'71 k502 The Misfit

[fishinnutt]

I want to put in some more "modern" lighting in the form of flush mounted LED's. I also want a choice of where and how to put them. I have not yet found exactly which LED lights I want, but they will be very similar to the lights my buddy put in his XJ after he installed the crusher corners in the rear. When it is all said and done I don't want two piece lenses or incandescent lighting. I know there were lots of other ways to tackle that idea.

 

[fishinnutt]

My next step will be installing the new body mount bushings and the ORD 1" body lift. I have gone as far as I can go without getting the body on straight and at it's proper elevation. Once I have the body where it belongs I can stick my engine, tranny and transfer case in and start seeing how everything lines up. I also want to do a minor boatside like MNorby did (at least I think that's who did it) Once I do the minor boatside the last of the evil destroyed parts of my body will be gone. Whoever had my Blazer before me had a thing for trees I do believe.


????? for everyone: Do very many people extend the wheel base of their K5 by moving the rear axle back a little OR do you consider the wheel base of the 1st Gen K5 to be about right???????

 

[fishinnutt]

I had cut out the floor about a month or so ago and I recently spent some time modifying the aftermarket patch panel to fit. I am not 100% sure what trucks these panels are supposed to fit, but the cutting and mild reshaping was significant.

 

[fishinnutt]

I am looking at a pair of Hooker Super Comp block hugger headers for my RamJet502. I would love to have a full length set of headers, but I am using a drivers side drop Dana 60 and that eliminates chassis specific options I do believe. Do you think the block hugger Super Comp would choke the life out of the 502 or might they work OK? http://www.holley.com/2183HKR.asp

 

[jonrpick]

Subscribed...

 

[fishinnutt]

Today I was not feeling like doing much so I sat in my office and assembled my dash.

 

[scottishdave]

That thing looks really nice

 

[Greg72]

????? for everyone: Do very many people extend the wheel base of their K5 by moving the rear axle back a little OR do you consider the wheel base of the 1st Gen K5 to be about right???????

Go back about 1.5". Once you put the big tires on you'll realize that the axle isn't centered in the rear wheelwell anyway. Pushing it back 1.5" will make it perfect.

FWIW -> Most people think a WB of around 108 - 110" is a good target. The 1st Gens start out at 104", so you've got plenty of room to negotiate.

I stretched my rear axle back 2" and pushed the front forward 1"... now I'm basically at the same WB as the 73+ K5s.



BTW -> No advice on the headers, but I'll be watching to see what you go with... I haven't picked out anything yet either.

The GM documents for the 502HO recommend: 2" primary pipes, 36" long with 3.5" collectors and 3" diameter tailpipes with a balance pipe. I'll probably end up buying some off the shelf header and modifying it to work around the tcase. and front driveshaft.

 

[GRINCH]

Today I was not feeling like doing much so I sat in my office and assembled my dash.

Nice..

Where did you get the dash from??

 

[fishinnutt]

The dash bezel is from Covans Classic's and it is an ABS piece. I would rather have a nice piece of Billet, but we will see how this goes.

 

[fishinnutt]

I wasn't able to do very much on the Blazer this weekend but, I did find the time to cut the holes out for switch panel and cb radio. 12voltguy includes these nutserts with his panels, I had never used them before and thought they were pretty slick.

Even with the short span and the use of 14ga for a filler piece, the dash was not stiff enough after the material was cut away for my taste. I used a piece of 3/4 x 3/4 square tube on the backside to stiffen things signicantly.

Ready for a little high build primer.

 

[fishinnutt]

I will have pictures of the engine, transmission and transfer case going in shortly. I took ten days off starting June 9th to devote to the project.

 

[fishinnutt]

I began pulling the dents out of the passenger side today.

I had no idea what a piece of garbage my Harbor Freight stud gun was until I needed it. I had to mod the worthless slide hammer and I started welding 16 penny nails to the body with my Miller welder.

 

[vtblazer]

Liking the 'purpose build' approach.

9 days on task will be awesome, keep us posted.

 

[makovai]

not sure how i missed this build, but i love what your doing. some really great ideas.

Keep going i want more

 

[sponsoredbydad]

I was going to ask how well that thing worked but as usual harbor freight stuff sometimes good sometimes not. I like the 16 penny nail trick thou.

 

[fishinnutt]

It was a sad item for sure, if anyone has one and it works great I would love to hear about it. The slide hammer should have worked at the very least, but the little knurled cam stripped in about three pulls and didn't work that well even before it stripped. When I welded the vise grips to the slide hammer that worked awesome, I just added a hose clamp to loosely keep the vise grips from popping open.

 

[fishinnutt]

I threw some of the old bolts, clips and assorted hardware in the vibratory media tumbler for about 12 hours the other night. The result wasn't half bad. Another 12 hours would have cleaned up every last bit.

 

[fishinnutt]

I took my wheel well off of the passenger side so I could widen the wheel well from 10" to 15" wide.

 

[fishinnutt]

I wish I had the early pics of the A pillar, it was smashed flat almost with the windshield broken and popped out. This is about the midway point in the repair. I had to cut reliefs and take the metal out behind the pillar so I could move the metal back to sort of where it belongs (if a new windshield will fit, I will be happy)