Attempting my first build 72 K5

[IronCanine]

Turned out great Mike...and I feel ya. There's not a lot of bright work on the interior, but it put me on dialysis too. Keep up the good work.

[DeadheadNM]

Nice chrome! Thanks for the update.

[sockalaminski]

Now I remember why I decided to de-chrome.....looks great though.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by sockalaminski

Now I remember why I decided to de-chrome.....looks great though.

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Nice chrome! Thanks for the update.

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Turned out great Mike...and I feel ya. There's not a lot of bright work on the interior, but it put me on dialysis too. Keep up the good work.

Thanks guys. I appreciate the compliments and am happy to see you're all still following my build!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Long story,but going to keep it short for board. The body is at a new shop and it's in much better hands now.

This is how I found my truck after they closed down for business.





This is the shotty work from the first shop. Their idea of how they would fix the rear quarter panel.. putting 1/2" to 3/4" of bondo.. Unbelievable! First of all, you're not supposed to bondo over primer.



It took 8 hours to remove 2.5 gallons of bondo. He's going to fix the rear quarter panel properly by pulling and straightening the areas that are pushed in.

[sockalaminski]

Sorry to see you were the victim of a POS body shop. It's hard to find a reputable body shop who will do the work correctly. The worse part is, if you don't keep track of what they're doing, you may never know. Body men are paid to make dents disappear and unfortunately, some body men despite having a good rep can do shady work and are VERY good at making things "look" great. I found bondo work on my Blazer that was laser straight, not cracked and looked like the sheet metal was never damaged, but ended up having 3/4" to 1" of putty. The funny thing is, me as an amateur was able to straighten the metal with basic body work tools and used less than 1/16" of bondo in less than two hours. Go figure.......

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I'm just thankful they never were able to finish my Blazer because I would've been driving a frame off restoration with a ton of bondo.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Charlie is making a great progress on the panels and removing some of the dents the "right" way. The black is the low and high spots that he is going to remove by block sanding so everything is straight and smooth

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

A couple dents repaired the "right" way (no bondo!)

[tjsblazer]

That sucks Mike.
Glad it is getting back on track for you.

[DeadheadNM]

I'm glad to see your build is back on track and in the right hands. It's going to be top shelf once complete. Hang in there. Sorry that you had deal w that dishonest shop.

[IronCanine]

The worst part of what that other shop did was that you have such a great tub. They're so hard to come by, that to disrespect it like that is almost sacrilege. Good on you for getting it back on track.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by tjsblazer

That sucks Mike.
Glad it is getting back on track for you.

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

I'm glad to see your build is back on track and in the right hands. It's going to be top shelf once complete. Hang in there. Sorry that you had deal w that dishonest shop.

Originally Posted by IronCanine

The worst part of what that other shop did was that you have such a great tub. They're so hard to come by, that to disrespect it like that is almost sacrilege. Good on you for getting it back on track.

Brad, you're spot on, I was thinking the exact same thing myself. But, a shady person saw an opportunity to take advantage of someone who didn't know better.

[tinydb84]

Looks good. Who is doing your body work now?

[lks dcvn]

Good call on moving to a new shop!

[UGAK5]

Agree with the shop move comments - - thats a scary situation in my opinion. Sucks to feel taken advantage of........

I know your build evolved and changed after having started it awhile back, which leads me to an engine question. I have been advised to save getting the engine for as long as possible so as not to have the engine sitting idle and immobile (valve springs compressed in the same position, etc.).

Any issues with that (that you can tell) or are you cranking the engine over every so often? Curious how you are managing that.

Thanks!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by tinydb84

Looks good. Who is doing your body work now?

Originally Posted by lks dcvn

Good call on moving to a new shop!

Originally Posted by UGAK5

Agree with the shop move comments - - thats a scary situation in my opinion. Sucks to feel taken advantage of........

I know your build evolved and changed after having started it awhile back, which leads me to an engine question. I have been advised to save getting the engine for as long as possible so as not to have the engine sitting idle and immobile (valve springs compressed in the same position, etc.).

Any issues with that (that you can tell) or are you cranking the engine over every so often? Curious how you are managing that.

Thanks!

Thanks guys. I'm really happy with the new shop. Stopped by today to drop off the top so they can make sure the doors align. I'm going back again this Saturday to deliver the chassis.

If I originally was going to do a frame off I would have planned this a lot better and held off on the engine. I haven't fired it up since I've had it. I'm just gonna pray to the engine gods and hope it fires up and runs good!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by tinydb84

Looks good. Who is doing your body work now?

BFS Auto. He brought in one of his go to guys for these particular restoration projects.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Question about correct steering coupler...

I ordered a new rag joint from Advanced Auto - Lares part # 201 and it says it's an exact fit. It seems odd to me that the new rag joint has only 11 splines.

I did replace my steering gear box with an AGR and it has the same spline count as my original. It is possible my "original" might have been replaced with a later model but I highly doubt it.

I initially tried to rebuild my old coupler but failed miserably. I bent one of the studs trying to press them in the back of the coupler.

Does anyone know if this seems right?

[sockalaminski]

I don't remember if mine had the full amount of splines all the way around or not. If memory serves, I remember the shaft size on the 67-72 chevys was 13/16" whereas 73 and up are 3/4". I'd say if it fits nice and tight, you have a winner.

[bluek5]

Here is a picture of used one I bought from Thomas at DLTruck1973. You might give him a try if you are unhappy with the new one.

[DeadheadNM]

FWIW - I bought one a while ago from Eckler's and it fit fine.

[tjsblazer]

I got one from this guy when he rebuilt my gear box.

http://www.powersteering.com/

[Tom Vogel]

Yea... that spline count is not right.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I sent the one from Advance Auto Parts back and they refunded my money. I called AGR and they weren't much help, but I did find out that after reading the product description on Summit it requires a 36 spline so I'm going to give this one a shot since the description matches the specs for my application. Ecklers says 13/16 but no list of spline count so I'm gonna assume it's for an original with 31 splines.

http://www.classicparts.com/1967-76-...info/SS-5152/#

Jeff - the link didn't work. Website says it temp out of service