Mmmmmmm........Donuts.
-G
How ya think I found em
Also I thinks it's best to eat donuts while work I on a donut. There is a symmetry to this world gotta keep everything in balance ya know
CK5
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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build
- Thread starter Greg72
- Start date
This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
How ya think I found em
Also I thinks it's best to eat donuts while work I on a donut. There is a symmetry to this world gotta keep everything in balance ya know
I got mandral U bends from summit for like $16 each. And pieced my exhaust together the same way...
Those are pretty cool and id like to see how they make them. But $85 for 1 is a bit much when you could have the same thing with 2 u bends for around $30-$35.
Your exactly right. For a more complicated exhaust they make alot of sense. Last time I used one was on a F-100 unibody on a lincoln town car chassis. I dont think we had a straight stretch longer than 18".
The super tight radius is really cool though if your really in a bad spot.
Greg, it's been years ago but when I needed some mandrel bends when I was building my race care Tognottis Auto World in Sacramento was the cheapest I found. http://tognottisautoworld.com/looku...&hidSearch=true&hidBrand=true&tSearch=mandrel
OK...... this is a little freaky! 
I stumbled across some old photos from 2003 when I was still living in California. Back then I had a nicer workshop and was building up a "standalone" frame for my Blazer and just trying out different ideas for drivetrain & suspension layout.
These photos show an almost IDENTICAL layout was in my head even back then for the rockslider area.... the way I was tying it into the #1 and #2 bodymount bracket area is frighteningly similar to what is going on in my garage right now....... 11 YEARS LATER!!!
Back then, I was working with really thin-walled tubing (a big mistake) but you can already see the efforts to incorporate the "outrigger" structures and get them tied into the frame in a way that would help improve torsional strength, and provide landing spots for the rollage points landing from above.
Pretty neat!
-G
I stumbled across some old photos from 2003 when I was still living in California. Back then I had a nicer workshop and was building up a "standalone" frame for my Blazer and just trying out different ideas for drivetrain & suspension layout.
These photos show an almost IDENTICAL layout was in my head even back then for the rockslider area.... the way I was tying it into the #1 and #2 bodymount bracket area is frighteningly similar to what is going on in my garage right now....... 11 YEARS LATER!!!
Back then, I was working with really thin-walled tubing (a big mistake) but you can already see the efforts to incorporate the "outrigger" structures and get them tied into the frame in a way that would help improve torsional strength, and provide landing spots for the rollage points landing from above.
Pretty neat!
-G
A1971Blazer
1/2 ton status
déjà vu all over again......
Is that a hardtop I see hanging in there
it can't be.....
Also think you could have arranged all your shelves a bit neater..?
I mean at least one or two of those bottles looks outta place!
Is that a hardtop I see hanging in there
it can't be.....Also think you could have arranged all your shelves a bit neater..?
I mean at least one or two of those bottles looks outta place!
déjà vu all over again......
Is that a hardtop I see hanging in there
Also think you could have arranged all your shelves a bit neater..?
I mean at least one or two of those bottles looks outta place!
Yes..... in 2003, I was only part-way through my now famous "hardtop continuum"!!! Hadn't quite gotten annoyed enough with it to chop it up with a Sawzall.... that came a few years later!
Interesting to see that many of the tools in this photo are still being used in my shop today...... the bench grinder and vise (both gifts from 4X4HIGH), my Hypertherm plasma cutter..... my floor jack... I think I even see the original ProTools-105HD tube bender sitting off to the side there...
A fun little trip down memory lane.
-G
Because everybody's shop stereo includes an oscilloscope. And what I am guessing is a frequency generator?
-- A
-- A
Only YOU would automatically know that the other one was a frequency generator.
Well played my fellow nerdling....
-G
Digging the purple walls, my wife would love it. What in the red cans on the top shelf? And I knew the scope, couldn't pin point the other things.
Brakeleen........always LOTS of that on hand when you need to clean a greasy old truck.
-G
-G
True. I may have to steal your 2x4 shelf design.
Spent much of my formative years at Mike Quinn's in the Oakland airport.
Now, why are they there? Can't imagine you were using them on the truck
and weren't you working in storage then, Seagate or one of their suppliers?-- A
Spent much of my formative years at Mike Quinn's in the Oakland airport.
Now, why are they there? Can't imagine you were using them on the truck
-- A
Actually BOTH are related to K5 stuff..... The oscilloscope was to set the maximum undistorted output level (in volts) for the my old in-dash headunit. No point, allowing a deck to go into clipping and then amplify all that square-wave distortion through the amps and speakers!!!! The frequency generator is for similar work..... checking crossover points of speakers, subwoofer break-in, etc.
And, to the previous comment about the shelf design..... astute viewers will notice that I have replicated that "style" of routered 2"x4" shelf supports once again in my current workshop, both on the floor-to-ceiling storage, as well as the smaller angled section under the staircase.
When you find something that works, you stick with it....I guess.
What I wouldn't give now for those 10' ceilings and 1000 sq ft of dedicated workshop space again though.....
-G
I remember seeing them between the studs at your current place. I have one of those shops you speak of but with 12' ceilings for a future hoist. I still struggle with running out of storage space. Still need to build an Axle rack and way more shelves on the wall and get rid of the floor standing units.
Sounds positively awful.....I don't know how you can even work in a shop like that...
-G
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Alright, post up. Those only came in on the phone, not the iPad and I want to see this contraption bigger. The multipurposed bender looks badass.
Sounds positively awful.....I don't know how you can even work in a shop like that...
-ag
I actually do not work in it at all lately. Only time I go out there is to grab the mower to cut the grass. Stuck in baby jail right now, but I am perfectly okay with that.
Alright, post up. Those only came in on the phone, not the iPad and I want to see this contraption bigger. The multipurposed bender looks badass.
Mike,
You need to check your iPhone settings again. The iMessage appears to be disabled... I can't text you normally (blue conversation bubbles), it will only go through as plain text (green conversation bubbles).... That's probably why the iPad isn't sync'ed with your phone anymore and you can't see stuff there. iMessage has to be turned on for each device.... and I'll bet you accidentally turned it off on your phone.
2014.10.09 - UPDATE - !!! FREE HYDRAULIC FLARE-HOLE PRESS...!!!
Tuesday night in the shop I didn't really do much new work on the truck. I studied a few things and spent most of the night cleaning up the mess from the previous three days of fabrication. As part of that process, I noticed that my Hydro-bender had gotten quite a bit of flash-rust on the dies and follower blocks, and was generally looking a bit neglected.... so I spend a good 2 hours cleaning it up really well, and giving all the metal parts a healthy coat of Boeshield spray to protect the raw metal parts.
During that time, as I often do....I let my mind wander off and think of different things, and I reflecting on the upcoming process of reinforcing the "floppy floor" areas where I'd just cut out those factory braces. The new braces will run laterally across the floor and follow the profile of the sheetmetal on the floor.... basically an inverted U-shape with a couple of flanges so that they can be tack-welded to the underside of the floors.
It's the kind of part that would lend itself VERY nicely to a series of speed holes (with flares), but the thought of using my 20-Ton Horrible Freight press to manually pumpjack all of those flares was depressing.... I thought about it as I polished and cleaned my hydraulic bender........... the one with the PortaPack...............and the big hydraulic ram...............and the arms that close like a scissor................that could crush something if it were placed in-between them...........
.......LIKE A FLARE HOLE DIE!!!!!!
Gotta love those "lightbulb" type moments! All I really needed to do was come up with a couple of small fixtures that could be attached to the bender to give me some strong and flat areas to crush against... and with enough clearance around them so that I could fit the material into the space for flaring.
So last night, I pulled a few old scraps out of my "tuition pile" and got to work.
This is the first piece (recycled from the 2nd set of steering arms that didn't work!
) It's just a small section of heavy-wall DOM (recycled from my old rear upper links) welded to some 3/8" plate with a triangular gusset to help keep it from twisting around too much... This part gets mounted on the moveable arm of the bender using a standard tube bender drive pin.
And installed.... one pin to drop in. Installation time: 3 seconds.
The second part of the challenge was to come up with a way to insure that the "crushing" plates were always parallel to each other even though the "scissor" motion of the bender was likely to have them colliding as some kind of weird tangent. Another piece of thick DOM was used to create a pivot point on the fixed-side of the bender.... and a short standoff, and flat landing plate were added so that there would be adequate room to maneuver materials easily between the crushing pads.
As you can see, the swivel pad on the fixed arms will move to accommodate any angle that is needed to hit the other fixed-pad...
Here's a test with the smallest flare hole die (3/4") in my set.
I drilled a small through-hole so that I could bolt it to the fixed plate. It's not 100% necessary, but it makes it easier for me to work without having to juggle too many things during the flaring process. The only "trick" was cutting the bolt head down thinner so that it didn't interfere with the dies bottoming-out properly.
With both dies in place and a small section of test metal.....
The test begins......AND.......... success!!!
The flare hole dies are all slightly different thicknesses, which ultimately changes where they land on the swivel plate. I like to have them "squared up" on the pad as much as possible so that the pressure is nice and even. This will require me to drill a few different mounting holes in the arm-side plate to accommodate the different die sizes.
Other than that, the project is complete and it works like a champ.
Now I'm ready to flare the hell out of my floor supports, rockslider top plates and pretty much anything else that I can think of!
-G
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