Hammer K5 Resto project

[hammermachine]

I decided to post the progress or any lack of, of my K5 restoration project I have planned over my vacation. This is my first attempt to restore anything, much less a 22 year old truck. So please bear with me if the novice in me comes thru. And please any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Phase one: Demo the F*@ked up carpet and padding. This phase is taking longer because so far I've been only able to work on the truck for about an hour after work. What surprised me is just how much of the cab floor is still intact. Sofar the rusted out parts are at the places I already knew about. I should have more info and photos on Tuesday, that will be a heavily dedicated day to this project.


List of supplies

one qt of rust bullet
one qt of rustoleum
One gal of Durabak u/v Black
4 inch roller/ and replacements
assorted tools
dremel tool
panel adhesive fus 112
sheet metal
sheet metal snips
tons of sand paper various grits



I found my first surprise, hidden underneath the carpet. Does anyone know why some pervious owner would cut these holes in the transmission well?



Note i posted this thread in the Garage but it might work better here.

 

[hammermachine]

Surprises!!!!

Well I've, removed the carpets and seats. Unfortunatly I came across what looks like structure problems. The sheet metal behind the bench seat is rotted away and the frame mounds are poking thru. That and the tailgate rot is really bad. Any thoughts of advise, please feel free to pass it along.

 

[hammermachine]

Any Support????

I've been on vacation and have not been able to log in and check this tread for entries. I'm very surprised that no one has posted any advice or comments, especialy since I know there are tons of experianced people out there. Where is the supportive brotherhood? I have never attempted a car restoration before, and I thought I would find encouragement and advice here.

So far the biggest accomplishment I've done was demo the carpet, removed the seats, and storage box. I have also replaced the damaged/ rusted out right wheel well. The replacement was bought from Mill Supply online. It was about 40 bucks and was suppose to be a direct replacement. I painted it with POR 15 and then sprayed it with Duplicolor rubber undercoat. It looked fine as I installed it. How ever I then found the radiator fluid box and the battery box do not line up where they use to on the old wheel well. Now I plan to drill some new holes so I can attach these items back on top of the well. (I'll post the photos on Wed)

 

[chevy wrangler]

well i have been following this

 

[hammermachine]

parts

As I mentioned, I bought the replacement wheel well from a site called Mill Supply http://www.rustrepair.com/ they were the cheapest I found online. The part was $34.76. The only problems were that their was no predrilled holes for the Radiator tank and the Battery tray. Simple fixes but extra work. I also bought a pair of rocker panels also, I just haven't had the time to start that work yet. I figured the bed floor will dominate my time. Especially now my vacation is over.

 

[chevy wrangler]

wow the wheel well was gone!!

 

[hammermachine]

yeah one of the pervious owners had rivited sheets of plastic to hold the well together. It made a crazy sound whenever I drove on the highway.

 

[hammermachine]

Plans

To fix the rusted out sheet metal in the bed of the truck (check photos). I think I'm going to cut a rectangle out around the rust, weld in a support between both mounds to the remianing bed. Then I was going to weld in a sheet metal patch. Does that sound about right?

 

[chevy wrangler]

thats sounds good

 

[hammermachine]

Mig welding

Based on the advice I've recieved here and elsewhere, I bought a mig from work and finally got a chance to use it this weekend. I'm not sure about the results I got,but it was pretty cool to use, and simple to set up. I think I need alot more practice.

 

[rjfguitar]

Dang, you've got a crap load of work to do! Keep updating and let us know how it goes.

 

[hammermachine]

Progress

Update: Currently I have ordered replacement parts; tailpan (LMC), left and right rear floor panels, and front floor bed panel(Goodmark). I've also been practicing with my MIG. I hope to have the parts in by next week, and start cutting out the rot and preping the replacement steel that week. It's a long process with limited funds so guys bear with me. Oh did I mention I'm still really don't know what I'm doing?

 

[hammermachine]

Parts

Oh yeah I decided to use Goodmark for some of the parts (they were the cheapest for rear flooring) and LMC for the tailpan ( only because the stupid, overcomplicated MillSupply website). Once recieved I'm planning on roughing them up and painting them with rustbullet. Maybe this is overkill, but F**k it I have no idea just how long I'll have this truck.

 

[hammermachine]

parts prep

The tailpan and rear floor panels have been repainted and prepared as best as I can. On the tailpan I used two coats of Rustbullet and then covered that with safety red rustoleum (I liked the color). After looking at the truck again yesterday, it seems like I'm all ready for the biggest phase yet... the cutting out of the rust and removal of the tailgate!!! Since I'm basically doing all this in the parking lot near my job I have to plan everything out as much as possible. Saturday I will rent a generator, and a 4 inch grinder for the job.

 

[hammermachine]

paint sprayer?

I'm looking to undercoat my K5 with rustbullet after I hit it hard with a power washer. After looking at all or the nocks and crannies under the truck I think a sprayer would be faster and more on target. Does anyone use any CHEAP sprayers out there? How about a wagner sprayer, I know it's shown on TV as a do it all sprayer. Any thoughts?

 

[chevy wrangler]

that is a cool color

 

[wags86]

I am in the processing of using rustbullet on the underside of my truck, I am not going to go too crazy so I an using the old fashion way, a brush and lots of rubber gloves, watch out as it is a pain to get off the skin...

 

[hammermachine]

undercoat

Yeah I'm going to use rustbullet on the body, I'm still undecided on just how to apply it. It is rather expensive and I don't want to spend all day painting the underneath of my truck , having it drip down on me. I think the spray would be just as accurate and definatly faster. But I haven't heard of anybody using a sprayer to apply rustbullet on a rig yet.

I'm planning on replacing the rot this weekend 7/14. It was way too hot this past weekend to get to it. I'll post pics of my work as I go.

 

[hammermachine]

More Progress!

Saturday was a major "cut the rot out day". I had orginally wanted to cut it out and start welding the replacement sheet metal the same day. Well that didn't work. First problem I encountered was the rear bumper bolts are seized! I mean seized! So I decided to take another route. I was going to remove the hinge bolts and pull the tailgate off. Well... the bolts on the tailpan side was been treated to water and the elements for the last 20 years. I was able to remove the ones on the gate itself, with no problem. I also had to grind off the two tension bars also since I couldn't get the bumper off. I then started to cut, it wasn't bad, just alittle strange cutting up a vehicle. The only problem was that it was hot ( working at my job's parking lot) so I wasn't dressed to protect my arms from the debris of cutting. Anyway with all of the rot of the tail section cut out I placed the newly painted tailpan in. Also I should mention the two rear body bolts refused to budge too. I had to cut them out also. So no biggie I can get some stainless bolts to replace the old ones. Unfortunatly the new tailpan didn't quite sit well in the old spot. I'll tack weld it once I buy the new bolts, so I can complete the entire install at once. The cool thing is once i placed the new rear cargo sheet metal they both covered the two rotted out spots further in the bed. So once I install them they will take care of two problem areas. The thing that sucks is that I already bought the middle cargo replacement. It's already painted so I can't return it. Anyway the photos show the progress I made this weekend. I still have alot of work to do. The last photo is of the old tailpan or should I say what is left of it. I'll keep posting work if your still interested.

 

[chevy wrangler]

wow that was bad!