'72 K5 Major patch panel replacing

[texask5mike]

Guys, New here so I have not quite figured out the site but once I do I will get some pics put in of the build. I bought this K5 a year or so ago and had to wait for the title to be located so no one could come take it from me after I fixed it up. I started by taking the thing apart and having some metal rehab guys strip the body for me so I could see what was left and there was not much.
So far I have a garage full of body parts that we hope to start putting on next week. And yes probably could have found a better truck to start with but who wants to see another one of these end up in the scrap heap. Here is what I have so far.
Inner Cowl Panel
Cab Front and Rear supports
Replacement Cab floor-both sides
Rear wheel housings - both sides
Bed patch panels
Inner Rocker panels both sides
Outer Rocker panels both sides
New Rocker Boxes for both sides
End caps for rocker boxes
Rocker box reinforcements
Front Qtr Panel repairs panels-both sides
Wheel arch repair panels-inner and outer-both sides
Rear pillar repair
Doors
Hood
Now this is where my request for help comes from. I have been told that the only way I can fix the extremely rusted out upper windshield brace is to have it made at a sheet metal shop or find a donor truck. Any body have any suggestions or maybe even a old thread related to this? I do not plan on ever running it with the factory top so it is more of a cosmetic thing and also the fact that I do not want the windshield to fall in on me.

 

[ashman]

can't wait to see it once you put the build thread up. always room for another 1st gen build.

as far as the windshield frame goes, I've never seen anyone try and build one from scratch. everyone I know got one from a donor.

 

[Greg72]

Search for threads by VTBlazer and Sponsoredbydad..... they have both successfully grafted-in an upper windshield frame.

You've got a huge project ahead of you. I hope you have a lot of patience and are willing to do a LOT of reading. The sheetmetal you bought will not be a perfect fit, and you need to be extremely careful how aggressively you cut out the old rust or you'll end up with a sagging mess of a project.

There's plenty of help on this site. Check out the 1st Gen forum for some really "graphic" photos of what you are about to deal with.... take your time and try to enjoy the entire process. Being in a rush to finish everything as quickly as possible is a great way to ruin not only the truck, but all of those expensive patch panels you bought!


-G

 

[texask5mike]

thanks for the info. Trust me I am in no hurry what so ever on this one. This is the first time I have even thought about doing any body work. I rebuilt my '67 Camaro but farmed all the paint and body out. I now have a larger garage to work out of so I have a guy that is going to come out and help me on this one and he is very familiar with the "Chinese pretty close to factory" stampings.
Once I get the body done I will start asking and searching for ideas on the suspension set up.
thanks again for the help and I guess I need to become a member to post pictures of the build so I will probably do that tonight when I am at home and not on the clock...

 

[NorCal69]

I need to become a member to post pictures of the build so I will probably do that tonight when I am at home and not on the clock...

Lol, that was fast on the membership..

Yep, check out the 1st gen section. Z did a WS replacement too.

Lots of good info in there.

 

[texask5mike]

Went ahead and signed up so I could post pics. Here is what I started with. I will work tonight to figure out how to get all of the tear down pics up-loaded. It is amazing what four coats of different color paint and yes it was four (yellow,blue,orange,black) and a lot of bondo can cover up.

 

[magik235]

In Wisconsin we would call that pristine.

 

[texask5mike]

Pristine is not what came to mind when I was trying to knock off the side steps and I ended up having enough rust and metal fall off to fill up a red solo cup!! And yes I did finish with the contents of the cup before filling it with the remains of my truck!

 

[NorCal69]

uuhhhmmm, Nice shop..

 

[Deuling]

Good lookin rig.


Love me some rust repair threads. Makes me all warm and fuzzy knowing not everyone just scraps a rig cuz it's a lol rusty

 

[89yimmiJ]

What did you think of the Metal Rehab process? What did they charge? I had my '63 Nova done there 6(?) months back or so and haven't totally decided on whether it was worth or not vs. using stripper and/ or sand/ or shell blasting. The body shop doing my Nova is sand blasting the Metal Rehab coating off which goes quickly but they are still having to blast which is what I was trying to avoid by spending roughly $2k on dipping. I'd like to do my K5 next year but not sure I want to go through the whole expense of a rotisserie paint job again.

 

[texask5mike]

I believe it was around 1200.00 and it seemed to be OK even though that was almost as much as I paid for the truck. I never would have done it if I had known exactly how much I was going to end up cutting off. I talked to three different blast guys and they were going to be that or even higher but that may becuase I really did not know anyone in that market. I will say this, if done again I will remove my own vin tag. They removed it when I dropped the truck off and it appeared that instead of just drilling out the rivets they took a grinder to it and the grinder won! I asked why they had to remove it and they said that their chemicals would damage it.

 

[89yimmiJ]

Yeah, I had already removed my vin tag but they did drill a hole in my roof to let air escape when they submerged it which kind of irked me. $1200 isn't too bad. I had them do my doors and fenders as well which added a lot to the price. Good luck and if you need any help, I'm on the north side of FW.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Welcome to the nut house!

Nice shop, nice rig man You have a much more solid platform than I started with, so you'll do fine. Make sure you leave the hardtop on and brace the door openings when you do that rockers, floors and rocker boxes. Everything else is pretty easy. Check out my build for windshield frame replacement. Looking forward to watching this thing come together

 

[chulisohombre]

Welcome to the site and congrats on saving another first gen. As was said take your time and measure a lot before you cutbout any old panels to replace them. Make sure you make a brace to go between the door openings before cutting out the rockers. That way the a pillar won't sag before you weld in new pieces. Good luck on the windshield. If you aren't puttingbthevtop back on, I don't see why you can't just weld in good sheet metal. Where the winshield sits is usually the problem though. I don't think they make a patch panel for that yet. Most people find a donor truck that is being patted out. Those are also becoming few and far between these days. Good luck and ill be watching for updates as I too have a 72.

 

[texask5mike]

update

Well we have finally been able to get some more tear down done. Working on getting the frame cleaned up so I can set the body back on before we start all the repairs to it. Read enough on here to know that it should help me keep everything squared up. Garage is packed with parts at this point. Too lazy to move my other toy plus it was cold the day we were working and taking pictures. At least cold by Texas standards! Didnt want to set off any Northern members that get to enjoy that crap all the time!