Remove rear hatch and leave off......

[Dirsuper]

I live in SoCal, but in what's considered 'high desert' (AKA, it gets friggin HOT 4-5 months of the year). It hardly ever rains, so that is no concern.

I have an '88 K5 and a '72 K5. I am going to tear down the '72 and do some type of build, but not for about a year due to time and $$$ restraints (I just had a shop built and...well.....I added a lot so I spent a lot. Need the wife to forget about that before I start dumping money into the Blazer).

Anyway, this weekend I ran around in the '72 and it is friggin hot. I always took the ability to lower the rear window in the '88 for granted - not any more. I want to leave the top on (for now), but was thinking of just taking off the rear hatch and leaving it off. Does anyone know a reason I should not? Will I tweak anything, do I have to worry about the top bending or breaking?

 

[sponsoredbydad]

Well my 2 cents is "Do It, Do It, Do It" because your gona take it off one day and never put it back on and buy soft top because a convertible truck ain't if it's got a top. But I'm just bias against those 300LB albatross's. In reality if it's bolted down good and you are not radically wheeling it I don't see the harm.I have also seen the side windows taken out for that safari look/feeling. I also feel and know your feeling of taken for granted after I sold my 87 Burb with the tailgate and semi electric window for an awesome 99 with barn doors. There is no flow and that is kinda sucky.

 

[diesel4me]

I think you can prop open the rear hatch,there are "locks" in the sliders on it..been a long time since I had my '72 K5,but I'm pretty sure you can lock those sliding tracks so it'll stay up..

Once you remove the bolts to hold the hatch on,they might never go back in,the nut plate inserts in the top often break free and spin around,or the bolts might bust off in them..might want to keep that in mind!..

 

[ashman]

I think you can prop open the rear hatch,there are "locks" in the sliders on it..been a long time since I had my '72 K5,but I'm pretty sure you can lock those sliding tracks so it'll stay up..

That is true, but it doesn't take much of a bump to make it drop anyway.

You shouldn't have any trouble structure wise but whenever I did that it would suck a lot of exhaust fumes in.

 

[Dirsuper]

I really appreciate the info guys. I plan to mess with it this weekend, so tonight (well, every night this week) I will spray those bolts with lubricant.

 

[bigjbear]

If Ramona is anything like Lancaster yours will be in better shape today than one from the rust belt was 20 years ago. That was one of my favorite parts about living out there.

 

[Deuling]

Exhaust fumes coming in would be the only real bad thing...


Solution??? Remove entire top and enjoy

But apply some sunscreen

 

[Greg72]

Ditch the top completely....

Vacuum out the interior REALLY WELL...

Then drive it.


A thorough vacuuming will insure that the first topless drive doesn't send all the floor dirt into your eyes.

If you are going to drive a 1st Gen with the hardtop bolted down you might as well just drive the '88 K5 instead. You are missing the whole essence of why people buy the full-convertible Blazers in the first place.

But know this: Once you drive the '72 topless for a while, that '88 is going to seem pretty pointless and boring by comparison.

-G

 

[diesel4me]

I had to resort to clamping vise grips or c-clamps on the sliders to keep the rear hatch up on my '72 K5,but the exhaust fume issues also were a bummer..

So,I ended up doing this...and a thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere in less than a half hour later,and I got SOAKED !..
I then had to devise a method to hoist the top back on it by myself,which wasn't exactly a joy..first try I used sawhorses and 2x4's and "walked" it back on ,like a turtle!..later on I found a Reese "truck cap hoist" my older brother got from a closed up shop and I "borrowed" it for a long time..

 

[Deuling]

But know this: Once you drive the '72 topless for a while, that '88 is going to seem pretty pointless and boring by comparison.

-G

To be completely honest, after riding around in nates 71 k5 "Oprah" for 4 days in the dunes..... I really love my 85 with the half cab. Top off is still fun, but you dont get fried by the sun.... And when it rains you dont really care....

Full verts are super awesome, but to me id rather just have friends with them, and keep mine half cab

 

[Greg72]

To be completely honest, after riding around in nates 71 k5 "Oprah" for 4 days in the dunes..... I really love my 85 with the half cab. Top off is still fun, but you dont get fried by the sun.... And when it rains you dont really care....

Full verts are super awesome, but to me id rather just have friends with them, and keep mine half cab

So basically, you want to be able to brag that you're friends with Oprah but you don't want to be married to her?

-G

 

[Deuling]

So basically, you want to be able to brag that you're friends with Oprah but you don't want to be married to her?

-G

Exactly! Just like boats, jet skis, and pools. Always better when you have friends that own them.

 

[Greg72]

Exactly! Just like boats, jet skis, and pools. Always better when you have friends that own them.

You are starting to sound a lot like a Democrat.




-G

 

[Deuling]

You are starting to sound a lot like a Democrat.




-G

I don't know what that means, not into politics. It was just an opinion to your comment earlier. I find my 85 to be the very opposite of boring after riding around in a full vert.

Still like full verts, I just don't want one.

 

[Dirsuper]

Well I feel like a dumba$$. I am slowly moving stuff from the house garage (AKA: Civilian Garage) to my shop.

Last night I was moving some plastic storage containers and came across a few the PO of my '72 had in the back of it when I picked it up. Lo and behold, there's some type of soft top in there. I found it around 9:30PM, so I did not have time to really look at it, but regardless, I am going to have some buddies help me remove the hardtop this weekend and go from there.

I am not a fan of full convertibles (for any vehicle). Don't know why, have nothing against any of it, to each his own, etc, it's just my personal taste. However, the idea of a bikini top, or even a full soft top that I can open the sides/back of would be ideal. We'll see.

 

[diesel4me]

My biggest "dislikes" about having the top off was the vulnerability if it decided to rain,and zero theft protection for both the truck,and any contents..

I would have felt safer with a roll bar too..my '75 K5 had a factory one,I only took the top off that one once--it felt twice as heavy as the top off the '72 did..
The truck had a lot of rot in the floors and even after being patched up with 16 gauge steel,it still felt very "flexy" with the roof off..the doors were hard to open and close!..

 

[Greg72]

I don't know what that means, not into politics. It was just an opinion to your comment earlier. I find my 85 to be the very opposite of boring after riding around in a full vert.

Still like full verts, I just don't want one.

Just teasing you about wanting to "enjoy" the 1st Gen experience while letting someone else actually PAY for it...

Well I feel like a dumba$$. I am slowly moving stuff from the house garage (AKA: Civilian Garage) to my shop.

I am not a fan of full convertibles (for any vehicle). Don't know why, have nothing against any of it, to each his own, etc, it's just my personal taste. However, the idea of a bikini top, or even a full soft top that I can open the sides/back of would be ideal. We'll see.

Man, I really don't get this comment at all..... the whole reason people spend the extra money and deal with all the extra hassles of owning a 1st Gen is BECAUSE they are full-convertibles. If that part of it doesn't interest you, it's hard to understand why you wouldn't just get a later model K5 which are far more plentiful (and cheap to buy) and less costly to find parts for as well....

I've heard of plenty of guys who wanted a 1st Gen, but settled on a later model for cost/serviceability reasons... but this is the first time I've come across a 1st Gen owner who actually wanted a hardtop K5 instead.

On the few occasions when my hardtop was installed I felt completely claustrophobic, and it got so hot and stuffy inside that I couldn't stand it......the interior noise was pretty lousy too.


-G

 

[Dirsuper]

I just love the K5s, all of them. If I had my way I would have one of each year made. Also, being in CA, I love anything which does not require smog. Just the difference in my '88 and my '72 K5s is amazing wrt the simplicity of the '72.

I really wanted a First Generation K5 all along, but the '88 came along about 12ish years ago and I jumped on it because it was being sold by the original owner who was a service manager at a Chevrolet dealership in SoCal. I bought it while off doing something else for the military. It popped up in one of my searches, I called and requested specific pics, and had a buddy go up with my wife to pick it up. I got home about 7 months later and immediately evicted my wife's car from the garage, it's that clean.

Now that I am retired (from the military, still work, but a normal job) I wanted to build a first generation K5. Hell, I built my shop with working on K5s as a deciding factor on some of the design elements. I even have a custom license plate on it - 1STGNK5. I'm just not comfortable in convertibles.....probably for the same reasons I always walk to the back of the bar first and stand there for a while checking it out, or always sit with my back to the wall, etc. Don't know. As I said, personal preference I can't explain....some people like red, some like blue I guess.

 

[Greg72]

Ha!

The CA no-smog thing is what got me looking at the 1st Gens also....

Back in the early 2000s when I was still living in CA, I wanted a tow rig that would be fun and smog exempt. That's when I bought my '72.

I originally wanted to use it to tow my Porsche 911 to track events so that I wouldn't have to worry about breakdowns or crashes as much. Then I realized: "who the hell do I think I am? I can't afford to spend THAT kind of money racing Porsches! I'll just focus on restoring my old Blazer instead....that won't cost very much."

I laugh every time I think about that story.





-G

 

[chevyfumes]

So many Lolz in this thread. I tried to stay out of it originally because I'd just have said Fumes! But I like fumes, sunburns, snow, hail, rain, soft top, bikini.... It's all good.