'88 K5 - Running Down A Dream

[jimmyleetn]

I used to put the top on by myself but I didn't have a cage and it was on 31" tires.
It's not really too heavy to lift but it's bulky.
My 74 did have the locating pin, but my brother's 73 didn't

I've heard of people doing it by themselves with the full tops and half tops which really weigh about the same, but I still don't know how you would even go about doing it. Did you put it on your back like a turtle shell?

I wonder if they were still figuring out the assembly and what not of those hard tops in those early years. I know for a fact this is a 75 hard top because I had a friend pointed out the differences between 73 to 74 vs 75. The 75 is supposed to be stronger. From what I've seen in photos, 73 and 74 tops seem to have more cracks in them from pictures I've seen, but I wonder why some have guide pins and some don't. May have just been which factory and what they had laying around. I'm kind of glad it doesn't have them, I think it makes putting the top on more complicated because then you run the risk of puncturing those rubber seals on the bottom if you skid across them.

 

[folkenheath]

Since I have been watching this build I have a question...am I the only one who thinks of the song when I see this thread title?

I just imagine you listening to this while you build it...

 

[jimmyleetn]

Since I have been watching this build I have a question...am I the only one who thinks of the song when I see this thread title?

I just imagine you listening to this while you build it...

In my head all the time! That's where the name of this build came from. Big Tom Petty fan and a bunch of other classic rock. I got to see him live before he passed and back when you could afford concert tickets. The more I work on it, the more the lyrics from the chorus really fit.

 

[joshuak]

So today was wild. First thing I cleaned all the dust off that top, it hadn't been moved and probably 5 years. My buddy showed up, he's a big guy, like was going to be a D1 lineman till he got hurt. He looked me dead in the eyes and said I think we can both lift it up there. Somehow or another we got that top up there. My wrists are not what they used to be but we threw it up there and didn't tear anything up. We learned those little guide pins that blazers have on the back aren't used on those full tops. That was a fun little snag to figure out while juggling that giant thing. Also, while I was digging that top out of all the stuff and getting all the junk out from under it, I found a bunch of spots where termites were. The pest man showed up right as we got the top fitted and the Amazon man was right behind him LOL. Crazy day. Anyways, I do not think it is possible for the top to have fit anymore perfectly than it did. I measured it all over that windshield header and it was dead nuts. It was such a relief to fitted it and it had been that good. We took it off right before lunch and then I spent the rest of the day making a b pillar panel and cleaning a bunch of dirt out of the b pillar with a vacuum cleaner with a piece of heater hose I rigged up on the end of it. I'm hoping I can sneak into the shop tonight and start welding that piece in. You'll notice in one of the pictures rubber seals from PRP. Whoever made that seal that goes on the lip of the windshield header was either drunk or it was Friday after lunch because that thing is trash. I may jump ship and buy stuff for the top from Steel. Pretty disappointed since I had already bought every seal about 3 years ago and had them in a box ready to go.



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Congratulations! That's gotta be a good feeling.

 

[imiceman44]

I've heard of people doing it by themselves with the full tops and half tops which really weigh about the same, but I still don't know how you would even go about doing it. Did you put it on your back like a turtle shell?

I wonder if they were still figuring out the assembly and what not of those hard tops in those early years. I know for a fact this is a 75 hard top because I had a friend pointed out the differences between 73 to 74 vs 75. The 75 is supposed to be stronger. From what I've seen in photos, 73 and 74 tops seem to have more cracks in them from pictures I've seen, but I wonder why some have guide pins and some don't. May have just been which factory and what they had laying around. I'm kind of glad it doesn't have them, I think it makes putting the top on more complicated because then you run the risk of puncturing those rubber seals on the bottom if you skid across them.

Yep on my back.
The only way to do it.
I did it and my brother too.
My brother's 73 cracked but not my 74.
His cracked when he landed on the back bumper on a rock and the bedsidrs decided to open out.
We had to pull it together and then we put an angle iron to tie the sides together and we made it the spare tire holder.
It made the sides stiffer

 

[jimmyleetn]

Had to quit a little early today. School starts back next week, but I should still be able to get the bed rails done and hopefully the doors. Had to get a little creative today. There's a extreme low spot on the driver side bed rail. It's near perfect on the passenger side. I'm not sure what happened. It wasn't from any heat of mine. It was like that before I cut the cab. Maybe a dent? Anyways, I used the B pillar supports to push sheet metal screws off of to push that bedside out out after I cut a relief cut. Worked pretty good. It'll still take a skim coat to fully hide it but I left it better than I found it I guess.

 

[jimmyleetn]

My son took a big nap today so I snuck into shop and got the passenger b pillar going. I'll still need a little strip on each since it's so wide but it's moving a long.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Took a couple of hours here and there but got the driver B pillar done. It's got some low spots that are way beyond my expertise. Pulling on sheet metal screws with pliers worked some and I did try to control my heat with an air compressor, but this side fought me way more than the passenger has so far. Also, the driver's bed rail has really been beat on by POs in the past so it was hard to get good reference for a straight edge. I was finding areas with 1/4in high spots (or low spots) when using a 4ft straight edge. I kinda think one of the POs put their nuts in their socks trying to take the original top off before every bolt was removed.

 

[jimmyleetn]

Got the passenger B pillar done. Glad that's over. Heat got to it a little bit too, but it's manageable. If I did it again I'd make a long tab instead doing all that welding on the inside edg. Not sure what I'll do next, probably doors, but I dread hanging and fitting them. I'm tempted to work on the rear bed rails. They're dented up really bad. Also, I checked from the B pillars to the rear bed corners to see how square the tub is and holy smokes she's straight.

 

[Fastereddie]

Got the passenger B pillar done. Glad that's over. Heat got to it a little bit too, but it's manageable. If I did it again I'd make a long tab instead doing all that welding on the inside edg. Not sure what I'll do next, probably doors, but I dread hanging and fitting them. I'm tempted to work on the rear bed rails. They're dented up really bad. Also, I checked from the B pillars to the rear bed corners to see how square the tub is and holy smokes she's straight.

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Better than factory!

 

[jimmyleetn]

Well I hung and fit the first door. Started with the driver side, the one that I figured would be the worst at least as far as the cab of the truck was concerned. These are the AMD premium 73 to 76 doors. That being said, for a repop door I would give them a C+ maybe a B-. They laid in there pretty good, the biggest complaint I have is there's a smile line on the bottom of the door and I kind of think it needs to be added to and not grinded away in order to set a good gap, but I'm going to let the paint shop figure that part out. Also it's going to take a whack with a 2x4 on the a-pillar to get it to lay in right because I could get all the other lines right but couldn't get that one right. Better than the horror stories I've heard about bent corners and all kinds of other crazy stuff so I think these are about as good as it gets for repops unless I was going to drop three times that on some new old stock ones and then have to cut them down to make them fit the full convertible top which would probably give me a heart attack. They are heavier than your standard repop doors so I did get a little bit better quality in the metal thickness. They do not feel like a crash door. I have of two of those in the shop and I can tell right away that these are thicker. I may wait a little bit to cut them down. I think I should fit the fenders and make sure everything works out all right before that. I kind of think I'm going to have to figure out the core support mounts. A few people I know are running into trouble with that so it'll be interesting to see if I have to lower them and move them or whatever else I've got to do to get everything to line up. Kind of wish I had tested that before I painted the frame but I can touch all that up.