'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

[Greg72]

QUICK UPDATE!


Driver's Side OG link mount removed.... New design fitted in place for welding:

Floor cut out to gain access for muffler installation. ( I needed a new floor anyway... )

Threw the old floor into #TUITIONPILE2017

I had previously cut the exhaust segments to match the passenger side and they were already sitting in a storage bin waiting for installation. Now that the exhaust routing has been cleaned-up with the new link mounts they will need to be cut and re-worked slightly, but it shouldn't be too much of a labor penalty to get them prepared.

Speedway Motors sells a simple muffler hanger (Like the ones @ClassicStyle posted images of a few pages back) so I picked up a bunch of those (in black) so that the exhaust can finally hang on it's own and I can remove about 50Lbs of supporting lumber from the truck as it sits now!!!


-G

 

[ClassicStyle]

You're going to like those hangers. I use them by the truck load. Haha









pic host

 

[Greg72]

@ClassicStyle : any concerns about the tabs (and the weight of the hanging exhaust) slowly sawing through the urethane / silicone mount? I was going to use some scrap 16GA stainless to make the mounting tabs but even after deburring the hole it's got me a little worried that I should use something thicker??

-G

 

[ClassicStyle]

I use 1/8 plate for my tabs, they don't allow for much more than vibration. the only thing I've seen happen with them, is get they got hot and sagging a little bit, it takes quite a bit of heat however.

 

[folkenheath]

Nice job Greg, looking real good!

I agree with Classic, you will like those hangers, they work well.

I can't believe on the maroon car with that show quality work and a chassis you could eat off of they put a fram filter on it.

 

[ClassicStyle]

Built 17 years ago for the tune of 600k.

New owner paid 200ish, doesn't have a garage big enough, so it lives outside in the rain, gets driven in the rain. Sad. I built the stainless exhaust, gave it tubular control arms, coilovers, fixed some paint damage on the bottom from speed bumps, New trans

 

[Greg72]

Built 17 years ago for the tune of 600k.

New owner paid 200ish, doesn't have a garage big enough, so it lives outside in the rain, gets driven in the rain. Sad. I built the stainless exhaust, gave it tubular control arms, coilovers, fixed some paint damage on the bottom from speed bumps, New trans

Posts like this make me feel like the MAW "budget" is completely reasonable after all.....


Picked up a small amount of 11GA (.118") T304 sheet to build exhaust tabs with today, and spent some time figuring out the best places to put them and how many per side would make sense.

Tonight I'll try to get a few tabs on the exhaust (in stainless) and then add a few matching brackets (in mild-steel) so that the parts can be bolted in place permanently.

This will allow me to remove all of the extra lumber that is currently wedged and clamped all over the frame.


-G

 

[Greg72]

QUICK UPDATE:

Got the 11GA stainless during lunch yesterday and made two fresh hangers with it. Picked up a few feet of 1.5" x 2" mild steel tubing as well to create simple mounting tabs for the frame-side of the exhaust hangers. Seemed like a better idea than trying to make individual tabs and worrying about keeping them squared / parallel, etc. Cutting them out of box tubing makes the process of tacking them in place a lot simpler, and they look a bit more professional too.

Test fitting the first mount at the "crossover" point of the exhaust...

After running a 3/8" bolt through the bushing to get everything in proper position...

The idea is to find hanger locations that support the exhaust in the middle sections of each span of tubing to help them to balance better during installation or removal. The other consideration was to avoid welding tabs to the muffler canisters themselves (if possible) since it's always possible that the muffler or resonators will be removed / replaced to experiment with different exhaust sounds.... Being able to swap in a simple "test pipe" to replace a muffler will be easier if they don't also need to have mounting tabs welded to them to match the parts that are being removed.




-G

 

[NorCal69]

Awesome work, Greg.

Looking at the amount of welding that you have left on this thing is kinda mind boggling. Crazy stuff.

 

[Greg72]

Awesome work, Greg.

Looking at the amount of welding that you have left on this thing is kinda mind boggling. Crazy stuff.

Boy isn't that the truth!!!..... At first, it seems like the welding of all those segments in the headers is the worst of it. But then as I look around on this truck and cage and mounts, I realize that there is welding EVERYWHERE that needs to be finished up.

The flip-side is that I have gone back into "completed" sections on several occasions and completely cut out tack-welded parts and replaced them with new designs... so if I'd finish-welded everything as I built it, there would be a lot more fully welded stuff in my tuition pile!!

No worries though, when I blow the truck apart completely I can flip and rotate every weld joint into a favorable position for finish welding so hopefully the end-result will be better than my attempts to weld uphill and/or overhead!


-G

 

[ashman]

Awesome work, Greg.

Looking at the amount of welding that you have left on this thing is kinda mind boggling. Crazy stuff.

I was thinking the same thing. Many times when I look at a wide shot of the blazer I think "wow, it's amazing how far this thing has come over the years". But then I see a close in shot and see just how many of those jobs are unfinished and my mind boggles at how you are going to get this finished by next year.
If you pull this off and make your goal of BB18 I will be truly impressed. soooooo much to do.

 

[4X4HIGH]

QUICK UPDATE:

Got the 11GA stainless during lunch yesterday and made two fresh hangers with it. Picked up a few feet of 1.5" x 2" mild steel tubing as well to create simple mounting tabs for the frame-side of the exhaust hangers. Seemed like a better idea than trying to make individual tabs and worrying about keeping them squared / parallel, etc. Cutting them out of box tubing makes the process of tacking them in place a lot simpler, and they look a bit more professional too.

Test fitting the first mount at the "crossover" point of the exhaust...

After running a 3/8" bolt through the bushing to get everything in proper position...

The idea is to find hanger locations that support the exhaust in the middle sections of each span of tubing to help them to balance better during installation or removal. The other consideration was to avoid welding tabs to the muffler canisters themselves (if possible) since it's always possible that the muffler or resonators will be removed / replaced to experiment with different exhaust sounds.... Being able to swap in a simple "test pipe" to replace a muffler will be easier if they don't also need to have mounting tabs welded to them to match the parts that are being removed.




-G

Greg, something to consider if you haven't already is that making the frame side exhaust brackets out of tube and having the exhaust side bracket "captured" could make it hard or even impossible to remove a section of exhaust especially if that portion has more than one bracket involved. It will obviously be fine for any sections that can be dropped straight down but the section you showed could pose an issue.

 

[Greg72]

Greg, something to consider if you haven't already is that making the frame side exhaust brackets out of tube and having the exhaust side bracket "captured" could make it hard or even impossible to remove a section of exhaust especially if that portion has more than one bracket involved. It will obviously be fine for any sections that can be dropped straight down but the section you showed could pose an issue.

Definitely!

The crossover section is only about 2 feet long, and with the "old" upper link mount there was no way to remove it in a single piece. That's why I had a V-band installed right in the middle of it.... it was an expensive way to solve the issue but now with the new speedhole link mount there is more room to get that exhaust section out in a single larger piece. Adding the tab will make it a bit harder to remove, but I will drop some plywood down over that area (as a temporary floor) to make sure I can still remove it from below.

The remainder of the sections are all pretty short, and can all drop straight down when the V-bands are loosened.... so if this crossover section works, the rest should be a walk in the park.


-G

 

[brans87]

the exhaust tabs kick ass man nice work!

 

[ClassicStyle]

Looks good Greg, as long as you can wiggle past the mount. I've always been in situations where I didn't have room to wiggle past a mount like that, and typically drill and tap frame rails or do a single sheer tab

 

[Greg72]

2017.02.27 - UPDATE!! - SNOW MELT & SUNSHINE...!!!!

I took a couple of vacation days from work and spent them in the garage. The weather has been awesome here in New England, and is teasing springtime with high temps (55-60*) and sunshine. The psychological boost from that combination can not be overstated.... it's really inspiring, and really gets the build motivated!!

Of course, any opportunity to roll the truck outside is accepted... Once the exhaust was completed (as far as possible until the rear sheetmetal is hung) there was no reason to keep the truck "laid out" on the bumpstops, so it was brought up to ride height and it BARELY gets through the rollup door.... like with 1/4" to spare!! In any case, here's a shot (at ride height) showing the rear fuel tank and how nicely it tucks up and out-of-the-way behind the axle.

Since the axle was pushed back 3" the departure angle was going to get better, since the bumper was in place it wasn't too hard to slide some plate steel from the bumper to the tire to take an official measurement.... 49.3-degrees!!! Just look at the clearance of the bottom of the fuel tank!!! It's still going to get a beefy skidplate, but keeping it out of harm's way is still the best option of all...

The sunshine was really building excitement, and so it was decided to unwrap all of the suspension links which had been covered with 3M weld-spatter paper about 2 years ago. Unfortunately, the adhesive didn't age well and when the paper came off it left a bunch of residue and staining on the aluminum links.... so it took quite a bit of Brakeleen and about an hour with Scotchbrite pads to bring them back to "original" condition. The end-result was totally worth the effort, and the photos are starting to really show-off the appearance of the fabrication work, and the AMOUNT of stuff that is being installed and completed lately.

Of course, on a nice day.... EVERYONE wants to get in on the action. Murphy took a break from running through the mud and slush to come "help" me take a few photos.

What would a new photo shoot be without this shot???..... I just love getting the hatemail from @blazinzuk every time I do a bucket photo!

Finally, it was time to drop the partially assembled fuel tank and continue building the kickout sections along the bottom and then put in a few more vertical walls as well. The kickouts are a pretty fussy fitment and set of angles, and the objective was to get all of the seams "corner-to-corner" or worst-case a "half-lap" so that they'd melt / weld together beautifully.

Once the kickouts were completed, the vertical panels were next. Those were a lot simpler, just a basic 16" x 8" plate with a notch for clearance of the rear crossmember. The hardest part about working with stainless is that you can't use magnets to hold things in position. It turns out that small pieces of angle iron can be clamped to the inside corners instead and that holds things really well when trying to get the first few tack welds onto the edges.

The shot of the tank from above.... the next step is laying out the baffle box in here to hold the fuel pump, fuel sender and Holly Hydramat.

That should get underway tonight.




-G

 

[folkenheath]

It's looking real good, that's a lot of progress!

 

[Greg72]

It's looking real good, that's a lot of progress!

Thanks Heath!

So in that last photo..... the back of the tank (toward tailgate) as at the bottom of the photo, and the axle-side is at the top. I'm thinking about running two panels front-to-back at the same width as that axle-side middle plate (14" wide).... then running a wall between them around 1/2 way in between (approx. 12").

That should give me a pretty good sized baffle area for the fuel pump and I suppose I could put the fuel sender in the other compartment (toward the axle) since it's a little deeper anyway... and will give me a more accurate measurement of remaining fuel.

-G

 

[ashman]

Those links do look purdy!

When do you think you'll be back to working with the body? I'm itching to see some blazer panels rehung on this thing.

 

[ashman]

That should give me a pretty good sized baffle area for the fuel pump and I suppose I could put the fuel sender in the other compartment (toward the axle) since it's a little deeper anyway... and will give me a more accurate measurement of remaining fuel.

-G

Do you have your hydromat yet? Seems like you'd want to make your baffle area match the footprint of the hydromat you end up using. Also, don't you want your pump in the lowest point of the tank? Unless I'm missing something, it doesn't do you any good to know there is more fuel in the tank, if it's below the pump anyway.