The Camp 4x4 Bus - 1973 Suburban 8.1 Swap & Build
- Thread starter camp4x4
- Start date
camp4x4
Adventurer
Oh, one other thing I did last week was order a number of samples, both for the paint as well as for the interior carpet.
I found a great website - StockInteriors.com - that does molded interior carpets in a ton of different styles and colors. I'd already ordered a number of their lighter tan/beige samples trying to match the original, but now that I have the seats and trim color determined, I'm thinking that a darker brown would be both a nice contrast and show less dirt. Fortunately they have a number of medium to dark browns in the 80/20 nylon loop, so I ordered up some more samples. I'm thinking the middle brown will be a nice contrast without being too stark.
For the exterior I've decided to do a DIY bed line paint job. I'd originally thought of doing just the white of the two-tone in bed liner because that's the area that will get most of the trail rash. However, on researching bed liners I found that Monstaliner has a number of yellows available. At least one of them reasonably well matches the original yellow of the truck. Doing both colors in bed liner would keep the texture and finish of the truck uniform and protect the whole thing. And keeping the yellow reasonably the same would mean I could do only the exterior in bed liner instead of worrying about doing the door jams as well since they'll, at first glance, match. I ordered up samples from Monstaliner as well just to verify the colors. The first is the white I expect to use since it is a slight off-white like the original. The next three are the yellows I'm sampling. The first is probably the best match, the second is more of a bright / Corvette yellow, and the third is a school bus yellow.
EDIT: I've also found SEM has a tint-able bed liner which is allegedly available at Finishmaster. However each Finishmaster store apparently has different product. So I'm gonna call around today to find out if A) they have the stuff available and B) they can tint it for me to match the original truck color.
I found a great website - StockInteriors.com - that does molded interior carpets in a ton of different styles and colors. I'd already ordered a number of their lighter tan/beige samples trying to match the original, but now that I have the seats and trim color determined, I'm thinking that a darker brown would be both a nice contrast and show less dirt. Fortunately they have a number of medium to dark browns in the 80/20 nylon loop, so I ordered up some more samples. I'm thinking the middle brown will be a nice contrast without being too stark.
For the exterior I've decided to do a DIY bed line paint job. I'd originally thought of doing just the white of the two-tone in bed liner because that's the area that will get most of the trail rash. However, on researching bed liners I found that Monstaliner has a number of yellows available. At least one of them reasonably well matches the original yellow of the truck. Doing both colors in bed liner would keep the texture and finish of the truck uniform and protect the whole thing. And keeping the yellow reasonably the same would mean I could do only the exterior in bed liner instead of worrying about doing the door jams as well since they'll, at first glance, match. I ordered up samples from Monstaliner as well just to verify the colors. The first is the white I expect to use since it is a slight off-white like the original. The next three are the yellows I'm sampling. The first is probably the best match, the second is more of a bright / Corvette yellow, and the third is a school bus yellow.
EDIT: I've also found SEM has a tint-able bed liner which is allegedly available at Finishmaster. However each Finishmaster store apparently has different product. So I'm gonna call around today to find out if A) they have the stuff available and B) they can tint it for me to match the original truck color.
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camp4x4
Adventurer
Probably paint with the Vinyl & Fabric paint to match the trim.
EDIT: Oh, I should say, the headliner appeared to be damn near brand new, so I'm keeping it stock. The '87's blaze camo headliner is in the dumpster.
marshal
Burrito Enthusiast
I was poking around and found this build thread in a wave of excitement because it had 25 pages and i was certain that i was going to be settling in for a start to finish build thread that would entertain me for a couple hours (you know how hard it is to find a good build thread)
im bummed you're not done yet!!
anyway, awesome job - can't wait to see the rest come together.
im bummed you're not done yet!!
anyway, awesome job - can't wait to see the rest come together.
camp4x4
Adventurer
We (I) talk a lot...hope to be finished soon!
hi aaronvogel,i talk with a lot of people to get different ideas.then i work out how i am doing it so it suits me and my wife. we cant know everything,our name is not google.Sometimes i stop for 2 days until i now how to do it.plenty other things to do.its your vehicle ,your time.
your vehicle looks good.we dont get lots of things here in OZ,like colored bedliner and all that stuff.i dream about the availability of gear in the US.in the early seventys i went to Montreal,toronto,etc. and i took a intake manifold,cut in half tractionbars,holley carby,etc for my 66 barracuda, back to switzerland.left most of my cloth in montreal just to get the car stuff in.and on the airport the alarmbells went off. Got company of a couple of machinegun carrying blokes.but in the end the let me on the plane.now iam 60 ,i would do it again.Plus travelling with the wife would double the carrying capacity.
Having built a number of custom fuel systems, I cannot quite get my head around how you won't get stranded somewhere. A knock off pump is dicey to start with and placing it outside the tank where it cannot be cooled by fuel near exhaust is a recipe for disaster.
EFI pumps are bad at sucking fuel but good at pushing it. I think the only reliable way here is to have the pump in the tank.
The hydramat is not a bad idea given how long the tanks are and how the fuel can collect to one end off road. However, the bucket used with the TBI system does much the same thing by collecting the fuel.
The TBI bucket is the most straightforward and reliable solution. You won't need to service it.
EFI pumps are bad at sucking fuel but good at pushing it. I think the only reliable way here is to have the pump in the tank.
The hydramat is not a bad idea given how long the tanks are and how the fuel can collect to one end off road. However, the bucket used with the TBI system does much the same thing by collecting the fuel.
The TBI bucket is the most straightforward and reliable solution. You won't need to service it.
camp4x4
Adventurer
I appreciate the input. One thing to clarify though is I’m not using a TBI tank. I picked up a fresh ‘73 tank, so no baffles or anything inside. I don’t think the Hydramat I bought would have even fit inside the ‘87 tank.
At the moment I’ve got bigger projects to do than reworking my fuel system plans. I will give a quick look at what it would cost to get a new sender, pump, fittings, etc, but I suspect it’ll be more than just buying a spare external to keep in my kit.
My understanding is if I keep the pump low enough, and keep the flow steady enough (thus the Hydramat) the syphon should take a fair amount of pressure off the pump from having to suck the fuel up.
camp4x4
Adventurer
Paint chips from Monstaliner came in! Color perception is a funny thing. Holding these up to the '73 made me realize just how mustard-yellow the truck is. Lots of green in there.
I may very well still do the inside of the doors where the trim panels don't cover, as well as the door sills on the body since I have the doors off anyway... we'll see.
I do like the Urine Trouble yellow and tan as well...
I may very well still do the inside of the doors where the trim panels don't cover, as well as the door sills on the body since I have the doors off anyway... we'll see.
I do like the Urine Trouble yellow and tan as well...
marshal
Burrito Enthusiast
i know its quite a bit of money - but have you considered having Line-X do a spray on the body? if you deliver them the shell with all the windows and seals pulled and all the prep work done you could probably get out for under 3k with a perfect color match and a much much much better product
camp4x4
Adventurer
Did the math and 4 gallons of tintable Monstaliner plus color is gonna end up being about $700. This stuff isn't rocket science to put on - spray or even roll - so I'm pretty comfortable DIY'ing this one. As for the color, I'm good with "close enough" if the cost difference to get exact is that much.
EDIT: You got me thinking about this... all these liner products are tintable, not pre-tinted. So in theory I can get ANY color if I can get the right tint. Googled it and came up with this guide from Monstaliner: http://www.monstaliner.com/documents/tinting_ml_with_auto_paint_tints.pdf
SO... now I get to see if Finishmaster can mix up some Adonis Yellow tint for me, following these instructions.
marshal
Burrito Enthusiast
Have you considered the UPol Raptor?