'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

[Greg72]

If I had 2 weeks vacation I'd rather spend it all in and around Moab itself.... Not on an interstate highway.

I've driven cross country something like 6 times. It's pretty boring most of the time.


-G

 

[ryoken]

not to mention you could probably ship the rig 3 times for the cost it would be in fuel for a BB on 38's cross-country...

 

[miniwally]

It's a little over 2000 miles each way....

Realistically, that would be 5 days of driving (at a reasonable pace) just to get there.

It seems pretty stupid to waste so much vacation time just to drive on a boring highway, so I'll probably ship the car somewhere close (SLC or Denver) then fly in and just drive the last 6 hours or so.... I just can't stand the thought of arriving in Moab on a trailer.

-G

I'll be your huckle berry. EagleVail airport isn't that far and Moab's three hours away.

 

[Greg72]

not to mention you could probably ship the rig 3 times for the cost it would be in fuel for a BB on 38's cross-country...

You aren't kidding.....4000 mile round trip at 10MPG and $4/Gallon = $1600!!!

Add in hotels for 10 nights on the road, meals, sunscreen & souvenirs and the cost just about doubles.... The only thing I've accomplished for all that money (and time) is relocate my truck to Moab to actually start having some fun with it. No thanks.

If I had unlimited vacation time (and an unlimited budget) I would consider a really long "Ultimate Adventure"-type cross country trip.... There's just no way to take THAT much time off from work.

I'll be your huckle berry. EagleVail airport isn't that far and Moab's three hours away.

Hey thanks Brandon!

That's a great option, and it would be fun to be a part of your Moab caravan!





A small update from last night:

The bug zappers are plugged in for the season, and it attracts the coolest stuff! Not sure how many of you have seen Luna moths before, but they are awesome! Bright lime green with about a 5" wingspan...

I pulled the front wheels off so that I could start working on the steering arms and getting them finalized... I couldn't resist doing a bit of flex-testing.

It looks like I hung the struts at the correct height. They bottomed-out a fraction of an inch before the axle hit the frame!

A cool, underside shot:

More shop time (hopefully) this weekend....

-G

 

[Greg Ducato]

Terrific work and over the top durability mods, well done

 

[imiceman44]

It's a little over 2000 miles each way....

Realistically, that would be 5 days of driving (at a reasonable pace) just to get there.

It seems pretty stupid to waste so much vacation time just to drive on a boring highway, so I'll probably ship the car somewhere close (SLC or Denver) then fly in and just drive the last 6 hours or so.... I just can't stand the thought of arriving in Moab on a trailer.

-G

I know I drive for a living so I am biased but 5 days to do 2000 miles...
My wife drove us across the country coast to coast in under 3 days with a few quick stops.
That was 3150 miles.
2000 miles in 3 days is enough time to enjoy the trip.
I do a trip like this once every two years with the family.

 

[blazinzuk]

I would volunteer to be home base if you do ship it out too. My new place of residence is absolutely one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. Be fun to take a couple weeks ship it out here spend 5 days in moab do some trails in Colorado. Head up to Yellowstone etc.

Of course who knows if I will have a shop by then or even a decent enough place to entertain guests.

Btw that 20" sander Greg has is the greatest tool this side of an actual water jet or plasma table for making professional looking brackets. They are awesome

 

[Greg72]

2000 miles in 3 days is enough time to enjoy the trip.

I couldn't disagree more.... that sounds absolutely miserable.

In 2003 when I drove my Porsche across country, the best single-day mileage I ever did was around 700 miles. I was doing a LOT more than 55MPH most of the time, and I still spent way too many hours in the saddle that day.

Call that enjoyable if you'd like, but I'm not interested in your kind of fun.


-G

 

[imiceman44]

I couldn't disagree more.... that sounds absolutely miserable.

In 2003 when I drove my Porsche across country, the best single-day mileage I ever did was around 700 miles. I was doing a LOT more than 55MPH most of the time, and I still spent way too many hours in the saddle that day.

Call that enjoyable if you'd like, but I'm not interested in your kind of fun.


-G

Well who drives 55 mph?
75-80 is what we do and yeah 700 miles per day is a good average unless the goal is the road trip.
I thought the goal was bb and the trip is an added bonus.
Anyway I know to each their own

 

[BARRAZA]

The subject of weld penetration has come up time to time in this thread, and I just saw an interesting video at Welding tips and tricks. Macro etch weld inspection with some good examples using products you may already have on the shelf at home.


http://www.weldingtipsandtricks.com/macro-etch.html

Can't recommend his videos enough, their great, especially for those of us that are occasional welders.

 

[bmxbryant9]

Awesome seeing the blazer come together! Making me want to link mine!

 

[RogueFab]

Greg- excellent work man. Clean fabrication built to last. I love it.

 

[Greg72]

Greg- excellent work man. Clean fabrication built to last. I love it.

Thanks Joe!..... The holes are all because of you!

-G

 

[4X4HIGH]

This thread is starting to get real exciting once again. Hopefully Greg does get "manspace time" this weekend and gets alot accomplished with pics to show us.

 

[cybrfire]

Quality work is mindset. 100%.

Fancy machines allow you to do quality work faster. They also allow you to do crappy work faster. At any rate, you don't need fancy equipment, you need the will power to do it right as opposed to short cutting.

Looking Great Greg.

 

[blazinzuk]

Quality work is mindset. 100%.

Fancy machines allow you to do quality work faster. They also allow you to do crappy work faster. At any rate, you don't need fancy equipment, you need the will power to do it right as opposed to short cutting.

Looking Great Greg.

So much truth to that statement. I have seen some pretty amazing cars built with a very minimal amount of tools and in all reality Greg is doing it with very few if any luxury tools. Got a grinder a drill and a welder? Thats all you need. Other stuff makes it nicer but you dont need much just have to refuse to compromise. Which Greg does.

 

[cybrfire]

For most folks in Greg's scenario, equipment would be a must. Seems Greg here has limited time in the shop and more equipment might make the usage of that time more efficient.

Yet, for some its a labor of love and the amount of time required is not an issue. I can see Greg fitting well into this category. I just assume that due to the level of detail in the build.

 

[Greg72]

For most folks in Greg's scenario, equipment would be a must. Seems Greg here has limited time in the shop and more equipment might make the usage of that time more efficient.

Yet, for some its a labor of love and the amount of time required is not an issue. I can see Greg fitting well into this category. I just assume that due to the level of detail in the build.

It's a tough balancing act for sure.

If I had unlimited money and shop space I would certainly fill it with more "specialty" tools... I can appreciate why real commercial shops have lots of equipment. You can't make any money unless you can fabricate quickly... If I was a business, I'd be out of business.

In my case, I've struck the best balance I can between available space, money and time. I'm basically out of room in the workshop, so if I wanted to add anything new...it's going to be a struggle to find the floor space for it.

Each new tool requires that I invest time in the "learning curve" for it as well. When I first got my tubing bender set up, I spent a lot of time with the Bend-Tech software learning how to calibrate everything. I wasted a lot of tube during that learning process.... And spent a lot of time NOT building the truck to gain that experience.

I'd love a TIG machine in the near future. I'd love to be able to build my custom headers in stainless steel instead of mild steel, but it's a huge financial expense (lusting after the Miller Dynasty 200 with liquid cooled torch) and hours and hours of torch time before I'll be ready to do any useful work with it.... Realistically, it probably makes more sense to simply build the headers out of mild steel....spend that money on other build parts I need, and keep making good forward progress on the build.

However there have been a few small changes that were worth every second of time I spent putting them in place...... The air hose reel and electrical reel come to mind. It saves me so much time and aggravation not having cords and hoses tangled all over the floor, that it's truly priceless.

As I'm sure everyone has figured out by now in the build thread, I enjoy the process of building a lot. It's not really that important to me that I build things FAST when I'm in the shop. For me it's about getting into "the zone"...that creative place where I can really focus and build and solve problems. At this point, my workspace is about as efficient as it can be (given my space constraints) so it's a really fun environment to work in.





-G

 

[Chevy305]

Greg you can still do custom stainless headers. Just tack weld it all together with you standard mig, then bring them to a welding shop to have them finish tig welded.

My cousin does exactly that, he might be able to help you out. Plus he's in Manchester

 

[Greg72]

Quick Update:

Spent a couple hours last night struggling with 3/8" flat plate to cut out a new steering arm baseplate for the passenger side... I don't care what kind of tools you have, cutting and shaping 3/8" to look "nice" is a crapton of effort and time!

A couple of things have been bothering me about the v2 design of my steering arms. First is that the tie rod and draglink actually rub against each other when the steering is maxed-out on hard right turns. The other is that the draglink needed a small bend in it to allow the heim on the PS knuckle to clear it's mounting bracket under full-droop situations. I don't mind having a bend in the PHB, but the more I look at that bent draglink the more it just bugs me. I couldn't think of a really good way to resolve it since I was sharing a single large bolt to mount both the tie rod heim and the draglink heim, but I think I've come up with a solution now.

The idea is to build the center plate (the one that is sandwiched between the draglink and the tierod heims on the steering arm) with two holes instead of just one. The tie rod hole will be close to the large vertical baseplate that I've built, and the draglink will be offset a bit further inward so that I can use two separate bolts to attach those heims.

Obviously, the tierod hole will be parallel and flat to the ground, but the draglink mounting can be set up with a 7* - 8* angle so that at ride height, the heim is nice and square to the bracket and will NOT bind or hit the bracketry when it's fully drooped-out.

I used the old v2 plate as a template, and built a new plate that was about 3/4" taller, and also went about 3/4" lower as well. I want to have lots of room to experiment with bracket placements.... I'll cut off the extra once I get the linkages all dialed-in.

Here's a shot of the temporary lower tierod bracket. You can see I put a small bend in it to represent how where the draglink will attach... I'll end up building something beefier as I confirm everything, but for now it gets me started and thinking about how to get back to a perfectly straight draglink again...

-G