bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Woah, those are different than expected.
Will be interesting to see how the exhaust routes through.
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)
Will be interesting to see how the exhaust routes through.
The next step "backward" was a tough one... it had been so obvious but there was no energy to deal with it especially knowing what an enormous time-suck it was going to be....
1st Gen Blazers are never "rust free" and one of the worst spots for rust (other than the front footwell areas) is in the windshield header. This was an area that could not just be ignored and it took a long time to put the plan in place and to get mentally ready to tackle it.
All of the interior cavities have rust after 50+ years. That includes the insides of the A-pillar posts, across the windshield header itself and in the cowl area where the rainwater, leaves and other debris all collect. Step 1 was removing the outer cowl to gain better access for de-rusting as well as to get a clearer view of hidden damage.
Really, there is no good way to deal with rust like this with this section mounted to the truck, but the build is actually somewhat "modular" at this point... the rear bedfloor it it's own section, the rockers are part of the rockslider area and are attached at multiple points to the rollcage. So the A-pillar / Firewall section is kind of it's own freestanding unit that can be unbolted and lifted off..... so that's what happened.
First step was just dealing with the tedious areas where factory paint was still visible. No real techincal trouble to remove it.... just hours and hours of tedious Roloc disc work.
To gain access to interior spaces in the lower A-pillar and the back of the hinge mounts, the spotwelds were all drilled out of the metal that close-off those areas.
Eventually, the entire assembly was free of paint, and superficial rust and was looking pretty good...
The only thing left to do was the invisible and hidden areas. It was going to be a lot tougher but the plan was to build a homemade dip tank and circulate rust dissolving solution into the windshield header first.... then do each of the A-Pillar sections seperately. In this way, the tank would not have to be enormously large and the process would be more manageable.
The "tank" was really nothing more than a simple plywood and 2x4 structure with some thick plastic sheeting to contain the fluid.... then a couple of aquarium pumps to pull fluid up and flush it down the A-pillars on either side.
Here it is almost ready for action....
The process actually went pretty smoothly. A full gallon of Rust911 was mixed with about 15 gallons of water to completely fill the tub area... and the pumps circulated the fluid for several hours. The results were impresssive! After the first hour, the clear liquid started getting darker and more discolored as the rust began to dissolve away... revealing nice clean factory metal again.
This image is the A-pillar cleaning process underway.
After several days of dipping, rinsing and rotating the windshield frame to get all parts derusted.... it was finally 100% RUST FREE!!
But since rust never sleeps, there was one final step that needed to be done to truly have the peace of mind that the job was taken to the limits of "Might As Well".....
A long remote sprayer was used to apply several coats of Zinc Chromate (aka: Ryoken Green) to the interior cavities of the upper windshield header and A-Pillars. Amazon.com sells a High-Def Endoscope that links to your cellphone with an app..... and let's you take clear images of cavities and impossible see areas like this. This was used to insure that perfect coverage was achieved internally, and that the metal would be good for at least another 50 years!!!
Finally it was time to drop the firewall / windshield back in position on the project..... knowing that there were no remaining IOUs to deal with. Now all future fabrication of the firewall, footwell and floor areas could be built on this perfect new structure.
Then.... it was time for fine-tuning and smaller details to complete this part of the project. One area was to resolve the gaps where the factory had used seam sealer to cover up the joints of the windshield header metal.... Silicon-Bronze was TIG'ed into a few of these areas with good results. It's relatively easy to work with and flows into the small crevices well.... and being able to avoid putting seam sealers in these areas felt like a better solution too.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Another "IOU" from way back in 2009 was the proper trimming-out of the upper A-pillar areas. When the rollcage was first installed, the design put the A-pillar cage bars REALLY close to the factory sheetmetal.... basically there is a perfect 1/2" gap as the tube runs down the inside of the A-pillar and into the dash. The tradeoff for this nice precise fit, is that the upper radius of the rollcage hits the factory windshield corners and the metal in these areas had to be cut-away to let the cage fit properly.
Here is an old shot (pre-rust removal process) showing the amount of material that was originally removed to provide the necessary rollcage clearance.
It was an ugly hack.... but with all of the other large build initiatives going on over the years, this one was never important enough to resolve. It only took 13 years to get back to it, but the results speak for themselves.
A curved shape was fitted to match the profile of the rollcage tubing and give a nice consistent clearance all around. This prevents rubbing and sqeaking and keeps the paint from being chaffed-off later on. A large 1/2" nut was also welded to the cap plate to allow for a secure rubber-damped mounting point between the windshield and cage.
Everything was closed up, it was smoothed and any final defects and pinholes were addressed.
The final detail was a nice stainless fastener with two hard rubber washers sandwiching a cage tab to lock the assemblies together. This allows the cage to be completely removable, but also resolves one of the common issues on caged 1st Gens, Without a brace in this area the windshield is simply too flexible and will twist and bang against the cage when driving around. It's an annoying issue that finally got resolved properly...
Enjoy your 4th of July everyone.
-G
1st Gen Blazers are never "rust free" and one of the worst spots for rust (other than the front footwell areas) is in the windshield header. This was an area that could not just be ignored and it took a long time to put the plan in place and to get mentally ready to tackle it.
All of the interior cavities have rust after 50+ years. That includes the insides of the A-pillar posts, across the windshield header itself and in the cowl area where the rainwater, leaves and other debris all collect. Step 1 was removing the outer cowl to gain better access for de-rusting as well as to get a clearer view of hidden damage.
Really, there is no good way to deal with rust like this with this section mounted to the truck, but the build is actually somewhat "modular" at this point... the rear bedfloor it it's own section, the rockers are part of the rockslider area and are attached at multiple points to the rollcage. So the A-pillar / Firewall section is kind of it's own freestanding unit that can be unbolted and lifted off..... so that's what happened.
First step was just dealing with the tedious areas where factory paint was still visible. No real techincal trouble to remove it.... just hours and hours of tedious Roloc disc work.
To gain access to interior spaces in the lower A-pillar and the back of the hinge mounts, the spotwelds were all drilled out of the metal that close-off those areas.
Eventually, the entire assembly was free of paint, and superficial rust and was looking pretty good...
The only thing left to do was the invisible and hidden areas. It was going to be a lot tougher but the plan was to build a homemade dip tank and circulate rust dissolving solution into the windshield header first.... then do each of the A-Pillar sections seperately. In this way, the tank would not have to be enormously large and the process would be more manageable.
The "tank" was really nothing more than a simple plywood and 2x4 structure with some thick plastic sheeting to contain the fluid.... then a couple of aquarium pumps to pull fluid up and flush it down the A-pillars on either side.
Here it is almost ready for action....
The process actually went pretty smoothly. A full gallon of Rust911 was mixed with about 15 gallons of water to completely fill the tub area... and the pumps circulated the fluid for several hours. The results were impresssive! After the first hour, the clear liquid started getting darker and more discolored as the rust began to dissolve away... revealing nice clean factory metal again.
This image is the A-pillar cleaning process underway.
After several days of dipping, rinsing and rotating the windshield frame to get all parts derusted.... it was finally 100% RUST FREE!!
But since rust never sleeps, there was one final step that needed to be done to truly have the peace of mind that the job was taken to the limits of "Might As Well".....
A long remote sprayer was used to apply several coats of Zinc Chromate (aka: Ryoken Green) to the interior cavities of the upper windshield header and A-Pillars. Amazon.com sells a High-Def Endoscope that links to your cellphone with an app..... and let's you take clear images of cavities and impossible see areas like this. This was used to insure that perfect coverage was achieved internally, and that the metal would be good for at least another 50 years!!!
Finally it was time to drop the firewall / windshield back in position on the project..... knowing that there were no remaining IOUs to deal with. Now all future fabrication of the firewall, footwell and floor areas could be built on this perfect new structure.
Then.... it was time for fine-tuning and smaller details to complete this part of the project. One area was to resolve the gaps where the factory had used seam sealer to cover up the joints of the windshield header metal.... Silicon-Bronze was TIG'ed into a few of these areas with good results. It's relatively easy to work with and flows into the small crevices well.... and being able to avoid putting seam sealers in these areas felt like a better solution too.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Another "IOU" from way back in 2009 was the proper trimming-out of the upper A-pillar areas. When the rollcage was first installed, the design put the A-pillar cage bars REALLY close to the factory sheetmetal.... basically there is a perfect 1/2" gap as the tube runs down the inside of the A-pillar and into the dash. The tradeoff for this nice precise fit, is that the upper radius of the rollcage hits the factory windshield corners and the metal in these areas had to be cut-away to let the cage fit properly.
Here is an old shot (pre-rust removal process) showing the amount of material that was originally removed to provide the necessary rollcage clearance.
It was an ugly hack.... but with all of the other large build initiatives going on over the years, this one was never important enough to resolve. It only took 13 years to get back to it, but the results speak for themselves.
A curved shape was fitted to match the profile of the rollcage tubing and give a nice consistent clearance all around. This prevents rubbing and sqeaking and keeps the paint from being chaffed-off later on. A large 1/2" nut was also welded to the cap plate to allow for a secure rubber-damped mounting point between the windshield and cage.
Everything was closed up, it was smoothed and any final defects and pinholes were addressed.
The final detail was a nice stainless fastener with two hard rubber washers sandwiching a cage tab to lock the assemblies together. This allows the cage to be completely removable, but also resolves one of the common issues on caged 1st Gens, Without a brace in this area the windshield is simply too flexible and will twist and bang against the cage when driving around. It's an annoying issue that finally got resolved properly...
Enjoy your 4th of July everyone.
-G
Last edited:
Not "through" Brian.... hope that was not confusing. The headers still go around those structures and stay really tight to the frame. The design just puts a stronger dogleg-type clearance on the outsidle edge than the original straight DOM tube did.
Wow. Amazing attention to detail to go after the internal rust in the windshield frame.
Great update. Thanks for sharing.
Great update. Thanks for sharing.
A very nice update to say the least. Impressive of the amount of detail you are still going through years and years later.
well done sir.... 
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
Ah, I get it now.
With the firewall and cowl removed it looks good enough to run it as-is! A little more tubing and voila!
WORKSHOP REFINEMENTS....
If you go to Home Depot regularly, maybe you've seen the HUSKY brand rolling workbenches. They are pretty slick.... nice casters, crank-adjustable working height and a couple of handy drawers under a solid maple work surface. The price is really good too... the 46" wide version is less than $300 and offered a compelling reason to retire / repurpose my old "temporary" steel-top workbench that was built more than 10 years ago. With it's rusty legs and lack of bracing, it was a poor match to the 306 pound plate steel top welded to it.
The delivery of the new bench was actually a nice match to the white cabitnetry already in the shop and brightened up the look of the space even more.
The beauty of this bench is that with a 46" width it was slightly undersized for width compared to my 48" steel worktop... and about 6" undersized for the depth. This meant that by swapping over the old steel top, it would still have good perimeter overhangs for clamping things down with C-clamps or whatever was needed.
Step 1 was relocating the 3-foot power strip from the original bench (this is a great trick, if you don't already have a setup like this it is worth the effort. Super convenient for drills, grinders, etc.)
It only took a few minutes to cut the welds off the old workbench and by setting the height of the new bench correctly, it was easy to just slide the top across to the new bench...
The magbase drill took care of the mounting holes, and 24 threaded holes allowed the top to be secured with bolts from underneath. It seemed like a waste to throw away the old workbench legs since they would be fine for a lighter-duty function.... so they were narrowed substantially to create a multi-mount for the Hypertherm plasmacutter and the Imperial Welding metal shaper.
Some cleverly cut rectangle tube became nice holders for the cord management.
After a few coats of Steel-It.... the results looked nice.
Another successful project that puts workshop tools on wheels. That is proving to always be a useful goal when working in a small shop.
-G
If you go to Home Depot regularly, maybe you've seen the HUSKY brand rolling workbenches. They are pretty slick.... nice casters, crank-adjustable working height and a couple of handy drawers under a solid maple work surface. The price is really good too... the 46" wide version is less than $300 and offered a compelling reason to retire / repurpose my old "temporary" steel-top workbench that was built more than 10 years ago. With it's rusty legs and lack of bracing, it was a poor match to the 306 pound plate steel top welded to it.
The delivery of the new bench was actually a nice match to the white cabitnetry already in the shop and brightened up the look of the space even more.
The beauty of this bench is that with a 46" width it was slightly undersized for width compared to my 48" steel worktop... and about 6" undersized for the depth. This meant that by swapping over the old steel top, it would still have good perimeter overhangs for clamping things down with C-clamps or whatever was needed.
Step 1 was relocating the 3-foot power strip from the original bench (this is a great trick, if you don't already have a setup like this it is worth the effort. Super convenient for drills, grinders, etc.)
It only took a few minutes to cut the welds off the old workbench and by setting the height of the new bench correctly, it was easy to just slide the top across to the new bench...
The magbase drill took care of the mounting holes, and 24 threaded holes allowed the top to be secured with bolts from underneath. It seemed like a waste to throw away the old workbench legs since they would be fine for a lighter-duty function.... so they were narrowed substantially to create a multi-mount for the Hypertherm plasmacutter and the Imperial Welding metal shaper.
Some cleverly cut rectangle tube became nice holders for the cord management.
After a few coats of Steel-It.... the results looked nice.
Another successful project that puts workshop tools on wheels. That is proving to always be a useful goal when working in a small shop.
-G
Last edited:
MIGHT AS WELL: 2022 RENDERING...
After being referred to Chad Canning over at Rendered Rides on Instagram, a brief discussion and collaboration began.
Over the course of a few days, Chad put together some nicely detailed renderings of the MAW K5 showing how it would look in final color (Hugger Orange) as well as some of the more important design elements, like the portal axles and enlarged and flared fenders. We even played around with a 67-68 hood with a small cowl just to see if that would add a bit of extra muscularity and balance-out the large tires and flares. A white interior with a Highlander-type seat insert was incorporated.
The factory CST woodgrain trim was added along with the tailgate banding... and the white rollcage added a really nice old-school vibe to the truck as well.
Really quite blown away by the quality of the renderings themselves, especially things like reflective surfaces and all of the small K5-specific details that were all visible on these images.
-G
After being referred to Chad Canning over at Rendered Rides on Instagram, a brief discussion and collaboration began.
Over the course of a few days, Chad put together some nicely detailed renderings of the MAW K5 showing how it would look in final color (Hugger Orange) as well as some of the more important design elements, like the portal axles and enlarged and flared fenders. We even played around with a 67-68 hood with a small cowl just to see if that would add a bit of extra muscularity and balance-out the large tires and flares. A white interior with a Highlander-type seat insert was incorporated.
The factory CST woodgrain trim was added along with the tailgate banding... and the white rollcage added a really nice old-school vibe to the truck as well.
Really quite blown away by the quality of the renderings themselves, especially things like reflective surfaces and all of the small K5-specific details that were all visible on these images.
-G
Boy if that don’t light a fire to get build juices flowing you might be a zombie.
Great rendering.
Great rendering.
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2016
- Posts
- 244
- Reaction score
- 166
Bet you can't wait to get that thing in the mud.
That was a worth the wait update!
Your rust remedy is epic along with everything else.
Your rust remedy is epic along with everything else.
I’m just here for the silicon bronze action!
Really nice work all around dude. I do apppreciate the attention paid to eliminating the hidden rust.
David
Really nice work all around dude. I do apppreciate the attention paid to eliminating the hidden rust.
David
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
And somehow I missed this part the first time reading through. Looks really nice. Curious why the silicone bronze rather that just generic filler?The next step "backward" was a tough one... it had been so obvious but there was no energy to deal with it especially knowing what an enormous time-suck it was going to be....
1st Gen Blazers are never "rust free" and one of the worst spots for rust (other than the front footwell areas) is in the windshield header. This was an area that could not just be ignored and it took a long time to put the plan in place and to get mentally ready to tackle it.
All of the interior cavities have rust after 50+ years. That includes the insides of the A-pillar posts, across the windshield header itself and in the cowl area where the rainwater, leaves and other debris all collect. Step 1 was removing the outer cowl to gain better access for de-rusting as well as to get a clearer view of hidden damage.
View attachment 417886
Really, there is no good way to deal with rust like this with this section mounted to the truck, but the build is actually somewhat "modular" at this point... the rear bedfloor it it's own section, the rockers are part of the rockslider area and are attached at multiple points to the rollcage. So the A-pillar / Firewall section is kind of it's own freestanding unit that can be unbolted and lifted off..... so that's what happened.
View attachment 417897
First step was just dealing with the tedious areas where factory paint was still visible. No real techincal trouble to remove it.... just hours and hours of tedious Roloc disc work.
View attachment 417898
To gain access to interior spaces in the lower A-pillar and the back of the hinge mounts, the spotwelds were all drilled out of the metal that close-off those areas.
View attachment 417899
Eventually, the entire assembly was free of paint, and superficial rust and was looking pretty good... View attachment 417900
The only thing left to do was the invisible and hidden areas. It was going to be a lot tougher but the plan was to build a homemade dip tank and circulate rust dissolving solution into the windshield header first.... then do each of the A-Pillar sections seperately. In this way, the tank would not have to be enormously large and the process would be more manageable.
The "tank" was really nothing more than a simple plywood and 2x4 structure with some thick plastic sheeting to contain the fluid.... then a couple of aquarium pumps to pull fluid up and flush it down the A-pillars on either side.
View attachment 417901
Here it is almost ready for action....
View attachment 417902
The process actually went pretty smoothly. A full gallon of Rust911 was mixed with about 15 gallons of water to completely fill the tub area... and the pumps circulated the fluid for several hours. The results were impresssive! After the first hour, the clear liquid started getting darker and more discolored as the rust began to dissolve away... revealing nice clean factory metal again.
This image is the A-pillar cleaning process underway.
View attachment 417904
After several days of dipping, rinsing and rotating the windshield frame to get all parts derusted.... it was finally 100% RUST FREE!!
But since rust never sleeps, there was one final step that needed to be done to truly have the peace of mind that the job was taken to the limits of "Might As Well".....
A long remote sprayer was used to apply several coats of Zinc Chromate (aka: Ryoken Green) to the interior cavities of the upper windshield header and A-Pillars. Amazon.com sells a High-Def Endoscope that links to your cellphone with an app..... and let's you take clear images of cavities and impossible see areas like this. This was used to insure that perfect coverage was achieved internally, and that the metal would be good for at least another 50 years!!!
View attachment 417905
Finally it was time to drop the firewall / windshield back in position on the project..... knowing that there were no remaining IOUs to deal with. Now all future fabrication of the firewall, footwell and floor areas could be built on this perfect new structure.
View attachment 417906
Then.... it was time for fine-tuning and smaller details to complete this part of the project. One area was to resolve the gaps where the factory had used seam sealer to cover up the joints of the windshield header metal.... Silicon-Bronze was TIG'ed into a few of these areas with good results. It's relatively easy to work with and flows into the small crevices well.... and being able to avoid putting seam sealers in these areas felt like a better solution too.
BEFORE:
View attachment 417908
AFTER:
View attachment 417909
Another "IOU" from way back in 2009 was the proper trimming-out of the upper A-pillar areas. When the rollcage was first installed, the design put the A-pillar cage bars REALLY close to the factory sheetmetal.... basically there is a perfect 1/2" gap as the tube runs down the inside of the A-pillar and into the dash. The tradeoff for this nice precise fit, is that the upper radius of the rollcage hits the factory windshield corners and the metal in these areas had to be cut-away to let the cage fit properly.
Here is an old shot (pre-rust removal process) showing the amount of material that was originally removed to provide the necessary rollcage clearance.
View attachment 417913
It was an ugly hack.... but with all of the other large build initiatives going on over the years, this one was never important enough to resolve. It only took 13 years to get back to it, but the results speak for themselves.
A curved shape was fitted to match the profile of the rollcage tubing and give a nice consistent clearance all around. This prevents rubbing and sqeaking and keeps the paint from being chaffed-off later on. A large 1/2" nut was also welded to the cap plate to allow for a secure rubber-damped mounting point between the windshield and cage.
View attachment 417915
Everything was closed up, it was smoothed and any final defects and pinholes were addressed.
View attachment 417916
The final detail was a nice stainless fastener with two hard rubber washers sandwiching a cage tab to lock the assemblies together. This allows the cage to be completely removable, but also resolves one of the common issues on caged 1st Gens, Without a brace in this area the windshield is simply too flexible and will twist and bang against the cage when driving around. It's an annoying issue that finally got resolved properly...
View attachment 417917
Enjoy your 4th of July everyone.
-G
That's because you showed up so fast and posted your 1st reply before the new posts were all completed and uploaded!!
Silicon Bronze has a much lower melting point so you can use it to fill areas without introducing as much heat into the base metal. It's almost like a soldering process the way it melts and "flows" but it still has really high strength. A lot of Trophy Trucks are completely welded with silicon-bronze for the attachment of interior panels to the cagework (dash, center console, floors, firewall, rear bulkhead, etc).
-G
bp71k5
3/4 ton status
What can I say, I was happy to see such a big update. I’m now understanding this was more than just a 3 day weekend worth of work.That's because you showed up so fast and posted your 1st reply before the new posts were all completed and uploaded!!
Silicon Bronze has a much lower melting point so you can use it to fill areas without introducing as much heat into the base metal. It's almost like a soldering process the way it melts and "flows" but it still has really high strength. A lot of Trophy Trucks are completely welded with silicon-bronze for the attachment of interior panels to the cagework (dash, center console, floors, firewall, rear bulkhead, etc).
-G
That's because you showed up so fast and posted your 1st reply before the new posts were all completed and uploaded!!
Silicon Bronze has a much lower melting point so you can use it to fill areas without introducing as much heat into the base metal. It's almost like a soldering process the way it melts and "flows" but it still has really high strength. A lot of Trophy Trucks are completely welded with silicon-bronze for the attachment of interior panels to the cagework (dash, center console, floors, firewall, rear bulkhead, etc).
-G
Morgan Clarke's silicon bronze stuff is pure art.....
Impressive as always!
