71K5 - BP71K5's Just for fun build

[bp71k5]

I decided to cross my fingers (140 of them!) and see if the warranty would work ok. Since it had more than one leak, I was worried that others would pop up even if I sealed the 2-3 that were already there.

Should know more in a few days.

 

[bp71k5]

Update: 04/15/13

I called 4wp to check on the radiator status on Friday and was told it hadn't shipped yet because of some RMA paperwork. I can see how this is going to go already.

Anyway, I started working on finishing up the passenger fender. I added a tab that bolts the fender onto the slider bar to replace the support rod for the fender that was cut off.

Then stripped the paint on the lower section and added some dynaglass (per Ryokens advice to Chief) to attempt to smooth out some of the warping in that patch that may have happened when I welded it in. The center area is kinda low beneath the body line compared to the door. It needs a little more than 1/8" of filler added to it to bring it up flush.

Then I guess in what you guys call a "squirrel moment", I decided the garage was a mess and decided to trash a bunch of stuff, sell a bunch, and build this roller cabinet to get some of the stuff on my work bench, off of the work bench so I could use it for...whatever I want.

I even went through all the trays and tossed everything I wasn't positive I would use in the next 5 years.

 

[woodchk502]

Update: 04/15/13
I even went through all the trays and tossed everything I wasn't positive I would use in the next 5 years.

You are now my idol. I'm such a pack rat.

 

[bp71k5]

Haha, I only went through the stuff in that one cabinet. I've got a pile to try and sell off though.

On a related note, I've got a lot of small scrap DOM tube, steel bars, plates, etc taking up a big shelf. Anyone got nice ideas to store that kind of thing in a way that makes finding pieces easy, but doesn't take up a ton of space? I've got visions of a furniture dolly with different lengths PVC tube standing on it to hold different lengths of scrap.

 

[bp71k5]

Minor update 4/23/2013:

Got word back that my radiator is being replaced at no charge and I should have a new one back in the next week or so. The cause of failure is supposedly a small piece of styrofoam packaging material that got lodged inside and got hot enough to burn a pinhole in the core. It doesn't quite match the three different leaks I found but I can't complain.

 

[AJs72K5]

Minor update 4/23/2013:

Got word back that my radiator is being replaced at no charge and I should have a new one back in the next week or so. The cause of failure is supposedly a small piece of styrofoam packaging material that got lodged inside and got hot enough to burn a pinhole in the core. It doesn't quite match the three different leaks I found but I can't complain.

Replacement is good news. Pressure test the new one before going thru the motions of putting it in?

 

[bp71k5]

Update 5/4/13:

Did some long block sanding on this quarter to try and finish it up. The little lip around the edge of the wheel arch is tough.

Here's a far shot of the new opened up wheel well. It looks like it'll clear these tires ok.

No sooner did I finish that I decided it would be nice to put a decent coat of primer on that whole side of the truck so it doesn't look like such a wreck to the neighbors.

But I needed to fix a little dent in the back when the bumper crashed into it going over the "crack" on the unnamed day long Moab trail. I just needed to grind some surrounding paint away and uh oh.....body filler.

Ok, so a few small dents. Might as well grind a little farther back to make sure the filler isn't hiding anything I need to know about...

Hmmm, lots of these other dents, but it looks like the filler is tapering off into good steel.

Now back to the tiny dent/hole repair. I needed access to the back of the dent to push it back out. Might as well make that hole bigger and use it to get back there with a punch.

And the standard patch everyone has seen a billion times.

So itll have to stay ugly for a bit longer since that panel will take some work to clean up. It looks like it got side swiped and they used a dent puller on it. It wasn't a bad repair, I just couldn't leave it there without knowing what was behind all that body filler.

 

[mrk5]

I've been following your progress wondering if we'll see you in Moab this year......

 

[bp71k5]

I've been following your progress wondering if we'll see you in Moab this year......

That is a "maybe" at the moment. I'm keeping the dates open just in case everyone agrees on doing that for the family vacation again.

 

[mrk5]

No worries. I know it's a big commitment for you to make the trek out there.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Glad you're making some progress on it. Sucks to find more work for yourself, but it'll turn out much better in the long run now. Nice work on the rear wheel arches.

 

[bp71k5]

I just realized that in order to drive this thing out to blazer bash, I'll need some kind of top. Looks like a soft-top might be in my near future here as a requirement of going.

 

[bp71k5]

Update 5/1/2013:

I finally found a use for all those super short DOM tube pieces I've been saving. I stopped by the local HF store with a 20% off coupon and got a pack of pry bars for $8.00. Then add some measuring and welding and you get....

The tube sections welded onto various sized prybars make a great fulcrum to reach up far under big dents in the fender and "undent" them. I've been looking at buying all kinds of body hammers and dollies of different lengths when this idea came to me.

And here's what I used them for. All the previous dent puller holes were welded up and ground smooth-ish. I sprayed some primer and did a little long block sanding to identify the high and low spots. You can see the dark areas surrounding a high spot in the center.

One problem I had after welding up the holes was that some big warping happened and caused a huge oil-can effect where that high spot would pop in and out about a whole inch with just a little pressure. I kept hammering on it and it just kept getting worse. So I did some research on dent repair and body work and found this:

http://www.wolfesmetalfabrication.com/sdisc.html

The shrinking disc tool demo videos looked like they might work ok for my oil can problem. The idea is that heating up metal that has been stretched into a high spot will cause it to shrink as it cools which relieves the stress in the metal, stops the oil can effect and lowers the high spot. Since money is a bit tight, Ive been looking for alternatives which if you look in the first photo, there's a hint of what I used instead. I installed a sanding disc paper side up on the grinder against the backing pad. I found I was able to get the metal hot enough to cause water to steam just like in the video while the heavy paper side of the disc didn't remove any metal.

Here's a pic.

The spot with no paint is the high spot after a couple rounds using the disc. I'm pretty impressed that it got rid of the oil can effect so there's a huge difference just from a couple tries.

I've done about 8 passes and it does seem to smooth it out pretty well, although its very subtle. I do need to make a new pry tool move the low spots up some more and see if I can flatten things out more. The disc paper side is wearing through so ill need a new one for next time.

Here's a shot in an attempt to show that its much flatter than before. Not sure it comes across though.

All this effort is simply to avoid using filler to repair this. I'm just not very good at using it and I hate sanding. Hammers and basic steel tools are somehow more satisfying to work with. And I have plenty of time for this since my radiator is STILL NOT HERE YET

That is all.

 

[Z71paramedic]

That's a pretty cool trick Brian. Looks like you're making good progress on a tedious job. I suck at using filler too. Blocking is something I need to work on.

Hopefully your radiator gets there soon, that sucks.

 

[AJs72K5]

Man, you guys are so far ahead of me when it comes to doing bodywork.

 

[bp71k5]

Update 6/9/2013:

After much hammering, bending tweaking, heating and quenching, I've got this:

No filler used yet, but I suspect some will be needed. There's two spots that are just creased too much and I can't get anything behind then to bring those back up. It is true when the experts say you need to retrace how the panel was bent to understand how to get it back out. I was also surprised how true it is when they say a dent in one spot can cause odd stretching in seemingly far away places. I fought with one oil can defect for hours until I realized that the body line I was trying to match it to may not be original. Once I tweaked the suspect area out, the oilcan went bye-bye. It's nice and sturdy now.

 

[Z71paramedic]

That's some great progress! Very nice metal working dude.

 

[Greg72]

Well done Brian,

I love the old school metalworking techniques.

Learning that skill is still on my own "to do" list.

-G

 

[bp71k5]

I've done about all the metal moving I can do without access to the back side. I'm really going back and forth about whether to open up a hole from inside the bed to let me get a dolly on the back side of the small dents that are left.

Edit: I have another idea for a tool that might do what I need, stay tuned.

I did hear that my radiator will be here Monday!

 

[bp71k5]

Update 7/4/2013:

Radiator arrived! After pressure testing and confirming it was ok, I installed it.

One thing I did notice is that the mounting brackets I used didn't quite hold the radiator "as it sits" and so it wanted to torque the mount near the radiator a bit. So I fabricated a similar version that included the fan shroud mounting hole and fit the radiator better. It's just 3/16" steel plate with the metal pocket that holds the rubber pad from the original one welded on to it.

Here's the other side for comparison. I'll eventually duplicate the new one on his side, but summer is here and I've been daily driving this thing all week!

I also stopped body work on the passenger side for a bit to get the driver side in a similar state. This side had a rusted out area near the fender lip. I decided rather than cutting it out and patching it, that I'd grind out all the rust and spot weld in new metal. It worked out pretty well in that I now only need to do some dolly work with it and probably won't need filler at all.

I also repaired the joint between the earlier big wheel well patch I did last year.

I also put the bikini top back on it for a bit of shade while I'm sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the way to work. I'm trying to convince my wife to make a full fabric top for it. She's really good with patterns and sewing stuff.