me neither1
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.
Water mixed with 90 weight.
FINALLY! I am back! Started yesterday, it's been weird getting into the groove. Haven't touched this thing since October. Took it out on the the rotisserie for one last ride so I could get the front axle out. I'm in the process of preparing for the final coat of paint on the frame and have to get the rotisserie on it. Started making brackets for the frame and my welding helmet took a dump so I'm sidelined until Monday. The goal here is to have the frame under the truck by the 4th of July. Roll cage by August. And.... fingers crossed, convertible conversion by September.
Made some good progress today but found something I didn't want to find too while working on it. The first few pictures are the brackets, that went together just fine, but when I got ready clean the frame. I noticed that rust is bleeding through the paint. Based on what I've researched, it appears I've got two options. I can have the frame sandblasted again and treat it better with an encapsulator or white phosphate like I did the body. I did a really good job on the prep work. I learned there must have been microscopic rust in some of the frame. From what I read this can happen from time to time but I wiped it down really good and did everything I thought I was supposed to to a tee before I painted it back in the fall the day after the sandblasting. You all know how meticulous I am if you've been following along. The thing has two coats of epoxy and two coats of ceramic chassis paint. You would think it would have smothered what little rust would have been left after the blasting. Nonetheless, the other option is to just go ahead and spot treat the rust and then paint it. I'm doing that now with rust encapsulator. I have no idea if it'll work long-term but I do not have the funds this summer to afford to have it blasted and afford to buy all that paint again. It was very expensive. Really bums me out because my OCD can't stand it but I'm kind of stuck. At the end of the day, it's just a truck and it'll never be in the elements like that and no one will be able to tell once I've painted it. The frame was in the lean to over the past 9 months and exposed to lots of rain and even some snow blew in on it. That paint is supposed to resist all that. So who knows what happened. It's more prevalent on the side that was closer to where all the rain and snow would have hit it so that's how I figured it out. Anyways, long rant over. I'm hoping tomorrow to get the final coat on it and be done with that part. I am tired of painting things.
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Yeah if there was a spec of rust and you covered it, with freezing temperatures it will fester and eventually seep out.
Had to finish up a little early today but I got started in time to get the paint on the frame and some other small parts. It looks good for now. Fingers crossed that it holds up to the test of time once the truck's actually on the road. I'm thinking now part of the problem that rust came through in spots was because I didn't get enough paint on them the first time. I noticed this because when I painted it in the driveway in the sunshine I could see a lot of mistakes that I couldn't see when I painted it in the lean to back in the fall. I won't work on it again till next week, I'm expecting to start routing, fuel and brake lines. It should look really sharp once it's dressed back out.
I was going to say it didn't look like it had much paint on it from the picture, when you said how many coats you put on, that didn't translate in the picture
Frame is looking good now.
How do you like that spray paint?
How do you like that spray paint?
I like it, but hate the price and the 48hr pot life once it's activiated. It is a little finicky to use for what you pay. It will not spray well if you get near tilting it 45 degrees in either direction. I keep old nozzles around to to avoid clogs. I clean them out with brake cleaner when I use up a can. Overall all though, it gives the look I'm going for. That said, if I get chips or areas that need touching up in the future, RustOleum satin black is a dead match. I'm really hoping it can hold up overtime. It is for sure hard once it fully cures. I've hit some with wire wheel before for a touch and it resisted it pretty good for spray paint.
Yea the pictures upload in a weird order every time I use my phone which doesn't help either. I got it on there pretty good now though. Nothing beats painting in the sunlight, I used that white so I would know if I missed a spot, but I painted those spots and the whole entire thing with a thick final coat.
I did stuff today. Getting all these random parts ready for paint. I clear coated the brake proportioning valve. I felt really dumb while I was doing it. I kept feeling like I was messing up that shuttle valve in there and was going to have brake problems later, but it looks good. Guess, time will tell. The ear plugs was my neighbor's idea to keep the clear out of the threads. Oh I got the frame right side up too. Had my dad and neighbor help with that.
I'm so over painting. Fortunately, I think at least for now I'm done painting stuff for a little bit. At least stuff people can see and I have to work real hard on. I clear coated a bunch of junk that probably didn't need to be clear coated. These past couple of days have felt pretty redundant but nonetheless, got some brand new hardware to hold the brake and fuel lines from inline tubing clear coated. I painted all those brackets. I did the inner fender wells too, they came out like crap. Not real sure why since I did the same prep on every part. Maybe it was the heat since we're in the heat dome down here in the South whatever the heck that means. I'm basically out of the high dollar paint at this point. I don't know that I'm going to get back in that game. Side-by-side comparison satin black Rust-Oleum in a can looks just like the 2K ceramic stuff and is a quarter of the cost. I assume if I'm using a self-etching or epoxy primer underneath it'll do its job so I guess I'm going to go back to Rust-Oleum. It's definitely much easier to work with. Anyways, here's a photo dump of a bunch of boring random stuff. Next step from here is assembling the frame and preparing it to go under the truck.
Rustoleum is plenty good enough for inner fender and parts underneath.
I would save the better paint for outside body parts only
Yeah I think that's where I'm at at this point. That stuff went up another $10 a can almost since I bought it last. It's just too expensive for what I'm trying to do. I'm happy with it on the frame and the floor though but I think you're right. There's been Rust-Oleum on our 79 Jimmy chassis for over 20 years now and it's still not rusted out.
Got a lot done the past 2 days. Lot of little tedious stuff. The frames basically back together and plumbed. Still the two hard lines that go to the master cylinder but I won't worry about those now. Got into a big job trying to put the Curt trailer hitch on it. It didn't want to line up at all. You'll see where I had to round file the holes to get it to fit. Probably took a couple of hours to get that thing on there right but it's square. I thought about drilling out the other two holes for that rear shock bracket and having six bolts instead of four but it just felt like overkill since I already made that bracket to spread the load. Getting everything torqued to spec was a real thrill. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the frame and the body reconnected or at least get everything lined up so that I can do that the next time I'm out there. Not real sure how it will go. My neighbor and I've got a pretty good plan though and it should be safe so I don't smash my melon.
Well I made a tactical error. I forgot all about the energy suspension body mounts using the original hardware. Spent at least an hour or two getting those crusty rusty pieces back to looking good. I had to throw the sleeves in the rust remover bin. They'll probably stay in there for at least 24hrs, maybe 48hrs. I knocked a lot off with the wire wheel but they were really crusty. The cups cleaned up nice. Since I had the down time I also went ahead and polished up the hard vent line for the front differential. I'll have to finish plumbing once the frames attached so that's one less thing I've got to do later. On an upshot, I did get the frame under the body. Baby steps in the right direction I guess.
Lining the body up with this rotisserie was a piece of cake. Axles are up next.
Getting the axles under it was an absolute chore. Took all day but the suspension is all torqued to spec and it looks like a truck again. Gotta get the steering reattached, finish some plumbing, and square the body up on the frame and then it'll be roll cage time.
Did you use rubber or polyurethane bushings? Final torque on suspension bushing bolts like leaf springs is best with full weight on them, especially with poly bushings.
I actually didn't know this. Ironically, there is a mixture of poly and rubber and to the best of my knowledge, all of the poly bushings that I tightened were on full weight. The rubber ones I did while they were still suspended. Good to know though for future reference. I still haven't torqued the body mounts. I'm going to loosen them up and give it a nudge. I think I'm about 3/16 from being square. Pretty good considering I eyeballed it when I dropped it on the frame. I used a lot of marine grease on the suspension bushings. Energy suspension and I think prothane both highly recommend marine grease and I wasn't going to go broke buying their grease and they said that Lucas Marine would be adequate.
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