Hammer's K5 rebirth!

[hammermachine]

Work

I kept it simple today, prep the new tailpan, and remove the K5's tailgate and custom bumper. Both went rather painless, except its still humid as hell. (I could loose the weight). I also forgot how heavy the K5's tailgate is. The new (LMC) tailpan has been scuffed, and had two coats of rustoleum primer. I plan on top coating it with three coats and then a couple of clear coats. This formula has worked for me on my diff covers. I also noticed that my custom off road bumper I built four years ago has held up pretty good with only a couple of coats of hammered rustoleum paint on it. The bumper was created when I thought I was just going to beat the tar out of her, not rebuild so it has too go. I never tested it out, all the damage I suffered was to the body instead.

 

[hammermachine]

Tailgate

I am also thinking about ditching my stock tailgate and hard top. One tailgate I am looking at is this one...http://www.classicindustries.com/truck/parts/T70259.html

 

[hammermachine]

Slow

I've been slow getting any work done due to the fraking heat wave. Today I wanted to finish removing the wasted tailpan, also to finish coating the new tailpan. The problem I encountered was the two carriage bolts in the middle of the tailpan. I ended up cutting them with the grinder and pulling the metal floor up. It does not seem right cutting good metal to get the rot out. I will try to complete the demo work tomorrow or Tuesday. I might need a sawzall to remove the pan.

 

[K5/SS]

That is an awesome project! Great work man.

 

[hammermachine]

Tailpan

Today i was able to finally beat the rusted oem tailpan. Its amazing just how much rust and rot can build up, but its a Northeast truck so as bad as it is it could be worst.The biggest problem today was the carriage bolt I had to cut it in half to get it out. I also discovered that one of the holes in the frame is rusted away big time. So after I removed the tailpan I scrapped everything down and hit it with a rust converter. I plan on creating a patch for the bolt hole, welding it in and paint the entire area before I install the new tailpan.

 

[Highpsi]

Looking good man! I enjoyed reading through this build so far - nice K5!

 

[hammermachine]

Tailpan

I've been struggling to remove all of the old tailpan from my K5. Today was no different. The driver's side came out in one piece without much problem. The passenger side however was a complete pain in the ass. Finally I decided to keep cutting and banging at it until I was finally down to the last couple of pieces....F**K! So that complete I created a patch for the damaged driver's side bolt hole for the new tailpan. NP, 1/2 hour later I wanted to see how the new pan would fit into the truck...WTF? No matter how I angled it it would not fit. Has anyone run into this issue? I might have to cut the rear fender so I can slide the tailpan into place. Any advice????

 

[swettysblazer]

Unbolt the body mounts and lift the body up far enough to get the tailpan in

 

[TREA18]

Mine didn't line up at all. Now it's covered by carpet

 

[hammermachine]

More fun!

I worked on the old girl today and made a ton of progress. This is requiring some fab work and deep planning or being able to adapt. I'm using the aftermarket Energy Suspension body mounts. Years ago I replaced the front six mounts with the energy suspension ones. At the time I did not want to tear into the four rear ones (LIKE NOW). But since I was replacing the entire tailpan I decided to use the mounts I still had.

To make the LMC tailpan fit I cut the passenger rear fender bottom. Of course after cutting the undamaged fender the tailpan still wouldn't clear. I then tried the advice given here and unbolt the mid cargo bed body mounts. After two days of soaking with PB BLaster...I couldn't get them to budge. After banging my head against the truck for a few hours I decided that I did not want to try to cut them off. So I figured I would cut the pan. I ended cutting off about two inches and it went right in.

Soon afterwards I prepped some flat steel and welding the pan into place. I used grade eight stainless steel hex bolts to fasten it to the frame. In the end it looks great. I will do more welding and fab work before I move on to the floor.

 

[y5mgisi]

Nice man! Good progress!

 

[hammermachine]

Slow

Sorry for the delays on this build, but things are kinda tight right now. I was trying to replace about four inches of the floor where I had to cut the old tailpan out. Unfortunately the parts I got from LMC and Goodmark DO NOT LINE UP. The shapes of the lands and grooves (?) do not match up to the OEM floor. So instead of doing a direct replacement I am now going to put in patch panels from whatever steel I can fab into place. The weather is dramatically changing so I am slowly running out of time.

 

[Chevy305]

They both don't match the oem floor?

 

[hammermachine]

Nope

They both don't match the oem floor?

Neither one matched. The LMC were both the right and left replacement sections for the floor rear. Both were off. The Goodmark was the main floor replacement section, that is off too. At best you can get two lines to match but the rest would be way off. I've never seen this before.

 

[hammermachine]

Update

Correction, the two floor panels that don't fit came from Rockauto, not LMC. I am now forced to reorder the panels.

 

[hammermachine]

Yesterday!

Yesterday was not a good day, I thought I was very close to reinstalling the tailgate (I couldn't afford to replace the tailgate with a pick up style and also buy a soft top). I ordered the new floors from LMC and figured I could put the tailgate back on while I waited for the new steel. So I bolted the gate back on and lifted to close it...BUT the alignment was off! Off on the driver's side by at least a 1/2 inch. Frustrated I left it.

Today, I came back with a plan. I MEASURED both sides from the tailpan up to the edge of the body. I then removed the gate and cut the welded steel right where the tailpan meets the support. I also used a jack to raise the body on the driver's side. Once I got it equal on both sides. I recheck several times and then fabbed some new steel to replace what I cut. I tried to be as accurate as possible this time and I believe my welds are better than before. It seems to have been a success. The new welds held the weight of the gate and closed exactly where it needed to be. This is the second K5 I've tried this repair on and my first success. I was so happy I didn't kill the green bug that had decided to live on the driver's door. I also mounted the new bumper that has been sitting in the garage since June. I didn't tighten it down, I just placed it. very happy.

 

[hammermachine]

Good day

Pretty pic!

 

[hammermachine]

Lmc

I got my floor sections from LMC today. Giant box with both parts inside. After some measuring and remeasuring I cut both sections and drilled spot weld holes. I grinded down the rough parts and coated the underside with primer, cold galvanized paint and then spray black then clear coat. They pretty much fell into place and were a way better match than the Rockauto ones. (lesson learned). I spot welded the floors in and I probably need a little fab work to close off the floor.

 

[swettysblazer]

I got my floor sections from LMC today. Giant box with both parts inside. After some measuring and remeasuring I cut both sections and drilled spot weld holes. I grinded down the rough parts and coated the underside with primer, cold galvanized paint and then spray black then clear coat. They pretty much fell into place and were a way better match than the Rockauto ones. (lesson learned). I spot welded the floors in and I probably need a little fab work to close off the floor.

Nice job dude.

 

[hammermachine]

Working

Yesterday and today I was able to patch holes in the floor and fab some of the existing steel. Overall it was progress. One of the things I had to fab was where the driver's safety belt bolts into the body. It had fallen apart and had to be completely replaced in order to be safe. I trimmed some stock steel and drilled out a bolt hole. I added a weld to the nut to secure it since it would now be concealed in the pillar wall. It was another good day. Since I am running out of time there are only a couple of mini missions left to do. (I'm not going to tell you before I get to them)