1992 Suburban C1500

[mbmoehl]

My brother and i just acquired a 1992 Suburban C1500 RWD from my old boss about 3 weeks ago. It hasn't run in about 8yrs (suspected fuel pump failure), but is in decent shape. It was used as a test vehicle for many years to aid in the design of photography stages, including Carvana's PhotoDomes. I have a past history with this truck line and a fondness for the styling. Before i even had a drivers permit my grandpa took me out to practice driving in his Suburban in '95. Then my first vehicle was an '89 Chevy 1500, v6 long bed that i bought from my other grandpa's friend.

We have just started working on getting it running again to use as a car-camping / fishing / photography trip mobile. The body is in decent shape, but the whole undercarriage needs a lot of love, as well as the interior. When my boss first aquired the truck in 2015 they had shop put a lot of work into it that included brakes, fuel pump, fuel lines and filter, plus some odds and ends. After about a year of driving in at out of their studio it sat for about 6mo and hasn't started since. The wiring under the dash had what looked to be two after market systems installed, a Valet 552 and Marksman MSA. Only bits and pieces of each system were integrated and i've carefully cleaned most of it out and re-spliced the factory wiring with waterproof butt connectors. There was also an after market stereo and fog lights. I'd like to get it back to close to factory as we can.

So far we've cleaned the corroded stuck TBI and i've tested the fuel pump (with a jumper wire) and fp relay and both seem to be working, however, the key-on doesn't trigger the fuel pump to run. The oil pressure switch does, but we need to see if there is a clog in the sock/lines/filter somewhere. From what i've seen pouring through the service manual wire diagram the dk-grn and blk/wht wires coming out of the fp relay connector should be the ones that trigger the relay to close and they go back to the ECM, so i'm kinda at a little bit of a loss as what to try next. I don't want to solve this issue here, so i'll post my specific inquires in another thread. In the mean time here are some photos from where we started.

of the truck.

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Pretty cool seeing a suburban with no rear ac and 3rd row from the factory. Good luck . Can’t wait to see the updates

 

[movietvet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

Good luck on this daunting task.

 

[mbmoehl]

For what its worth, i'm no mechanic, just curious enough (and just broke enough) to try to figure things out. My brother on the other hand is a mechanic for one of the airlines, but that's a whole different world. I'll be relying a lot on his skill set. I've worked on my daily ('09 Liberty) enough to get me to work and back, but wouldn't consider it a "reliable" mode of transportation and its always stressful when it breaks down. It will be nice to have a project car to tinker on without the stress. Looking forward to meeting folks here with culling from your incredible wealth of knowledge about these trucks.

 

[Sean Buick 76]

Awesome I like the brother aspect to the project!

 

[99xcss4]

no rear wind wiper is pretty cool while I would rather have barn doors if I had the spit tailgate that is how I would rather it be with no ugly rear wiper

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

That's interesting that it doesn't have a rear window wiper setup. Must've been an option; '92 was the first year of the 400 series Burbs.
Third row "delete" is pretty uncommon too. I used to have a later square body Burb that had no third row seat; pulled up the carpet to clean it and saw there were no seat sockets.
If you're going to haul stuff in it after the restoration, I'd recommend a sheet of at least 1/4" thick Masonite, the cargo area floor is 4' wide and IIRC it's about 5' , maybe a little bit more, from the back of the second row seat to the 'gate. Smooth side up will make it easy to slide boxes and stuff in and out. Done this on most of our family Burbs, one of my Dad's crafty ideas.
And welcome to the forum, and Burb ownership, from Houston, Texas.

 

[SUBURBAN5]

That's interesting that it doesn't have a rear window wiper setup. Must've been an option; '92 was the first year of the 400 series Burbs.
Third row "delete" is pretty uncommon too. I used to have a later square body Burb that had no third row seat; pulled up the carpet to clean it and saw there were no seat sockets.
If you're going to haul stuff in it after the restoration, I'd recommend a sheet of at least 1/4" thick Masonite, the cargo area floor is 4' wide and IIRC it's about 5' , maybe a little bit more, from the back of the second row seat to the 'gate. Smooth side up will make it easy to slide boxes and stuff in and out. Done this on most of our family Burbs, one of my Dad's crafty ideas.
And welcome to the forum, and Burb ownership, from Houston, Texas.

Ever seen this factory liner?

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

Ever seen this factory liner?

Noooo. I haven't seen the work gloves and satchel that day Suburban either, like you have. They all supposedly came with them....

 

[SUBURBAN5]

Noooo. I haven't seen the work gloves and satchel that day Suburban either, like you have. They all supposedly came with them....

So I’m pretty sure they were dealer accessories. But long story short liner for the 3rd row in and folded or upright. Liner protects the back. I also got ahold of the factory cargo net. Both from eBay btw…. The net and liner came with its own pouches so when not in use you could store it away.