Bought a Squarebody Suburban a few years back that only required minor body repairs and is perfect for an engine swap. The old 6.2l diesel seized up just after I bought it, and will be replacing it with a big block v8 once the vehicle is reconditioned.
I’ve always had an urge to buy a car just for the fun of repairing/modifying it, but then my common sense kicks in and tells me the insurance in Germany is too costly 
Looks pretty fun though, and a nice Suburban. I admire America for having such a cool car mentality. Good luck!
(Hopefully you are from the US and I haven’t just made a fool of myself…)
Should be a fun project. The body is pretty clean for the age of the vehicle - most of these rusted out long ago.
Well, for the most part the body itself is in mostly decent shape. Most of the rusting on the body’s exterior (what little there is, all things considered) is mainly around the rear wheel wells, along with on the passenger side doors. But, as common with many Squarebodies, there’s a lot of rusting on the rear axle, on the drivetrain and in the engine bay. The engine bay had it the worst and is the one area that needs the most work, because since the old diesel was spewing oil all over the place, everything in the engine bay, including the front axle, got heavily caked with motor oil.
But, with some persuasion and cleaning up, this 84 Suburban will be quite easy putting back together. The end result I’m leaning towards is a forest green exterior, with a 5-point white star on both front doors, with a cosmetically updated front end look, and with 5 amber running lights across the front of the roof that turn on when all the other running lights activate. Other than aftermarket headlights, all other lights will be upgraded to LEDs, with the LMC Truck bumpers (rear will have that criss cross diamond pattern with the square reverse lights and LED license plate lamp), plus fender flares. The interior will still maintain a mostly OEM look but the trim will be black to go with the forest green look, and the radio system will be upgraded with higher quality speakers and a subwoofer in the back to replace the spare wheel. OEM wheels and hubcabs will be replacing the old Daytona Black tires that a previous owner put on.
I’ll be keeping it at stock ride height, but it’ll have that neat OEM but custom look going on. The engine planned for it is a 427ci tall deck with a 6 speed and a Dana 44 rear end over the original 10 bolt 8.5" rear end.
Any update on the engine swap?
How much petrol does this use? Because even modern american cars are horrible on that.
Ended up cancelling the project.