bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Nope, it's going to end up it's original color which the rpo sticker says is "light red", but actually looks like "hugger orange". I've got some red bedliner coming any day now.
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71K5 - BP71K5's Just for fun build
- Thread starter bp71k5
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Nope, it's going to end up it's original color which the rpo sticker says is "light red", but actually looks like "hugger orange". I've got some red bedliner coming any day now.
ChefBear
1/2 ton status
Brian where'd you get bedliner from? I'm curious about prep and the process. I still have 3 gallons sitting on the shelf.
Top looks good! I'll send a picture of the monster swingset that took it's place.
Say Hi to the ants.
Top looks good! I'll send a picture of the monster swingset that took it's place.
Say Hi to the ants.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
I ordered some ALS liner from Blaze on this site. I'm going to try some tricks to get it to lay flat with a finer texture similar to Linex.
jimbug
1/2 ton status
Ahh
I was not sure if there was a color..... since you have so many
I love the dark orange! I had a 72 K5 and my 72 Jimmy were both light red.... Great color!
I was not sure if there was a color..... since you have so many
I love the dark orange! I had a 72 K5 and my 72 Jimmy were both light red.... Great color!
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: Roll cage
Update: Roll cage installed
I have to remove it in a few days when I spray the bedliner, but here it is.
Standing on the front bumper
I left about 18" of bedspace in the rear to allow a future softtop to fold down into that area. The softtopper model intrudes about 9" back according to their sales rep.
The shop matched the body line pretty well.
I had the shop weld in a plate with weld nuts on the back to allow the A pillar bar to bolt in without having to get into the rocker box...yet.
Minor casualty. The space to run tube between the glove box and the wing window is pretty tight so the glove box door crashes on the corner. Since my glove box isn't very useful anymore due to ECM and a bunch of wiring, I may just leave it closed and not worry about it. I could also try shifting it over about 1/2" or even cut the corner off the door.
Just about ready for Hollister Hills in two weeks.
Update: Roll cage installed
I have to remove it in a few days when I spray the bedliner, but here it is.
Standing on the front bumper
I left about 18" of bedspace in the rear to allow a future softtop to fold down into that area. The softtopper model intrudes about 9" back according to their sales rep.
The shop matched the body line pretty well.
I had the shop weld in a plate with weld nuts on the back to allow the A pillar bar to bolt in without having to get into the rocker box...yet.
Minor casualty. The space to run tube between the glove box and the wing window is pretty tight so the glove box door crashes on the corner. Since my glove box isn't very useful anymore due to ECM and a bunch of wiring, I may just leave it closed and not worry about it. I could also try shifting it over about 1/2" or even cut the corner off the door.
Just about ready for Hollister Hills in two weeks.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
For reference, here's the illustrations I gave them to work from. It's actually pretty close.
jimbug
1/2 ton status
That cage looks great! I like how it is one tube from A pillar all the way back.... kinda like a comp cage. Nothing to snag on
PS look out for Hollister Hills.... Made me do ALOT of cutting
PS look out for Hollister Hills.... Made me do ALOT of cutting
GRINCH
1/2 ton status
I'm getting ready to start my cage in the next few weeks and will be "stealing" some of your cage ideas.
Can you post a few more pics of the a pillar from the outside as it contours the door and glove box area.
I'm no expert by any means but the mounting for the A pillar concerns me. I would be worrried that in a roll the floor would let loose. When I rolled my 90 last winter the floor did rip around the mounting point. I even had larger 3/16" plates under the upper plates bolted together. My rocker boxes are in great shape but I am considering cutting a hole either in the front or underneath to gain access.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: Bedliner application
Update: Bedliner is 95% done.
This weekend was pretty miserable for being out in the sun masking and spraying anything. 99 degrees in the shade. Before the pictures, some small facts I learned from spraying Al's liner and probably any polyurethane coating:
1. I forgot again that I am allergic to polyurethanes. I get a skin rash everytime I even get a little on my skin. Shorts and t-shirt in 100+ degree weather spraying the stuff is not good for me even with a respirator. Make sure you wear full body protection no matter what!
2. The Al's liner I used is actually fairly easy to spray, but REQUIRES a very powerful air compressor to spray as fine of a texture as I had originally planned. It requires a minimum of 17.3 CFM at 50 psi. This is more than my impact wrench or any other air tool I have. My 33 gallon craftsman could only do 9.3CFM at 45 psi. I had some issues with the texture getting too coarse as my compressor started to loose air volume.
3. The application gun is setup to have a constant air flow through it even with your finger off the trigger. This is ok as long as you have a powerful compressor (see #3). If you don't, you need to cut the air supply off every few minutes to let the compressor catch up.
4. The normal potlife of the stuff is 20 minutes at 70 degrees. It's a little shorter at 100 degrees.
5. It takes about 4 gallons to completely cover the interior of a first gen. I only bought 3 gallons and have a few thin areas I need to touch up.
That said, I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I gouged it in a couple spots reinstalling the cage before it dried so those will need to be patched. The bed sides are way more splotchy than I wanted, but the floor isn't bad.
Here's an overall shot this morning after a night of drying.
The front interior with a slightly finer texture since I was able to keep the air pressure up high enough.
Rear interior
And a couple close ups to show what the texture is really like.
It's very similar to the examples of Rhino Liner I've seen. It's slightly flexible still but fairly smooth so it should be easy to rinse down. I'll have to wait and see how much firmer it gets in the next 48 hours. Full hardness is supposed to take 72 hours.
I also used a flattener in the last coat to keep the gloss down. It was very glossy on the first coat and that really highlights the roughness of the texture so watch out for that if you ever use the stuff.
If this stuff holds up as well as it's supposed to, it was worth it to save the additional $700 compared to what a similar Linex coating would have cost. This was all under $400.
Update: Bedliner is 95% done.
This weekend was pretty miserable for being out in the sun masking and spraying anything. 99 degrees in the shade. Before the pictures, some small facts I learned from spraying Al's liner and probably any polyurethane coating:
1. I forgot again that I am allergic to polyurethanes. I get a skin rash everytime I even get a little on my skin. Shorts and t-shirt in 100+ degree weather spraying the stuff is not good for me even with a respirator. Make sure you wear full body protection no matter what!
2. The Al's liner I used is actually fairly easy to spray, but REQUIRES a very powerful air compressor to spray as fine of a texture as I had originally planned. It requires a minimum of 17.3 CFM at 50 psi. This is more than my impact wrench or any other air tool I have. My 33 gallon craftsman could only do 9.3CFM at 45 psi. I had some issues with the texture getting too coarse as my compressor started to loose air volume.
3. The application gun is setup to have a constant air flow through it even with your finger off the trigger. This is ok as long as you have a powerful compressor (see #3). If you don't, you need to cut the air supply off every few minutes to let the compressor catch up.
4. The normal potlife of the stuff is 20 minutes at 70 degrees. It's a little shorter at 100 degrees.
5. It takes about 4 gallons to completely cover the interior of a first gen. I only bought 3 gallons and have a few thin areas I need to touch up.
That said, I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. I gouged it in a couple spots reinstalling the cage before it dried so those will need to be patched. The bed sides are way more splotchy than I wanted, but the floor isn't bad.
Here's an overall shot this morning after a night of drying.
The front interior with a slightly finer texture since I was able to keep the air pressure up high enough.
Rear interior
And a couple close ups to show what the texture is really like.
It's very similar to the examples of Rhino Liner I've seen. It's slightly flexible still but fairly smooth so it should be easy to rinse down. I'll have to wait and see how much firmer it gets in the next 48 hours. Full hardness is supposed to take 72 hours.
I also used a flattener in the last coat to keep the gloss down. It was very glossy on the first coat and that really highlights the roughness of the texture so watch out for that if you ever use the stuff.
If this stuff holds up as well as it's supposed to, it was worth it to save the additional $700 compared to what a similar Linex coating would have cost. This was all under $400.
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bp71k5
3/4 ton status
How's this?
I agree and honestly the A pillar is more for looks rather than real protection at the moment. It's not very strong since it's not triangulated at all and you're right that it is just welded to the floor sheet metal and can pull away fairly easily. To help compensate for that flaw, I spent a lot of time making sure the node behind the drivers head (where the stock roll bar usually is) would be very stout.
Once I drive it a bit and get a feel for how everything fits, I plan to tie it into the frame. This first stage was more about getting SOMETHING in the truck to at least help avoid some bodily injury for me and the passengers if the need arises. There's all kinds of things like seat tie-ins and stuff I need more time to work out so this seemed like a good first cut that is farily easy to upgrade over time.
What I'm considering is to open up the rocker box a bit and creating some beefy plate steel reinforcement that welds onto to that A-pillar support inside the rocker. The plate could even cover the hole that was made in the rocker to kinda appear stock. Then it could also tie back into the frame near the body mount.
Anyway, that's future stuff for now.
ChefBear
1/2 ton status
Brian,
I like the cage, simple and clean. Bedliner came out nice too, what did you do for prep on it?
Hard top still fit? How are the ants?
I like the cage, simple and clean. Bedliner came out nice too, what did you do for prep on it?
Hard top still fit? How are the ants?
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
I sprayed a coat of epoxy primer which you saw, and then I sanded that down a bit to scuff it up and then blew out the dust and wiped it all down with alcohol.
haven't tested the top but it should fit fine. The fab shop did mention I had some ants coming up from the floorboards.
GRINCH
1/2 ton status
Thanks for the pic. Just what I was looking for.
Blaze
1/2 ton status
You did a really good job on that liner, man! The red really sets that interior off.
Lookin' great Brian! 
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
I didn't make much progress over the weekend due to a kitchen accident. While cleaning a large glass vase, it broke apart and cut my wrist pretty severely requiring 4 stitches.
I was also fighting a really bad allergic reaction to the urethane bedliner on my arms and legs. I was wearing shoes though so my feet are pretty happy. No pictures of that... but should be gone in a couple more days.
I was also fighting a really bad allergic reaction to the urethane bedliner on my arms and legs. I was wearing shoes though so my feet are pretty happy. No pictures of that... but should be gone in a couple more days.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: Trans tunnel
Got my transmission cover back from the powder coater with something that looks pretty close to the final paint color I'd like to use. Unfortunatly, there were a few spots with pinholes in the welded seams that did not get covered so I may have to have it redone sometime.
Applied a bead of latex caulk to use as a gasket before bolting it down.
Got my transmission cover back from the powder coater with something that looks pretty close to the final paint color I'd like to use. Unfortunatly, there were a few spots with pinholes in the welded seams that did not get covered so I may have to have it redone sometime.
Applied a bead of latex caulk to use as a gasket before bolting it down.
wow, looks real pretty
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Update: Subwoofers, padding, and passenger seating.
I've been plugging away at lots of little annoying stuff after the bikini top was finished.
Got the trans tunnel installed, door panels lined with dynamat (which has cut down on some of the speaker rattling), and the shifters all back in place.
Subwoofers linex'd and wire run through what the B pillar area would be in a non-convertible. Once it goes down that channel, it run along the frame rail and back into the glove box area.
And got a little carried away with the roll bar padding.
I've been plugging away at lots of little annoying stuff after the bikini top was finished.
Got the trans tunnel installed, door panels lined with dynamat (which has cut down on some of the speaker rattling), and the shifters all back in place.
Subwoofers linex'd and wire run through what the B pillar area would be in a non-convertible. Once it goes down that channel, it run along the frame rail and back into the glove box area.
And got a little carried away with the roll bar padding.
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
You may notice that the rear roll bar portions are right above the rear passengers heads. It was about 3" away from their head (without padding) in a normal seating position. I decided to attempt to lower the seat down by cutting 2" out of the rear brackets to try and keep the distance closer to 5". Which would give me some leeway with padding as well.
Here's the shot from the front seat with temporary wooden spacers on the front.
Here's the two outer brackets cut down and welded back together.
And a closeup. Not very pretty, but I have other plans for the rear seating so this is just to get me by for a while.
Here's the shot from the front seat with temporary wooden spacers on the front.
Here's the two outer brackets cut down and welded back together.
And a closeup. Not very pretty, but I have other plans for the rear seating so this is just to get me by for a while.
