Dare I say it...Another 72 K5 build! The Bubba build - getting back into it

[Z71paramedic]

Here's the pic I was thinking of:

EDIT: Check that....the speed clips are for the underside dash screws. The studs come through from higher up, and really aren't visible in this photo.

Gotcha. Lay on back and use flashlight...CHECK! I'm thinking with the long weekend and my wife working nights, this will be a pretty good weekend to start undoing some of the "easy stuff" to get going on this thing. I'll probably take out the seats and the dash pad, maybe cut the rear bumper and then who knows

I had yet another guy stiff me on a parts order, hopefully I can get a hold of him tomorrow and get my rocker boxes in the mail... At this rate I'm never going to finish.

I also will be doing some searching on the Marine Corps Base this weekend (right by our house) because I've heard rumor of a paint booth with time for rent. That would save me building a DIYer in my garage for when I get the truck far enough.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Finally, an update of sorts

So I finally got working on this thing. Interior is out except column and drivers seat. Front clip off except core support. Rear bumper cut off (yes I had to cut the jackasses ugly welds off). Getting ready to tackle the shackle flip, pull the gas tank, zero rate in rear and then if I can get to the store sometime today or tomorrow to buy a crappy cover I'll pull the soft top, doors and windshield. I've already found more rust than I was hoping for... The windshield frame is gonna give me hell, I can already feel it. The rocker/cab support area on the drivers side has me worried and the right side of the core support where the inner fender attaches is rusted away (but the rest of it is really solid ). I've got a new pair of truck doors I bought locally for el cheapo (score), and new rocker boxes and hood waiting. The guy I bought the doors from said he has a bunch of other stuff he's willing to part with so I'll probably take him up on that too. I still need to order driveshafts and might need front springs. It feels good to have finally started though.

 

[Z71paramedic]

And a couple more. Yesterday was like Christmas, I think I got a visit from every delivery service known to man...

The second two shots are before and after I put in the new longer shackles and zero rates up front.

 

[Z71paramedic]

More progress

So yesterday I got the shackle flip and longer shackles installed in the rear. BTW, those rivets were dirty dirty bastards!!! Anyways, today I drained the coolant and removed the radiator/core support. Pulled the rest of the interior including all wiring and the pedals/column. Now the engine is ready to yank and from there I'll be removing doors/tailgate/top and then getting the body lift out of there so I can start on the sheet metal.

I'm a little short on garage clearance now with the extra 5 1/2 inches in the rear... I still have a zero rate to put in to move the axle back! I'm going to be removing an add-a-leaf that's already in there and also the body lift is going so it won't sit THAT high, but that sucker is tall for now! The 40" TSL's look a little dinky under there.

On a side note, how much firewall clearance do these trucks normally have? I have a small block with tall valve covers and a 3 inch body lift right now and there's only about an inch of clearance there. I'll take a pic tomorrow when it's light out, but I'm thinking I may need to move the drivetrain forward a bit or rework the firewall if a TPI setup is going to fit in there with the body lift out. Guess we'll see.

 

[Greg72]

Chect VTBlazers build thread..... he's got a TPI small block setup and I'm pretty sure he's commented before on what kind of mounting scheme was required for clearance.

You don't want to take MY advice on how to get clearance.... at least not if you want to drive it again in the next 2 years!

 

[Z71paramedic]

I plan to do it right, but quicker than that... Not that I don't envy your rig and your immense fab skills, but mine doesn't need to be so "Might-as-welled"

No crazy drivetrain mod's on this guy, just straighter sheetmetal and a fresh smallblock will do fine for me. I'll build a wheeler once we get off this rock in a year and a half!

 

[Z71paramedic]

Making Progress

Well, I'm in it deep now. Drivetrain is out, doors off, top and hardware off, nothing left in interior and the windshield has been cut out (and broken) It looks like the blazer puked all over my garage I'm running short on space.

My windshield frame is better in some spots than I was expecting, and worse in others. Either way it's got to come off and get caught up with. I don't need a new frame, but I may try to find a truck frame to rob some of the bends from. the seam along the driver's side a-pillar has seen better days, but it still solid. the only part that is really in need of a fair amount of metal is the lower seam on the passenger side where the windshield rubber sits. Even with the rust it's really solid. I can tug on it and it doesn't really move too bad.

I obviously have known about the rocker boxes so that's a given. The driver's front cab support (the one inside the rocker box) is wasted, as is the bottom of the a-pillar from water running in. Should I take it off the body lift and get it sitting straight first, or start on the sheetmetal stuff how it is now?

Take a look at the pic of where the tail light goes and tell me if I should take the whole bedsides off and get in there. I think I already know the answer in that I don't want to redo this truck again for a long time, but humor me......

Still haven't decided the route I'm going to take with the motor. I know I want to run the TPI, but haven't decided on the bottom end yet. I'd like to get a newer block with a hydro-roller setup, but my just end up going through the old motor for now. The PO told me it was a 355, but it looks to me like an externally balanced crank...so it may be a 383. We'll see...I'll worry about engine stuff later.

On a side note I bought a set of one-tons and hydro boost setup last week More updates to come...

 

[Z71paramedic]

I almost forgot, I got my new engine crossmember yesterday too! Thanks Kert!!!

I was going to finish with putting in my new front springs, but since I got the new axles I'll just wait a bit and only take it apart one more time.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

O-Man that windshield frame just made me so happy it's not mine. All I can say is you seem to have WAY more metal on yours than I had on mine. I think I have about 80hrs of reconstructive surgery into mine. Yea your deep into it but it will be bitchen when its all said and done. Don't forget to brace the door area so the firewall doesn't move.I broke my window trying to remove it also so don't feel bad about that.

 

[Greg72]

The might as wells have arrived in Hawaii...

Must be they don't like the cold New England winters anymore!

 

[Z71paramedic]

O-Man that windshield frame just made me so happy it's not mine. All I can say is you seem to have WAY more metal on yours than I had on mine. I think I have about 80hrs of reconstructive surgery into mine.

I've just never gotten this far into anything. Had to call it half a day yesterday and just sat underneath and drank a few brews looking around

Yea your deep into it but it will be bitchen when its all said and done. Don't forget to brace the door area so the firewall doesn't move.

Yeah, I'll be buying some steel this week. Prolly the day I go pick up my new axles (they were on the big island, so the guy is shipping them Monday or Tuesday).

The might as wells have arrived in Hawaii...

Must be they don't like the cold New England winters anymore!

Good call. I don't have any cold at all... I've been sweating my A$$ off all week wrenching on this thing. I'm about as far into the regular disassembly as I can get before the begins!

As for the body lift, what do you guys think. Leave it there for now and do the windshield frame etc, or get it out of there and then start cutting?

 

[sponsoredbydad]

I'll chime in with I have two thoughts going. First I was going to say remove them and install new rubber/urethane and get the body where you want it before you do any Then I started to over think and 2nd guess myself and thought if there were no issues before with the body lift, like doors opened/closed freely then and just brace it up before you do any of it. So with that thinking it's no wonder it took me 5 years to get mine back on the road.

 

[Greg72]

If it were me I'd pull the body mounts now if that's the ultimate plan anyway. I'd also put in a fresh set of body mount bushings (rubber or poly, your choice) to make sure that you aren't aligning you panels based on blown-out or sagging bushings. Ideally you want to do panel alignment when you have the body stable and don't need to pull it off anymore or jack it out of position to replace mounts, etc

 

[sponsoredbydad]

So my 1st thought was probably the better choice.

 

[Z71paramedic]

If it were me I'd pull the body mounts now if that's the ultimate plan anyway. I'd also put in a fresh set of body mount bushings (rubber or poly, your choice) to make sure that you aren't aligning you panels based on blown-out or sagging bushings. Ideally you want to do panel alignment when you have the body stable and don't need to pull it off anymore or jack it out of position to replace mounts, etc

So my 1st thought was probably the better choice.

The problem (or maybe not) is that when we first moved here I had to remove the body mounts to get it to pass the "recon inspection" (which is little more than another way to take my money) and so now it is just the body sitting on the body lift... I had some door closing issues before said adjustment, and plenty after. That being said everything got a lot better once I pulled the front clip. I don't think the PO ever had things sitting right. Plus my doors were sagging at the upper hinges, so that may have something to do with it as well.

Re-critique if necessary!!!

 

[Greg72]

I meant to say pull the body "lift"... then also replace body mounts with a fresh set.

This is a similar analogy to building a house. You don't do all the interior trim work and painting first, then jack up the house to fix foundation issues afterwards. All the plaster and trim will crack and shift and your effort will have been wasted.

Start with a solid and predictable base. If the body sits weird you will need to figure out why and address it. If you try to build off a crooked platform, you will end up with fitment issues that simply can NOT be resolved at all.

Spend a little extra time now getting things right and you'll save yourself a massive amount of time and frustration later on....

 

[vtblazer]

The problem (or maybe not) is that when we first moved here I had to remove the body mounts to get it to pass the "recon inspection" (which is little more than another way to take my money) and so now it is just the body sitting on the body lift... I had some door closing issues before said adjustment, and plenty after. That being said everything got a lot better once I pulled the front clip. I don't think the PO ever had things sitting right. Plus my doors were sagging at the upper hinges, so that may have something to do with it as well.

Re-critique if necessary!!!

Get it to where it's going to live on the frame with the new bushings...adjust the door gaps & body lines lined up as needed with shims and only then start the rip-n-tear process.
Going this route will ensure an easier final assembly.

Keep in mind that the firewall can move around a lot, not only 'forward & backwards but 'up and down' as well.

#1 and #2 body mounts are where it all happens, enjoy.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Ok, that's pretty much what I figured but I wanted to make sure before taking the plunge Looks like I'll be doing that this weekend. Woohoo, finally some progress!!!

 

[Z71paramedic]

Slow going...

Well I haven't made too much progress of late. First I wrecked my car, and have added fixing it to the "to-do" list. (Long story involving rain, poorly built freeways and me ACTUALLY using the traction control and going the speed limit for once all getting together and effing me in the A!!!). Then I've been crazy busy at work with Christmas coming (pic included to prove the madness). And to top it all off I'm sick right now with a wicked sinus infection causing me to feel a wee bit dizzy just sitting here...

Anyways, I got the body lift out and the new mounts in. Cleaned up and painted the mount pads and the corresponding spots on the body. Now I'm taking everyone's advice and attempting to shim up the body so the doors gaps are good. Of course I'm hitting snags with that too. I've got the pass. side within 1/4 inch, so I think I'm satisfied over there. The drivers side has plenty of issues. First, the idiot PO must have welded in the outer rockers to match (poorly) with the bedsides so the door bottoms out on it while also hitting on the windshield frame. It is also an issue at the very top corner of the door (they're truck doors that I haven't cut yet). It's been raining all week and is REALLY humid right now, so I'm holding off on exposing any more bare metal for now, plus I know paint wouldn't be too happy trying to stick in this weather. The PO also has done some rear quarter patches that are pretty crappy that I will probably be redoing. I have a feeling I've got a lot of work ahead of me in that area.

Is it going to hurt anything if while cutting the window channel off the new doors if I remove the outer rockers now to make sure the doors don't hit? IIRC they are more cosmetic than structural right??

On a side note I picked up my new-to-me one tons on Tuesday They look pretty good, just some surface rust to clean up. The guy I bought them from said they had 12k on them. The brakes on the 60 look brand new. So I'll start cleaning them up soon here. Where is everybody getting spring plates for the front? Mine didn't come with any, so I need to grab some and new u-bolts obviously. That's about it for now.

 

[bp71k5]

I've got the same problem with the door hitting the a pillar and the rocker. The best thing I've found so far is that the body line along the length of the truck is a good one to keep as a reference. As long as it isn't bondo'd up, it should be a good reference point for the door and rear quarter panel alignment. Once those are lined up you can fix the rocker or the a-pillar alignment. It sounds like the body has sagged (like mine has) and will be tough to fix.