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'72 K5 - Greg's @MightAsWellK5 Build

This is the build description. I will improve this later. (GB)
Overview Gallery Discussion
Hey! Ronnie James Dio....... I thought we were friends, man. :haha:


IMG_E9846.JPG






I guess times changes and I'll need to find a new "DRM-free" song for all future "hero days" in the garage....

Only took YouTube about 7 years.....




I think there is some Rolling Stones playing in the background of one of my front axle videos.... maybe I'll get a cease-and-desist letter next? :thinking:

-G
 
It’s a real thing, and traffic to your video grinds to a halt. Epidemic Sound and Artlist are my go to. Good Dio-like selections.

David
 
Thanks David, I'll check those out......


You'd be proud (and the whole COVID-19 thing makes it even more critical).... I was at Metals4U this morning at 8:15AM picking up sheets of 16GA / 18GA and 10GA (1/8") .... then a quick detour over to HomeDepot to buy 100Lbs of play sand to fill up my new planisher when it arrives tomorrow.

If I had waited much longer, who knows if those shops would be under mandatory shutdown.... that would be a heartbreaker. All those new tools and no material to shape with!!!

Amazon will be delivering a steady supply of consumables and small garage must-haves over the next few days as well. If the whole world shuts down, I'll be in my garage making small steel bowls for myself. :haha:


-G
 
Awesome to see things moving again.

I don't know about your state/area but mine isn't closing any home improvement/tool type shops. Got a email from harbor freight explaining it, of all places :surepal:. Something about being able to supply crews with needed supplies during this.
 
dabomb6608 said:
Awesome to see things moving again.

I don't know about your state/area but mine isn't closing any home improvement/tool type shops. Got a email from harbor freight explaining it, of all places :surepal:. Something about being able to supply crews with needed supplies during this.
Click to expand...
Yeah tools parts anything needed for repairs is necessary. Some logic to it.
 
Greg, I think you'll find as time goes on, Charlie will become more valuable in many ways, from his gained experience working on the truck, to being able to just jump into those positions that will inevitably get harder for you to get into and out of, including things that require working underneath, on the floor.
One thing everyday!
 
76zimmer said:
Greg, I think you'll find as time goes on, Charlie will become more valuable in many ways, from his gained experience working on the truck, to being able to just jump into those positions that will inevitably get harder for you to get into and out of, including things that require working underneath, on the floor.
One thing everyday!
Click to expand...
I think Greg may have just hit a new level of genius! If you make sure the build takes long enough, you can grow your own helper!

Wish I would have thought of that.
 
ashman said:
I think Greg may have just hit a new level of genius! If you make sure the build takes long enough, you can grow your own helper!

Wish I would have thought of that.
Click to expand...
Huh. That basically where I was at. I couldn't get my friends to help wrench anymore because they were busy. So I decided to grow my own helper.
Best part was that even making her was fun for me to!
 
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2020.03.22 - UPDATE! - PANDEMIC....SCHMANDEMIC....!!!

A few goodies arrived over the last few days.... The Eastwood deep-throat shrinker stretcher and planishing hammer. Picked up a bunch of 10GA (1/8"), 16GA and 18GA sheet material as well so I'd have material to work with since I'm stuck at home 24/7 these days.

Charlie came out to the garage to help with the assembly:

IMG_9868.JPG

Overall, the product looks pretty good. A few annoying shortcomings during the assembly process, but it seems like it's going to be a solid unit.

IMG_9870.JPG

FUN FACT: Charlie and I have the EXACT same amount of shrinking experience as each other (NONE!)... so it was fun to learn this part together, instead of teaching.... we were both students.

IMG_9878.JPG

After a few passes through the stretcher, and with increasing confidence... we decided to assemble the planishing hammer and see if we could make an 8" bowl shape.

There is nothing more fun to a kid, than telling him to smash something with a hammer (mallet) on purpose!

IMG_9889.JPG

After a bunch of smashing, we had a nice potato chip panel with LOTS of dents to experiment with...

IMG_9891.JPG

The planishing hammer is definitely something that we need to get more experience with... but it was still fun to see things smoothing out.

IMG_9898.JPG

After maybe 5 minutes, it was smooth in the center... but in need of a lot more shaping before we could really claim it was a "bowl" and put some cereal in it!!!

IMG_9899.JPG

It's a start.

Getting new tools is always fun, but there is always a learning curve which is a frustrating delay when you want to make quick progress again.... It's already obvious that these new tools are going to open up entirely new avenues in creativity and capability when we need new parts and more complex shapes for the truck.


-G
:usaflag:
 
Greg72 said:
2020.03.22 - UPDATE! - PANDEMIC....SCHMANDEMIC....!!!

A few goodies arrived over the last few days.... The Eastwood deep-throat shrinker stretcher and planishing hammer. Picked up a bunch of 10GA (1/8"), 16GA and 18GA sheet material as well so I'd have material to work with since I'm stuck at home 24/7 these days.

Charlie came out to the garage to help with the assembly:

View attachment 333881

Overall, the product looks pretty good. A few annoying shortcomings during the assembly process, but it seems like it's going to be a solid unit.

View attachment 333882

FUN FACT: Charlie and I have the EXACT same amount of shrinking experience as each other (NONE!)... so it was fun to learn this part together, instead of teaching.... we were both students.

View attachment 333883

After a few passes through the stretcher, and with increasing confidence... we decided to assemble the planishing hammer and see if we could make an 8" bowl shape.

There is nothing more fun to a kid, than telling him to smash something with a hammer (mallet) on purpose!

View attachment 333884

After a bunch of smashing, we had a nice potato chip panel with LOTS of dents to experiment with...

View attachment 333885

The planishing hammer is definitely something that we need to get more experience with... but it was still fun to see things smoothing out.

View attachment 333886

After maybe 5 minutes, it was smooth in the center... but in need of a lot more shaping before we could really claim it was a "bowl" and put some cereal in it!!!

View attachment 333887

It's a start.

Getting new tools is always fun, but there is always a learning curve which is a frustrating delay when you want to make quick progress again.... It's already obvious that these new tools are going to open up entirely new avenues in creativity and capability when we need new parts and more complex shapes for the truck.


-G
:usaflag:
Click to expand...

One of the helpful hints I got from either a book or YouTube was that you really need to hit that steel with a big domed mallet to really stretch it and keep rotating it around so the mallet hits come from lots of different directions. Lots of demos of guys with a bowl shape cut into an old tree stump to help out.
 
Really nice acquisitions. Fender arches will be at another level. I’m excited for you to build these new skills, and then teach me when I scoot down your way for a lesson.

I pay in Shiner, and bring my own PPE.

David
 
That's awesome. I've recently started some basic sheet metal work for the first time, too, but I got a brake and a bead roller (and a few hand tools). Definitely not everything I'd want but enough to meet my current project needs. There's something really fun about taking a flat piece of metal and turning it into something, even if the stuff I've made isn't exactly complicated.

I look forward to watching your progress with the tools you've picked up. Maybe down the road I'll add a shrinker/stretcher, planishing hammer, and English wheel and really go crazy with it...
 
2020.04.12 - UPDATE - MORE EXHAUST WORK

The problem identified last time around was the final sections of the exhaust ended up too low to clear the rear axle at full-stuff

There's not much room above the axle, and the exhaust can not go higher than the framerails or it will hit the underside of the rear bedfloor. Here's a straigthtedge in place showing the contstraints.

Straigtedge Rear Floor

Straigtedge Rear Floor


The crossover pipe looks similar to Revision 1, but this time around it incorporates the 4" CLR tubing to make a sharper turn once it gets to the inside of the framerail.

Crossover Taped

Crossover Taped


The final layout has good clearance on all sides. Equally spaced between the step-up panel and the new crossmember and more than 1" above the framerail.... if heat is an issue, I'll have to break out some heat shields and/or gold foil tape!! :)

Crossover in Green Tape

Crossover in Green Tape


The TIG has been sitting idle collecting dust, so it was cleaned up and put back into service recently.
A new experiment was doing the spot welding at 90A which is extremely hot for a 16GA (.065") tube. However, the idea is to mash the pedal for maybe 1/2 second, put a lot of heat in quickly to melt it, and then back it off before it blows through completely. After a little practice this actually worked quite well.

Old Friend Dusted Off

Old Friend Dusted Off


Arriving at the final turn past the fuel tank was challenging as well, but eventually the angles and lengths were figured-out to get a perfect routing through that narrow space

Angled to Level transition

Angled to Level transition



TOP TIP:

When cutting tubing, sometimes you need to remove an extra 1/4" (or some other small amount) of material from one end of the tube but it's a pain to mark / measure around a circle. A quick way to do this is to simply use a spacer to rest your Sharpie on, then twist the tube with your other hand to trace the mark all the way around! Works great, and is highly accurate.

314086-2ccf708d5aa7657170822059b9cd2951.jpg



Parting shot as the exhaust is fully fitted out the back on the passenger side. The use of fixtures everywhere to hold the tubing and the muffler canisters makes a BIG difference in accuracy... even a small deviation is hard to manage, and it starts to feel like the exhaust fitment changes EVERY time it is bolted back together.


PS Routing

PS Routing



Obviously, the driver's side is next... but having a good template already built should pull a lot of hours out of that one.


-G
 
Greg72 said:
The crossover pipe looks similar to Revision 1
Click to expand...
I like it already.
Greg72 said:
However, the idea is to mash the pedal for maybe 1/2 second, put a lot of heat in quickly to melt it, and then back it off before it blows through completely.
Click to expand...
Just further endorsing this method. I’ve also played with extremely low frequency pulse settings to accomplish the same.

Glad you’re getting to use that fine looking space.

David
 
David,

So far.... the Dynasty 200DX is extreme overkill for what I've done. Never use the cooler portion, and shut off all the pulse features for now. I'm sure when I finally start laying down miles of TIG welds the machine will really shine and it will be great to have all that adjustability.

Also turns out, getting a "mirror image" exhaust installed is not a slam dunk either. The bends, and lengths for each segment are the same but the rotations in X-Y-Z coordinate space is quite a struggle. Doing the first side was easier in some ways since I didn't have to match anything else.... just fit the space between the mufflers and avoid interferences. Trying to perfectly match what was already done took more than 3 hours last night and it's still not right.

Guess the 3 hours allocated tonight will tell the tale.... :)

#FORWARD


-G
 
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