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

[Z71paramedic]

Making progress

So we were having a new roof put on for the first part of the week. Which of course meant that I had to push the truck further into the garage and not make any progress through Thursday. On the plus side I covered for somebody at fedex Monday and Tuesday. I got some stuff I was waiting on in the mail, including lower quarter panel patches, my front brake line and some other small stuff. Then yesterday morning I drove over to the airport and picked this up:

I haven't opened it yet because I wasn't sure where I'd put it for now, but it's the windshield frame that Mike (Norcal69) was nice enough to grab for me. I just wanted to publicly say thanks one more time. He went WAY out of his way to help me out, not only finding the frame and getting it for me, but driving all the way to the airport to send it via Fedex so I could get a discount on shipping. He packed it in a wooden crate he made so it would be protected, and the entire thing weighs about 80 pounds. The lady at his fedex told him it would have been close to $600 to send normally When I picked it up yesterday it only cost me $89 So once again, thanks Mike I owe you one big time!

Then I got home yesterday and finally got to work again. Cut and patched the cross sill on the passenger side that the rocker box end cap bolts to. Then started piecing together the quarter panel patch. If you recall I had cut up higher than the patch would cover because there was an ugly FUBAR'd old patch in there already. I had saved the fenderwell styling edge from what I cut off, and only had about an inch gap above the new patch to make with my 16g. I got everything cut out, trimmed up and ready to put in. Had about 12-15 tacks made and was just about to really get going on it and the power went out

So I drank a couple beers, surfed CK5 on my phone and in about 40 minutes it was back on. So I was able to finish welding it up last night and will be heading out there in a few to start grinding and hopefully finish that side up today and be on to the drivers side. I still need to open up the wheel well too.

I also finally took a couple pics of the crossmember bolted in. I'm going to attach the shackle for the anti-wrap bar to that.

Now for my final thoughts for the day: I've decided to say F the neighbors and paint the truck still while we're here. That being said it's going to be a cheepie job, and I've decided to use rustoleum sprayed through one of these, which I bought over a year ago: clicky What I have yet to decide is whether I want to go uber cheap but lengthier and use the regular rustoleum laquer or the automotive paint that they offer. The regular laquer is $10/qt out here, and the automotive is $30. The automotive paint is ready to spray, but will require primer, base and clear all at $30/qt. I'm thinking orange for color. So which method do ye fellow CK5'ers recommend???

 

[Greg72]

Nice crate!

Looks like perfect 6" screw spacing all the way around the perimeter..... That's OCD that I can relate to.

 

[scottishdave]

Take a look at all the options in past polls. I feel that i cannot participate in this poll without there being a nakid option.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Take a look at all the options in past polls. I feel that i cannot participate in this poll without there being a nakid option.

I figured it was assumed I'd be nekkid during both. Therefor it's really a question of whether i want to be done in a day or two or draw it out over 6-7 days...

Guess I'll need more sunscreen

 

[bp71k5]

I would spray whatever is the most durable or will be a good base for a future nicer paint job. It sucks stripping off crappy paint.


-Brian

 

[sponsoredbydad]

I'm for the better paint but why not just go with a nice heavy couple of coats of primer, something you could wet sand down later when you really decide what you want.

 

[Z71paramedic]

I'm for the better paint but why not just go with a nice heavy couple of coats of primer, something you could wet sand down later when you really decide what you want.

It's so humid out here and with all the salt in the air, if I just left it primered I think it'd let too much crap down in it and it would compromise the top coat that was sprayed later on. I was just looking for a way to get it all one color for a relatively low price and get to try my hand at spraying paint at the same time.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Made some good progress yesterday. I finished up the passenger side (mostly) including opening up the lower portion of the wheel well by about 2-3" up front. It's a bit wavy and I'll need to do a bit more hammer and dolly work and a bit of bondo and I don't think you'd ever know it. Then I got the driver's side measured up and buzzed in. I still need to clean up the welds and then open up the wheel well the same as the other side. Another couple hours and that side will be done then on to the windshield frame If I can keep making progress like this it might move under it's own power by mid November

I'm very pleased with the way my rockers lined up with the quarters. Maybe I'm not a total waste afterall

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Yea that(rocker) looks WAY better than mine ended up. OK I totally get the sea air thing.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Finished up the driver's side today. If you haven't noticed I'm saving all the filler work until later. Not sure why Then I finally unpackaged the windshield frame.

Greg, the OCD was glorious He wrapped it up safer than a newborn

I got some measurements taken but couldn't get up enough nerve to make the cuts today. I did however finally sell some chit on craigslist, so that'll do for now. I'll do some more measuring tomorrow and hopefully have the new one on there tomorrow too. I just need to figure out how to clamp it in the right spot secure enough to get it burned in. I'm working by myself and it might prove to be a challenge. May end up waiting till the Mrs gets home or something.

 

[Greg72]

If you need some confidence for the windshield, look up VTBlazer's threads on the 67-72 board... He grafted on a windshield frame and showed some good images of how to use those index marks on the frame and how to make a really good clamping system from old pieces of the windshield pillar. Measure twice....maybe three times, then cut. Obviously getting a nice rust-free windshield replacement is a real score so you don't want to ruin it.

 

[NorCal69]

As SBD said, those rockers came out real nice. Have you hung the doors to see how the gap between those and the rocker looks? Also, if you could do me a favor, on the inside jamb of the B pillar where the rocker meets up with it, there is an indention. My outer rockers sat perfect and there is about a 1/4" space between the top of the indention and where the rocker is connected and starts to make the downward swoop. Where did yours end up lining up at? Still trying to figure out why my outers came out so bad. They sit nice and perfect everywhere they should, just came out like crap with a lot of extra work to make them half way decent. Who did you order yours from?

Nice work on the QP replacement also.

Obviously getting a nice rust-free windshield replacement is a real score so you don't want to ruin it.

What ^^^ he said too. It would take me a long time to find another one.

I hear ya on "sacking up" with the WS cut, happy that I didn't need to go that far.

Glad that it all came out nice for you once you opened it. Looks like they dropped it on one of the corners during shipping and split the plywood. It may have been heavy, but 1x8 sides probably would have exploded the box on a drop like that.

 

[Z71paramedic]

As SBD said, those rockers came out real nice. Have you hung the doors to see how the gap between those and the rocker looks? Also, if you could do me a favor, on the inside jamb of the B pillar where the rocker meets up with it, there is an indention. My outer rockers sat perfect and there is about a 1/4" space between the top of the indention and where the rocker is connected and starts to make the downward swoop. Where did yours end up lining up at? Still trying to figure out why my outers came out so bad. They sit nice and perfect everywhere they should, just came out like crap with a lot of extra work to make them half way decent. Who did you order yours from?

Nice work on the QP replacement also.




What ^^^ he said too. It would take me a long time to find another one.

I hear ya on "sacking up" with the WS cut, happy that I didn't need to go that far.

Glad that it all came out nice for you once you opened it. Looks like they dropped it on one of the corners during shipping and split the plywood. It may have been heavy, but 1x8 sides probably would have exploded the box on a drop like that.

Thanks again for everything Mike! It's looking like it won't be that bad, just nerve-racking because it's the one thing that has to have the right dimensions for it to work properly later, everything else can be made to look right

As for the rockers, I bought those from my buddy out here that I got some other parts from. He said he got them from brothers a while back. I replaced the whole lower B-pillar (from Wes at classic parts) and the lower lock pillar (from LMC) as well. The big thing I did for the rockers was to hang the doors and get them as true to the rear quarters as I could and then lined up the rockers to that. I used a big ratchet strap to hold my firewall while I had the door braces out. I'll go take some pics of the rocker/b-pillar area for you in a minute here. As with everything so far I've had to do quite a bit of hammer and dolly work to make any of the repop parts fit right.

Thanks for all the compliments on the bodywork guys, really appreciate it. The quarters still need some fine-tuning but they look pretty good. Greg, I had forgotten about VT's thread, so I'll re-read that. I would like to not cut up my old frame once it's off. A part of me feels like it's not too far gone to fix maybe. I know it'll probably be beyond my abilities and take more time than it's worth to do, but if I could fix the old one and help somebody else out like Mike did for me then it would be worth it to try and save another first gen. We'll see how that goes... It's way on the back burner though.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Mike, let me know if these cover what you're looking for. If you need I'll gladly snap any more you'd like.

 

[ashman]

its been 10 years since I replaced my windshield frame, so I don't remember everything we did to get it right (I was the "helper" in that phase). one thing I do remember is taking measurements from lower right, to upper left, and opposite before doing any cutting. keeping everything nice and square is supper important (stating the obvious.).

 

[NorCal69]

Thanks.

Yep, It looks like yours is about a 1/4" lower too. Guess I'll just keep on gettin' on.

.

 

[Z71paramedic]

I figured a few more bumps with the hammer the filler would smooth that fine.

Oh yeah...

 

[Z71paramedic]

After measuring more than I've ever measured anything in my life I think it turned out pretty darn good. You tell me

 

[Deuling]

So when you cutting the old one out..... oh wait
Looks good!!

 

[sponsoredbydad]

All you have to do now is hold your breath until the glass is installed Man you wasted NO time putting that on, very nice