Blueberry Supreme - '86 K20 Suburban

AlexCold

Observer
I've been looking for a squarebody suburban for some time to use as a basis for family adventures big and small. A few months ago I didn't pull the trigger on a super clean 78 K20, and I've been regretting it since. A few weeks ago I saw a Craigslist ad for an 1986 K20 with a good story claiming low mileage and all the info I'd need to research it (VIN, etc) but no pictures. I call and ask for any photos but the current owner isn't in town to do so, but a promise to have some texted later in the week. Saturday rolls by and still nothing, and I almost let it go, but the wife says give him a call and see if we can stop and look at it. A short call later I'm looking at this beauty.

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It's a 1986 K20 Suburban, 350/TH400/NP208 (only 96000 miles) with the 10bolt front and 14bsff rear (4.10 gears), rear A/C and third row seat. Only rust on the vehicle can be found on the battery trays from the acid corrosion. The only thing it doesn't have that I would want are barn doors.

Tried to get it started while the previous owner removed a lot of the junk that was in the cab from the original owner, but couldn't do it there. The vehicle was owned by an Alaskan truck driver, but never driven in Alaska. This was his retirement vehicle that he used to go camping/fishing/prospecting. I found a lot of receipts for the work performed (crate engine 20k miles ago, trans/tcase rebuild at that time as well). I found at least 3 hammers and a hatchet with old lures still in unopened packages. The rear seat had been folded up it's entire life and was still in a new condition. The original owner passed in 2001 and his stepson inherited and would turn it on every once and a while and drive it around the block and park it. It finally ran out of fuel and he left it alone since 2006.

Hauled it home and started to diagnose it. Determined fuel pump was likely bad. So I proceeded to remove this junk, I mean essential components for the safety of the planet.
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Seriously just to get to the pump all of this needs to come out! It's crazy. It's currently staying off for diagnostic purposes... ;)

Fuel pump replaced and after pumping it a bit, it started right up. At this point I'm using an external fuel can to eliminate the fuel tank from the equation. After a few easy starts without having to pump the pedal to start, and the engine didn't show any signs of catastrophic failure, I reconnect the fuel lines to the tank and added ten gallons of fuel. After a few long cranks, we have take off! :victory:

Oil pressure was good and trans fluid was clean and red. Took the boy and the wife for a victory lap around the block. It still sounds a bit lean, but I was just happy that my project ratio of running to not had just increased by one!

Ordered a set of Falken WildPeak MTs in the 285/75R16 flavor from Discount Tire Direct, got them in two days!
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Mounted up on the old Blueberry Supreme, looking good :sombrero:

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I'm really new to this Overlanding/Expedition/Camping hobby. I've always been intrigued by it but my other hobbies took over mostly and I never paid much attention to it. Now that I'm a Dad I want to include my family more into these hobbies, and being out in nature and exploring it is one that I didn't get a chance to do with my dad. So I hope make this Suburban the enabler of these outings.

SO, the goals are simple:

Reliability/Safety, Room, and Relative Comfort.

- I don't want to do any major mods to the base of the vehicle. There won't be a 6" lift on this thing, for now stock and maybe down the road a 2.5" to clear slightly bigger tires. I'm a low COG kind of guy. Axles will stay stock until I find a reason to change something. Probably only manual hubs and maybe a front locker (govlock in the rear). If anything breaks a D60/14bff will go in, but I doubt I'll need them for what I plan to do.

- I would like it to fit my family of 3 and 2 large dogs comfortably. We don't have a lot of gear and our trips will be short to start but eventually I would like to be able to do a week or more at a time.

As with all projects, goals will change and things will be added/removed as necessary. I'm open to all suggestions/ideas/comments/questions. I'm here to share and to learn.

The next few steps are general maintenence items to ensure reliability (fluids/tuneup/etc).
 

AlexCold

Observer
This is one of my other projects that will likely get towed by the Blueberry Supreme.

1957 Willys CJ5. 225 V6/T18/Dana 20 with Dana 44s front and rear (4.10 gears & lockers). YJ leaf springs only 2.5" lift and 35" tires.

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rayra

Expedition Leader
Good place to start. Rear air conditioning? Some added USB ports would go a long way for family comfort. The dogs will love it.

"Babe the Blue Ox'
 

AlexCold

Observer
Good place to start. Rear air conditioning? Some added USB ports would go a long way for family comfort. The dogs will love it. "Babe the Blue Ox'

Thanks! Babe was in the running but my 3 year old liked Blueberry Supreme the most. USB ports will be aplenty. And yes rear air conditioning, which is a win for our hot summers.
 

AlexCold

Observer
Things are moving slowly as it's really damn hot in AZ right now. Slow and steady wins the race!

Did some more maintenance things like change the diff fluid. Front and Rear were both in stellar shape, old fluid but no metal pieces in either.

A friend came over to help me tune the carb and adjust the timing. They forgot to install the timing tab so we had to guess with our ears as to the sweet spot. After a few tune and drives we got to a spot where we felt pretty good and we weren't detonating.

Still need to change the oil and spark plugs, so that will change things again. But things keep getting better as more gas runs through the carb and fuel system. The fuel pickup is getting plugged up since the last time we tried to go out the pre-pump filter was dry. Some carb cleaner to start the engine and it was able to prime again. We're guessing something is plugging the sock. I'll drop the tank when this tank of fuel runs through and install a new sender assembly.

Does anyone know what the thread size is on the AIR injection pipes? I would like to plug these for my research but don't want to do so permanently. There's a lot of conflicting info out there and most just cut the tubes and crimp them. There has to be a plug size out there.
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AlexCold

Observer
Spark plugs are replaced!

Also removed one side of air tubes. I borrowed some plugs to try from work and found that the M22x1.5 plug worked. This is GM PN 12384935 which is a transfer case drain plug. It is a tapered plug but I'll see if it will work without leaking. I'll see if I can find something thicker since the tcase plug is thin.

Had some fun with front cover.
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Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 

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