1980 Suburban+High School Shop= 1980 GMC Avalanche (56k... don't bother)

[hick]

Alright, off the bat, don't laugh to hard. This is some thing i finished a few weeks ago in my senior year of highschool

The shop was poorly eqpuiment, my skill (welding/fabbing/etc) is still in the early stage

And, i ran out of time to paint it, but hopefuly will get some paint on it this septemeber when i head back up to Canada to help with harvest.


So here is how i bought it







Some REALLY bad cancer spots. Keep in mind, this truck is in northern Canada... lots of snow and even more salt on the roads combined with the usual sheet metal problems of these trucks







Me welding in some supports


Just making a cut line




Going to town










Just getting into the project


So this is where pictures and step are quit documents as much as i would like, cause i was running short of time

[hick]

Now the proper way woudl have been to find a cab, cut the back of it off and weld that in place. but i was on a budget... and i blew it on the burban. so now i have to take this



and weld it in place with what i have now

That was the orginal plan, cause i wanted some thing different. i always wanted the window to open and close.
my AMAZING weld job of welding the gate up to the pillar of the back door...



Not to shabby of a weld for the roof lines.. if i might say so..

From inside with the sides folded down. Had to have it placed alittle further back then planned, but i quite like the result.


Now to take this

and put this on it

Trimming the floor and side walls to match up







SO..... from this

To...








The day i hauled it out to the farm it was POURING rain. that little spoiler thing you see on the back end got ripped off from the wind, so other then the surprisingly large mounting holes... it was ALL water tight.. i am quite happy
All the empty gaps i put some expanding foam in and welding every thing i could find. The corner, where you saw the bad cancer, i just put some sheet metal over... hammered it out alittle bit and welded the joints... you can see it painted flat black.... i know i know.. bad, but i was out of time, and it was a farm truck, so i wasn't going to foose it
i didn't get any pictures, but i ended up having the notch the tail gate around the wheel wells.. and well i notched to much, so the whole flat back you see, is oen gaint seat of sheet metal i cut and hammered in to fit... and well welded in place
All and all, i a VERY happy with the out come, still some last things like those holes in the roof and the bumper. I wrecked the tail trying to straighten it out.. so i might just fab my own up
hope you guys enjoy, i have been wanting to show this off for a long time...
take it easy on me...

[Fast305]

Whats scary is that reminds me of the south american version.

[hick]

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v2...%20conversion/

more photos in my photo bucket

[hick]

Originally Posted by Fast305

Whats scary is that reminds me of the south american version.

thats a chevy avalanche? i have never seen that before

[Stevens07]

Pretty unique. I like it!

Good job!
Steven

[hick]

thank you, it means alot

i put alot of work into this, and had every one and every thing against me.. making this thread is one of the best feeligns ever

[painthuffer]

Well I have to say it's not too bad.I did some strange things as well when I was in high school.It's good, you learn from that sort of thing.Keep it up.

[hick]

well the truck i was workin on in gr.11 went to the scrape yard cause i bit off alot mroe then i could chew

so i figured i would try and do somethign constructive

[mrwilliam]

come one man.. what made you do this? couldnt you have bodydropped it or choped the top.? man... my opinion...
and im only being honest:

[poopskidz]

avalanches are fugly to begin with i dont know why you would want to make a good looking truck look like an avalanche but i guess its your truck

[hick]

Originally Posted by poopskidz

avalanches are fugly to begin with i dont know why you would want to make a good looking truck look like an avalanche but i guess its your truck

thats the half of it though.. it wasn't a good looking truck to begin with.

it wasn't road worthy cause of all the rust in the floor around the tail gate and every thing. it failed inspection bout 8 years ago and just sat since then... and just got worse.

one of the biggest reason, was to replace a truck i took my from my grandpa (83 pickup) which was his farm truck. i attempted to rebuild and ****ed it up BIG time.. ended up selling it off in pieces. i felt bad cause that truck meant alot to my grandpa, and myself... and i didn't pay him a dime for it... so i needed some thing to do in shop class, i had been thinking about this, and my grandpa needed a replaced beater farm truck. on top of that, it was more ot say i did it, and just to learn from it... gotta start some where... woudl rather cut this up then try hackign into my 04 chevy...

so why not

[hick]

IF i had the budget, and was able to find a pickup cab, i would have gone that route and cut the back fo the cab off and weld in place... but i had to made due with what i had

[Whifflebat]

Looks like a fun and somewhat original project, not bad. Good job.

[Joe]

I love the hate
I WISH our High School had programs like this to show people how to do things. Looks cool -

[97gmcextcab]

From the small nexopia forums up to the big time fullsize chevy forum...your steppin it up hick lol...i'm laynlow over on the nexopia forum...

[=Lawrence=]

Originally Posted by mrwilliam

come one man.. what made you do this? couldnt you have bodydropped it or choped the top.?

you know, i have to agree. sometimes the truth hurts.



That's a great pic.

The only thing I can respect about that is that you put the time and effort into trying to make it right.

[stepsidebowtie]

I like the concept and originality. Some of the work looks like a hack, but I like the over all idea. Only thing I would have done diferently is hacked off the piece of frame sticking out past where you cut the body off (but that may have messed with spring mounts and you'd have to find somewhere else to put the fuel cell) as opposed to welding that truck bed on there. Looks too long.

[hick]

Originally Posted by stepsidebowtie

I like the concept and originality. Some of the work looks like a hack, but I like the over all idea. Only thing I would have done diferently is hacked off the piece of frame sticking out past where you cut the body off (but that may have messed with spring mounts and you'd have to find somewhere else to put the fuel cell) as opposed to welding that truck bed on there. Looks too long.

have to put a bumper on it

and a hack.... please, i am to modest for that, lol

thats the best way to explain it honestly...

the burban bumpers are not the same as pick up bumpers. i was not able to find a pickup bumper to bolt on and make it look clean, but scrap yard wanted 200 bucks for one, so i told them to screw it and i would fab some

[hick]

Originally Posted by 97gmcextcab

From the small nexopia forums up to the big time fullsize chevy forum...your steppin it up hick lol...i'm laynlow over on the nexopia forum...

HAHA i knew i recongized that truck from some where... coudln't place it though