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Full Convt Conversion ????

M

mstockton

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I'm looking to pick up my donor cab this weekend, who has done this swap, I read the tech article on ck5.com, any one have any tips or handy pics of this, I believe I have the basic idea of how to do it, its a bummer, because I have some repair work to do in the lower part of the frame as well, because of rust damage :(. Oh well. So yea post up some picks and advice, I'm gonna need it!!

-Martin
 
Do you want to use a hard top or no? I have pics here of when I did my '89. You need to have rocker boxes, or there is alot of body flex.
 
Well i just started today, I was looking at the rocker boxes on the parts truck, but it just didn't seem like it would be worth my effort to hack them off and modify them to fit, because of the different floorpan arrangement on my '82, so what I did for now is used 2" square tubing and went from the front body crossmember (the one directly under the windshield frame that runs horizontal under the tub) back to the rear crossmember a bit behind the front seat mounts. I used one piece for each side, turned out pretty well, but I get the feeling I'm going to need more. I was thinking of running another one more inboard to the frame, I ran the current ones about 1.5" from the rocker panel/body seam. Think this is enough or do I still need more? I need it to hold up for a few months till I can get a full cage put in it. Any tips for where you measured for the windshield frame cut? With the curve in the windshield you have to go about 3.5" out to center to get a measurement with a tape measure.

I am planning on running a hardtop, DD or bust!


-Martin
 
I wish I never put the hard top on. I'm going to sell mine, just stick with my soft top.

As for the windsheild frame, I removed the glass, measured from the bottom of the frame, then welded in a peice of flat stock 2 inches below were I made my cut(about half way up the frame). That way the frame did not spread, and it made it easy to mark the cuts. The frame is 3 peices, it is best to cut and weld them in different spots to keep it rigid. My front and back cuts were about 4" apart.

I didn't put rocker boxes on yet. When (if) I do, I'm going with 2" square also. The full distance of the rocker, and connect it to the floor support.
 
mstockton said:
Well i just started today, I was looking at the rocker boxes on the parts truck, but it just didn't seem like it would be worth my effort to hack them off and modify them to fit, because of the different floorpan arrangement on my '82, so what I did for now is used 2" square tubing and went from the front body crossmember (the one directly under the windshield frame that runs horizontal under the tub) back to the rear crossmember a bit behind the front seat mounts. I used one piece for each side, turned out pretty well, but I get the feeling I'm going to need more. I was thinking of running another one more inboard to the frame, I ran the current ones about 1.5" from the rocker panel/body seam. Think this is enough or do I still need more? I need it to hold up for a few months till I can get a full cage put in it. Any tips for where you measured for the windshield frame cut? With the curve in the windshield you have to go about 3.5" out to center to get a measurement with a tape measure.

I am planning on running a hardtop, DD or bust!


-Martin
Click to expand...
A buddy of mine has done this to a 88 or so, you can talk to him by checking out his website, he's in Morgan hill CA, http://www.pacificfab.net/
His name is Kevin. Tell him I sent you his way, him and Ryan are great guys talk to them they will tell you what they know and did.
 
Well I got most of it done yesterday; i cut and welded the windshield header, cut the doors, fitted the rubber caps at top, fitted the window channel and door brace and fiberglass cap in the rear of one door, and got the other B pillar hole patched and ground. Just gotta do one more door cap and b pillar cap on sunday. I'm really really happy with how it turned out, and I'm getting excited, its like the truck has a new hope, (with the way my roof was, it was do this or scrap the tub). I'll post some pics tonight hopefully, let ya'll see it thus far.
Now I just need a 73-75 hardtop in decent shape.

-Martin
 
My hard top is up for sale. 1975 double wall with sliders. sanded down and painted semi gloss white
 
Here are some pics from the beginning, I realized I got so excited, I forgot to keep taking them! :haha: Oh well, I'll grab some more tomorrow morning when I go to wrap it all up. The main thing I found is, running the square tubing like I discussed in a previous post from fore to aft did not control the body entirely. I made my first cut through the windshield frame and it spring outward about 1/2" or so. Oops! So I had pops hang on the door to pull it back in line then clamped it all back together, then we tacked some square tubing in door frames and that held it all still, just need to come up with something to control that body flex before I cut 'er loose!

-Martin
Blazer_Revamp_091_Small_.jpg


Blazer_Revamp_092_Small_.jpg


Blazer_Revamp_090_Small_.jpg


Sorry if the pics are little big, its as small as my resizer will make them!

I'm much further along at this point, but like I said before, forgot to take the rest of the pictures, so I'll get those up tomorrow evening.
 
Wrapped up most of the conversion stuff, still need to brace the body a bit better so I can take out the door frame braces I put in...


Blazer_Revamp_094_Small_.jpg


Blazer_Revamp_099_Small_.jpg


Blazer_Revamp_095_Small_.jpg


Blazer_Revamp_093_Small_.jpg


Hope that satisfies your need to pictures craig! :D


I'll be redirecting some of this stuff into the old build thread I started a month back or so, get that going again, so I can post up pics of all the other progress, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, just want to get a hardtop so I can check the fit before I do all the paint and finish work on the truck... Also need a rollbar, but there is a guy selling 80's K5 rollbars for like 50 bucks around here, I might go pick one up because I am lazy and time for fabrication is running short on this deal.

-Martin
 
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