Meet "Murphy" the '84 K5

[kis2]

(jump to page 2 for completed pics)

Hey fellas,

Meet Murphy the K5! Some of you have seen the early stages of progress already, but to save CK5 some space, I've consolidated them into one thread. This thread is a long story made short, but she's named Murphy because everything that could've gone wrong, did. I honestly can't tell you how many new components are on here, I will try to make a list at the end of this.

Picture 1:
This project began with my old 1984, slightly rusty, blue K5. Automatic 700, new 350, and completely factory besides a CD player. I decided I either needed to buy a brand new truck or fix up this one and upon pricing new 4x4's (), I decided to fix up this one!

Pictures 2- 5:
So I found a rust free donor blazer. I was just going to do a body swap and call it good, but the donor blazer had a suspension lift, 1 ton axles and some other neat stuff. It was a manual with fewer options than my current blazer. You can see in the third picture it had some very light rust, and most everything rubber was rotted out from sitting. The interior had been very messed with, carpet glued over carpet, multiple CD players, lots of superfluous electronics, etc. But I decided to go with it, we got the axles under it and towed it to the garage!

 

[kis2]

the interior and front clip of the donor

 

[kis2]

so then the work began!

Picture 1 & 2:
since the front was off, I did some sanding and applied the world famous rust bullet. it stuck on pretty good, and I like the way it ended up looking. this wasn't going to be a glamour project, just needed some rust protection on the investment.

Picture 3:

Everything rubber got replaced. All new body mounts and seals from LMC, new greasable suspension bushings from ORD. EVERYTHING outside and rubber was replaced. here you can see the SS steel brakelines from ORD, appropriate size for the 6" lift (the donor had 9", but I felt that was just a bit too much). shocks also from ORD

Picture 4 & 5:
New heavy duty suspension pieces from ORD! Look at the difference!

 

[kis2]

after lots and lots of work, it came time to do the engine swap! most of the work was undoing a lot of what previous owners had done (light bar, multiple cd players, alarm systems, etc). this is my daily driver so we tried to make the swap happen fast. the biggest hold up was firewalls. the differences between these two trucks was huge! but after a much longer time than expected, we got it all in. I drove it for a while with no rear shocks and the sway bar disconnected. I don't recommend it!

We also put in the 700 trans and matching 208 TCase.

Then it was as simple as put the front clip back on and drive around a bit! once it was drivable I found and repaired a crack in the frame around the steering box and added a box brace from ORD.

 

[kis2]

then it was time for paint! this truck had 4, thats right FOUR layers of paint on it. and one of the layers barely even came off with a sander, stripper had no effect. and then, there were little holes drilled everywhere once you got under the paint! I think from running all the crazy electronics. holes on top of the cab from the light bar were the biggest pain, because they made it so loose. we heat shrinked it. we did it right, getting it all down to bare metal, welding up the holes, priming, sealing and painting. I chose the same green they used to put on jeeps, a dark forest green with small gold metallics.

everything chrome was sandblasted and then truck bed lined. the wheel wells and bottom portion of the panels were also truck bed lined. the truck bed liner sticks really well! the only place I have some flaking is on the chrome grill, but it basically wasn't prepped at all. eventually I'll take it out, really sand it down and it'll stick just fine.

it rained on me mid-paint ... had enough paint to stop and start again though!

during the paint process, I found one of the doors from the donor was all kinds of cracked. Finding another door was easier than repairing, so it got a new door! we found small amounts of rust in corners of the floor, but nothing that didn't grind out. the lines needed major adjusting, so new door pins were installed and all the panels tweaked to line up.

LMC's weather stripping all fit pretty good! the vent windows were a serious PITA though.

new windshield went in at this point too

 

[y5mgisi]

Great project man!

 

[shady]

looks like a fun project I like the silver underside color choice. Cant wait to see the color of the body. And thats a 3/4 ton front diff.

 

[kis2]

thanks guys! as soon as the website lets me upload pictures again, the story will continue. and thanks for the clarification shady, the front is 3/4, I believe the rear is 1. I'm still no expert though.

 

[shady]

Hope to see the picks soon Its deffinately nice

 

[kis2]

I got one to load, but still awfully glitchy. Nonetheless, here you can see the truck bed lining on the door handle, and the green paint!

consider this a teaser.

 

[kis2]

OK, so apparently the issue is I can't get any of the pictures of it being painted to load. So take my word for it, we broke it all the way down. At the same time, I gutted the interior, sanded it down and truck bed lined all of it. Since this picture I've made rear panels. Nothing fancy, just some brown outdoor carpet.

the coolest thing about having a truck bed lined interior is that if you scratch it, you just spray some more on!

 

[shady]

Try loading 3 at a time. I have issues loading 5 once and a while so I select 3, hit upload, then when their loaded i select the other 2 upload again, then hit submit reply. usually works that way

 

[kis2]

After the green paint and interior were done, I ordered a front bumper from ORD and had it powder coated black, with a 10% gloss.

Bolted right on. Looks great, built to last. Love it.

 

[kis2]

post paint, I started assembling some interior. Went with a tan/black theme and the dash was painted when we did the truck, same green. used colorbond for most of it.

note: colorbond doesn't work any better than just spray paint.

the front was also truck bed lined, but for added comfort I layed down some insulation and vinyl.

it needed a new headliner, so it got my favorite flag. she's been called a 'rebel machine'.

dash pad from LMC in tan.

speakers mounted in the door now

 

[kis2]

I replaced the hubs with warnes heavy duty hubs and at the same time noticed the tires that came on the axles were pretty rotted, so I saved up and replaced them too! switched to black rims at the same time.

the tires are goodyear duratracs in 315x whatever the mm measurement is for 12.5". on a 16" 8 lug wheel. So far, I love the tires. quiet on the highway, work well off road. this is still my daily driver so longevity was a concern in tire choice. these are "E" rated, so that's pretty cool.

 

[kis2]

I added a softtop post paint. it's functional, saves a lot of weight, definately has the look I wanted, but out of all the additions to this truck, I got the LEAST bang for my buck here.

it needs about a 1/4" more fabric. I've been driving highway in summer heat for months now and it still hasn't stretched to an appropriate fit. the warranty is one of the worst I've seen in recent years on ANY product I've spent triple digits on. not good. but like I said, it works, it bolts on and it looks good enough. it's the softtopper brand.

heres an interior pic of it, you can see how the corners let light in. the tailgate cross bar still has a bunch of bow in it. more pics to come.

 

[kis2]

so here it is! I've got a rear bumper/tire carrier/jerry can holder/hilift holder on the way from offroadltd to complete it. after that, just some seat covers and she's all done!

hopefully you can pick up some of the green paint and truck bed liner along the bottom edge from these pictures. the third pic down really shows the color and truck bed lining on the tailgate well. I'm not any kind of hardcore offroader, but I do go on trails regular vehicles can't make it down. first pic shows she articulates pretty good for having leaf springs!

all in all, she's got about 5 different trucks in her, lots of aftermarket pieces and still gets 14mpg overall. not bad! with all the new pieces, she honestly handles just as good as the blue truck did. going from a firewall with all the options to one with none and at the same time converting from stick to auto trans was probably the most difficult part of the whole project. the engine, transmission, transfer case and axles have all been gone through and no longer have leaks or anything.

additions:
ORD steering box brace
ORD front shackles
ORD rear shackles
ORD SS brakelines
ORD greasable suspension/swaybar bushings
ORD front bumper
ORD shocks
Softtopper soft top
LMC body mounts
LMC vinyl interior
LMC dash pad
LMC - new steering components
LMC- new every single piece of weatherstripping
Warne HD hubs
3/4 ton Axles
new brakes
new heater core
350 motor with 8k miles, all new pumps and such
Edelbrock Carb - 1406 - 600cfm Performer
custom length driveshaft
new exhaust (still the old manifolds though, need to fix that.)
Champion Aluminum Radiator

Couldn't have done it without friends, ORD, LMC, Discount Tire.

License plate censorship brought to you by:
http://www.gadsdenandculpeper.com/

If I think up more additions I'll add them, hard to remember at this point!
Thanks for looking!

 

[79rustyk10]

Awesome build man!

 

[shady]

I love that color Theres a 2wd 1/2 ton that runs around here with about a shade lighter than your green. Old dude has it and its funny cause he has a clear on it with big multicolor flakes. real cool in the sun. Cant wait to see the rest of it come together

 

[kis2]

thanks guys!