strutaeng's 04 2500 4x4 project Suburban

strutaeng · Sep 20, 2024

Well, it's time for me to work on this project. I bought this truck like 3 years ago and it's been just sitting. It's a 2500 LQ4/4L80e/NP246/4.10 Suburban LT.

There are some details to fix:
Smashed hood/clearcoat peeling on the roof
Cluster has battery drain
Rear fuel level switch I think fails because I get an intermittent zero fuel gauge and light on.
Really dirty carpet. I took off the seats and I'm pretty sure the previous owner hauled gravel on this thing, LoL. I ordered the rear carpet.
Needs new tires.

The good: engine/transmission/TCase and everything seems really good. It's got like 168k on it.

Goal is to make it a reliable weekend camping rig, with maybe some modifications after that. Maybe a little off-road capable rig, ARB lockers, something like that. Thread is to document progress and motivation

Wish me luck!

tuckerrnr1 · Sep 20, 2024

Sounds like a worth while project. Looking at the carpet, you sure that wasn't involved in a homicide?

Bigburb3500 · Sep 20, 2024

I’m here for this. I had one of these with the barn doors! 3” lift and 33” tires too? Right??

strutaeng · Sep 20, 2024

tuckerrnr1 said:
Sounds like a worth while project. Looking at the carpet, you sure that wasn't involved in a homicide?

That's the same thing my buddy asked me, LoL.

IDK. It looked like oil, then when I put purple power it turned like reddish. The guy I bought it from said it was his Dad's and he was like a hobby farmer/rancher. Maybe a dead goat or pig? LoL

The new carpet arrived in the mail today...

strutaeng · Oct 7, 2024

Not much progress. I laid that carpet down and there's no holes for the seat mounts and seems oversized. I thought it was a drop-in? I'll mess around with it some more this week.

I looked at my roof and it's pretty gnarly. My hood I had sanded with some 600# a few years ago, but it's been sitting outside. I need to take another look at that.

I bought 2qts of basecoat and 1 gallon of clearcoat from local paint store. I think my plan is to sand with DA 320# (maybe rougher grit if the clear starts coming off easily?), spot prime the bare metal with etching aerosol primer, seal entire area, basecoat and clearcoat.

strutaeng · Oct 11, 2024

Not much progress with the days getting shorter. I sanded and primed the underside of the "new" hood yesterday evening.

I also replaced the little struts for the rear glass because it wouldn't stay up. Baby steps...

strutaeng · Oct 12, 2024

I sprayed the base and the clearcoat. I actually bought a cheap Iwata-knock off from Amazon Prime days for $60 and tried it and I hate to admit but it literally blows my older HVLP (CA Technologies) and another HVLP from HF that's like $120 out of the water. Very good atomization.

I'll post the link later, but it's called R500.
AEROPRO TOOLS R500 LVLP Air Spray Gun with 1.3/1.5/1.7mm Nozzles & Air Regulator, A610 Paint Guns Automotive, Car Paint Gun Sprayer, Paint Gun for House Painting, Car, Furniture, Varnish and Top Coat https://a.co/d/iHSd3ET

strutaeng · Oct 12, 2024

I had also sanded my headlights up to 2000 grit sandpaper and shot them with the clearcoat. My markers were very yellow and I wasn't able to remove all of it. I may buy new ones.

nsogiba · Oct 15, 2024

Good to see you on here. You are probably best off just getting new headlights and turn signal lenses, they're under $100 all in on Rockauto. I just did mine and it looks like a new truck up front.

Keep posting the updates!

strutaeng · Oct 21, 2024

Not much progress. I did get the carpet in. I painted the rear plastic panels because they are all scuffed up. This Duplicolor spray bomb is actually pretty good color match.

I ordered some 2k sealer from Amazon. I went to Summit Racing over the weekend and of course, they are out of the medium temperature activator. I was going to buy some black single stage black for the roof rack, but just decided to skip the Summit stuff altogether. I'm just going to get any generic black base and shoot it with the 2k clear when I do the roof. Hopefully this weekend.

Tonyrodz · Oct 22, 2024

strutaeng said:
Not much progress. I did get the carpet in. I painted the rear plastic panels because they are all scuffed up. This Duplicolor spray bomb is actually pretty good color match.

I ordered some 2k sealer from Amazon. I went to Summit Racing over the weekend and of course, they are out of the medium temperature activator. I was going to buy some black single stage black for the roof rack, but just decided to skip the Summit stuff altogether. I'm just going to get any generic black base and shoot it with the 2k clear when I do the roof. Hopefully this weekend.

How'd you prep the plastics before painting them?

strutaeng · Oct 22, 2024

Tonyrodz said:
How'd you prep the plastics before painting them?

I cleaned it with soapy water, then scuff sanded with 220# and removed the dust. I have painted a few of the plastics on my 06 Suburban daily driver by using this method and it seems to be holding up nicely.

The instructions do mention an optional adhesion promoter, but I haven't used it.

Tonyrodz · Oct 22, 2024

strutaeng said:
I cleaned it with soapy water, then scuff sanded with 220# and removed the dust. I have painted a few of the plastics on my 06 Suburban daily driver by using this method and it seems to be holding up nicely.

The instructions do mention an optional adhesion promoter, but I haven't used it.

That's what I was curious about--a plastic adhesion promoter. Some people say you need it for the spray to adhere--and last.

strutaeng · Oct 24, 2024

I started sanding the top side of the hood now. There was a small little dent and I'm trying this body filler called Icing which is supposed to be smoother and for smaller repairs.

I also started sanding my roof rack. On one rail the aluminum was almost all exposed but the other side it's nearly all black. Is this powder coating? It's kinda textured and seems pretty tough. Except where it's almost all aluminum, the coating didn't really come off with 120# sandpaper. I'll sand with 220# and call it good.

This auto refinishing business is so darn complicated and has a huge learning curve. Lots of different products (primers, primer-surfacers, sealers... I'm still trying to figure that out), body fillers, activators, reducers, sandpaper grits. Oh well, no turning back now. LoL.

strutaeng · Oct 24, 2024

Oh, I did find a single stage for these misc. black pieces (roof rack and wiper arms) I'll be re-painting at my local auto paint store. It was like $42/qt including the activator. Great price I think.

strutaeng · Oct 27, 2024

I got my hood primed today. I decided to remove the roof rack on my 06 Suburban to paint it as well, but I opened a can of worms: the mount pads had a TON of silicone! And the bottom little plastics were all missing. I'm guessing the previous owners did this. The screws are really rusty as well. Doh!

That truck has a moon roof and I've had intermittent roof leaks but thought it was from the moon roof. So I'm going to get those pads from the wrecking yard. But I did paint both racks.

I also removed all wiper arms from the 2 suburbans and my 99 Silverado to paint as well...3 for the price of 1!

The single stage "jet black" paint sprayed out very nicely. I think I'll start using that instead of Rust-Oleum black spray bombs for better gloss and durability.

strutaeng · Nov 2, 2024

Ok, I finally was able to paint the hood. Didn't come out too bad in my opinion. IDK

Bigburb3500 · Nov 2, 2024

strutaeng said:
Not much progress. I did get the carpet in. I painted the rear plastic panels because they are all scuffed up. This Duplicolor spray bomb is actually pretty good color match.

I ordered some 2k sealer from Amazon. I went to Summit Racing over the weekend and of course, they are out of the medium temperature activator. I was going to buy some black single stage black for the roof rack, but just decided to skip the Summit stuff altogether. I'm just going to get any generic black base and shoot it with the 2k clear when I do the roof. Hopefully this weekend.

I found the flat black from Home Depot, Rustoleum matches factory pretty darn well. Did that with 3 different roof racks and all have held up well. Might not need to spend much more for roof rack touch up.

strutaeng · Nov 11, 2024

I got the roof sanded and prepped this weekend. The clear was in really rough shape and I wound up pretty much removing all of it off, down to the base and original primer. I used 100, 220 and finished with 360 grit sandpaper on a 5" and 6" ROS electric sanders meant for woodworking. Wasn't too bad, but it's still a large area. Pretty boring work.

Last night I had to hurry up and used an aerosol self etching primer to spot prime the areas with bare metal burn through, as we have been getting dew overnight here and didn't want those bright metal areas to flash rust.

Tonyrodz · Nov 11, 2024

strutaeng said:
Ok, I finally was able to paint the hood. Didn't come out too bad in my opinion. IDK

Looks good to me.

strutaeng's 04 2500 4x4 project Suburban

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