'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

[NorCal69]

Nice work, brother. As Ash stated, I think that you nailed it.

The way you brought the back down into the firewall came out really nice. Just out of curiosity. How much fender at the very bottom did you end up with between the door and tire?

 

[Greg72]

Greg - that looks great. I agree that the fang "needed" to be there.

Looks much better - and with the original fender "flare-bump" that the stock fenders have surrounding the opening - may even pass as a stock fender to non-astute observers! Are you planning on adding those back in? (I was assuming you were?)

Great work!

Yes, the original "lip" goes back on next. It's just a lot harder to experiment with the factory lip flopping all over the place. The 1/4" rod made the prototyping much faster...

My new steering box is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, so I can finally get back to the steering draglink and tie rod construction.

-G

 

[Greg72]

Nice work, brother. As Ash stated, I think that you nailed it.

The way you brought the back down into the firewall came out really nice. Just out of curiosity. How much fender at the very bottom did you end up with between the door and tire?

Mike,

I'm not sure... I'll have to pull a measurement off that next time I'm in the shop. I know that a good reference point is the through-hole on the frame for the upper shackle bushing. That seems to always be pretty close to the dimension I ended up with.

It was interesting texting with you in "real time" last night... I wasn't sure if I could make the fang work when I told you I would do it, but then I shifted the curve around a little bit and it ended up dropping into place pretty sweetly. The photos show a slight "anomaly" at the transition from the curve to the fang, but that it mostly a result of building it out of green tape and construction paper... I'm convinced that when it's all in steel the transition will be smooth and seamless, and will probably cause a few people to do a double-take when they see it in person.

Then again, the best compliment of all would be for people to not even notice it at all..... and just assume that they were always built that way at the factory.


-G

 

[NorCal69]

Mike,


Then again, the best compliment of all would be for people to not even notice it at all..... and just assume that they were always built that way at the factory.


-G

Agreed..

It will be cool to see the metal following this new line. Where I ended up having some problem was just inside the little lip. After it's welded and ground clean again. A little beating with the hammer and dolly will be needed.

It was very tough for me to either get a pick or chisel head hammer in there to smooth it out with the dolly on the back side. All of the years with a hammer in my hand, it was still hard to strike the exact spot on the inside of that lip. Ultimately I ended up making a small jig with the same contour of the inner lip and used that too. Mine are still pretty rough and need to be really fine tuned once I start on the body work again.

Maybe I was going about it wrong and Paul or you can shed some light on that area once it comes back up.

 

[Z71paramedic]

That's going to turn out great Greg! Impressive work, as always. I really need to redo my front fenders at some point. I think I may be looking back on this build for yet another reason

 

[Greg72]

That's going to turn out great Greg! Impressive work, as always. I really need to redo my front fenders at some point. I think I may be looking back on this build for yet another reason

....and now you've got the high-speed internet to go with this thread. I can only imagine what it must have been like trying to view this thing over dial-up.

You've got some pretty big tars on that truck, but I'm sure there is still a way to get a clean, factory-esque shape on there somehow.


-G

 

[Z71paramedic]

....and now you've got the high-speed internet to go with this thread. I can only imagine what it must have been like trying to view this thing over dial-up.

You've got some pretty big tars on that truck, but I'm sure there is still a way to get a clean, factory-esque shape on there somehow.


-G

It wasn't good Greg, not good at all...

I'd like to think I could clean the lines up some from what I've got now. Add it to the list of do-overs on it

 

[folkenheath]

I think you are doing a fantastic job and it looks awesome, but as a few people have stated, I would articulate before you go any further. You need your panhard and draglink design done and tacked on, so you can cycle it, articulate it, and steer it. You may in fact be OK, but with the portals, your upper axle may pivot out slightly when the other side droops, and the arc of your panhard will slightly change the side to side location. Also, since the shock and bump are closer to the center than the wheel and tire, the tire will go up further yet when you drop the opposite side down. Now, you may in fact have left enough room and it will work, but I would hate to have had done all that work only to realize I have to do it again. I still think you are doing it in the wrong order. Finish your panhard and steering, and preferably the shocks and bumpstops as well, and then continue with the fender. It looks very nice, and very time consuming, you don't want to be doing it twice.

 

[Greg72]

Heath,

Absolutely, you are completely right. After the success last night, I've learned enough now about how the fenders are going to look and feel comfortable that I won't end up with some kind of "butt ugly" fender-hack as a result of my axle location, tire selection, etc. With where I am now, I can fine-tune this fender shape +/- 1" in or out, up or down depending on what the tires and suspension ultimately want and the end result will still look good.

Mostly, I've been killing time waiting on the new steering box. I ended up buying a Saginaw 800-series (inside frame mount) from eBay and it's scheduled to arrive tomorrow.... that's been the holdup on moving any further on the steering and draglink, but soon I'll be able to get back to that part of the suspension mock-up and hopefully lock-down a few more pieces of the puzzle.

As far as "doing it twice".... I'm afraid that ship has sailed! As of last night, I think I've done about 4 iterations of the fender mod so far.... it's all good, I'm enjoying the process and jumping between a few inter-related items (fenders & suspension) keeps me thinking about the big picture and making sure I don't get painted into a corner either functionally or aesthetically. I'm putting some pretty large demands on myself in both of those areas.


-G

 

[folkenheath]

Thats true, maybe I should change it to "you don't want to be doing it 5 times"!

 

[Greg72]

Thats true, maybe I should change it to "you don't want to be doing it 5 times"!

Just between you and me (and a few thousand other CK5 viewers), I have been toying with the idea of increasing my front bump travel from 6" to maybe 7"??

Once I completed the PS frame mod, there was actually a substantial amount of clearance to the framerail and oilpan at the previous 6" bump target... it had me wondering if I should indulge the temptation to try for just a tad more wheel travel up front. I haven't bought any struts for the front yet. I was planning to buy a set of 14" and set them up for 6up/8down. I could either split them at 7up/7down or possible even use the 16" struts I already own and set them for 7up/9down..... and then just buy a replacement set for the rear (maybe 18"s?)

It would be fun to get the struts mounted up front as another way to lock-down some official limits on bump and droop. If I used the struts I already own it will save me the 8-10 week lead time that ORI is quoting these days for new orders too.


-G

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Damn, Greg..... You da man.

 

[bigred88]

I've been reading through your thread for a while, and finally caught up. I feel priviledged to get to watch the process- seeing a sweet, finished truck in a mag is pretty cool, but you don't get to follow along all the decisions being made and the compromises that have to happen. So thanks for sharing all that with everyone!

Also, all this front suspension stuff reminded me of this:

Which I know probably sounds weird, but there's a reason, so hang with me. When the engineers were first designing the F-4, the wings were a little shorter (and flat- the end didn't kink up at all), and the horizontal stabilizers were much more horizontal and not angled as far downward. Well, at some point they realized that their design didn't provide enough lift. Easy solution, they made the wings longer. But when they did that it interfered with the stability (in one of the axis', I don't remember if it was roll, yaw, or pitch, maybe I should have paid more attention in my aero class...). So the engineers found out that if they angled the outside end of the wing up just a little, it took care of that instability. But then that caused it to be unstable in a different axis. So then they took the horizontal stabilizers and angled them downward. Problem solved, and despite the relatively major tweaks to the design they still ended up with one of the best performing aircraft of it's time!

Just the nature of your build and the "I can fix this problem if I do this, but then I create that problem, so I'll have to do that, which complicates this other thing..." brought that story to mind. So if that process ever gets frustrating (I would get real annoying real quick for me), just remember it worked for a fighter plane that flew at Mach 2, it'll probably work for a truck doing Mach 0.1.

Anyway, awesome build! I'm just a little sad that now I have to wait for updates in real time instead of seeing 5 years of progress in a couple weeks.

 

[ryoken]

F4 = one badarse, giant, aerodynamic Band-Aid......

 

[Greg72]

Thanks for the kind words, and for sharing the analogy about the jet fighter. I definitely feel like I'm building a space shuttle at times, but I "want what I want" in terms of performance and aesthetic design. Believe it or not I was not the most patient person... It is something I have taught myself over the years. Cutting corners has always led to disappointing outcomes, so now I just allow the process to happen and whatever number of hours it takes is what it takes.

Sorry to say you've still got a couple more years to go (just like the rest of us) before you see a finished product, but hopefully I can keep this build interesting enough that people will also appreciate the journey to get there....


-G

 

[ryoken]

"want what I want"

 

[boonedog]

how much longer tell we see some progress on those front fenders... im very impatient.

 

[Greg72]

how much longer tell we see some progress on those front fenders... im very impatient.

I don't think you want the real answer to that question...

....it's going to be a few weeks at least. My free time is going into finishing up the "kitchen build".

-G

 

[boonedog]

family and the wifes needs always come first. Without her happy none of this would happen. Love the build your attetion to detail amazes me

 

[bigred88]

Thanks for the kind words, and for sharing the analogy about the jet fighter. I definitely feel like I'm building a space shuttle at times, but I "want what I want" in terms of performance and aesthetic design. Believe it or not I was not the most patient person... It is something I have taught myself over the years. Cutting corners has always led to disappointing outcomes, so now I just allow the process to happen and whatever number of hours it takes is what it takes.

Sorry to say you've still got a couple more years to go (just like the rest of us) before you see a finished product, but hopefully I can keep this build interesting enough that people will also appreciate the journey to get there....


-G

I know how the time goes- in high school my dad and I restored the Spirit that's in my sig- it took us 3 years of putting in every free hour we could find in order to do what was mostly a bone stock restoration, and that wasn't even taking it to the point of finding the right bolt, or making sure that there was just enough overspray to look factory, or any of that silliness. It was just taking an old beat up car and making it relatively new. I can only imagine just how much longer it would take when you're pretty much custom making or at least heavily modifying just about everything. And as much as I enjoy working on my car and K5, they aren't and shouldn't be my top priority, and it looks like it's the same for you. So that adds time, too, fact of life, nothing wrong with that.

I'm starting to learn that patience. I've rushed a few things in my past automotive history, and always end up regretting it later on. So in my head I know I need to be patient and take it slow, but putting that idea into practice is a little harder.

Oh, and I like how you're sticking so much to both the aesthetic and functional sides- obviously it's much easier to do one or the other, and I think most people tend to fall to one side or the other when they hit a wall. The fact that you take the time to figure out a way to keep both is what sets your build apart.