The hoodride build... my '70 K5

[hoodride]

You really gotta ditch that locomotive-style front bumper, and get a factory grille back on there.....IMHO.

Those were both the PO's doing... I actually like the bumper quite a bit, I just need to drop the winch a little and tuck it in so it's not killing my approach angles. The factory grill part I couldn't agree more on, I'm keeping my eyes peeled at the scrap yard. I HATE billet grills (on any truck)

Take it out of the parking lot over the Memorial Day weekend and get some great shots of it out in the woods or on a mountain trail somewhere.

Can't wait, unfortunately somone decided they wanted my license plates more than I did during shipment so she's not street ready yet
I'm working on that one today, and tracking down some electrical gremlins. Also, a bit of unrelated good news for me: I'm an Industrial Technology major up at Humboldt State, wrapping up my last year, and I just got an email yesterday saying they'll be opening up the metals/machine lab this summer That will give me access to a LOT of tools.

 

[hoodride]

Agreed.

And it looksl ike your upper radiator hose to water neck connections is barely on there. Unscrew hose camp, and slide the hose all teh way onto the fitting first.

Will do. Thanks!

 

[bp71k5]

Nice and respectful trim job. I've got a 70 outer grill you can have if you want. It's broken in a couple spots but in good shape otherwise. I was going to use it on mine but decided it wasn't worth the effort. I can't bear to throw it away now.

 

[hoodride]

Should I get a fan spacer? Someone was saying the fan should be around 3/4" to 1" from the radiator, but that just sounds like your asking for something bad to happen...

 

[cuervo]

I didn't read the thread, but if it's been sitting the 5 years you've been in school I would change all the fluids and flush and fill the radiator for sure.


And what kind of work do you do up in homboldt? I thought there was only one line of work up there.

 

[Greg72]

Where is your fan shroud?

The dimension I've heard is that the fan should be approx 1/2 inside and 1/2 outside of the fan shroud to create the correct airflow. I don't think you can set up the fan distance until you have the shroud in place....

 

[hoodride]

I didn't read the thread, but if it's been sitting the 5 years you've been in school I would change all the fluids and flush and fill the radiator for sure.


And what kind of work do you do up in homboldt? I thought there was only one line of work up there.

It's only been sitting a couple years, and I already changed most of the fluids but thanks for the input.

I took a few years off of school and worked commercial construction down in Santa Clara and then decided to get back to it so I'm wrapping up my Senior Year here at Humboldt and then getting the hell out of here. You are right on the money in saying there's only one job up here, and I hate the stuff. I'm off to San Francisco or Austin, TX after I graduate.

 

[hoodride]

Where is your fan shroud?

The dimension I've heard is that the fan should be approx 1/2 inside and 1/2 outside of the fan shroud to create the correct airflow. I don't think you can set up the fan distance until you have the shroud in place....

See my sig... that's where my fan shroud is

I know the half in/half out part, I just didn't know if I should dial in my fan-to-radiator distance and then modify the shroud to work or get a shroud and dial the fan in around that.

 

[RudyO]

Your distance seems about right, maybe space it just a lil more after you get a shroud. The shroud acts like a funnel that the blades pull the air through. I have a stock 78 GMC with a 454, and the shroud measures 3 3/4" from the edge of the opening to the radiator, while the edge of the fan blade is 3.5 " from the radiator. Less than an inch clearance? The radiator won't be happy, what with chassis flex, revving etc. Also consider that a flex type fan tends to straighten the faster it spins. A clutch type (i.e. stock) is usually a better choice for cooling also.

I can post a pic once it's light out if you need it.

 

[hoodride]

Still fiddling around with her, did a few things the last couple days.

Installed a tach finally (never had one of those nifty little buggers)
got a vacuum gauge and going to give a shot at tuning the carb tomorrow
Put another coat of bedliner on the lower portion of the truck (turned out nice I think)
Traced down an electrical leak (alternator)
JB welded the oil pan... I know this is questionable but I really don't want to have to lift the engine for a couple very small cracks. It was a very slow drip, but please post up if you think this was a bad idea.

 

[hoodride]

Now onto the questions bear with me please:
A friend pointed out that my rear driver's side tire looks to be slanted (Tire appears to be angled inward at the top as if the axle's bent) it's a 14 bolt and I have yet to do anything crazy... here's some pics (it may be hard to see it). What do you think?

 

[hoodride]

Next question is the winch. It was on the truck when I bought it, I've never connected it and have no info on it. The only markings on it say "viking winch" and from all my searching both here and elsewhere I haven't come up with much. I used to have the controller but I lost it, are these a universal thing? Here's some pictures of the 4 pin connector and the winch

 

[hoodride]

Last question, I swear (well... for today anyways ) Sorry for all the noob sh*t, I'm searching I promise. All the info I've found says "hook brown wire here" and "this color here" and my entire electrical setup is a hack job with different colors spliced everywhere. If I knew how to rewire the damn thing I would, for now I'm just fixing what needs to be fixed for a run. Thanks for all the help thus far, and thanks in advance for any help to be given. If I could double up on memberships I would. Best damn $25 I've ever spent.

My alternator is pulling a draw and draining my batteries, I'm hoping it's just the diodes if it's the alternator itself, if not, I'll just upgrade to a high amperage unit. BUT, i'm thinking it's probably my doing. It's a 2 wire alt with one going straight to batt. and the other I found disconnected, I figured it was a ground but then I thought that some alternators were grounded my the unit itself. Long story short... where does this wire go? (I'm holding the right wire on the connector, left is going to back of the alt. and then to the batt.)

 

[MNorby]

for the winch controller you could make one I would bet. Just go to a hardware store that sells wiring and get a plug in for that 4 pin connector (Ihave seem them at our local Big R farm store) then get some 4 wire insulated trailer wiring and makre a handle out of some strap and a 3 way momentary switch. Use a test light of volt meter to find if one is hot then jumper that hot one to other pins to see if it spools in/out. I made a controller like that for a friends 8k warn that he lost the controller for.

 

[70jimmy]

Looks like the axle tube is bent. The bend in the rear bumper throws perspective off but the pic from the front of the axle it seems like it is bowed.

 

[hoodride]

for the winch controller you could make one I would bet. Just go to a hardware store that sells wiring and get a plug in for that 4 pin connector (Ihave seem them at our local Big R farm store) then get some 4 wire insulated trailer wiring and makre a handle out of some strap and a 3 way momentary switch. Use a test light of volt meter to find if one is hot then jumper that hot one to other pins to see if it spools in/out. I made a controller like that for a friends 8k warn that he lost the controller for.

Well since you already know how to do it and all...... I'll PM you my address. Mind making me a copy of your front bumper while your at it?

In all seriousness though, LOVE your blazer. I'll be modeling my bumper build after yours, and I'll look into the winch controller thing, but me+electrical=worst enemies. I like to say I'm a guy who goes by the mantra of "built not bought" but there are some things I'd just rather not mess with...

 

[hoodride]

Looks like the axle tube is bent. The bend in the rear bumper throws perspective off but the pic from the front of the axle it seems like it is bowed.

From what I've read just now, this is remedied by pulling the axle, strapping the sides down with some good thick chain, finding where exactly its bent and throwing a bottle jack under where the bend is, using heat if needed for encouragement. Yay, another thing to add to the list of "things to do before you can start with the fun stuff".

I made a promise to myself that I would fix everything needed to get it reliable and dependable before I started on tube work (sliders, new front bumper, more cage work) and other add-ons like lockers, stereo (love my tunes ), DIY4x shack flip and zero rates, recovery equipment, furd shock towers etc... you know, the fun stuff. It's getting harder and harder to stick to this plan

 

[Greg72]

It might be faster to simply find a new 14BFF axle and swap the entire thing under there.....

If you haven't already done a rear disc conversion, detroit locker or deep gear swap, odds are good you can find a direct bolt-in replacement for $150 or less. Rear axles are cheap to buy.

 

[hoodride]

Put the soft top on... just your regular pic whoring, no updates really... just tinkering away. OH! actually, I went under the truck the other day for some reason or another, and found that EVERY bolt on the crossmember was not even hand tight, they were just sitting there. Where the crossmember itself bolts together to drop the oil pan, where it bolts to the frame, and the motor mount bolts too. Yikes!!!

Also found a fan shroud for about 20 bucks locally and got that on there. It's not "half in half out" like I want it to be, but if I adjust it to that, it's sitting a little too close to the power steering and alternator... I'll be figuring something out for that soon I guess. I might just cut the lip off it off and call it good.

Anyways, it looks like it's about to rain so I put the soft top on.... looks like I might need to start saving for that Softtopper. I might see if I can just take mine in to a boat shop as a template and have them reproduce it. I like the style of the one I have a little better.

 

[Yukon Jack]

Which brand is that one? I sure like the way the Softopper did the area around the door window. I've heard that is a complaint many people have voiced about other tops. Your K5 looks great with the soft top installed.

Probably a good idea for us all to check our nuts and bolts occasionally - easy to forget that little maintenance issue.