If you’re a fan of classic cars, then you’re going to love this 1966 Chevrolet Suburban build. This vehicle has been rebuilt from the ground up, and features all sorts of awesome modifications that will make it stand out from the crowd. Whether you’re looking for a show car or simply want something unique and stylish, this suburban is definitely worth checking out. So without further ado, let’s take a closer look at this amazing build!

Decide what needs to be removed from the Yukon to facilitate the electronics in the build

Ultimately we want the electronics you would expect like the lights and switches that control the, the automatic levelling system (we may opt out of this later) , the ABS system and traction control as well as the cruise control system. In order to get all of these systems functioning in the new vehicle we need not only the wiring but the engine controller and the body computer. What we didn’t know when were dismantling the Yukon was that the GMLAN system installed on this model is a serial system that needs to run through the ONSTAR system. In order to not install the ONSTAR system and all its wiring we found a workaround and jumpered across the bus at the intermediate relay panel (more on this later). Removing the ONSTAR system means that there are a few things that no longer work like the TPS system. We will continue to look for a solution for this issue as we move forward.

We also want to graft a small section of the firewall where the movable pedals mount as well as the brake booster and steering column cover. We chose to cut this part of the firewall out of the Denali and weld it into the Suburban.

Separate the bodies from the chassis

Removing the body from the Yukon turned out to be relatively simple, there is a good series you can watch for this process but long story short once you remove the hood and front fenders, there are 6 body mounts per side and a couple of main connection points to tackle. There is a YouTube video here

Read more about this build as I continue to ramble in the 1966 Suburban Chassis Swap – Part 2

In December 2020 at the height of the Covid Pandemic shutdown we were talking about what project we might take on for the remainder of the winter. The son mentioned that he really liked the 1960-1966 Chevrolet C10 body style, specifically mentioning that he liked the way the turn signals in the hood looked. We started looking around on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for something that might be buildable in this first generation of C/K series trucks. We happened on a 1966 Suburban that was mostly just a body (no engine, transmission, wiring harness etc) so we went to take a look at it.

What we found was what you will typically see in this age of vehicle located in the relatively dry climate of Colorado.  That is to say that the rockers from the A pillar to the B pillar were pretty rotten and because it had been outside for many years the top and the hips of the body had some hail damage.  The body was otherwise pretty straight and largely rust free and it had what I consider the better option in the rear with barn doors.  The previous owner had purchased a number of repair panels for the A pillar, the B pillar, the inner and outer rockers and the body mounts and included those in the sale.  He wasn’t willing to negotiate on price but luckily agreed to deliver to my shop.  We spent a couple of months working on repairing the A and B pillars, the floors and the rear lower body panels while constantly having a discussion about the direction of the project.  Early on we talked about creating a slammed on the ground Suburban going so far as to obtaining an airbag kit and some frame mod kits but at the end of the day lowering the Suburban, modifying the frame, adding disc brakes all around and doing an LS swap has been done many times.  Because of this and the cost of doing what needed to be done we decided to go in a different direction and re-body the Suburban onto a Yukon frame. You cant throw a dead cat without seeing something at a car show or cars and coffee that has an LS swap but what you rarely see and almost never see done well is a chassis swap.
 

After much research we decided this was a good match as the Suburban wheelbase is 115 inches and the Yukon wheelbase is 116 inches along with the fact that the Yukon with the Denali package comes with the 6.2 LS and the 6L80E transmission. 

As you can see from the pictures above the 2 vehicles are very similar. We are going to cover what steps we took to build the project in the 1966 Suburban chassis swap build post.

So the question will probably come up, why the Yukon and why the Denali specifically. We live in Colorado and we want to be able to drive this Suburban in any situation and in all seasons. We want to have some modern amenities like air conditioning, a decent heating system, 4 wheel drive, ABS and possibly even something like cruise control. In order to make that work we need to consider how to dismantle the Yukon in a way that allows us to retain as much of the root systems as we might need. We need to get the engine/transmission controller, the body computer the wiring harness from the front of the vehicle to the back doors as well as the steering column and the pedals.