Sherpa Burban

Sherpa-Burban Project:

Since I was but a wee my family has had GM Suburbans. I began looking for a project suburban in april of 1999. I wanted a Diesel 3/4 ton. When I found out the 3/4 ton didn't have an overdrive transmission I was disheartened and decided I would rather get a 1/2 ton with an overdrive and upgrade the axles later. The search began. In September of 1999 I purchased my first GMC Suburban. It was a 1984 1/2 ton diesel. It was in nearly perfect condition with about 97,000 miles on it. The paint was totally 80s and the interior was red but in incredible shape. The vehicle was acquired and the learning began. In the first six months of ownership I put nearly 60,000 miles on the beast. She was driven back and forth to California, Arizona, Idaho and all over Utah. On one California trip we even 4x4ed through Odessa Canyon, a 4 rated trail. She also saw plenty of trails in and around Moab. I wanted to learn how to do body work and repaint the sub so I took a "Paint Your Own Vehicle" class at UVSC. I decided to sand the body down to the metal. For future reference, this is unnecessary. You can get away with just sanding off the top layer of paint to have a perfectly acceptable surface to adhere the new paint. The class ended before I could repaint the burb and so she suffered greatly.

I put a skyjacker 6" lift kit and 36" tires under the bohemeth. I quickly broke the rear axle and decided to upgrade the transmission and transfercases while installing new axles. I found a corporate 14 bolt and a dana 60 set up in Midway. My dad went up with me and assisted me moving these axles back to Rocky Mountain High 4x4. Matt worked his magic and installed the new transmission, dual transfercases and had a driveline made to fit. The Sub sat outside from August to November while getting the upgrades. With winter here and no front driveline the Sub was rendered useless in the snow and she had to sit out in front of my shop. In the meantime I got incredibly busy working with the PsykoDaleIks. When spring came I finally decided to bob the tail of the suburban. I removed 21" of sheetmetal and welded it back together. I had acquired side tanks but found they didn't fit right. So I removed the floor to find a new position for the 40 gallon tank. When this didn't work to my desires I removed the interior floor to try and fit the side tanks. At this point the sub was getting pretty sad. The body was completely rusted and the removed interior acquiring dust and filth in my shop. When I finally removed the rest of the interior flooring I had to face the aweful truth. I had destroyed my suburban to the point it would take more work to salvage the mess than it would to start over. At the same time, my needs had changed. I had become so disgusted with the way that auto manufacturers build vehicles that I had now designed totally new systems that would render conventional 4x4s obsolete. I had gained much more experience with extreme 4x4ing and had begun to learn what works and what doesn't. I had acquired excellent axles, a great drivetrain, and had built a decent motor. I decided it was time to look for a new body and start over.

That was on Thursday, June 13th, 2002. By that night I found a 1987 Chevrolet Suburban with a blown motor. I took a look at it and agreed on a price. The vehicle looked pretty sad. The interior was utterly disgusting and the exterior was oxidized and had a hornet's nest here and there. But there was very little rust and the only dents to be found were on the rear doors. The vehicle was finally delivered to my shop on Wednesday, June 19th, 2002. Below are some pics of the acquisition.

As of June 25th, 2002 I have now removed the motor, transmission and transfercase from my old suburban, pulled the boat anchor out of the 87 and removed the turbo 400 and 208. Last night I was able to lower the Diesel into the 87 and get it aligned. I will post pics soon

This is a list of the immediate goals:
Install motor, transmission and transfercases from the 84 to the 1987 suburban.
Install 6" lift kit.
Wax and polish body.
Clean interior and fix major defects.
Acquire R12 and charge air conditioning system.
Install 36" tires.
Build 8 position bicycle rack.
Register vehicle in Utah.

Near future goals:
Design and install custom garrett T04 twin turbos. This includes custom headers, 4" exhaust, intercooler and intake setup with a snorkeled air intake There will also be a number of motor modifications necessary such as shorter pistons and larger injectors.
Custom bumpers and Grille with side by side radiators.
Inverted Rear shackle and 2" spring.
Hydraulic Steering.
Front fenderwells removed.
37x17x12.5 BFGoodrich Mud Terrain K/M tires mounted on 17x9" Alcoa Classic II rims.
Install Corporate 14 bolt and Dana 60.
Cutter Brakes.
ATS Propane Kit.
16.1" Sony Vaio with topoUSA/Garmin GPS navigation / entertainment system.
Eclipse audio head unit, sony 10 disk changer, Phoenix Gold 2000 Watt Amps, 4 infinity tweets, 4 infinity mids and 2 15" infinity subs.
2 rows GM seatbelt integrated seats mounted on reciever hitches to attach to floor or on exterior of vehicle. These seats will be heated and 6 way power adjustable. Third Row upholstered to match.
Custom carpet.
Sky roof with custom felt roof.
Secondary A/C system routed through sky roof.
4"x4" rocker guards sealed to hold air.
ARB Lockers front and rear.
Propane frigde.
Propane heater, interior and area.
Recessed Door Handles.
Armored fenderwells.
Chromeillusion flamed paintjob with ghost flames.
Aluminum Roof Rack.
Remote 12,000lb Ramsey winch.
Quad Batteries.
Pneumatic assisted OverRyde shocks.
QuickAir compressor.
Custom sound damping and interior seals. Hepa filters on interior air intake.

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