The square body suburban carried on until the 1992 model year.


89,90, and 91 were all square body.

Along with the 1 tons that kept the body till that same point. Fun fact..when the GMT400s came along the Squarebody trucks were renamed R/V in place of the old C/K designation.

Thanks for the history, fellas. I was unaware.

Yea Gm was kinda funny during those years as they transitioned from one body to the other. The actual heavy duty 1 tons, Blazers and Suburbans retained the Square body till '91.

Today was interesting as i tried to research various ideas for paint to get this truck all one color after it gets its new body panels.

My Bro-in-law is amazing at making stuff look really good for cheap. He painted his '77 F150 in the driveway, using a cheap spray gun and yard sale compressor. He mixed white Tremclad with a little ochre from the local art store (he's an artist) and some hardener. It's a lovely job that closely resembles Wimbledon White. I'm not recommending that colour for you, as much as the philosophy.

I was planning on using John Deere Blitz black for this and found out yesterday that the color is discontinued...There are the few odd quart cans kicking around but once they are gone they are gone.. So if i ever ended up scratching or damaging the body after i would be SOL. So the search is on for a different paint.

So...i blame Weld for this...reading his idea for paint reminded me of the so called "Rustolium paint job" I have seen it mentioned all over the place on the various forums i am on. Basically it is what weld suggested...correction it is exactly what Weld suggested but using a different thinner as Tremclad is basically the Canadian version of Rustolium. Anyways this thought path lead me to the local Benjamin moore paint store and looking at their rust paint to at the very least use a slightly better quality paint for the task. As i had heard Rustolium/Tremclad did not hold up very well on the longer term. This resulted in looking at their Corrotech line of paints. I am going to end up painting the truck in one of two schemes. One being a two tone using a darker blue such as patriot blue or similar with a color called OSHA blue. Or a solid one color scheme using the OSHA blue. The two tone idea came to mind when i was considering using the box i got with the '86 as it is almost a patriot blue in color. The single tone idea came about when i made the decision to use that box on the '86 instead of installing a flatbed like i planned. So now the search is on for a dually box for the '84 to build it into a Phantom Dually.

Time will tell on my Bro-in-law's paint job, but Tremclad / Rustoleum might last quite a while with hardener mixed in.

So a bit of an update on the Squarebody trucks... I got rid of the sleeper on the '84 and it will be getting the blue box shown earlier in this thread. The '86 was going to get it but plans have changed as the '86 is going to a new home. A friend of mine is trading me straight across for a '91 GMC Sierra C1500 (GMT400 series) extended cab short box. What this also means is that the '84 will get the attention it deserves to become a proper street truck/hot rod. I already have a couple of Turbochargers lined up for it... Now i just need to get some exhaust manifolds built and figure out what parts i need to make the connections. This should be interesting having a Twin Turbo muscle truck... Bring on the Boost!

So....life has drastically gone way different for the '84 then i had initially planned. I still have it and as mentioned in the What did you buy thread i got the starter rebuilt for it this week. The following changes have been made to it in the time since i last posted about it.



Full set of 235/75R15 Nokian Outpost AT tires
LED Headlights
LED bulbs in the brake/tail/reverse lights
Ammo can as a central switch box area/console.

E for everyone front plate (those who remember the story about the kid that tried to run over a bunch of people at a car meet last summer will get that reference)



https://i.imgur.com/JwlgKRp.jpg

Oh, man… you have a lift? I want a lift.

I do not have a lift, just have access to one via an old friend of dads. Who was standing under the truck in that shot.

As i commented in the "WDYBT" thread a moment ago i bought a bunch of wiring stuff for a couple reasons.



1. I needed to replace tools lost when i moved in 2016
2. Needed supplies for a project on this truck


In regard to #2 i am working on wiring a push button for the starter for colder weather as it can be difficult to get the key to turn to the "On" position let alone turn it to "Start" when it is -27C or colder. Granted this is only when i do not plug in the ceramic heater i picked up in november to warm the cab for a few hours before use. But then again i do not always have the option to do so. This will be the first of the buttons going into the ammo can console in the center of the truck. And since i might be moving the console slightly offset to the passenger side in the near future for a later project i will need to make it a point to leave some slack in the wiring from this. Basically the plan is to eventually offset it by about 2-3" to allow me to fit a B&M Unimatic or similar floor shifter roughly where a T case shifter would be in a K10 4x4. At which point i will likely talk to a local sheet metal shop about making a shroud that will be riveted to that side of the can instead of using a boot on the floor. Part of that will be also a slightly raised platform to move the can up level with the seat

Also due to an accident in November it looks like i will be either repairing the box, replacing it with one from another truck or a full on flatbed conversion. I do have that box out at my friends place but he was telling me recently it only looks good because all the rot and rust on it was hidden. So its looking more likely i will be going the route of the flatbed.

But the bed is not completely being scrapped however. The floor is still in good condition and i will be saving it for a potential new project i may be picking up in the spring. Said potential new project is a 1980 GMC Sierra Classic I cant remember if it says Heavy Half or Big 10 on the corners of the bed. None the less both mean the same thing and that it is a heavy duty 1/2 ton like this '84 with the J5 heavy duty brakes and likely similar spec suspension. This truck has decent bed sides while the floor is shot which is completely the opposite situation to the '84. Before i found out the spare bed was shot i was thinking i was gonna use its sides on the '84 and the floor on the '80 if i picked it up. Hell this may still happen. I will need to take a good look at the spare bed for myself to determine if it is no good or not.