'73 K5 - Stevoandaredk5's Build - [Pre-Summer Update - (4/5/11)]

[StevoandaRedK5]

try out the cut off wheel for the fender trimming.

I try to use it as often as possible, but I don't have access to an air compressor large enough to keep up with the cut off tool. I can cut for about a minute and a half before I'm out of air, usually only 20-30 seconds of full speed. Once again though, thanks for the tips and tricks!

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Stevo, did you just weld the 2x4 straight from the slider to the frame? And are you going to just put flat plate for the floor? I just want to know because I'm going to do the same to my 74. If I took the top off, I'm afraid the truck would split wide open like a taco.

I agree with you... don't go back to 33s if you have 35s for the same money. Colby's right... you shouldn't have to trim as much back as you have marked out. Even though it would probably mess up your timeline... it might want to drive it over some rocks or curbs to see the tires at full stuff and get a better idea for where you have to trim.

Cut as little as possible because those 35s look awesome under there without much clearance.

Since I don't have a full cage, I wanted to keep the vibration dampening(can they still do it after 35+ years?) of the stock rubber body mounts by not welding the sliders to the frame. I cut all of the rocker box off except for the innermost vertical panel, and that's what I welded the slider to. GM made this box from some fairly thick plate so its sturdy, especially when you box it up with some 1/8" wall tube I don't have any strength concerns with this configuration once it is fully welded up. I can jump up and down on it and I still have the rearmost support to cut and weld in. Here's a pic to demonstrate:

I'm planning on patching the floor with some 16ga sheetmetal, but I'll have to practice on some scrap so I don't blow holes through everything when I try to lay some stitches. I'm booksmart about welding, I just have never been able to practice.

I think I may put the donut back on tonight and flex it out to get a better idea of what I'll need to trim, I haven't before now because most of the floor was gone. Gives me an excuse to use 4lo and crawl, even if it is kinda poser lol

I do want to leave as much sheetmetal as possible, because it's what makes the look of these trucks, I'll leave the extreme cuts for the front/rear narrow and 42'sjk

 

[brockmub]

yeah... don't do 42s... I love the look of the biggest tires possible with no lift.

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

yeah... don't do 42s... I love the look of the biggest tires possible with no lift.

Yeah 42's are crazy, I've been seriously itching to go get the 35x12.50r15 KM2's for weeks now...but I gotta get this metal work done and then finish saving up the funds for tires. Always got either time or money, but never both

 

[colbystephens]

I try to use it as often as possible, but I don't have access to an air compressor large enough to keep up with the cut off tool. I can cut for about a minute and a half before I'm out of air, usually only 20-30 seconds of full speed. Once again though, thanks for the tips and tricks!

for what it's worth, a grinder at HF would run about $20. They don't last real long, and you have to go easy on them, but it would get you through this project pretty quick. I've burned up quite a few, tho, and I'm intending to have the next grinder I buy be either makita or dewalt.

Since I don't have a full cage, I wanted to keep the vibration dampening(can they still do it after 35+ years?) of the stock rubber body mounts by not welding the sliders to the frame.
....

I'm planning on patching the floor with some 16ga sheetmetal, but I'll have to practice on some scrap so I don't blow holes through everything when I try to lay some stitches.

it's good that you didn't weld to the frame. the combination of slider-to-frame and the flexy frame will lead to frame cracking if you'd done it that way. if you had a cage, your frame would be pretty stiff from the cage mounting points, making welding to the frame a non-issue.

the sheet metal will be tough. i'm no expert welder, so take my advice for what it is (ameture at best!), but you might have to do what i do - single tack, wait a second, single tack, wait a second and so on. leaves a decent looking faux-bead, and it works pretty well - but it's SLOW!

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

for what it's worth, a grinder at HF would run about $20. They don't last real long, and you have to go easy on them, but it would get you through this project pretty quick. I've burned up quite a few, tho, and I'm intending to have the next grinder I buy be either makita or dewalt.

The grinder I have is from HF, I got it for $10. Do they make cut off wheels for 4 1/2" grinders?

Better question: Would these 4 1/2" cut off wheels from HF work in the grinder I have?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45430

 

[ryoken]

heck, I run 7" cutoffs in my 4 1/2"...

 

[Chevy305]

Hey cool build. My question for you though is how do you plan on fixing that windshield frame rot? I have the same problem only not as bad and I was looking for possible solutions.

Oh and btw you need to strip off the red paint and go with that badass original metalic green color.

 

[colbystephens]

The grinder I have is from HF, I got it for $10. Do they make cut off wheels for 4 1/2" grinders?

Better question: Would these 4 1/2" cut off wheels from HF work in the grinder I have?

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=45430

i don't know what grinder you have or how those wheels will work, but I know you can get an electric grinder from HF and use the 4.5" wheels they sell for cheap by the 10 pack. I recommend the blue flap discs for cleaning stuff up.

heck, I run 7" cutoffs in my 4 1/2"...

that'll burn up an HF grinder motor in a heart beat... been there, done it a few times.

 

[ryoken]

I only do that chopping shafts out of boats in tight confines... otherwise I just run the 7"s on my full size 7" Makita grinder..

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Hey cool build. My question for you though is how do you plan on fixing that windshield frame rot? I have the same problem only not as bad and I was looking for possible solutions.

Oh and btw you need to strip off the red paint and go with that badass original metalic green color.

For the windshield frame rot I plan to either cut and bend a custom patch and weld it in, or I will find a donor to cut out a section to graft in.

As for the factory lime green...I would kill the red/black color combo I have been working towards all along...I'm tempted to do the green every time I look at it though lol. I'm going with something dirt simple, rustoleum safety red.

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Another Update, No Pics Yet...

Well working on the truck today was pretty crappy. All the guys who last week said "yeah dude I'll help you out", have decided to cop out on me all week, and today I was hoping to at least get one person to help. No luck, so I didn't get near as much done today as I wanted, which frustrates me because today was the last time I could work during the day for a while, and I need the truck back for school on Monday.

Anyways, I cut out the patch panels from a sheet of 16ga for the floors and got those in. They're not fully welded, but I did a solid tack every inch or so. I chopped the bottom off of the doors, and they will still need work to function correctly, but they close enough to drive it. The seats are back in until I do the POR-15 and Herc. I plan to bring it back to the house tonight and just work on it without having to rely on my buddy to open the garage whenever I need to work...I just won't have access to the welder.

I will say that it looks so much better with tube instead of the bondoed rockers and rusted out boxes. though i'm a little too aggravated to be excited...yay beef! haha I'll try to get some pics up tonight...

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Photo Update

Ok so I brought the truck home last night. There's still a whole heck of alot of stuff that needs to be done, but it's driveable. Here are the pics I promised:

I've still got a gap to fill between the floor and the slider, I didn't have time to put the doors back on to check what shape it would need to be.

And then tonight I was bored and tired of working on my truck...but since I don't have any large rocks laying around, I rolled over a chunk of a tree we just felled and flexed on it. Yeah I know it's pretty poser, but I never have an excuse to drop it in 4lo and "crawl". It was actually quite relaxing lol.

Hopefully I'll make some headway tomorrow afternoon. I'll probably work on the doors (both full and half) and possibly keep working on stuff for the sliders.

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Well I got the drivers side half door cut yesterday. Good tip: use a cutoff wheel and not a sawzall haha. the passenger side I cut a while back with the reciprocating saw and it was horrible. I cut the drivers side with a cutoff wheel in my grinder yesterday in about 1/4 of the time and it looks a whole lot cleaner. Now I just have to get rid of the rust on the passenger side one and trim them to fit with the sliders. Also need to brace them somehow and then skin the open tops.

I ran into another problem after the slider mod, it threw off the alignment on my doors, so bad that when I attempted to close the passenger side yesterday it hit squarely on the striker and knocked it out of the surrounding sheetmetal. So to get it back in shape to drive today, I drilled and tapped a hole in the square nut and screwed it to a piece of 16ga, which I then screwed to the metal around the hole left by the striker. I don't have a welder at the house or I would have welded it instead of using sheetmetal screws. It will eventually be welded in. However it latches and stays closed so that's good enough for right now. Once warm weather hits for good I'll pull off the full doors and either be running halfs or none at all.

I have the end caps and the last supports for the sliders cut and ready to go on when I have access to the welder again. I need to cut the fronts of the sliders to make room for the 35's, and finish trimming the fenders. I will probably end up using some 3/16 or 1/4 rod or tube to strengthen the edges after trimming. Once I get the pieces cut and fitted to finish out the floors I'll be ready to throw on some POR-15 and Herc. After that I'll start prepping the body and hardtop for paint.

I think tonight I'll most likely be doing some preventative maintainence on the new engine (change oil, tighten bolts, check other fluids, adjust idle, etc.) I'm trying to cut down on spendy stuff until I have the new tires in hand haha, it's hard with money burning a hole in my pocket.

 

[TREA18]

Nice work. Subscribed

 

[colbystephens]

the problem with your doors is you need to adjust how the hinges bolt up. they are such a huge pain in the ass to get lined up properly. If you're going to be swapping between doors/halfdoors/no doors you really should do the quick release hinge pins. i haven't done it yet, but i despise re-installing doors because it is such a huge annoying process to tighten, loosen, re-align, repeat 80bajillion times...

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Well I did the quick release hinge pin mod, but one of the hinges had to come off the door because the pin was binding up and not dropping out. I don't hate the adjustment process too much, but it sure does make me want half doors that are a heck of alot lighter to be moving around haha.

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Haven't Updated in a while....

Well, I haven't got a whole lot done because the weather has been screwing me over. I readjusted the doors so now they close and latch correctly, and mocked up a half door while I had the drivers side off. I did some other small stuff last night. Adjusted the hood so it will latch and not pop to the safety catch randomly, tightened battery cables so I get full voltage to the starter (have had to move them around a couple of times to get the truck to start), pulled the HF tach that didn't work, and cut/bent the last two patch panels for the floors.

Hopefully I can get the sliders and fenders mostly cut tonight and then finish welding everything up thursday night. I started to prep for the POR-15 and Herc last week, but the rain started back up and I never finished. So basically my deadline (Apr. 4th) is thrown out the window, and I've pushed it back to the end of May. Should have tires, paint, interior, half doors, etc. done by then to enjoy during the summer. Kinda frustrating but ya gotta take the good with the bad, and I'll get it done eventually.

 

[StevoandaRedK5]

Problems and Progress

Well, I have been trying to troubleshoot why the truck has lost all power to the cab. I drove it home fine last thursday night after work, but when i went to leave for school the next morning the truck was dead. I have power to the battery, starter, and junction block on the firewall, but not to the fusebox or anything else. Fusible link at the starter is good, did I lose a relay or fuse that I haven't spotted? maybe burned a wire? I'll get it figured out eventually...not too big of a deal, i just miss driving it, cuz it means i'm stuck driving the hot rod ford taurus. Any input is appreciated guys. I really need a diagram of what wires go where on a GM starter solenoid, if anyone has one laying around...

That is the problem, this is the progress:

I kinda wish I hadn't cut all the way around the passenger front, but what's done is done, and I won't regret the extra room. The rear didn't have to be cut, but I wanted to get rid of all the rust and bondo, and I like my sawzall and grinder too much, and once again, the extra room will most likely be a blessing.

I also swapped on the new (to me) hub on the drivers side to get rid of the one that was out of round and causing the wheel bearings to chatter and heat up at speed. So axles and fenders are ready to be the 35's new home. Something good did come out of working on the electrical, I dropped the starter to check connections and while it was down I bolted on the heat shield to help protect it from the headers.

Progress is so much slower than I'd hoped, but now that prom is over, I'll have a little while to work before it gets too close to graduation. Senior year can be quite hectic if you let it.

So...new To Do list:

1. Diagnose and Fix Electrical Gremlin(s)
2. Adjust Timing and Tune Carb
3. 35x12.50's BFG KM2's
4. Finish Welding and Metalwork (Sliders, Floors, Fenders, Full Doors)
5. Final Cut of Half Doors, Support & Skin
6. POR-15 and Herculiner
7. Bodywork (not a whole lot, just so paint will stick well)
8. Paint
9. Front and Rear Bumpers
10. Interior (Seats, Gauges, Dash, Lighting, Stereo, etc.)

If I get all this done by the time summer gets cranked up, life is good haha...actually life is good anyways.

 

[colbystephens]

try the fusible links by the junction block on the firewall.