Suburban Convertible

[SpeeedRacer62]

Today I worked on fabricating a suitable mounting pad for 2 hoops on the driver side, rear of the wagon. As you know the spare tire well is there. I had plans to keep it, but wanted to stay with the dual hoop theme. First I cut 2 sections of 1" angle and welded them along the inner quarter and the inner tire tub. Then I cut 2 sections of 1/8" x 3" and fitted them to the rear of the opening. Then I trimmed down my 6"x6"x1/8" plate to lay in the corner. Next I welded a small run of 2" angle to the tub. This will give the upper plates additional support. After that I welded it all up. I'll smear seam sealer everywhere before bed lining the interior. The Pass side was much easier.

As for the rest of the tub opening, I've got some diamond plate that I'll mount with a hinge and make that area a lockable storage compartment.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Yesterday I fabricated and welded in the pass side mounting pad for the rear most hoop. Then I tried to put a fancy bend on the first hoop. It doesn't look too bad. I hope to make the second rear hoop tomorrow and cut this roof off over the holiday weekend/ Happy 4th everyone!

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Yesterday I finished mocking up the rear set of hoops and connectors and finished welding them in.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

On Sunday we added a few gussets to tie some hoops to the rear body panels. Once done we pulled the wagon out of the garage so that we could attack it from all angles. Using cut off wheels, saws all and a plasma cutter my boys and I started to surgically remove the roof. We made cut lines above what will be the final height of each cut. It went fairly smooth and took about 20 minutes.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Here are the initial pics with the top off. Obviously I still need to chop the door tops off, finish cutting towards the windshield then capping the body where the roof used to reside.

Still a ways to go before shes ready for the road. A few more rust repairs, bed-lining or using lizard skin on the interior walls and floor, repainting the outside a 2 tone orange and white and making new white upholstery using marine grade vinyl.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Yesterday I spent time grinding down some of my ugly welds on the roll cage. I also welded the top of the windshield frame to the front halo bar using 2 pieces of angle iron. After that I got to work on trimming up the A pillar. I wanted to cut it flush with the top of the doors where the vent window ends. However I found there's a heavy piece of support metal between the roof support panels and the door jamb pinch weld. I thought it would be best to leave that alone, so I cut just to the rear of it. Then I took the remaining sheet metal roof panel and slowly bent it downward. I plan on putting some dimpled holes in this piece then welding it to the halo bar. Should look trick.

 

[Old77]

wow....a lot of progress being made the last couple of weeks! I'm anxious to see how this turns out.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Today I worked on tying the roof panel to the halo bar. I had planned to drill and dimple this piece but I didnt have anything strong enough to press the dimple die while it was still on the truck. So I punted and decided to wrap the old roof panel around the inner structure and weld it to the halo. It took a lot of pushing to get that thick metal to bend, but it did so smoothly and Im happy with the result.

I went ahead and wacked the front upper doors. I hung the rear doors next and wacked them too. It looks totally different with everything cut at the lower window line.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

wow....a lot of progress being made the last couple of weeks! I'm anxious to see how this turns out.

Me too Old77, very anxious to get her on the road. Hey I read your thread on your '87 and I am very interested in your lowering kit. I saw that you dropped 5/5" with the Western Chassis pieces. I went to their website and didn't see that option. Did you have something done special with them?

 

[Old77]

Me too Old77, very anxious to get her on the road. Hey I read your thread on your '87 and I am very interested in your lowering kit. I saw that you dropped 5/5" with the Western Chassis pieces. I went to their website and didn't see that option. Did you have something done special with them?

No, you just have to piece it together. For the rear is just did their leaf springs. They advertise them as giving you a 4" drop but it actually dropped the rear of mine 5". Then for the front I did their drop spindles along with front coil springs. I ended having to cut a coil out of each spring in order to get the desired drop I was looking for up front. She rides pretty good, too.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

The other day I fabricated some pieces to cap the top of the A pillars. After some cutting and grinding I first tacked them into place. Next I welded them up, followed by some smooth grinding and a fresh coat of primer.

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Yesterday I took out the pass vent window to replace the rusted frame that holds the glass. Its both rusted and the stud that it rotates on was broken. While those blasted and painted parts dried I started capping the B pillar and the doors on the pass side. Transfered some paper templates to some sheet metal, cut , weld and grinding them smooth. I plan on welding up the entire top edges of all the doors (all glass guts have been removed).

 

[SpeeedRacer62]

Today I finished up the B pillar and the 2 doors that meet there. Still will fill in the rest of the door tops. Then I welded in the pass side of the dash that I cut out so I could get the halo support close to the A pillar. Had to do a lil trimming to make it fit, but looks great I think.

 

[Christian Nelson]

Great work, but all I can say about it is, you obviously don't have REAL winters where you come from.. LOL..

We would only be able to use that truck for about 3 months, half of that would be rainy and wet...

 

[Georgeb]

Great work, but all I can say about it is, you obviously don't have REAL winters where you come from.. LOL..

We would only be able to use that truck for about 3 months, half of that would be rainy and wet...

Lol except for us crazies that go Ice fishing! This would be an awesome ice ride!