What's new
CK5
Register an account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

need advice on how much to cut off....

RockinChevy

RockinChevy

1/2 ton status
 Premium
GMOTM Winner
Joined
May 9, 2005
Posts
2,315
Reaction score
2
Location
Chandler, AZ
....without going too far to run into other problems.

My blazer is currently in the teardown stage, getting it prepped for rollcage work. I've already removed the entire front clip, bashed roof and partially the rear bedsides. This build is going in the direction of how Watson's Wally and Fox's UAV was built, maybe similar or maybe better.

Well, I want to cut the floor to skinny it up and I don't know if I'll run into big problems with the fuseblock, wiper module and pedals. I think I'll remove the parking brake and go with a hand brake or a t-case brake. The a/c box is gone so there's nothing on the firewall at passenger side. The dash will be gone.

Can you guys give me some foresight before I screw it all up? Thanks.
 
Nothing?!

So nobody else skinny up their floor before welding in a rollcage? :dunno:
 
Not sure what you really want to hear?? Not everyone knows what Watson's Wally and Fox's UAV rigs look like. I know the Wally though.
What do you mean by skinny up the floor?
Just tear into it and when you get to a problem, you know that's what will happen, Just come on again and ask away?:)
 
chevysmithz71 said:
Not sure what you really want to hear?? Not everyone knows what Watson's Wally and Fox's UAV rigs look like. I know the Wally though.
What do you mean by skinny up the floor?
Just tear into it and when you get to a problem, you know that's what will happen, Just come on again and ask away?:)
Click to expand...


I'm not sure what I wanted to hear either.... What I meant by "skinny up the floor" is cutting it to make the rig narrower, which means possibly moving the front seats closer together... But I'm checking in to see if anybody has done this without having to relocate the pedals, fuseblock, etc. I didn't know whether to cut it 6" narrower or 12". Basically what I'm asking is how to do all that without making everything else a giant pain in the a$$. That's all.

I'm trying to prep the Blazer so I won't have to pay someone to do it.

EDIT: I had this idea to narrow the floor down to 53" but I guess I'll just leave it alone.
 
Well the short answer should be obvious: Yeah, you're going to have to move things around. The factory pedals are x-inches away from centerline, and that affects your throttle linkage/cable... same with the shifter linkage, if you're still using the column shifter. Also going to affect your steering linkage, etc, since it will all be moving close to the centerline.

So you're going to have to do some decent amount of work to get all that lined up right. It's not as simple as just slicing a foot out of the middle and welding up the two sides .
 
just saying, if you wanted "narrow" you should have bought something else, you drive a Blazer, just boatside the crap out of it, and tend to the corners for clearence, roll cage it and run.

if you're going to put that much time into something like that, go back to your original idea of building the buggy.:D
 
tacoma said:
Well the short answer should be obvious: Yeah, you're going to have to move things around. The factory pedals are x-inches away from centerline, and that affects your throttle linkage/cable... same with the shifter linkage, if you're still using the column shifter. Also going to affect your steering linkage, etc, since it will all be moving close to the centerline.

So you're going to have to do some decent amount of work to get all that lined up right. It's not as simple as just slicing a foot out of the middle and welding up the two sides .
Click to expand...

I figured that much but I was more curious if anybody's done it and kept pedals and steering in stock locations.. I got my answer though. I'll just leave it alone and let the fabricator deal with it.
 
4xcrazy said:
just saying, if you wanted "narrow" you should have bought something else, you drive a Blazer, just boatside the crap out of it, and tend to the corners for clearence, roll cage it and run.

if you're going to put that much time into something like that, go back to your original idea of building the buggy.:D
Click to expand...

I don't have 10K anymore. Gonna go the truggy route. Yes, more time consuming but cheaper in the long run, considering the driveline mounts are still there, master cylinder still on the firewall, etc, and I can still use them.
 
I say lots of tube and just skin it with what you have left. Much easier.You may say it is cheaper, but all that work takes time from you doing something else. I would definitly do that NOW having learned everything after my build. just my.02.
 
s10 body? I really thought you meant dovetailing it and narrowing the front. Chopping and splicing the two sides I dont really see worth it. Its gonna be huge work for very little return.

As said I think you would be much better of just boatsiding it and narrowing the front and rear.

Besides I thought all the talk was about width now a days. Ya dont wanna fall short with the womens. :)
 
Subscribed because I have always dreamed of a fully narowed K5 for the trails. I have seen pics of a red one in either Petersen's or FourWheeler. It was freakin' sweet. I also wish a company would produce one scaled down a bit to the size of a TJ to fit those trails a lot better. I just don't like the look of a jeep in general.

I would think that you could just section the firewall and tub to get the effect you are looking for. That is if I am reading this right.:D:wink1:
 
Thank you fellas. I did a bunch of brainstorming and measuring today... and I've come to the conclusion that I can narrow the floor down to 56" safely without getting into deeper problems. Everything stays in its place other than losing the hood release and parking brake levers.

I wanted to cut today but my cheapo Harbor Freight sawzall crapped on me. :(,,,, here I go again, being a cheap bastard who rather put money into the rig than buy decent tools to get the job done. ;)
 
It's easier than all of this. Keeping the floorboard and firewall is a great way to address pain in the butt details like wiring and brakes.
The pedals aren't centered up on the seat to start with so just leave them in the factory location and move your seats closer together. The UAV ended up about 56" wide so the seats are about 8" closer together, maybe a bit more, it's been a while since I thought about it. Either way, set your outside width and your seat spacing independent of the pedals. Now you don't even have to break open the brake system and your gas pedal doesn't change.
You will have to mess with the steering shaft to re-center it on your new seat location but there's not really a way around it. A new column tube with a removable wheel is the way anyway.
When we cut the firewall, we lost the outside of the hole the fuseblock mounts into, so we slotted the hole to the inside and moved the block over.
Wipers disappear or become totally custom so just get that stuff out of the way.
I think the lower "rocker" tubes on the uav were 52-54" and the floor was cut roughly 6" inside that on each side, then we welded sheet strips between the existing floor and the chassis tube to close it in. Similar situation for the firewall. Overall this gets you a closed in floor without having to think about a whole lot of stuff like building a tunnel, etc. We had a height variation between the lower tube of the door area and the floor height so the floor slopes up pretty good from the floor to the "rocker".
If you keep the bolt lip where the rear floor section bolts to the front of the tub under the edge of the rear seat, it's easy to bolt another piece of sheet in there to form the rear floor. Or just put in a piece of the factory floor.

It seems like maybe we had to cut part of the brake pedal off on the UAV, I can't remember but it's a tiny detail in the overall scheme.
The corners of the floor get a bit whacky to sheet in, get some cardboard to mock them up, it'll help you think sheet up easier.

Overall, I'm a fan of keeping the floorboard and firewall, even if it's mostly tube chassis. If nothing else, it's nice to keep the truck rolling while you work on the tube work and it leaves some of the hard stuff done or at least most of the way done and easy to finish.
 
Awesome, thanks for the smoking response, Stephen! :bow:

I didn't think about the wipers, glad that was mentioned. I'll figure something out since I want to keep it street legal so must have a windshield of some kind. As for steering, I'm going full hydro so I won't have to deal with the steering box linkage, which is perfect since I want a longer wheelbase.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest Posts

Top Bottom