Can you rent 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.
My $200 did the job fine.
If the compressor can't keep up, you just have to take breaks more often that's all.you need breaks anyway
@centexk5 I had thought about that. There's a really good rental place here that I got a jackhammer from a few summers back.
This is the compressor I'm working with. I got it because it I thought it would run more tools than what it actually will. I even have a sandblaster gun and a tiny bit of black oxide. I guess I could try it out but it does say on there it's not capable. What are your thoughts @imiceman44
It’ll work for a minute or two and then it’ll slow to a crawl. Dad has a similar size unit on his blast cabinet and it struggles to keep up enough.
Do you have an open space away from the house? It makes a helluva mess. Also, if you go that route, i would see if you can find 100lb bags of #4 sand. Much cheaper than buying media from harbor freight or tractor supply. I think i pay like 4 bucks per bag
Well I can shut the garage doors and between me and my neighbor we've got a load of tarps and paint covers so we were going to try to set it up in a way where we could catch most of it with the tarps. I've seen the aftermath in pictures. At the end of the day it's just sand or crushed glass but I don't want it all up in my yard.
My neighbor has a giant compressor that will run a sandblaster because we did it once but I don't know how I would get it over here or get my stuff over there.
If you wanted to keep the blasting to a minimum you could wire wheel the flat parts and only blast the hard to get to spots. Blasting inside you will want top notch ppe. I think i would rather catch hell from the wife/neighbors and do it outside
Well this is much smaller than mine but like @centexk5 said you can do it but very small increments.
The other thing is, when I had a small compressor like that I had a small portable blaster with a small nozzle, I used the black oxide with it, I was getting a good 10 minutes before it became useless which is more than you want for getting a breath of fresh air in between.
My tank is 60gal now versus the old 27gal.
Last I saw you can get a 60 gal from lowes around $400.
Not an industrial quality but good enough for DYI.
Again I refer you to the $1500
If you can get all the tools and own them for under $1000 I would be all over it.
And then you can use them for anything else like some tight corners on the cab that you can't get to.
4.1 cfm won't keep up continuously for sure, but you could use it in short bursts. If you try it start with a full air tank and then stop when it gets too low of pressure, don't keep going.
I think the first risk is it will just be slow when pressure drops. The second risk is burning up your oilless compressor if you run it non stop for too long without letting it cool.
Check locally for a used 240V compressor for sale, you might be surprised.
Still haven't fully decided what to do on the sandblasting but I did hear from another guy with a high but tolerable price. I get basically four hours and some cleanup which isn't a bad deal. I told him I'd think about it and call him Friday or Monday. We talked for 25min and he's pumped to do a K5 if I schedule him.
In other news, in a butt puckering moment I tried to rotate the frame. It was a fail, but I did learn some more about balancing on a rotisserie after to going to the YouTube university today. I ended up using it as a big cart and pressure washed the frame. Found the last six of the VIN too in two spots on the passenger side between the two cab mounts.
In other news, in a butt puckering moment I tried to rotate the frame. It was a fail, but I did learn some more about balancing on a rotisserie after to going to the YouTube university today. I ended up using it as a big cart and pressure washed the frame. Found the last six of the VIN too in two spots on the passenger side between the two cab mounts.
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Little piddly stuff today. Removed all the hard lines and the motor mounts. I took advantage of the Memorial Day sale at Inline Tubing and got the stainless fuel lines. I already had all the stainless brake lines from them. I'm restoring the bump stops with simple green. Drop them in simple green and leave them there for about 24 hours or so, scrub them with a toothbrush, dunk them in clean water, and MAGIC.
On today's episode of the PO created more work for me, I got to cut off his homemade trailer hitch and the exhaust hangers for the stupid turn downs he had on there. I was a grinder not a welder today, but it wasn't too difficult. I attempted air hammering rivets after that. The air hammer with the chisel bit didn't have enough lead in it's pencil so I used the flap disc and the air hammer to punch out. Went well until I ran out of time on that shock mount. That thing is on there. I couldn't punch those rivets out at all. I'll get them tomorrow.
I’m so glad I’ve got a plasma cutter now to tackle rivets.
The first four weren't too bad. I thought I had the hang of it until I got to those four in the mount. Glad those are all I lack. It seemed unnecessary to remove all them in the frame considering my intended use.
Got the busted up shock mount off. It actually wasn't too hard to cut off. I spent the rest of my time welding up the gouges from the cut off wheel from the day before and then smooth them out with a flat disc. I also sourced a new-to-me-bracket to install instead of making my own. There was a slight bend in the frame and it was just going to be a lot of work to make that bracket fit right when I could just buy one. I used a step bit and went a size larger on the holes. You'll see in the picture that I attempted to brace that cross member. It still shifted a little when I removed the two rivets that held it. I think I'll be able to maneuver everything back in place, the frame is still square. I let that bracket I purchased sit in my rust eliminator bin for 2 days. All it took was a little bit of wire wheel work on a drill and it was pretty clean. It's got rust encapsulator on it now.
We are fabbing today. I think I'd finished but I wasted a lot of time looking for bolts and tools. Tried to do store pickup at lunch while I was with little man and ordered the wrong bolts. Scavenged some for the mock up but it took a minute to find them. The piece I'm making is templated off that other shock bracket I bought for the passenger side from CPI. I have two but the driver's side frame and mount is just too different. I don't really like the ORD option so this is the route I'm going to beef this up. It's got a little twist in it but I can fix that and I'll have to weld up the relief cuts I used for the bends. It's made from 3/16in flat. Since the fuel tank will be in the way once everything is together I'm going to use those threaded inserts and weld them in from the back side of the frame in case I need to replace or service the suspension in the future. They're 3/8-24tpi from RuffStuff. Coarse thread would have been adequate but this was the cheapest option after shipping. I was going to do three but I think two is plenty. Should be plenty strong tio. Definitely better than factory. All I need to do is round up some of the edges to make the piece look nice.
The one I have seen from ORD is a strap that bolts on the stud then attaches to either side on the frame.
I actually had a pair of those and just didn't like the way they looked and wound up selling them. (I'm OCD and weird.) They were simple in design though and I'm sure they work. Probably any bracketry that adds a second pivot point to share the load is adequate considering the lack of design GM went with in this location. I saw a picture on Google of an even more robust version of what I am making that went to both sides of the shock but I mean I'm not jumping it off cliffs or tearing up Baja.
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Dear diary, today I almost finished making a bracket. Sorry, my wife always makes fun of me for posting on here and asked if I start that way! 
Anyways, it's hard to get stuff done with the lack of time I'm getting. I bounced around from the bracket to the power steering frame plate up front. I moved back and forth so I didn't put too much heat into anything. I am messing around up there since I can finally get in there to touch up the welds, and I have a better welder. Wished I'd gotten better penetration on that last weld on the front of the frame though, but it'll be fine considering the braces and the plate make that area rock solid. As for the bracket, it only needs to be smoothed up and the edges rounded out at this point to be done and look pretty. Those threaded inserts were awesome btw.
Anyways, it's hard to get stuff done with the lack of time I'm getting. I bounced around from the bracket to the power steering frame plate up front. I moved back and forth so I didn't put too much heat into anything. I am messing around up there since I can finally get in there to touch up the welds, and I have a better welder. Wished I'd gotten better penetration on that last weld on the front of the frame though, but it'll be fine considering the braces and the plate make that area rock solid. As for the bracket, it only needs to be smoothed up and the edges rounded out at this point to be done and look pretty. Those threaded inserts were awesome btw.
