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View Full Version : Finally got the my family truckster painted...


njsteve
05-11-2025, 06:54 PM
1995 GMC Suburban K2500 6.5 Diesel. Ordered her in March of 1995 and took delivery in May 1995. 6.5 turbo-diesel. 3/4 ton, 8600 GVW. Brought all my kids home from the hospital when they were born in it. All the family vacations over the years in this truck. Both kids brought to and from college (all 4 years) in this thing and even used it as the bridal limo at my daughter's wedding a couple years ago. Towed a lot of musclecars too, along the way. Back in 2013 some of you may recall when I was halfway to MCACN and blew the headgaskets on this engine and had to limp it almost all the way back to NJ. Made it to within 70 miles when it pooped out. A great friend then loaned me his Dodge to bring the SD455 to MCACN and made it just in time! After replacing the headgaskets in 2013, I replaced the entire engine in 2017 with a brand new, higher-output version from the suppler for the military HUMVEE retrofitting contract in Ohio.

In Feb of 2024 in a driving rainstorm I accidentally sideswiped the driver's side doors at 3 MPH, when I wasn't able to notice a frikken handicapped parking sign in a concrete-filled, cast-iron pipe jutting out of the ground in a parking lot. Of course my son was in the passenger seat and says: "Why'd you hit that?" I then nicely asked him why he didn't tell me I was about to drive into it. (My vision of it was blocked by the A-pillar and the rain). He says: "I thought you'd eventually notice it." Sigh. Thankfully he has my wife's good looks, intelligence, and athleticism. Sadly, all he got from me was my sarcastic wit.

Anyway, I had been thinking about getting the truck painted for many years now and I can’t say enough about Tamra and MK Insurance (a major sponsor here). The truck was on our collector car policy for several years now and they covered the repair no problem with zero deductible. Even the adjuster said: while you're getting the entire left side of the truck painted, why don't you just have them do the other half, too? Great Idea! So I did. The hardest part was finding all the good sheet metal for an Old Body Style (OBS) Suburban. They make repro front doors but no one makes the rear side doors. (I didn't want any repro stuff anyway) So I spent several months hunting down rust-free parts on facebook marketplace. I found the left front door from a California Suburban, the right front door from a Georgia pickup truck, the left rear door from a wrecked NJ paramedic Suburban and the tailgate from a Washington State Suburban that some guy bought just to use the frame for a resto mod truck.

Unbelievably, the body shop is a local CarStar franchise in Flemington, NJ that is an approved body shop by a lot of insurance companies here, took on the job. I had had experience with them doing normal collision stuff for our daily drivers. They were absolutely amazing. Turns out the body man who was assigned the truck, restores OBS pickups as a hobby and knows these trucks inside and out. He even had a perfect hood for the truck since mine had 30 years of dings in it that he said would take 16 hours just to smooth out. So he sold me a perfect hood for $150 out of his supply.

It took 11-1/2 months to complete and that was with constant work being done on it. No body shop prison episode here! It was weekly progress all along. They even pulled all the glass out. I had removed the rear interior just to save them some labor since the three hidden, rear fender flare nuts require every interior panel to be removed to get to them. And I didn't want to be charged for that 8 hours of labor. And they had to straighten the B-pillar that got pushed in from the concrete pole. Tons of labor involved in this project.

When it came time to paint, they couldn't locate the correct formula for a matching color in their records so they called in the factory rep from their paint supplier. They cut a portion of the original-paint, door skin off and gave it to the rep who brought it to their headquarters and then had the company's special projects people match it and reverse engineer the correct matching Atlantic Blue, which was a 2-year only color for these things in '94 and '95.

Once I got her back I spent a few weeks installing all the stuff I had been stockpiling for the past year that I was going to install all last year if I hadn’t had the fender-bender: new carpet, new injectors, glow plugs, 2-gauge battery cable kit...and then got some historic/classic car license plates for it. You know you're old when the truck you bought new is now eligible for historic plates!



Enjoy!

njsteve
05-11-2025, 06:57 PM
And the finished product. Now she's too nice to tow with anymore.

(Well I was trying to upload them but the website is having issues right now...)

njsteve
05-11-2025, 07:00 PM
here's some

njsteve
05-11-2025, 07:04 PM
another

njsteve
05-11-2025, 07:05 PM
last one

njsteve
05-11-2025, 07:09 PM
Oh, and in case you were wondering: The 6.5 works out to 396 cubic inches. It was pretty easy to convert the "6.5 Diesel Turbo" factory sticker to a 396. Just flip the "6" upside down and you get a 9, and edit a little.

Crush
05-11-2025, 07:22 PM
The grandkids will be driving this baby one day!!

Too Many Projects
05-12-2025, 01:33 AM
Very nice, Steve and NO, it isn't too nice to tow with. You did that when it was new and it didn't break, so go out and find a car to tow around...:laugh:

njsteve
05-12-2025, 01:49 AM
My trailer is vintage 1991 Pace and has been through a few too many hurricanes in Florida and in New Jersey! Not safe any more other than for helping friends and family move furniture. :grin:

Too Many Projects
05-12-2025, 03:15 AM
My trailer is vintage 1991 Pace and has been through a few too many hurricanes in Florida and in New Jersey! Not safe any more other than for helping friends and family move furniture. :grin:
Sounds like it's next in line for a renovation...:dunno:

Ryan1969Chevelle
05-12-2025, 10:34 AM
Wow. Looks amazing!!

I’m pretty truck obsessed these days!!!

What transmission was behind a 6.5? 4L80E?

Ryan W31

njsteve
05-12-2025, 12:15 PM
Yup, the heavy duty 4L80E 4-speed overdrive transmission.

dykstra
05-12-2025, 02:32 PM
Looks great Steve!

napa68
05-12-2025, 05:28 PM
The story and the project really turned out Steve!

njsteve
05-13-2025, 12:20 AM
Oh, and that f$#%#& pole is still there with my paint scratch remnants on it a year later...

Too Many Projects
05-13-2025, 02:03 AM
You could, not, park right by them... :hmmm:

njsteve
05-13-2025, 02:38 AM
I didn’t. We were driving through the parking lot to leave during a rainstorm when the accident happened. That pole was the outermost spot on the interior roadway. I was just returning to the scene of the crime for the post-mortem photo.

Lynn
05-13-2025, 02:40 AM
I remember when you were replacing the engine in this Suburban.

Very cool you have kept it all these years and it is still in such great condition.

muscle_collector
05-13-2025, 03:12 AM
looks great. is it the only 6.5 turbo in existence still running? that engine is why i drive ford trucks.

njsteve
05-13-2025, 10:14 AM
Yeah, I think I’m also the last mechanic still around who knows how to work on them. Especially since it’s a 1995 version. They were the only OBD1 version. OBD2 came in 1996 and used a different way to time the injection pump. It’s fun to keep it going since it’s like a Rube-Goldberg type of contraption. And the more modern HUMVEE replacement engine is a lot more dependable and powerful: 300 hp and 500 lbs of torque versus the original (and unreliable 190 hp/380 torque)

RPOLS3
05-13-2025, 02:38 PM
Looks great - love the story.

chadk
05-13-2025, 03:07 PM
That is one sharp Suburban!
Does your collector car insurance policy allow you to pull a trailer? I have an old truck insured through Berkley One collector insurance and I can't haul or tow anything.

Thanks, Chad

njsteve
05-15-2025, 05:18 PM
You are correct. All show, no tow. :-)

olredalert
05-15-2025, 10:42 PM
----You just aren't covered when towing. The boat launch is a 1/2 mile from my house. Just am very careful....Bill S

njsteve
05-20-2025, 10:26 PM
Doing some minor tinkering. We filled the A/C system with R134a over the weekend because the rear air barely blows cold on these things. It has 50 feet of aluminum lines and a separate rear evaporator and expansion valve in the right rear corner, quarter panel. It takes 6 cans and the high side system spec is 330 psi according to the factory manual. Filled it up to spec and still not very cool at the outlets.

One of the reasons for the underperforming rear A/C is that it also has a heater core and 50 feet of aluminum line running to the same ac/heater box in the rear corner. The only thing separating them is a flapper valve to direct the air flow from the bower motor. But the heater core still is in the same box and all that ambient heat just does a "Reverse Uno" card move on the cold evaporator.

So I decided to add a heater core bypass valve in the engine compartment. They make these for this exact reason: to bypass the hot water going to the heater core in the summer and return it to the radiator instead. In the winter you just turn the 90-degree valve and you are back to normal. Already seeing an improvement in coldfulness coming from the upper roof air outlets. Don't know why I didn't do this years ago?

Here's the valve: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CLTZD1TW?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

olredalert
05-21-2025, 09:18 PM
----Much admire your perseverance, Steve. Since I am almost always alone in my 93 Subby I completely disconnected rear stuff. My wanderings are mainly local travel except for MCACN every year or two. Jan won't even get in it. Says the door sill is too high....Bill S

njsteve
05-21-2025, 09:34 PM
----Much admire your perseverance, Steve. Since I am almost always alone in my 93 Subby I completely disconnected rear stuff. My wanderings are mainly local travel except for MCACN every year or two. Jan won't even get in it. Says the door sill is too high....Bill S

How dare she dis' the 'burb! Inconceivable!