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'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper

This is the build for my 1991 V1500 Blazer, AKA the K5.3. It started out life being sold to the U.S. Government with a 350 TBI/700r4/241 combo. 4 years with a 5.3/700r4 Combo and now moving to an 8.1L Vortec and NV4500 5-speed.
Overview Gallery Discussion
Larry said:
Looks great! It would be tempting to reskin the outside while you're there and get a modern black frame window with curved corners. Phx uses sheet fiberglass on the exterior. Looks so much better than corrugated aluminum...lighter too
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Oh I've been tempted. Totally. But I'm trying not to go all the way down the MAW rabbit hole here. I want to get the inner structure and roof done so we can mount it to the truck. Exterior and skirt changes will come in phase two probably next year. I really wasn't sure about tearing it apart this far, but once it came apart inside it was pretty easy to see now was the time to make the big changes inside. So we can get the inside knocked out and get it mounted so it is useable and I can see where other changes can/need to be done.

It's getting close though. Just need to configure the cabinet and finish out the trim and wiring. Once the inside is trimmed out we stain and seal up the wood to match the original stuff. Then we can go after the roof. We'll have to replace some screws, seal them off and replace the roof vent. Then we can coat the whole damn thing to seal it all up.
 
Tony Vickers said:
Looking great @ZooMad75! What will you treat the wood with to prevent it from going bad? Do you think you may have to add additional leafs springs to compensate the wood upgrades?
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We haven't decided what to seal it up with, but it's probably going to be a polyurethane of some type.

As far as adding weight, it probably hasn't gained too much. Replacing the entire passenger side really didn't increase. The doubling up the drivers side added, but we also took out the water tank and stove at the same time. So again, probably no large increase. The cab wall and cab-over floor are probably incrementally heavier as the thickness of the particleboard was an inch and the cab-over floor now is 1 1/16th". We can make a net decrease in the camper floor. The original is constructed out of 3/4" plywood covered in carpet. I'm not planning on going with carpet for one. We may go with 1/2" plywood and cover it in laminate or linoleum for easy cleanup.

As Larry has proven to me, the weight is probably going to come when I load it out for a trip. Since we put the suspension together on the Blazer it's been a little high to the rear, even with the factory top on. I might get lucky and it settles level. I won't be suprised if we need to add a leaf though.
 
I'm curious to see how it handles with the camper on and loaded with a short wheelbase. Seeing how your camper was made, I've thinking it might not be so hard to make one out of aluminum framing with fiberglass sides.
 
Tony Vickers said:
I'm curious to see how it handles with the camper on and loaded with a short wheelbase. Seeing how your camper was made, I've thinking it might not be so hard to make one out of aluminum framing with fiberglass sides.
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Aluminum framing is how all the FWC units are built. So if I do what I can to keep the weight low, I really don't think it will handle too far from what it does now with the bed filled with coolers and gear for camping. By going to a 12v fridge I'll eliminate the need for a giant cooler or two filled with ice. outside of the sleeping conditions on our desert trip Ice management was the 2nd major issue we had as far as the camping was concerned. So getting away from bulky heavy stuff like that will help in the weight management.
 
So I stopped by a local boneyard on the way home today. I'm looking for a used top to swipe the front inch or so that attaches the top to the cab. Reason is due to the crappy design of how the FWC seals to the cab with nothing more than foam camper tape. Funny thing is @Capt Ron just picked up a 77 K5 with a very original FWC and his has the bolts to the cab. However, his still has the gap where the channel is for the factory top seal.

Reposting the image from earlier for reference against Capt Ron's and another photo that @azblazer sent to me from his collection.
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Capt Ron's
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From Azblazer's collection. You can see it looks as if somebody used the first inch of a factory top and grafted it onto the camper. That's exactly what I want to do with mine.
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The yard did have a couple of K5's, a 79 and 89. Both had tops but they were pretty weathered, the glass fibers were showing through. Plus they originally told me they wanted $200 per top. When I told him the glass fibers were showing and he figured they wern't worth that and shot me a price of $75 to get what I wanted as long as they kept the glass. I told him I'd keep checking around but may take him up on it.
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Anybody along the front range that has a junk 76-91 top willing to let me put a sawzall to it?

The boneyard did have a handfull of squarebodies though. All are pretty well picked over, but there are a few little gems like the cab lights on this crusty crew cab.
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I found this Burb with an interesting couple of items on it.
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The factory switch panels for rear heat, a/c and back glass.
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Not sure if I'll use them, but if I do need more than the three switches I'll have hidden in the ashtray it looks to be a clean factory way of installing them.
 
I've got some of those switch panels in my 89 you're welcome to have, I'd just have to get them out and to a post office is all
 
78K30 said:
I've got some of those switch panels in my 89 you're welcome to have, I'd just have to get them out and to a post office is all
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Thanks for the offer. I did take these ones home. For $10 I couldn't pass them up. I'll probably end up using them as I'll end up adding some extra lighting front and back with room to add a couple more switches later.
 
The rear doors on that crew look good. Where is this at?
 
http://www.a1autoco.com/ Penrose. Drive by it twice a day. Funny thing is, that truck had the early style door panels like what was on my 75 with the trim ring around the upper portion.
 
Been doing some home projects to appease the Mrs. lately. So not much going on the Blazer or camper fronts. Parts collecting mainly. Traded the 3way fridge to one of my techs for a solar panel. It's a good sized one that can put out enough to keep the aux battery/camper side of the system with plenty of power off the grid.

Still on the hunt for a junk top to rob the front from but for lack of finding one, I'll probably get one from the yard in Penrose.

While checkup on the social media side, my Dad shot me a link to this little gem in SoCal.
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$5500 for a 73 with a FWC setup.

https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/cto/d/1973-k5-blazer-4x4/6323979911.html

It's a little steep price wise, but it's coming with a Hickey sidewinder winch too. Plus it has a man pedal in it.
 
Smokinthehippies said:
Did you buy it?
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No way. I'm not in the market, but thought it was interesting to see one on a full convertible.

Larry said:
Bet that sucker went fast for $5500! Too bad it didn't have A/C but I guess a Vintage Air kit is no biggie to install.
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It did. I didn't think it would last long even at that price. A/C would be the easy thing to go after.
 
Smokinthehippies said:
I was wondering. I saw it on bangshift I think the morning you posted it. Then right after you said something it was gone.
It seemed it'd be a bit redundant for you to get it but this is Ck5 after all, bad choices are life goals here.
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Boy that ain't no lie. It would have been cool to pick up, but for my sake it was in California. Besides, my wife would have killed me for the mere mention of picking up a second one.
 
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