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03 Suburban

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  • #893588
    A . SpruceA . Spruce
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      Hey all,

      Thought I’d share the 03 Suburban that I purchased at the end of February 2019

      Overall she’s got good bones. Burb immediately went to the mechanic to have ALL of the fluids changed and got a clean bill of health. While the vehicle was well maintained, I wanted a fresh start on my own maintenance schedule.

      The guy I bought it from had it about a year, he had gotten it from his father-in-law, who had it for most of it’s life, garage kept, so the paint was in overall good condition, but had the average 16 years worth of bumps and contusion that are currently being worked out. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take “before” pix of the major problems, but I’ll cover those more in depth when the body work is done.

      For now, here are the before/after pix of the interior. The carpet was absolutely disgusting and I was ready to replace it, but figured I’d try cleaning it first, so out came ALL of the interior plastic trim, seats, and carpet. I then used a combination of pressure washing and carpet cleaning detergent to clean the carpets and floor mats, which made them look almost brand new! I was surprised at how well the cleaning process went.

      And here is an after pix

      Didn’t even have everything back together before an inspector popped in to check my work!


      I though I had more “after” pix, will have to look for them.

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    • #893589
      A . SpruceA . Spruce
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        While the seats were out, I decided to replace the existing bench seat that has really bad storage with a center console that has much better storage, cup holders and trays. Super easy thing to do, simply replace the center seat section with a console from the wreckers. What you may not know is that the entire dash skirt has to be replaced as well, because the console is part of the dash, so the panels are a tad different.


        Because I had to replace the dash skirt and was into it this deep already, I decided to tackle several dash squeaks that the mechanic neglected to deal with. I should say FORMER mechanic, because his quality of work ain’t what it used to be. I’ve been with him for 25 years and the past 5 or 7 years the work being done to the 02 Sierra hasn’t been to snuff, and he seriously missed the mark with the inspection and a few other things on the Suburban. Anyway, this is what I ended up with!


        Turns out the driver’s side clip was broken off, so with some Shoe Goo and reinforcement sticks, the clip is back in place and no more squeaks. I also rerouted and insulated several wires behind the stereo.


        After about 3 days worth of work, it was finally all back together. I’ve yet to get more “after” pix due to weather and lack of time. Over the past few weeks I’ve had my neighbor, a body man, taking care of the several larger dents and dings, as well as some deep scratches that compromised the paint. He’s almost done with that, then it will get cut/buffed, and a thorough waxing to protect everything. With that done, the next project will be restoring all the exterior plastics that are both dirty and weathered. Unfortunately, I’m fighting weather and time right now, so the exterior stuff is on hold.

        Aside from the aesthetics, I’ve got to do brakes all around and front shocks and that should sum up the necessities for the time being. Oh, I pulled the rear passenger door panels to access door dings from behind, in doing so, I found some damage to the panels that I’ve also been repairing. Wrecker wanted $50 each for new panels, I’ve done the repairs for a $5 bottle of glue. Still need to get those back in place, but alas, the weather, the darned weather! 😆

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