New 89 owner with some questions

**aresf11** · 05-01-2008, 12:46 AM

Hi there, I'm a new 1989 Suburban 1500 owner and I'm glad to be part of the group! I got the truck for cheap and it won't be my daily driver...mainly used for hauling and towing when I need it.

I wanted better access to the rear, so I took out the rear seat and am going to take out the rear heater, but would like help confirming which are the correct coolant lines coming through the firewall. I snapped a picture of the ones I though they were. The go up inside the fender so short of taking of the wheel and unbolting the fender, I can't tell. Can someone confirm?

If those are it, could I just connect one to the other underneath the hood, like the arrow shows?

Also, I'm going to be putting on a new tailgate at some point as mine is completely rusted out. The window doesn't go up or down either on account of all of the internals being rusted together. I spent some time today getting inside the tailgate from inside the truck, only to find that when I tried to unbolt the track supporting the window, it crumbled to pieces. After that happened, the window dropped down, so I could get the tailgate down, but one of the brackets bolted to the frame underneath fell off because the frame is rusted through! (yeah, it's bad) I'm thinking I'll get some pieces of 4x4, screw them to the body from inside, then bolt the new tailgate brackets to those. Does that sound like a decent idea? (I realize I might have to shave a little off for alignment issues)

Rear of truck:

Right tailgate bracket:

**aresf11** · 05-01-2008, 12:48 AM

Also, what used to be here?

**Crawdaddy** · 05-01-2008, 08:52 AM

wow, Michigan was really bad to that truck. The lines you were pointing to going through the firewall in the first pic should be the front heater lines. The rear heater lines should travel under the body of the truck to the rear.

**Cableguy** · 05-01-2008, 05:31 PM

On that first picture your arrows are pointing to the main heater core inlet and outlet (Front) Don't touch those ones.

**Cableguy** · 05-01-2008, 05:33 PM

Originally Posted by aresf11

Also, what used to be here?

Metal!

Sorry I couldn't resist

I'd almost think you should look into the wreckers for a whole new rear door. There is to much cancer back there to be safe.

**aresf11** · 05-02-2008, 10:02 AM

Haha, yeah...

I'm actually going to take a look at a new tailgate today on a '78 from Arizona. You're right, there's no way I can salvage the current door. The biggest problem is going to be mounting the new door cause of the rust underneath.

Thanks for the info on the heater lines. I want to bypass the lines as close to the source as possible to eliminate as many potential failure points as I can. Looks like I'm going to be getting up in the wheel well.