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74 K5 Clifford's Budget Rebuild

O

Outlawz916

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Joined
Nov 22, 2015
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Hello all ck5ers. I've been lurking for a few months now and figured I'd introduce myself and contribute to the build threads. Im stationed in yuma, AZ which led me to the discovery of a fairly rust free 74 k5. I'm from California so when the chance came to get a pre smog blazer I jumped on the opportunity. Here is a pic of the craigslist ad

 
As you can see in the ad the truck came with no motor, trans or tcase. Came with a nice rollcage and dash built by a local fab shop. Previous owner installed a rough country 6 inch lift sometime in the past with lift blocks in the rear.Here are some pics of when I got home


 
As you can see the top didn't fit with the rollcage. Toyed with the idea of selling the top or trying to cut it to fit. Decided to try to trim it to fit, should have sold it.. Oh well let's get back to the build. So the original plan was to strip it and wait to build it when I moved back home and had a garage to build it in, but I obviously didn't follow through with that plan. My first weekend alone with the k5





 
The cage appeared to only interfere with the cage at the top of the doors so I started trimming as little as possible to get it to fit. Once I finished notching the top out my main hoop was contacting the top of the glass on the shell.
 
My goal is to end up with a reliable/capable offroad that I can daily drive if have to (I can't help but tear into all my vehicles). I'm currently relying on my motorcycle and my wife's car for transportation. I've done a lot to the blazer these past few months and I'll be posting more updates throughout the week. Final product is looking like 468 bbc, th400/np205, dana 70 rear end, 6-7 inches of lift and military 37's and I would like to tie in the roll cage to the frame at some point. Still undecided if I'm going to stay with the 10 bolt front axle. Really just depends on the availability of a dana 60
 
So after I had torn apart the blazer I figured I should put it back together the right way to avoid multiple tear downs and rebuilding. It can become a vicious cycle. I ordered a poly body mount set and 1 inch aluminum pucks from ORD to start things off. While I waited for parts to come, I got the k5 ready
 
I put 4x4's inbetween the frame and the body so I could sand and paint the frame and belly of the beast, I used rustoleum rusty metal primer on the bottom of Clifford and rustoleum hammered black on the frame. My parts were taking a bit long to get to me because I ordered right before thanksgiving, so I figured I might as well paint it while I waited
 
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I sanded the body with scotch blue pads and shot some rustoleum sunrise red mixed 50/50 with acetone. I didn't want to buy a air compressor because that would be one more thing I have to move when I get out of the marine corps so I shot it with an ELECTRIC paint gun from HARBOR FREIGHT. hahaha it worked pretty well. Keep in mind I didn't bother doing any body work besides removing the little rust that I had to. I painted it this way because I'm on a budget and it's an offroad rig. Also I decided to move onto base housing and didn't want a big turd on wheels on base. They can be kinda picky about old multi-color vehicles
 
And that wraps up what I did during the month of November, hope you enjoyed. Ill post what I accomplished during December tomorrow!
 
Yeah I did think about chopping the legs an inch or two shorter but then I would have lost head clearance. I don't want to crack my head open if the rollcage ever gets put to use. Also the dash would have been lowered and would need to be notched for the steering column. All in all it was easier to say screw it and go soft top
 
Nice project, enjoy it.
Looks like a solid foundation. Clean up your cab mounts and cab supports while you there to prevent future problems. Throw in new cab mount rubber too I'd budget allows before you line up your doors and fenders.
Think I would have modified the cage also like 82355 said that way you could run a softtopper if you choose. You can also make a half top out of it or cut the sides off and use the roll bar to support it for a full coverage over the rear seat if u use it.

The pic with the fresh paint on the body is definitely sexy. I have a soft spot for the full verts.
 
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