Hey Guys,
Here is a picture - journal I've collected over the last year of driving & working on my Grandma's '59 NAPCO suburban.
As mentioned in my initial intro: The burb was originally owned by a match stick factory in Grandma's town, Mancos C. They used it as a logging crew transport, and then sold it in the early '70s when Grammy picked it up at the used car lot. The family used it for hunting trips or other excursions to the mountains before retiring it to snow plow duty, and then eventually leaving it alone in the shed ~mid 90s. It's well dented, but has very little rust.
First problem was that front left wheel hub was bubba welded to 4x4 axle spline coupling. So i cut that off
Now with my ultra rare NAPCO wheel hub destroyed, I had to use Toyota truck wheel hubs making some wheel bearing adapter sleeves
Toyota hubs are set up for disc brakes so I had to make some caliper mounts- First a plywood prototype, and then some plasma cut caliper brackets done by the guys at the steel yard in place.
I also added a power brake booster (mounted under the cab) and a brake fluid reservoir on the firewall, fashioned from a brake fluid bottle with a hose barb on the bottom, retained by a bean can. Perfect fit!
I added refurbished T100 calipers. This shot also highlights the original NAPCO,two piece closed knuckle design. Very nice for a non-power steering truck, since the knuckle turns on tapered roller bearings instead of ball joints. Less friction that way.
Though the knuckle bearings get hammered pretty bad over time, wearing unevenly since they only roll slightly back and forth for steering.
Then I needed to adapt the Toyota (AISIN) locking hubs to engage with original NAPCO 4X4 drive axles. Fortunately the original spline coupler was still intact inside the bubba weld pictured earlier, and after some excavation with the grinder & lathe. I was able to weld old spline coupler inside the AISIN locking hub gear in order to create this adapter pictured before welding[/url]).
Then rebuilt the differentials, replacing the original 3.9 gears with 3.38 gears for modern speed limits.
Then re-constructed the rear brake backing plate that had partially ground off when the wheel fell off sometime back in the day.
Then cleaned 40 years worth of mouse poop/ nests out of the doors. A couple trash bags worth + a trip to the carwash.
Wire brushed and painted the floor. Followed by carpet. Set up for painting.
Bought a new radiator, and made a new radiator mounting bracket. Image of both.
Re-packed the CV joints with grease. CV joints were a big deal back in 1959, when most other 4x4s used U joints to drive the front wheels
Cleaned underneath valve cover.
stitched some new seat covers.
Also re-built the gauge cluster, replaced wiring harness, & converted generator to alternator.
