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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Overview Gallery Discussion
Brian,

Actually the style line I was referring to is the lower one, not the one at the top edge.

The weird part is that the inner structure of the "skinned" b-pillar lines up perfectly with the door in the first pic. (The second photo shows the door slightly open which is why it looks "off").

When I hung the rear quarter, the crease in the lower "style line" was 1/4" above the spot on the b-pillar where it needed to land, leaving a gap between the b-pillar and the sheetmetal that I'd never be able to squeeze out. It became clear that the simplest way to get those style lines perfect was to simply drop the mounting rail and everything else would fall into place.

I have one advantage that most other people won't, and that is the top of the door is going to be cut off anyway. You can see in the photos I've already cut off the vent wing structure....and the window scraper area is going to be lowered to match the rear bedrail height so I'll have a uniform upper edge. If I wasn't doing this mod, there's a chance that dropping the upper bedrail by 1/4" would have totally screwed things up in that area, but honestly the reflections as I look down the sides now look really consistent and correct from the bedrail all the way down to the bottom of the door.


:usaflag:
 
When I hung the rear quarter, the crease in the lower "style line" was 1/4" above the spot on the b-pillar where it needed to land,
Click to expand...
Mine has done the same thing as well (except I didn't have to hang the rear quarter) which is why I was thinking you would just raise the door 1/4" instead of dropping the rear quarter. Why not do that?

I have one advantage that most other people won't, and that is the top of the door is going to be cut off anyway. You can see in the photos I've already cut off the vent wing structure....
Click to expand...

I remember that now. It does look pretty good and I'd love to get rid of those wing windows.
 
It's hard to describe but if you look at the side view of the b-pillar it curves gently down to the "point" where the style line is (which is where it curves out sharply), then it curves down gently again until it rolls under toward the rocker area.

The bedside "point" sits 1/4" above the b-pillar "point"....so there's an awkward gap behind the bedside in that area.

I raised the door as far as the hinges would allow, and the vent wing frame was already clobbering the windshield frame. Going up another 1/4" would never have happened, and it was another data point that convinced me that the rear repro bedside was at fault.... then again, the doors are repros also so who knows? :dunno:

I'll get a better photo of the issue and the solution, I think it will make sense when you see it.


:usaflag:
 
Greg, FWIW i comepletely understand what the problem is AND how you plan to fix it. At least all of your sheet metal is repo stuff so you should be able to "fix" things and make it all like correct. Not like have NOS on one side and repo on the other and things not looking correct between each side.
 
I think I understand the problem too since I had the exact same problem with the wing window crashing into the windshield. I obviously couldn't use your "cheat" so I had to shim that #1 body mount more to tilt the windshield forward and then shifted the door back to stop the crashing. I assumed this was the result of my firewall sagging a bit over time.

I'm just worried about the concourse judges taking away too many points from you. :) I'll let you carry on.
 
2009.09.21 - UPDATE! - TO CLARIFY....


Here's a shot of the side detail that I was trying to describe unsuccessfully yesterday.

DSC01957.jpg



Hopefully it's obvious now where the b-pillar and the outer skin come to a point. In this photo they line up well, but previously the outer bedskin "point" was sitting about 1/4" higher than it is here....and of course, then the rest of the panel wouldn't lay flat againt the support pillar. Enough said.

With that out of the way, I still needed to re-create the factory flange. Since the SWB bedsides were 6" longer, the flange was cut off. I decided to steal it back from the discard pile and graft it onto the remaining bedside.

Here's the full width part, with more spotweld cutting again tonight... :D

DSC01960.jpg



Another shot after trimming it down to a more useable size, and trimming the profile to fit better.

DSC01961.jpg


With a few panel clamps and tack welds as I worked my way up the panel trying to minimize warping and trying to keep a nice uniform welding gap...

DSC01965.jpg



The final result...trying to show the style line across the door to the rear quarter. It needs a small amount of fine tuning, but since I've never done panel fitting before I'm extremely pleased with how it's coming along.

DSC01968.jpg
 
That looks good Greg. I would have suggested using more of the flange and making a couple zigzag cuts to strengthen the panel rather than a straight weld top to bottom. As long as you're comfortable with what you've done that's what matters though.
 
Generally, the closer you can weld to a rolled edge the easier it is to control warping.

Seems to work pretty well so far....


:usaflag:
 
2009.09.22 - UPDATE! - A CHANGE TO A-DOOR (ADORE)... REDUX

You may remember back in March 2009, I played around with the idea of shortening the door heights to make them line-up with the rear bedrail...

Now that I have fresh doors, it is time to make it official and start cutting even MORE of my fresh, virgin sheetmetal.

Here's the tape representing the cut line...

DSC01979.jpg


And a shot of the inner door area. I will still be able to use a factory door panel, but I will have to shorten the top area where the lock comes out.

DSC01983.jpg


My old crusty bedsides made one final donation to the build. I cut the radius off the upper bedrail so that I could keep that same shape all the way across the door to the a-pillar area... then I welded it to a 2.5" strip of fresh 18GA sheetmetal.

DSC01987.jpg


After a little more precision measuring to avoid mistakes with the final cut on the door, I laid up the new fabricated piece and put a few tacks in it.

DSC01993.jpg


The end result is nice and even with the rear bedside, and the radius matches as you'd expect.

DSC01996.jpg


I've still got to finish the inside details to shorten the original inner part and weld it to the flat top plate.

DSC01998.jpg


A parting shot for the night... I like the look SO much better than the factory did it. That's good, because it's probably about 10 hours of work to get both sides completed. :yikes:

DSC02004.jpg


Time for a well-deserved beer, I'd say.... :deal:



:usaflag:
 
you deserve one in the can...

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This is coming together nicely. Are you going to forget about door glass altogether since you won't be running a top anyways?
 
4X4HIGH said:
This is coming together nicely. Are you going to forget about door glass altogether since you won't be running a top anyways?
Click to expand...

Yeah, pretty much.

I'll probably design a simple plastic window and metal frame like the J**ps have, just so that I'll have something to put on if I get caught in the rain someday.

:usaflag:
 
Dang Greg, that's really nice looking. I'm really liking the cage lines too...may have to steal them when it's eventually time to do mine.
 
How many days left until BlazerBash 2010??? :thinking:


tick tock....tick tock....

:yikes:


:usaflag:
 
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