1972 Suburban Big Block Rat Rod

1972 Chevrolet Suburban Custom Description

72 'Burb with 67 hood and grille. 500ci Cadillac motor with TH-400 transmission. Front and Rear A/C, 06 Suburban leather seats, new carpet, door panels, extra insulation, rebuilt front end with 3" drop spindles, 4" drop springs in the rear, good brakes all around, new shocks, nearly new wheels and tires, solid body with some rust repairs in the usual C-10 places. Aluminum radiator, new battery, recent door rubber, extra parts. The motor is a 76 vintage and runs fine on regular pump gas. The engine/trans came from a 76 Coupe Deville. The story was the owner installed a new crate motor and had the trans rebuilt. Shortly after, he died and the car sat next to the house for 8 years until the wife had to sell and move. We pulled the engine/trans as a unit and found them to be much cleaner than the surrounding engine bay so I believe the story. The engine runs great and the trans shifts up and down smoothly. There are some drips under the truck, but a piece of cardboard takes care of stains. The A/C is a kit from Vintage Air and blows cold. The gauges all work, but I added a set to closely monitor temp/oil pressure/voltage. The speedometer reads about 10 mph slow due to the cable gear from the original TH350. There is an exhaust leak from the passenger side manifold, but it subsides after heating up. I bought the truck in 2007 and installed the motor/trans in 2010, so I've been driving it a while. The worse "need to fix" is a pinion bearing in the rear end. It's been noisy since I've owned it...just don't drive it enough to worry about it. The truck had 69k miles when I bought it and now it has 86k. Clear Kentucky title, but Alabama only requires a bill of sale for older vehicles.

On Nov-13-16 at 07:08:57 PST, seller added the following information:

Here’s my assessment of stuff to work on: 1. Passenger side exhaust manifold leaks when cold. Not so bad when heated up. Broken bolt heads. I should have fixed it during the engine swap, but didn’t notice when running in the donor Cadillac. We pulled and installed the engine/trans as a unit. 2. Needs new gas lines from the new tank to the mechanical fuel pump. I have a 3/8” rubber hose to bypass the factory hard lines due to corrosion. Also needs an electric fuel pump to be installed and tied to the oil pressure switch so it shuts off at engine start. I have the new parts, but haven’t installed them. Truck is a little hard to start after sitting 2-3 days. Using the starter to pump fuel is not efficient. However, it starts easy with regular use. 3. I mentioned the rear end noise in the CL ad. A complete replacement Jasper rear end installed should be under $2400. I had one put in my 97 Burb for $1800, but that was back in 2004. A good rear end mechanic could rebuild it for less I’m sure. 4. The AC lines to the factory rear evaporator unit have a slow leak. I have new fittings and o-rings that will fix that issue. However, it still blows cold. 5. The new rubber in the doors make it hard to close the doors without slamming. The driver door works easy so that tells me the other doors need to be “worked” a little more. I have new hinge pins and bushings that may also help once installed. 6. I have new rubber for the back barn doors, but not installed. Also have new seals for the vent windows, but not installed. New window seals are installed. 7. There is a parasitic circuit that draws the battery down over 4-5 days. I remove the negative cable when parked since the battery is new and I don’t want it damaged until I have time to troubleshoot. All the head-tail lights/turn signals/radio/power seats/etc work. Some of the dash lights at night work, but it needs all new dash bulbs. 8. Body work if you intend to paint. The previous owner put on the black paint and matte clear coat. Original paint is dark olive with white top and lower body. The 67 hood that I put on turned out to have rust pinholes across the nose and a bondo dent after soda blasting. I decided to rat-rod it a bit more rather than trying to fix. The 67-68 hoods are hard to find used. The fenders are still the original 72 with the 69-72 grille dimples. A set of used 67-68 fenders would be nice to find to finish the look. The rest of the grille is in great shape with new SS trim. I had to adapt the headlight buckets to the radiator support. Much easier than replacing the entire support. Rust repair includes the rockers, door bottoms, kick panels, front body mount supports. Frame is solid. 9. The inside rear-view mirror is from an earlier truck because its mounted to the cab rather that the windshield. Sometimes gets bumped when you move the sun-visors. A new stick-on mirror would fix it. 10. The AC belt sometimes squeals on cold startup. It’s a long belt from the crank pulley to the compressor to the PS pump. It needs an adjustable tension pulley. I bought one but it needs a custom bracket that bolts to the water pump. I drive the truck pretty regular. I’ve been all over north Alabama and southern Tennessee and only had to tow it home once. Turned out to be a clogged internal fuel pump filter which started the new gas tank and fuel line bypass project. The engine does use a little oil, but no smoke at startup or otherwise. Brakes have been replaced (original disc/drum) are all in good working order. The custom aluminum radiator works well. The Caddy engine is runs 180-220 depending on outside temps and traffic. Rolling down the road is pretty much 180-190 in any condition. Oil pressure is 20 at idle and 40 on the road. I have heavy-duty custom battery cables, 15 amp alternator and a high-torque racing mini starter connected to the 1000 CCA battery so it turns over very well. I have other parts and pieces that will be included such as original door panels, like new shock absorbers, air cleaner, fan shroud, a 2006 suburban console, new rear coil springs (factory height), car cover, A/C parts, rear door seals, vent window seals, and other odds and ends. $8K cash will buy it.