December 2021 Updates – 1966 GMC Suburban Custom 496 Blueprint motor

1966 GMC Suburban Frame off resto – MONTHLY UPDATES
Purchased 1-21-2021
Day I brought the Suburban home | January | February | March | April | May | June
July | August | September | October | November | December | January 2022 | February | March | April | May | June | July | Misc Updates
Some of the parts bought

Some of my other projects –
My 1966 GMC Suburban ” Custom” Project (started January 2021)
My 1963 GMC Suburban “Custom” (FOR SALE) Fauxtina/Patina paint job FS page – Gallery – Video
My 1972 Montego GT 429 / 521
My 1973 Montego MX (see monthly updates toward the top once you get to the page)
My 1966 Chevy C-10  (see monthly updates toward the top once you get to the page)
My 1977 Trans Am Buccaneer Red
My 1963 Pro Street C10 (back halved frame off I did this back in 1992) Video
Some of my other cars and trucks
My YouTube Channel (how-tos, projects, paint jobs…)

12/1/21 -Smoothed the lettering off the carriage bolts and painted them. These are the tub bolts along with the rear sill bolts
2/3/21 – Started in on the wiring. In order to do the wiring, I had to install the inner fender since the fuse panel installs on the backside of the 2 main fender bolts

12/8/21 – I’ve got the fenders all buffed. Also been working on the wiring still. Little by little
I STARTED THE MOTOR WITH THE KEY TODAY!! So another big day for the ‘burb.
Also installed my “Custom” emblems. Pretty rare. Only came on the GMC Suburban Customs.
I’ll be installed i the thin trim that will outline the black and copper soon.

First run with the body on.

12/14/21 – Painted the steering column from Jegs. Received my Billet Specialties steering column.
Still working the wiring (or it’s working me). Gog it so the lights on the dash work and the wiper now works. I guess Suburbans and C10s with the wiper washer option was pretty rare.
Jody cleaned up the headlight retaining rings.
I’ll be taking the grill, bezels and headlight surrounds up to get them blasted this week.

December 16th – got the rear harness all wired in. I think I did a very clean looking job. The parking lights seem to work great. Ordered some Autowire LED’s for the taillights and they work great.
Used the Autowire 500560 wiring kit for the complete wiring (for a Chevy / GMC C10 or Suburban)
I have yet to test the brake or turnsignals. They say that the LED’s may need a module so they blink. So we’ll see
Also partially installed the steering column. Still need to work on that.


12/19/21 – Sunday. Went in at 6AM and dug in. Installed the right inner fender along with the ‘Custom’ moldings. Only worked until 10:30
Also, currently looking for the grommets that go on the reverse lamps on the 67-72 Stepsides and the old Suburbans. This grommet has an angle on it so it will face horizontal when installed

12/20/21 – Pulled out the GMC Suburban for the first time today. Unfortunately, it was a gloomy day so I didn’t get a chance to see the color in the sun.
I also installed the rear bumper, but I’ll be pulling this back off soon and installed a 1/8″ neoprene strip for the bumper filler.

December 21 – Got the grill surround (grill support panel) installed. Also installed the right door.
Had a glitch when installing the grill surround. I had to move the transmission cooler about 1″ down ad it interfered with the bottom mounts of the surround. So that took quite a bit of time to figure out.

It’s really starting to look like a ’66 Suburban now!!!

December 23-24th – Got the fenders on and aligned. Got it ready to bring home to finish more on it.
Also had a chicken (rooster?) stop by at 8:30 AM and pretty much spent the day with me. Odd, but it did.
It went across the way to another shop. He called a bird sanctuary and they came out and picked it up about 5PM. Friendly little guy.
I ordered the shifter from Jegs on 12/9. Not exactly the one I ordered but they did have ship date at 12/16. The one I really wanted had a 2/2 ship date. So I checked back earlier this week to find out when it would arrived and come to find out, the NEW ship date for the one I ordered is 3/3. So I know never to really on their posted ship dates
Jason who owns Above Average towed it home for me. Excellent job. Second time he’s towed the Suburban
First time was just the frame.
Took some pics of the underside while it was up on the flatbed

So anyways, the Suburban is now home!!!
Merry Christmas to everyone!

12/27/21 – Had the grill sandblasted last week. I did minor bodywork and primed them today.

Also had the new front glass installed. I had the ‘original’ Custom windshield moldings polished by Woody’s in Clearwater (along with the side trim) about 8 months ago. Good to see them installed now!

12/29/21 – Painted some misc parts. The GMC lettering that goes under the grill. NOS chrome. I painted the inside of the lettering in the same color as the interior of the truck. The border is the chrome
Painted the grill in the matte black. Came out excellent. Painted the headlight bezels and buckets, the hood hinges, and the door glass tracks
Also sandblasted some brand new door handles and locks and painted them in the same matte black.
The door handle locks use the same key as the ignition and glove box.

12/30/21 – Dug in on the GMC Grill assembly. I repainted the GMC letter emblems to have the red inserts. Just didn’t like the light charcoal against the chrome. Originally I did want red as I wanted the left, right, front and rear to have just a bit of red. Hence the red calipers. Now the red GMC lettering. The rear has the flip-up license plate which I’ll paint or have decals made in solid red.
Got the headlights from Octane lighting. I was under the impression that I would receive high beam and low beam sets, but I actually received 4 low beam with a 3 prong to 2 prong convertor. The problem is, when you shave off the ‘tabs’ on the “high” beam headlights, they now sit too low in the buckets, You have to shave these since these tabs sit in an indent in the bucket. The low beam work great. The high beam…do not

Ordered my carpet from stockinteriors.com – 80/20 loop in 558 Charcoal
formed carpet for a 1966 C10 (the right side is slightly different versus a suburban)
floor mats
1 yard extra carpet. This is ALL THEY WOULD SELL. Arggg. Couldn’t find anyone to sell more than a yard. They say ACC will cancel the order. This is due to a shortage of materials.
Unsure what I’m going to do about the back
carpet for the bottom of the doors

Still waiting to ship…
My seats made by Snowden (2 buckets and a custom made 44″ wide rear seat – do to the tubs being widened) – 10/29
My Vintage Air AC kit. This was ordered 9/24/21

12/31/21 – Last day of the year. Got my headlights installed. They should be fine. I also aligned the front fenders and the grill support better. These aligned real nice.
Got the grill installed. I still have the new wiring to do from the firewall to the grill. I’ll run this through the frame. From the factory this went along the inner fender and through the radiator support

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