I bet that place in Canada can make some or the guy on Facebook, New Boyz Square Body Rescue, probably has one.
CK5
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'88 K5 - Running Down A Dream
- Thread starter jimmyleetn
- Start date
Ground up restoration of my '88 K5. The plan is to go through every inch of the truck and fix or replace pretty much everything that needs it. This will also be a full vert conversion and I plan to make the vehicle look more like a 73-75 than 88.
Maybe you know something I don’t but I’m confused why you need the shark fin part? My 88 windows have those and the set of windows in my 73-75 doors don’t. The fin part helps it ride in the channel yes?
Never mind, I’m probably getting my glass mixed up since I have 4 total and one is in the door. it makes sense that the full verts need the shark fins. One of my 73-75 doors glass doesn’t have the fin but they’re old doors who knows where the glass came from.
Just for clarity's sake, 73 to 75 had the shark's fin. It was to give the glass a little more rigidity since it closed into the top. Also in case somebody rolled the window up a little bit when the top was off. You'll find that the first gen Blazers/Jimmys also had the shark's fin.
Gotcha, I figured that’s what it was for, probably one of those “not necessary but ideal to have” parts. I might have to fab one up since I only have one with the fin. Do they still make the fin ones? Didn’t see any after a quick search online.
They do not make the fins. That's why I had to restore these. They are extremely hard to find. They're not necessary but I thought it'd be kind of nice to have the peace of mind. I'd be pretty bitter if something happened and my new glass shattered.
So I know I said I wasn't going to cut and weld on the tail pan but I needed to know if the corners were bad. Turns out they were just bad enough I will have to patch them. I do think the rest of the pan is good. With the tank out I can really get in there and look in the middle. Most likely the corners are bad because that's where all the mud/road grit/water from the tires would go. Fortunately, the bed sections are soaking in rust remover overnight and they're going to be salvageable so I don't have to buy the patch panel that hear doesn't match the bed ribs. I did have to order some 13 gauge metal to patch the tail pan so I'm waiting on that. All that was the first half of the day, from there things really escalated quickly. I wound up pulling ALL the interior wiring, the light harness, bulk head, taillight, and tailgate wiring. Much of it had been gone through before by one of the many doofuses from the past. I plan on ditching the TBI for a Sniper or one of the other fuel injected setups and I also plan on running Painless, American Autowire, or one of the other brands for wiring. Nonetheless, I labeled as much I could.
I just had to get a picture of all this wiring. Plus some of its for sale in the classified section. I've never actually seen it all spread out like this. The engine bay stuff is still in the engine bay so it isn't all the way down but this is a big step. At one point about half of this stuff fell on me while I was trying to pull a connector. I felt like Indiana Jones in a pit of snakes
I went all in the tail pan. My thoughts are why not go ahead and curtail one the most notorious spots for rusting on these trucks while I'm where I can do it easily. So here we are. I cut the rest out. Tail pan is beautiful other than those two bad spots. My metal to make the patch should come in Tuesday so maybe I can get this knocked out before school starts in a week and a half. Also, shout out to the stuff I bought on eBay. It's been sitting in that tote for exactly 1 year and it's full of mold. Still knocked all the rust off those two pieces of the bed pan I put in there. Stuff is worth every dollar. I'm going to paint everything with two coats of rust encapsulator. I thought about epoxying it too, but that may be overkill. I know I'm not going to go offroading in it so I mean how much moisture and dirt is going to be back there if I'm always on the street.
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I spent some time this morning pulling the parking brake. Believe or not I've been holding out on it because I've never messed with one before and nothing much online about it. Then I remembered, I have the service manual. Anyways so I'm drowning in used and new parts. Probably gonna take a day to organize and put everything away. Started on the tailpan this evening. Making progress.
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One more day and the tailpan will be back together.
I was cooking along. I wasn't going to get the rear entire bed section in because I didn't think about letting paint dry on the tailpan, but I was going to get the two corners done and then disaster struck. I ran out of welding wire. I'm also about out of welding gas. This is unfortunate because I won't be able to work on it this weekend and I have to go back to work Monday. I guess I can slip over to Airgas at least get all the stuff. The fortunate thing too is that my schedule is extremely light on Fridays which means I'll be able to work on it for a pretty good while those days.
I'm back up and running again. Having to go back to work has made things a little more interesting, but I was able to get enough time in to get the bed welded back in at least for the moment. I got to do a small patch for where the filler neck goes. I have an old panel for the front of the bed and I'm just going to shape it and make it work. Also found three cracks around the passenger rear most body mounting bolt. I was surprised by how crusty that bolt was. This truck hasn't been all that ate up with rust, guess that spot held a lot of dirt.
So my wife and daughter are out of town and let's just say things got a little out of hand. I could not find anyone with clear glass for the top that was even remotely close. So I had an epiphany about a week ago that I should just buy another top. I know it's a dumb idea, but it was actually cheaper than anyone that tried to sell me just the glass. So I loaded up my little HF trailer, the dog, and I drove to St Louis and back, about 5 hours each direction, and now I'm the proud owner of another top and some really good clear glass. I haven't cleaned it yet but I have looked over pretty good. I'd probably give it an A- or B+. Nothing that can't be polished out of it. The top is also in phenomenal shape considering it's life history. Who knows if I'll be able to sell it. I also now have the trifecta of Blazer top glass. I have green tint, clear, and a slider. Oh and the guy threw in all the bolts and the stainless trim plates. Neither of which I need and will gladly sell to make some of my money back.
Been hard to get a rhythm since going back to work. Been dropping parts in the rust cleaning bucket when I can. Whatever that factory coating was on these parts, it is porous because it rusts and a real pain to get off even with paint stripper. It's like a porous powder coating. Anyway, glad I did not have to buy any of those, that's around $150 in parts new, not including the cowl panel. The tailgate in the one pic will have the stamped lettered section grafted into my Blazer gate when it goes to the resto shop. Flattening it is beyond my expertise but doable. There's a thread all about it on the forum as well. Today's the first day I had time to really work and sure enough I tweaked my back real good by 9am. What a wash. Got a little done. The 73-80 cowl won't work on the driver's side without serious modification, probably just gonna buy a new to save time. Bummer. Getting close to welding on the safety bolts though.
Anyways, here's a giant photo dump.
Anyways, here's a giant photo dump.
Here's a good example of that weirdo coating that's on these parts. You can see it on this battery tray. Part of the fin on this battery tray wasn't in the rust remover. The black stuff comes off kind of like paint after it's been in the rust remover but I don't think it's paint because paint thinner doesn't phase it. Also, things got really crazy and I wound up selling my top. I commented on a post on Facebook on one of the Blazer pages and the next thing I knew my messenger blew up from this guy and here we are. Strange weekend. Even if I didn't do a full convertible conversion, I would keep the other top I bought
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That is called "ecoat", it is a very thin layer good enough to prevent flash rust on the new parts.
What is E-Coat? - ClearClad Coatings, Inc.
Thanks. Absolutely fascinating. The technology must be better now than it was then because it sure wasn't anti-corrosive. It kind of reminds me of when people get their firearms dipped. I kind of figure there was some type of bath because I could see the run marks in the parts.That is called "ecoat", it is a very thin layer good enough to prevent flash rust on the new parts.
What is E-Coat? - ClearClad Coatings, Inc.
clearclad.com
Here's a cool piece I kind of made. Looks like it's going to fit okay. It was kind of satisfying shaping it. I am ready to be done with body work though. I'm waiting to see if I can get the cowl panel for up front on sale so I moved back here to work for now.
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So I discovered I made a pretty embarrassing mistake today. I took the glass out of that top I bought back during Labor Day weekend. I had never cleaned the glass and upon cleaning the glass and removing it I learned one side is clear and one side is green tint. So I am looking once again for clear tinted glass for my topper. Driver side was clear passenger was green. I wasted a whole day, drove all the way to St Louis and back. I don't think the person who sold it to me realized that each side was different. I think the glass was so dirty he didn't notice. It sure fooled me. I'm pretty mad at myself about this one though. I've put a pretty wide net out trying to find some clear for my passenger side. I think I'll make my money back selling the top and the other stuff the guy threw in with it but I would like for this part to be over and I really don't want to buy another topper just to get the glass.
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