Mr. Gasket Celebrates 50 Years With the Lime Crush Suburban

It’s not everyday that a parts company turns 50, and the folks at Mr. Gasket/accel Performance Group decided to celebrate with this special vehicle build. It all started back in 1964 when founder Joe Hrudka was looking for better parts to withstand some of the higher demands of drag racing. With his own ’57 Chevy as the test vehicle for his new parts, the Mr. Gasket aunched and success soon followed. throughout the years, it has broadened its line of parts and has several brands, including accel, accel Motorcycle, Hays, Lakewood, Mallory, Quicktime and Prestolite Proconnect.

“After many ideas were thrown out on what to build, Mr. Gasket stumbled upon this ’66 Chevy Suburban and knew it was the perfect vehicle.”

In 1994 Mr. Gasket kicked off its 30th anniversary by commissioning Boyd Codington to build a super custom ’57 Bel air. you may better know this timeless classic car as the Chezoom. since the company was coming up on a 50th anniversary in 2014, it decided to build another vehicle showcase parts and help kick off the big celebration. this time they wanted to do something different, like a delivery van or a hot rod station wagon.

After many ideas were thrown out on what to build, Mr. Gasket stumbled upon this ’66 Chevy suburban and knew it was the perfect vehicle. the truck had seen better days and was definitely in need of some repair work before it could be tricked out. through word of mouth and reputation in the show scene, Mr. Gasket turned to the Gerber family and staff at the roadster shop in Mundelein, Illinois. the crew there pride themselves on completing full one-off builds that will be driven hard.

Once these businesses began to collaborate, they agreed to completely transform the suburban into a surf wagon with a street rod stance and road course capabilities. the theme seems to serve both the truck and Mr. Gasket’s roots well because it ties them to the ’60s era.

Though the truck looks great now, it looked totally different when it went into the shop. the suburban was plagued with a few spots of rust and the antiquated suspension didn’t meet expectations of how a modern custom should drive and perform.

Throughout the years the roadster shop has developed a special chassis that was engineered with the proper suspension geometry for pro-touring. It’s better known as the Fast track chassis system. the complete chassis includes a fully boxed 10-gauge frame rail along with an independent front suspension (IFs) and a parallel four-bar with pan hard bar in the rear. this thing is no joke, every component was designed to handle well on the track under an old, heavy body like this suburban. the IFs uses a Corvette C6 spindle, nasCar-style 30-spline sway bar and custom tubular control arms that are swept to clear up to a 10-inch-wide wheel. the chassis also uses high- strength delrin bushings and Penske coil-overs. With all of these key pieces on it, the Fast track was the perfect system to slip under this truck. It was also fixed to set the truck low with a mean rake over a set of Billet specialties sLC62 22 and 24- inch wheels equipped with Pirelli scorpion Zero tires.

As you can see, this is no ordinary ’66 suburban. there have been extensive modifications done to its classic exterior steel. one of the first things you may notice is the highly modified front end. Basically these body-style trucks have short inner fenders, and since this suburban is set up low with big wheels, they had to be ditched. afterwards, the ends of the hood were cut off and welded to the fenders, along with the outer cowl panels. the center section of the hood is now held in place with a modified version of ringbrothers Chevelle hinges. the firewall is shaved and new inner fenders and a radiator shroud were made to suit.

“…this ’66 Suburban was hauled out for an extensive tour of shows across the country. The response was great, and it received quite a bit of attention everywhere it went.”

Giving the front end a totally different look is a custom-made split grille with 1967 C-10 headlight buckets at the ends. the very unique grille insert was designed with a ’60s pattern and cut out using a water jet. Both front and rear bumpers were shaved, sectioned, narrowed, sunk in and reshaped. they’re flush mounted with the addition of new lower bodylines. the rear wheel openings were cut and made wider to fit around the 24-inch wheels. shaving the fuel door, side mirrors, door handles, front turn signals and the antenna has left the body completely slicked out.

The talented Charley Hutton of Charley Hutton’s art studio of nampa, Idaho made sure the body was straight and all of the gaps were the same before it could be finished. once it was ready, he laid down an in-your-face custom-mixed PPG Mr. Gasket Green paint job with volkswagen Harvest Moon Beige on the roof. topping it off is the custom-made one-piece side glass that was flush- mounted along with the rest of the windows. to complete the surf theme, a roof rack was made from scratch and two ron Jon vintage-style balsa wood surfboards were attached with leather straps.

With a peek on the inside, you can see that the interior was also revamped to fit with the surf theme. this started with the rear floor that was replaced and received custom wheel tubs. the original dash was split and reshaped to have a double hump. the original gauge cluster was cleaned up and painted. Underneath it is an ididit steering column with a modified 1940 Ford steering wheel. Front bucket seats from a 1961 Impala were added, and the rear bench was custom made. vos Upholstery & Custom auto trim of Lansing, Illinois, stepped in and covered the seats and all other interior pieces in leather. For some extra flavor, custom-cut teak floors and inserts were made.

Though this suburban has a nicely styled surf package, let’s not forget that it was built for the gearheads at Mr. Gasket, and you know what that means. this truck was outfitted with enough power under the hood to leave any passengers holding on and begging for mercy. Packing the heat is a Chevrolet Performance ZZ502 big-block v-8 crate engine with custom-ground camshaft. It’s also equipped with an accel fuel injection system that includes a dFI thruster engine management system, intake manifold, billet aluminum throttle body, eFI intake manifold and fuel injectors. Helping to maximize spark for combustions is a Mallory Max-Fire distributor and accel’s new extreme 9000 ceramic boot plug wires. the spent gases flow out with the help of sanderson headers and 3-inch Flowmaster dual exhaust system. Behind the big- block sits a tCI 4L85e transmission, single-piece drive shaft and a strange engineering Ford 9-inch rearend. With all this power under the hood, a set of Baer Brakes roadster shop edition 14-inch disc brakes with six-piston Pro+ calipers are used on all four corners to bring the heavy truck to a halt.

After it was completed, this ’66 suburban was hauled out for extensive tour of shows across the country. the response was great, and it received quite a bit of attention everywhere it went.  Whether you’re a fan of these trucks or not there’s no denying the coolness factor of this sub.

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BUILD SPECS

BODY & PAINT

• Shop: The Roadster Shop/Charley Hutton of Charley Hutton’s Color Studio
• Custom-mixed PPG Mr. Gasket Green and Volkswagen Harvest Moon Beige on the roof
• Custom-fabricated split grille with 1967 C-10 headlight buckets and water jet-cut insert
• Modified hood/fender opening
• Eliminated fender to cowl panel seams
• Custom inner fenders and radiator close- out panel
• Smoothed firewall
• Ringbrothers Chevelle hood hinges modified and adapted Roadster Shop
• Shaved, sectioned, narrowed, reshaped and flush-mounted front and rear bumpers painted in custom silver
• Shaved door handles, fuel door, side mirrors, front turn signals and antenna
• One-piece door glass and side glass flush mounted along with all other windows
• Stretched and reshaped rear wheel opening
• Fuel filler mounted behind taillight
• Hand-built roof rack
• Ron Jon vintage-style balsa wood surfboards

BODY & PAINT

• Shop: The Roadster Shop/Vos Upholstery & Custom Auto Trim
• Dash was split and reshaped to have dual hump
• Reworked original gauge cluster
• Hand-built teak floors and inserts
• Custom aluminum center console
• Leather upholstery
• 1961 Impala front bucket seats
• Custom-built rear bench seat
• Modified 1940 Ford steering wheel
• ididit steering column
• Hand-carved tiki shift knob
• Vintage Air climate control system
• Kicker stereo system
• American Autowire wiring harness

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