I've been tinkering with the body of my 57
Suburban. It's stripped to a bare shell, on the
original frame with wheels so I can move it around.
I sandblasted most of it (inside and out), except
for the outside of the quarter panels that only have
a well worn original layer of paint on them, which
won't take long to sand off when it's time.
I started out working on the windshield pillars.
The suburbans seem to be prone to cracking at the
tops and bottoms of the pillars, I guess because the
body twists, and the pillars are the weak point.
There were a bunch of cracks and split spot welds,
which I spent a few hours welding up with the wire
feed.
Next I got to the rear wheel tubs. I put a F*rd 9"
rear in the new chassis, and it's a few inches
shorter than stock, so I can run 275/60 tires on 8"
wheels and have some clearance. This means the
tires hit the inner fender, though. So, I decided
to widen the wheel tubs by 2" to clear. I cut the
tub all the way around, then unbolted it from the
floor. I drilled new holes 2" over, and sawzalled
2" off the edge of the floor. I then made some new
pieces to fill in the gap at the ends of the tub
where it bolts to the floor, from the remains of the
wheel tubs that were in another Suburban body I
parted out (to build my 59 Extended Cab truck). I
bolted the tub back in place, and then welded in a
3" wide strip to fill the gap, lapping it from the
bottom side. I'll just fill the top with a thin
layer of bondo and put more undercoating on the
bottom, and it'll look like it was made that way
(hopefully!).
After I get the other tub done, I'll get to work on
the rust holes in the quarter panels...it's not too
bad, just Arizona rust, but it will take some
cutting and patching, especially on the passenger
side.
Nice to get something done on the old truck, I've
had it for almost 3 years now...
Jim Forbes
59s in AZ
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