rail. It’s s little roughy so I’ll probably make another one, but it’ll work until I get the more important stuff first. Here’s some more detailed pics of the chassis in its mock up stage:

[cooper_xl]

That's a big boi!

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

I got some driveshafts made & put on today. For the front driveshaft I took a spare element shaft and cut it down A LOT. it’s definitely a little steep on the angle, but once I get the weight of the finished body, bumpers, electronics, etc I think it’ll soften out a bit. But everything spins smooth and no binding so I’m going to leave it the way it is for now. I might eventually add another tcase a little bit farther down the frame, but I don’t really want to lol.




And as far as the rear goes, I had a couple cheap driveshafts that I spliced together with an Allen wrench. I took the female ends from both driveshafts then I found a 6mm Allen wrench and cut the L shape off of it and used it as a driveshaft insert. This lets me keep a single shaft like I wanted and it’s very sturdy.






Before I did the driveshafts I fixed the front axles center location. I simply just moved the front shackle hangers foward which ended up being flush with the end of the rail and now the axle sits perfect and it’s now smoother and s little bit more suspension movement. I didn’t need those new hangers after all


Thanks for looking

[Goro Majima]

Ooo frickin perfect SSD TK scale parts for this build!

And nice idea on the Allen hex driveshaft. I believe I have those same cheap driveshafts on my lender rig. They've held up fine but they're a little rattly. Good progress anyway.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by Goro Majima

Ooo frickin perfect SSD TK scale parts for this build!

And nice idea on the Allen hex driveshaft. I believe I have those same cheap driveshafts on my lender rig. They've held up fine but they're a little rattly. Good progress anyway.

Thanks man, that rear shaft is definitely a little noisy but not enough to make me spend $50 bucks on a new one lol.

Installed some Exclusive RC headers that just barely fit:





And got it into the paint booth:


The headers got 2 coats hand painted in Liquitex Acrylic silver. I was going to do more but I kind of like the look of the black showing thru, looks a bit like engine grime to me. Let me know what y’all think. Eagle eyes will spot I got all the sharpie off the tcase mount. A little bit of MEK brushed on the sharpie wipes right off.

And next up in the paint booth was the body getting some primer to show all my imperfections. (Good news is the roof looks great!)





And finally picked out my paint colors, Rustoleum Gloss Khaki and Gloss Almond. I think they will match good to my reference.




Thank you for looking

[high plains drifter]

I recently made a radiator for a project using black zip-ties. I painted it with a silver paint pen but smudged it while it was drying which revealed some of the black plastic underneath. Decided not to repaint it because the hint of black showing thru looked more realistic... like a bit of heat induced grime/ weathering. So yeah... your headers look more legit imo the way they are now.

Project is coming along great. And good choice on the two-tone.

[ScaleLifeNewbie]

Originally Posted by high plains drifter

I recently made a radiator for a project using black zip-ties. I painted it with a silver paint pen but smudged it while it was drying which revealed some of the black plastic underneath. Decided not to repaint it because the hint of black showing thru looked more realistic... like a bit of heat induced grime/ weathering. So yeah... your headers look more legit imo the way they are now.

Project is coming along great. And good choice on the two-tone.

Thank you sir!


Alright guys, I have 2 wheel choices for y’all to decide which I should roll with.

1. 2.2 mud grapplers reduced to a 1.55, with 1.9 element ochos reversed for a deep dish.






2. Element General Grabbers on 1.55 element wagon wheels.

[high plains drifter]

A/T's all the way. Although those graps would look just nasty churning thru the mud. Man.. hard call but still I'd say the AT's look a hair more at home under that body.

[twade984]

I’m torn… I’m leaning slightly towards the grabbers and wagon wheels though.

A square body with big tire and little wheel just seems right


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[B-MOW71]

My vote is for the General Grabbers. They fit the body and scale look better.

[350TacoZilla]

Another vote for the AT's on wagon wheels. They look like they fit it perfect.

[Goro Majima]

Grabbers and wagon wheels! The first choice isn't bad for more aggressiveness, but I think the tire profile needs to be taller and/or smaller wheel like the 2nd choice.