Ol' Sears - 1975 Sears Suburban ST/16

I do have a list that I would like to perform now while breaking this down.

• proper remote choke solution for the 389.  $30 amazon or anywhere on the web
  
• couple welded in bolts for fenders.
  
• possibly remove the hood spacer?
  
• raise engine a bit
  
• remote fuel tank, prefer back under seat.
  
• more to come
  

MightyRaze wrote:

 

Going to repaint the hood an almond color.  That would better match original, I think.

I went with a yellow before.  I think the original was closer to a tan?

I got to thinking, and I had a suggestion. Back in the 80s kenworth had a special edition that they called “gold nugget” with metallic black, gold and brown. I always thought it looked really cool. Might fit your Sears nicely

Maybe...   Maybe my other Suburban Thor.  This one I'm going to keep "close" to normal.  I do like the combo of colors.  Definitely keep in mind for Thor. 

I can see it black with brown fenders and brown/gold hood and dash.

One minor victory, I actually got my clutch/brake rod out of the frame.  I was not able to do so last time.  This time with some liquid wrench penetrating oil she came right out.  Last time I tried PB Blaster with no luck.  With that out of the way, I can now pull the footboards off and split the frame for new unrusted hardware!

Going to throw something out there for ya.  I've been reading some go-kart forums across the web, and they say you can mount these engines up to 15 degrees with no oil or fuel issues.  That the engine actually can sling the oil better angled back.  That would eliminate the need for my hood spacer easily I would assume as it would bring the head above the bottom grill.  Thoughts on that?

Sounds promising. The oil pickup (slinger, pump?) must be low and toward the back. 

And just for fun, I had a 60 something Ford pickup that I loved. 3/4 ton, 2WD, 6 cylinder, 4 speed, long narrow bed. Got it cheap, fixed the carb and it ran like a top. A friend had a body shop. We painted my truck 1980 Ford metallic brown and tan. Wish I still had that one.

I did some rough planning and somewhere between 7-10 degrees is plenty.  15 was WAY too much, so I shouldn't have much in the way of fuel issues.

OK, rough planning and all... 10 degrees still WAY too much...



That's like a 3 inch gap with the grill back in the original placement!  I cut the angle in half to 5 degrees and it was darn near perfect.  Good 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch gap with the grill in the original placement.  I forgot to get a pic before taking the engine back off.  Now to fabricate an engine plate to match.

You're 420 is a rendition of a GX390 which is known as a "high inclination engine" (as described by Honda) designed for tractors and mobile equipment so as long as they've followed the same model it sounds like you're good to go! It's supposed to have special venting for the carb to prevent flooding but you may find yourself needing to adjust the float regardless, you won't know that until you cross that bridge though.

I'd run it with the least amount of degrees possible just to be on the safe side.

Definitely.  I'm looking at around 4-5 degrees.  Tomorrow is my day off, so I am going to try and build that engine plate if I feel good.  0.75" lift in the rear and 1.25" lift in the front.  Should be good to go.  Going to try and build it where I can bolt down the mount 1st to the tractor.  Then I will have the 4 bolts for the engine welded in, so all I have to do is drop it down and tighten up nuts.  That is the plan anyways!

I hear ya, we ain't getting any younger are we!? Lol. I like the idea of the welded studs but I'll stick with through bolts, can't fix broken welds on the trail! Well, I guess you could if you went overkill but let us not go THERE! LOL

It'll be welding through bolts from the underside of the plate gap.

Got started and felt good with my progress.  Worked a couple hours and had to shut it down.  Some real life kicked in and had to walk away for the rest of the day.

Building the raised engine plate.

  

Here are some shots at how it sits.  

 

Plenty of room and as you can see from the carb, it really isn't leaning back that far at all.

Another one of the reasons I decided to shut things down, 50mph winds and the dust was starting to get thick!



I did wrap up the day aligning the engine where it is needed.  Tomorrow or later this weekend I'll get the engine holes marked, drilled.  Bolts welded in for the engine side.  Holes into the tractor plate drilled where I can remove those bolts (from riser to tractor) will also be drilled.  Final weld, clean the edges and have it ready to paint. I did use the original oh160 holes for the riser so I could drill through and not interfere with the engine bolts.




Felt good with my progress today and the desire to work on it is starting to come back.

That looks really good!

Little slow, but I got the riser built!

..

..



Now I will proceed with teardown now and repaint.  I was going to make a gusset for inside, but it was pretty solid.  I put it through some pretty hard stress drilling some holes.  Probably will still happen.

Someone killed Kenny!








Nah... just doing some cleaning and priming...

So, this is a question I have had for a while, how do you reapply the stickers after you paint it? or do you buy new ones...

Either tape them off if still good or buy new ones.

have you ever considered painting it a dark color?

Actually I am going a little different direction.   More of a TAN/Beige.



Good news, all the seals seem fine.  Just a little draining from the HI/LOW plunger which is normal and unpreventable.



Reassembly has begun on the painted parts.



When you have limited get on the ground capability right now, you crane it up to your teeth.  I'll do this again when I get the fenders done and put on the new belt.  I forgot what size it was.  That will have to wait for payday.



I went with the tan as they don't make the color these things were in a rattle can unless you have it custom made.  No more confusing it as a Cub when I am done. I have been pretty pleased with dupicolor paint.  Applying and durability.  It's only dried a day, and it is already getting a good shell to it.  Even with the cooler temps.

Looking good!

I was smart and ran my fuel line and my rear taillight wire before assembly.  Installed the tank before transaxle too!  HAHA...

I have enough primer to finish the front "Beige" parts.  I do not have enough tan at this point.  I have cleaned on that front engine plate/axle hanger piece for 3 days and still haven't got all the 46 yrs of oil out from under it.  I surrendered and have decided that is rust prevention undercoating.  I'll paint the top half that is visible and leave the underside hidden parts be.



Added info on the transaxle.  There was no water in the trans surprisingly.  There was some water in the gasket, but only on top.  It did its job.

Other than the front axle, fenders, mule, and other random small parts, the frame is now primed.





I also finally got around to installing an actual remote choke plate.







Moving along.

Full shutdown... paint shortage locally.  I have some more on order.

loving the color your really making me miss my suburban

I was able to source some more primer.  Should be able to prime many of the next parts.  I have the fenders, lower grill and battery tray primmed now.  I need to bust the front axle apart, clean and prime.  The almond paint that I was going to use on the dash and hood.  I have half a can.  I figure I would need at least 3 full cans.  I looked online and for 1 can, they wanted $25?!?!  Uh.... I think I can find it still for around 4-6 bucks locally.  Seems like the Lowes nearby still has a stock of paint.

Seems inflation is rampant. I bought some pipe fittings for another project and spent 50 bucks on 10 bucks worth of stuff. An item I ordered on Amazon last week is now $25 more than it was when I bought it. Paint? Insane.