'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

[Greg72]

2009.03.16 - UPDATE! - RENE CREATES A MONSTER!!!

It's funny how one little offhand comment can have such a profound effect on someone else.... case in point, TRusty says "Hey wouldn't it be neat if the front fenders could taper-in and taper-out?" Hmmmmm, that would be interesting....and I wouldn't have to unbolt and remove the fenders for wheeling. Could be a more elegant solution than what I had originally planned.

This morning I decided to do a little "proof of concept" experiment to see if it could really be done. After about 8 hours, here's what I got:

Basically, I created hinges to replace the cowl side fender mounts... here it is swung all the way open.

Here is a shot of the "stock" position. I've already cut 12" out of the radiator support in this photo, which is why it appears to be floating in space.

And here's the shot with a 12" taper...tucked in nicely against the narrowed core support.

Since things are going to get flimsy up front with all sorts of cutting to structural items (like the core support), it was time to add an additional cage bar to the existing a-pillar. Here is a shot from the passenger footwell and through the firewall to the engine compartment.

It was a fun day, and I'd say that the proof-of-concept was a complete success!

As always, there will be some tweaking of the design and more fit-and-finish to get it the way I want it, but it sure looks like it will be a lot more straightforward to implement than I originally expected.

 

[NEK5]

 

[Chevy305]

i'm confused, why allow the fenders to swing outwards? I'm having trouble picturing the finished product

EDIT: Ok I get it its gonna be like a crazy ram air setup

 

[Greg72]

I took a photo of it all the way open because it was weird looking and cool.

It seemed interesting that the fender was capable of swinging open that far, even if it will never be allowed to go that far in the final design.

 

[JDNobodi]

Since things are going to get flimsy up front with all sorts of cutting to structural items (like the core support), it was time to add an additional cage bar to the existing a-pillar. Here is a shot from the passenger footwell and through the firewall to the engine compartment.

I want to see somebody make a tube core support. I would think it would be stronger and lighter.

 

[AJs72K5]

I don't even know what to say other than you never cease to amaze me...

 

[BGKYK5]

I want to see somebody make a tube core support. I would think it would be stronger and lighter.

Paging Kert....

 

[Greg72]

Paging Kert....

Kert-schmert.....

In this thread, I'll just build my own.

The factory core support is being used now as an index to locate all the essential dimensions, but it's already clear that by the time I'm done with the rest of the tubing work there won't be much of it left anyway.

 

[bp71k5]

You're getting me worried about what the hood and cowl are going to end up looking like when the thing tapers in 12"...

 

[BGKYK5]

Kert-schmert.....

We can't all fab like you. Some of us need to call the experts.

 

[BUDDY]

I took a photo of it all the way open because it was weird looking and cool.

It seemed interesting that the fender was capable of swinging open that far, even if it will never be allowed to go that far in the final design.

Not to mention that it will make it Super Easy to chage out the spark plugs or make some kind of suspension adjustment.

BTW - Freakin' BAD ASS!!!!!!

Later,
Buddy

 

[tRustyK5]

The fender part I had envisioned already, where I got mentally stuck was the hood...at least to do it 'cleanly'. Have you had any flashes of genius in that regard? The 73 up hood has the lower section outboard that could be made to slide in and under the higher center section of hood. The 72-earlier hood might be tougher to accomplish the same though.

Then again if you're just pinning the hood it's only a matter of removable sections in the taper area I guess.

Rene

 

[Greg72]

Rene,

OK, I see what you're saying now. There is a point where I have to acknowledge that some parts of the truck need to be removed....I can't make everything "transform". Case in point, the front bumper...the grille, and probably the hood.

Even if I could do some neat scissor-style overlap for the hood, I'd still have a full-width bumper and grille to deal with. At this point, my temptation is to simply have a second tapered hood that can be easily dropped in place when the fenders are in taper-mode. Visually, I don't want to have too many odd "seams" breaking up the original look of the Blazer.

That said, inspiration works in mysterious ways. Now that this is percolating in the back of my mind maybe a solution will eventually come to me.

 

[tRustyK5]

Grill could 'pop out' an inch or two, allowing the headlight area to tuck behind it and eliminating the need for the grill to get narrower. This does get to the realm of custom core support structure though.

bumper could be designed to have the outer 12" or so able to pivot up 90 degrees and lock. Get's it out of the way, and protects the fender somewhat.

I have some ideas for the rear too...need to put pencil to paper and hammer out some details though.

If my crazy ideas are distracting you from your previous 'plan' feel free to tell me to 'sod off'. I won't be offended at all.

Rene

 

[70jimmy]

On the hood, A flip up for the extension to the sides, it would be triangular in shape with the point near the cowl, on hinges kind of like the old hot rod hoods that fold in the center and bring the side covers of the motor with them. think of a table with folding leaves on the edge. When narrowed the leaf would hang down and maybe attach to the tubing, when stock then you open the fenders giving enough room for the leaf to fold up bring the fender back in to stock position and the leaf of the hood rests on the fender lip like normal.

the front grill and headlights expand sideways using vacuum like the old light covers, or maybe on tracks like a minivan door???

Just a couple thoughts.

 

[BGKYK5]

Just watch the Transformers movie 3 times back to back and it will come to you....

 

[Engineered Vintage]

On the hood, A flip up for the extension to the sides, it would be triangular in shape with the point near the cowl, on hinges kind of like the old hot rod hoods that fold in the center and bring the side covers of the motor with them. think of a table with folding leaves on the edge. When narrowed the leaf would hang down and maybe attach to the tubing, when stock then you open the fenders giving enough room for the leaf to fold up bring the fender back in to stock position and the leaf of the hood rests on the fender lip like normal.

the front grill and headlights expand sideways using vacuum like the old light covers, or maybe on tracks like a minivan door???

Just a couple thoughts.

Now that is a good idea! You can buy hinge material and spot weld it in place - except how do you do the very front (nearly) vertical portion of the hood? You would probably have to bring the sides out in front of the center so that they would hinge in front of the fixed portion.

For a front bumper - cut the front bumper in thirds, but a back structure behind it (ala vt's bumper bracing), and make it telescoping with square (or round tubing) so that the ends telescope behind the front and lock into place with ball lock pins or the like (or just make them completely removable or cut the ends completely off.)

This is a cool idea / concept. When will Mattel be offering your K5 as a Transformer, Greg - I want the first one!

What are you going to do for a fiberglass top?

 

[Engineered Vintage]

What if you hinged the headlights/grille assembly so it folds behind the fenders when the fenders come in?

 

[Greg72]

What if you hinged the headlights/grille assembly so it folds behind the fenders when the fenders come in?

Tried that quickly yesterday. No bueno.

Putting a vertical hinge (on either the core support or the fender) swings the "extra" sheetmetal into the wheelwell in a way that would totally block the uptravel of the tire. The first bump you hit would be an expensive and noisy disaster.

Option 2: Do a horizontal hinge so that the headlight and sheetmetal would swing up underneath the hood as the hood tapers. That way at least the excess metal will be well-clear of the tire in the wheelwell.


It's starting to get complicated, which is not sexy to me. Absurdly complex solutions tend to be the ones that fail the most.... everything up to this point on the build has been pretty simple (labor intensive, but simple). I'll keep mulling this over, but it's going to need to evolve into an elegantly simple design (without a ton of moving parts) or I'm going to lose interest.

 

[BGKYK5]

It would certainly be cool if you could pull it off. But on the other hand it would definitely suck to sink 1000 hours into it and have it look like crap and fall apart all the time.

I would vote for tapering everything and then possibly make some simple fill panels that attach with Dzus fasteners or something to fill the gap in "widebody" mode.