Actual damage or just ugly burnt blobs???
-G
-G
CK5
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71K5 - BP71K5's Just for fun build
- Thread starter bp71k5
- Start date
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
No visual damage, bit fluids leaking out right where I see a mark in the paint. Probably repairable by a radiator shop, but not something I needed.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update 6/27/2014
$55 later, the radiator is repaired. Pretty uneventful. Just had a tiny piece of weld slag flew into the radiator and burned a pin hole in one of the cores.
And...after some careful burping of air bubbles from power steering fluid, cooler install, and electrical tweaks, we have this.
Here's a shot of the cooler. I trashed the radiator guard since it was somewhat ironic that my attempt to fabricate something to protect the radiator actually damaged the radiator. I'll never attempt to weld expanded steel mesh again.
And an interesting shot of the belt system with the radiator and plastic grill removed.
So far, the alternator is charging plenty good, even with the electric fans running. The power steering effort is good, with no squeaks or squealing. Just need to keep an eye on it for leaks and then break it all down and have it cleaned and painted.
$55 later, the radiator is repaired. Pretty uneventful. Just had a tiny piece of weld slag flew into the radiator and burned a pin hole in one of the cores.
And...after some careful burping of air bubbles from power steering fluid, cooler install, and electrical tweaks, we have this.
Here's a shot of the cooler. I trashed the radiator guard since it was somewhat ironic that my attempt to fabricate something to protect the radiator actually damaged the radiator. I'll never attempt to weld expanded steel mesh again.
And an interesting shot of the belt system with the radiator and plastic grill removed.
So far, the alternator is charging plenty good, even with the electric fans running. The power steering effort is good, with no squeaks or squealing. Just need to keep an eye on it for leaks and then break it all down and have it cleaned and painted.
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Nice job Brian!
I'm not usually a fan of serpentine setups, but that one looks really clean on there.
What's next on the agenda?
-G
I'm not usually a fan of serpentine setups, but that one looks really clean on there.
What's next on the agenda?
-G
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Next up is to air out all the dust and drive it to the grocery store for some more coffee and cereal. Back to grocery getter duty. Doh!
Seriously though, you'll notice a different air cleaner housing up there instead of the fancy cold air intake hat that started this thing. Rather than trying to make that thing work, I found a stockish looking filter housing at the wrecking yard and need to find a filter to fit it. I forgot to note what I took it off of and I haven't had much luck finding a filter for it. It'll look much better than the other idea and probably even work better.
Seriously though, you'll notice a different air cleaner housing up there instead of the fancy cold air intake hat that started this thing. Rather than trying to make that thing work, I found a stockish looking filter housing at the wrecking yard and need to find a filter to fit it. I forgot to note what I took it off of and I haven't had much luck finding a filter for it. It'll look much better than the other idea and probably even work better.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update 7/6/2014:
Been doing some testing and for the most part, everything is fine. I did have a squeak that seems to be fixed by replacing the used idler pulley. But now, the belt seems to be riding odd around that pulley. I think it may be because the replacement was for my mini-van and is slightly different width.
Also went ahead and installed a painless f5 pwm fan controller. It's a nice option because I can tune the fan speed for the exact temperature I want rather than having to picking one temp switch and being stuck having it turn on and off at those temps even though they might not be optimal. In my case, the fans tended to be on way more than they needed.
This controller will turn the fans on at 50% speed at an adjustable temperature I can set. Then if temps continue to increase, it'll proportionately increase fan speed up to 100% based on another adjustable setting.
So far it works great, but I have one complication. It comes with wiring to add a manual on and off switch. I only wired up the "off" side of the switch so on off chance I need to do some water fording, I can disable the fan. Either I wired it up incorrectly or something else is wrong because when I test the switch, the fans come on at 100% rather than turning off. Then they don't turn off until I turn off the ignition and wait for the engine to cool below the initial temperature.
Anyway, lots of words for only a single picture. Wiring is kinda boring for pictures.
Been doing some testing and for the most part, everything is fine. I did have a squeak that seems to be fixed by replacing the used idler pulley. But now, the belt seems to be riding odd around that pulley. I think it may be because the replacement was for my mini-van and is slightly different width.
Also went ahead and installed a painless f5 pwm fan controller. It's a nice option because I can tune the fan speed for the exact temperature I want rather than having to picking one temp switch and being stuck having it turn on and off at those temps even though they might not be optimal. In my case, the fans tended to be on way more than they needed.
This controller will turn the fans on at 50% speed at an adjustable temperature I can set. Then if temps continue to increase, it'll proportionately increase fan speed up to 100% based on another adjustable setting.
So far it works great, but I have one complication. It comes with wiring to add a manual on and off switch. I only wired up the "off" side of the switch so on off chance I need to do some water fording, I can disable the fan. Either I wired it up incorrectly or something else is wrong because when I test the switch, the fans come on at 100% rather than turning off. Then they don't turn off until I turn off the ignition and wait for the engine to cool below the initial temperature.
Anyway, lots of words for only a single picture. Wiring is kinda boring for pictures.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update 7/13/2014:
After some tech support from painless, I figured out what was going on with the fan controller. The install manual isn't accurate when it lists some wires as being "optional" and so I had to temporarily install the speed sensor switch to let the controller know I wasn't using the VSS shutoff feature. The other problem is that the wiring diagram they have in the manual has the wires for manual shutoff and manual "on" are backwards which is why my fans kept turning on when I tried to shut them off.
Now that it's running good, I used tuner pro to monitor the water temperature the ECM sees and then set the fans to come 50% on at 205 and shut off at 3degrees below that. So far that has been enough to keep the engine running at a normal 195 even in the Cali heat.
The problem I have with the switch earlier is that it would shut off the fans at 195-ish which is the same as my thermostat rating which meant the fans would stay on until the thermostat closed instead of letting the radiator and thermostat do any heat removal by themselves. Now the thermostat seems to handle everything as long as the truck is moving some air though the radiator. Fans only seem to come on when I'm sitting still idling.
I also found that my belt tracking issue was caused by the steering pulley being misaligned. The serpentine belt was riding up against the crank pulley because the power steering pulley wasn't pressed on far enough. So I pulled the system apart and painted the bracketry that was starting to rust:
And then reinstalled everything:
I also need to complain about these idler pulleys. I have three brand new pulleys which are slightly different part numbers for different vehicles, but two of them squeal even though all the bearings look the same. I ended up using one for our minivan rather than the ones for a Chevy truck. I guess I know where to get a spare if it ever fails.
After some tech support from painless, I figured out what was going on with the fan controller. The install manual isn't accurate when it lists some wires as being "optional" and so I had to temporarily install the speed sensor switch to let the controller know I wasn't using the VSS shutoff feature. The other problem is that the wiring diagram they have in the manual has the wires for manual shutoff and manual "on" are backwards which is why my fans kept turning on when I tried to shut them off.
Now that it's running good, I used tuner pro to monitor the water temperature the ECM sees and then set the fans to come 50% on at 205 and shut off at 3degrees below that. So far that has been enough to keep the engine running at a normal 195 even in the Cali heat.
The problem I have with the switch earlier is that it would shut off the fans at 195-ish which is the same as my thermostat rating which meant the fans would stay on until the thermostat closed instead of letting the radiator and thermostat do any heat removal by themselves. Now the thermostat seems to handle everything as long as the truck is moving some air though the radiator. Fans only seem to come on when I'm sitting still idling.
I also found that my belt tracking issue was caused by the steering pulley being misaligned. The serpentine belt was riding up against the crank pulley because the power steering pulley wasn't pressed on far enough. So I pulled the system apart and painted the bracketry that was starting to rust:
And then reinstalled everything:
I also need to complain about these idler pulleys. I have three brand new pulleys which are slightly different part numbers for different vehicles, but two of them squeal even though all the bearings look the same. I ended up using one for our minivan rather than the ones for a Chevy truck. I guess I know where to get a spare if it ever fails.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: 9/24/2104:
K5 has been running fine for a bit so I decided to get back to the air cleaner. I decided to skip the whole fancy cold air intake and go with the old school style of the filter on top of the throttle body and just snorkel the inlet up in front of the radiator
Pretty simple so far, just need to extend the inlet.
Then I got back on the structure between the 2x4 rocker panel and the cage plates near the B pillar. The 2x4s have 6 holes each where I welded in some 7/16" nuts to mount these things.
Here's the unpainted tubes. There will be two straight sections of tube joining these together above the frame connected with tube joints.
After dressing down the welds and painting
I ran out of time tonight but I think I can install these by end of week.
K5 has been running fine for a bit so I decided to get back to the air cleaner. I decided to skip the whole fancy cold air intake and go with the old school style of the filter on top of the throttle body and just snorkel the inlet up in front of the radiator
Pretty simple so far, just need to extend the inlet.
Then I got back on the structure between the 2x4 rocker panel and the cage plates near the B pillar. The 2x4s have 6 holes each where I welded in some 7/16" nuts to mount these things.
Here's the unpainted tubes. There will be two straight sections of tube joining these together above the frame connected with tube joints.
After dressing down the welds and painting
I ran out of time tonight but I think I can install these by end of week.
Tsk...tsk.....
I see a speaker wire passing through metal without a rubber grommet.
Otherwise, I dig the update.... Interested to see those new bars installed.
-G
I see a speaker wire passing through metal without a rubber grommet.
Otherwise, I dig the update.... Interested to see those new bars installed.
-G
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update 9/28/2014
They are a little fussy to install, but I did manage to do it.
As a reminder, I have two very closely spaced cage tubes right behind the seats. This shot is behind the driver seat.
Here's the matching view underneath:
The cage plate on the left (in the picture) is a bracket that ties into that body mount and the cage tube on the right in the first picture.
Here's a closer view. The two tubes going over the frame will connect to the other side with some simple straight tube and tube disconnect joints. This is to help prevent any more boulders I happen to encounter from pulling the "rocker area" in or outward from the center of the truck
And a directly underneath shot:
Eventually, the other cage tube plate which is directly above the horizontal tube at the top of this picture will tie into that horizontal tube. It'll be a while before that happens, but I have an idea on how to tie both body mounts into this as well. This somewhat ties the cage into the frame. We'll see how successful this idea is later, but my goal is to be able to hi-lift the whole side of the truck up using the 2x4 steel tube rocker panel.
It helps a little that my A pillar cage tube is tied directly down to this big rectangle tube that replaced the rocker panel. So both ends of that will be pretty solidly connected to the cage structure.
They are a little fussy to install, but I did manage to do it.
As a reminder, I have two very closely spaced cage tubes right behind the seats. This shot is behind the driver seat.
Here's the matching view underneath:
The cage plate on the left (in the picture) is a bracket that ties into that body mount and the cage tube on the right in the first picture.
Here's a closer view. The two tubes going over the frame will connect to the other side with some simple straight tube and tube disconnect joints. This is to help prevent any more boulders I happen to encounter from pulling the "rocker area" in or outward from the center of the truck
And a directly underneath shot:
Eventually, the other cage tube plate which is directly above the horizontal tube at the top of this picture will tie into that horizontal tube. It'll be a while before that happens, but I have an idea on how to tie both body mounts into this as well. This somewhat ties the cage into the frame. We'll see how successful this idea is later, but my goal is to be able to hi-lift the whole side of the truck up using the 2x4 steel tube rocker panel.
It helps a little that my A pillar cage tube is tied directly down to this big rectangle tube that replaced the rocker panel. So both ends of that will be pretty solidly connected to the cage structure.
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bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Oh...speaker wires are just temporarily installed there to avoid being in the way. That's my excuse anyway.
Looks really good Brian.
If I'm looking at it right, it looks like you and I are doing a similar thing with a lateral support between the 2nd and 3rd body mount locations.
You're doing it with two round tubes, and I'm trying to do it with a 6 foot length of 3" x 2" x 3/16" rectangular tube. There is just enough room to get that tube between the top of the framerail and the floor, and I'm going to land my b-pillar mounts on it, as well as my diagonal cage support tubes. That type of "outrigger" design should really add a lot of strength to the rockslider area.
I didn't make as much progress on mine as I wanted yesterday, but I'll post up the pics in a couple of hours if you want to compare notes....
-G
If I'm looking at it right, it looks like you and I are doing a similar thing with a lateral support between the 2nd and 3rd body mount locations.
You're doing it with two round tubes, and I'm trying to do it with a 6 foot length of 3" x 2" x 3/16" rectangular tube. There is just enough room to get that tube between the top of the framerail and the floor, and I'm going to land my b-pillar mounts on it, as well as my diagonal cage support tubes. That type of "outrigger" design should really add a lot of strength to the rockslider area.
I didn't make as much progress on mine as I wanted yesterday, but I'll post up the pics in a couple of hours if you want to compare notes....
-G
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Yea, I ended up reading that before I saw a reply. Your cross-sill tube will be much stronger than my dual-tube version. I had no way to get a long tube like that in there without removing the body.
I have noticed that the door gaps are a little tighter driving over bumps than normal after installing these. That might be a good structure test when their down. Measure the door gaps and check how the door opens before and after the side is high-centered on a hi-lift.
I have noticed that the door gaps are a little tighter driving over bumps than normal after installing these. That might be a good structure test when their down. Measure the door gaps and check how the door opens before and after the side is high-centered on a hi-lift.
Nice fab work, Brian. Those came out very nice and clean.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Thanks, the paint hides a lot though. I'm going to need a hotter welder at some point.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: 11/22/2014
Since winter is approaching california and I have a couple days off this week, I decided to tackle my rusty quarter panel and get it protected from the rain.
If you look back in the thread, you can see I replaced a giant section above the wheel well, but I still had these 4 holes that looked like someone mounted an antenna there previously.
I don't have a picture, but I simply used a hole saw to cut the hole section out and then trimmed up a round patch to fit inside.
Here's the first with a couple tacks. The crease near the bottom is from my larger patch of the wheel well.
And adding more tacks to help avoid warping.
In reality, it did warp a lot. But since I had access to the back side, I simply kept pushing it out to keep it level every few tacks while it was hot.
And here's the full circle. I need to turn down the wire speed some more. I'm out of practice.
And a further back shot.
And after some flap wheeling
After the welds were flattened, I took a measurement with a straight edge to see where the body hammers needed to land.
If you can see the daylight under the edge, it's about 1/16"-1/8" too low right around the patch. This is pretty normal amount of shrink after that much heat has hit the area.
Here's a shot mid-way through the process of using different hammers, pry bars, and a torch to push the metal out. The torch helps the metal move a bit easier and even shrinks some small spots when needed.
Getting better
And better, in fact it's pretty good and about as good as my skillset is capable of.
Farther back shot after wire wheeling the torch marks off.
So far, it's fairly smooth, but has some light dimples from the tools on the back side.
Along the fender shot. It should require very little filler. Probably just glaze it.
As a kind of sanity check, I put some primer down so I could block sand it out a bit and check any high spots that needed to be tapped down.
I'll post up a few more of the finished panel tomorrow. Ran out of daylight after that one.
Since winter is approaching california and I have a couple days off this week, I decided to tackle my rusty quarter panel and get it protected from the rain.
If you look back in the thread, you can see I replaced a giant section above the wheel well, but I still had these 4 holes that looked like someone mounted an antenna there previously.
I don't have a picture, but I simply used a hole saw to cut the hole section out and then trimmed up a round patch to fit inside.
Here's the first with a couple tacks. The crease near the bottom is from my larger patch of the wheel well.
And adding more tacks to help avoid warping.
In reality, it did warp a lot. But since I had access to the back side, I simply kept pushing it out to keep it level every few tacks while it was hot.
And here's the full circle. I need to turn down the wire speed some more. I'm out of practice.
And a further back shot.
And after some flap wheeling
After the welds were flattened, I took a measurement with a straight edge to see where the body hammers needed to land.
If you can see the daylight under the edge, it's about 1/16"-1/8" too low right around the patch. This is pretty normal amount of shrink after that much heat has hit the area.
Here's a shot mid-way through the process of using different hammers, pry bars, and a torch to push the metal out. The torch helps the metal move a bit easier and even shrinks some small spots when needed.
Getting better
And better, in fact it's pretty good and about as good as my skillset is capable of.
Farther back shot after wire wheeling the torch marks off.
So far, it's fairly smooth, but has some light dimples from the tools on the back side.
Along the fender shot. It should require very little filler. Probably just glaze it.
As a kind of sanity check, I put some primer down so I could block sand it out a bit and check any high spots that needed to be tapped down.
I'll post up a few more of the finished panel tomorrow. Ran out of daylight after that one.
Looking good dude! Glad you're getting to spend some time with it this week
damn, that is a lot of difference in the start to finish of that body panel.
I'd say you're skills are pretty damn admirable.
I'd say you're skills are pretty damn admirable.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update 4/23/2014:
Thanks guys. I don't have any pics with the glazing compound on it cause I spilled some and got my hands all messy and didn't want to pick up my phone with sticky hands.
But I block sanded a little and found a small high spot that just got tapped down very little. Then removed all the primer and layed on a skim coat of metal glaze. I have a wide blade drywall knife I use to spread it on and blend into the edges. The thickest area is about 1/16" right on top of that earlier weld joint. Here's the top half finished up with a coat of primer on it. I still need to block sand the lower half.
Thanks guys. I don't have any pics with the glazing compound on it cause I spilled some and got my hands all messy and didn't want to pick up my phone with sticky hands.
But I block sanded a little and found a small high spot that just got tapped down very little. Then removed all the primer and layed on a skim coat of metal glaze. I have a wide blade drywall knife I use to spread it on and blend into the edges. The thickest area is about 1/16" right on top of that earlier weld joint. Here's the top half finished up with a coat of primer on it. I still need to block sand the lower half.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: 12/5/2014
With all the rain we've been getting, it was time to clean up and organize my garage so I can make room for other stuff.
This will get wheels next week, but here's a small cabinet to hold usable scrap metal.
And three rolling cabinets. It's really helped clear up space on my work bench.
With all the rain we've been getting, it was time to clean up and organize my garage so I can make room for other stuff.
This will get wheels next week, but here's a small cabinet to hold usable scrap metal.
And three rolling cabinets. It's really helped clear up space on my work bench.
