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

sponsoredbydad said:
All you have to do now is hold your breath until the glass is installed:whistle: Man you wasted NO time putting that on, very nice
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Yeah seeing as how I'm not working at the moment and have the full support of my wonderful wife, I'm really starting to cruise on this thing meow:D. Thanks for the compliments!
 
Very nice work Sean. :waytogo:

How did you keep the angle of the WS frame correct? Did you use a metal sleeve on the inside at all?
 
It went really smoothly actually, just nerve racking at first. I measured like elenty-billion times, got all the dimensions I thought I'd need, and drew a cut line around the old pillars. Then I strung a ratchet strap around the main truss in the garage to hold the old one from falling when it was cut. I ended up using the same strap to hold the weight of the new one, as well as bumping the strap ends in or out would change the angle. Then I used every clamp and vise-grip at my disposal to hold it in place. Measured a ton more.... I actually cut off less than I knew I'd need at first just to be safe and used the grinder to fine tune things. Overall I think it turned out pretty good. Barely needs any filler at all. Once again, thanks so much Mike:bow:

I boxed up the old one (in your fancy crate) and it'll sit in there til we move and then maybe I can resurrect it and help somebody else out.

I spent $350 at O'reilly's last night on random chit to get this pig going. New mile marker hubs for the 60, serp belt, water pump etc, etc. If anyone is curious O'reilly's sells the 1-3/8" filler hose we need. It's $25/foot though and we need roughly 18":doah: It's P/N 24702 and comes in a 3 foot length that they cut for you, and they only sell by the foot so I had to buy 2 feet. Oh well, have it now...

I get to put the welder away for a bit and do some wrenching now. :woot:
 
Made some more progress today. Used a tap to chase all the holes in the block, which took some time. Pulled the water pump, and cleaned up the front of the motor a bit (nothing crazy though, screw it:haha:) I put on the new waterpump which is the one for the camaro serp belt setup, then the brackets and serp accessories. I busted out the ford wrench and persuaded my old headers to fit:saweet: because I just didn't feel like spending the money on new ones right now. Narrowed up the drivers side just enough to git'r done. Then threw the new hubs on. Hung the core support on there finally. I think I did a few other piddly things, but that's the gist of it. I'm hoping to drop the 205 again tomorrow and swap the front output as well as re-seal everything.

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The water neck needs changed based on where the alternator sits now. Anybody know of a replacement that'll work, and/or the hose that would then fit?

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I still need to hang the rocker boxes under there. Need to figure out what the best way to weld them in is, any suggestions? I assume just drill a hole every so far and spot them in good and hot, same along the bottom of the rocker and along the front lip.
 
I'm going to preemptively apologize for lack of pics...:doah:

I got the passenger side rocker box in yesterday. Plan on the drivers side today but it's raining like crazy and killing my motivation so we'll see:popcorn:

After putting it in and really looking at how the truck goes together (first time it's been right since I've owned it) I can now see why all these trucks rot out. What is the best way to seal up all the horrible-ness that is the rocker boxes. I know rust won't be an issue for a long time either way because it's all new and I painted everything well and used weld-through primer where I attached pieces but I'd like this to last as long as possible. Some of the gaps are just asking for stuff to get in there and sit, even with the inner fenders in there. Any suggestions?

As for paint, sorry to ignore the poll results but I can't find ANY automotive paint on island that will cost me less than $800 to spray myself, so it's looking like a regular rustoleum paintjob is in the works. Obviously pics to follow. I'm hoping to get that drivers rocker box done today and maybe get the interior (inner firewall, windshield frame and dash as well as door jambs) painted by this weekend or at least started. Then I can run my wiring harness with the front clip off for ease of install. Then final panel fitment and filler to follow. We leave for Ohio next Friday for a couple weeks so I'm going to hussle to get as much done before that as possible. I've got PLENTY to still do but the majority of the big stuff is winding down.

I'm hoping my driveshafts will be done in a day or two. I need to swap all my yokes/drive flanges when those get here. I ordered a flat back cover from Kert for the 14 bolt, so that'll go on. I still need to make the anti-wrap bar. Then I need to measure for shocks. I still need to run my front brake lines also, and install all my calipers. Other than that I have everything I need to finish it for now and get it running again. Once it's painted I'll give safelite a call to get a new windshield and hope it fits in the new windshield frame.

I'm kinda mad I can't find a tailgate on island. I REALLY don't want to drop $350 on a repop gate plus whatever crazy money they want to ship it out here so it looks like she'll be without tailgate till we move:doah: After looking closer at my bedfloor I think the whole thing needs replaced so I'm just going to scuff it up enough and spray some cheepie paint on it for the time being. Some aspects of this truck have really become disappointing in the past couple months...

rant over:whistle:
 
So I almost forgot about the door latch situation before painting the jambs/interior...almost. I have never understood or liked the factory door latch setup. They never stayed closed properly, needed slammed pretty hard and were overly complex for a system that didn't work as well as a newer style latch. So, a while back I picked up a set of autoloc Bearclaw latches. They seem very stout and have a lifetime warranty so I figured I'd give them a go.

I started by installing the doors, figured that was fairly important. I still need to replace the hinge pins but they're not too bad. I got them lined up as best I could considering the hinges/cheap repop doors:angry1:
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I started by drilling the spot welds on the panel inside that gives you access to the inside of the B-pillar area. I then cut out the piece that the striker bolted to. Then I used a piece of cardboard to make a template to fill the area on the B-pillar. Once I cut those from the 16 gauge I buzzed them in and then cut another piece to fill in the gap along the front (side) of the patch.
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Then I drank a beer:D
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Once that was done I took a look at the door and figured that I would want to install the latch below the recessed area where the factory latch was. I marked it and cut it out to roughly where I thought it would accomodate the striker bolt adequately. Initially I thought in the center of the door/pillar would be best. For some reason I thought it would look weird if the striker was in farther but I think if I were doing it again I would mount the latch as far towards the inside as possible and fit the striker there. Oh well. Once the door was cut I drilled the four holes to mount it. Then from the inside of the truck with the door closed I reached through and marked where the striker needed to be. I drilled that hole and installed it. I also made a couple of reinforcements above and below the new hole to minimize flexing of the metal there.

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FYI the latch kit is all metric. Luckily my junk drawer hasn't been totally ravaged yet and saved me a trip to the hardware store. I didn't think the $40 for the installation kit was worth it...

Then I used a hammer and dolly to smooth the area where the original latch was. I make a filler piece and welded it in, then made a reinforcement plate from 16 gauge to put behind it. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't necessary, but doesn't hurt anything either.
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Once that was done I looked into the releases. The inner release was extremely easy as all I did was unhook the piece from the old latch and put it on the new one.:woot: The outer one was not nearly as straight forward. I ended up taking the old latch apart (because it was failing already) to use the rocker piece off of it. I took it and welded a flat piece of 1/8" to the part that rocks down when the button is pushed. I also welded another small piece of flat to the reinforcement to hold the spring. I drilled a hole and used a 3/8" bolt to act as the pivot. I double nutted the inside so it doesn't back out/wasn't overtightened. Once cooled I drilled a 1/8" hole in the tab on the rocker piece to run the rod through.
 
Sorry, too many pics for one post.

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I opted for no door lock since this will be a soft top only truck. I figured it was one less rod to make work...:rolleyes: Once everything was where it needed to be and plenty of test-runs had been performed I welded the nut inside the B-pillar. I gave everything a good shot of zinc and then sealed it up. I still need to do the drivers side. Hopefully I can knock that out before we leave for vacation Friday afternoon, otherwise I'll be thinking about it the whole time:doah: Click on this next one, it's a video... Fancy right?!:pimp:



Comments/critiques welcome, I can take it:eek1:

Oh yeah, I ran out of gas again yesterday. That was another $170:eek1::eek1: Almost made it...
 
Well we went back to Ohio to visit family from the 15-25th. Obviously no progress was made during that time (woulda been sweet if I got back and some of this crap was done though :rolleyes:). So I was a lazy a$$ Wednesday, and ended up working Thurs & Fri, plus I will work this whole week and next. Apparently there was a scheduling conflict and I figured I could use some $$$

Anyways, Saturday I finished up the door latches. I realized about 3 hours into the flight to Ohio that I never checked to see if the window channel would work where I mounted everything:doah: Luckily everything fit, I just needed to trim a bit off the tab I made and drill a new hole:pimp: So after screwing around with that for a bit I then decided to tackle the passenger door alignment woes. After loosening and tightening the hinges about 10 times I finally got it to where I'm good with it. A few love taps with a hammer and dolly and it'll look great. Either way the door opens and closes like a dream now. The days of having to man handle it to let the wife in and out are over:woot: What's funny is the door alignment/ PITA was the original reason I started taking this thing apart. Can you say Might as Well's????:haha:

Then I patched the holes that I found full of bondo in the upper rear quarters where the PO had some ghetto-billy dual antennas or something...

Next up should be stripping the rest of the rear quarters and hope to not find any more GIANT "accumulations" of bondo. Then I'll sand/prep the inner rear panels. I should be spreading and sanding appropriately thin coats of filler by this weekend:woot: Then I plan to push it out of the garage and give it a good blow-job, err clean out:haha: and I'll start to rig my "paint booth". I may just spray the interior/jambs for now. The neighbors across the street moved and I'm pretty sure their landlord is the a-hole who tattled on me last time so I may have to wait to do the booth until the new tenants are in. I want to do the inner/outer firewall now though so I can mount the MC's, pedals and run the wiring harness before I put the front clip on for good. We'll see how that goes.

On to the couple pics I took.

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Thanks for the compliment! And no worries, like I said, I have plenty of other stuff to do anyways, so no rush. I can't thank you enough for all your help already:thumb:
 
Nice ! I have not turned on my puter for a while. $170 for gas were you talkin 75/25 co argon ? I know what you were going thru with the pass door and untill saturday when I pogoed over a razor at Dumont it was real hard to open don't know what I tweaked but it actually pops open when you push the button now. go figure. Man you are certainly going to town on this truck.:bow: keep it up

PS; I like all the pictures it helps make all the reading go down easier:thumb:
 
sponsoredbydad said:
Nice ! I have not turned on my puter for a while. $170 for gas were you talkin 75/25 co argon ? I know what you were going thru with the pass door and untill saturday when I pogoed over a razor at Dumont it was real hard to open don't know what I tweaked but it actually pops open when you push the button now. go figure. Man you are certainly going to town on this truck.:bow: keep it up

PS; I like all the pictures it helps make all the reading go down easier:thumb:
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Thanks bro!!! I'm trying to git'r duuun. Got the fenders on tonight...pics to follow!
 
Oh my god, it is a blazer!!!:eek1: After coming home pissed I crushed a 6'er and headed to the man cave after a chat with Mike (Norcal69) FTW! [in this case that's for the win, not F*** the world......] Decided it was time to check the fender fitment. Turns out it's not bad at all! Right side is good except a small spot on the door needs tapped with the hammer towards the top, it's bulging a bit. The drivers side just needs the lower portion of the fender nudged back a hair (1/16" or less). Either way I'm stoked. I didn't even have to put any shims in:woot::woot:

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BTW, I'm about 8 beers in now working on no lunch, so I'm a wee bit wrecked...Playin it cool:whistle:
 
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