Project Gumby Phase 1

[K5 MAX]

Bought my first K5 on Valentines Day this year. Here's the its introduction thread http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=757258. Details: 72 K5 350/350, 4x4, P/S, white top, heavy duty radiator, posi, base model i believe. Pretty much original from what I can tell, everything there but the back seat and well half the top. Drove it up on the trailer despite a seriously rusted out gas tank.

This will document my "Phase 1" build. First step is a new 87-91 K5 gas tank so i can drive it more than 15 yards without worries of it dying. Plans are to get it road worthy and reliable enough for me to enjoy it around the house and occasionally drive it to work. Body bushings while the tanks out, install 00-06 seats front and rear, remove the homemade half top, install a soft top, maybe attempt some rust repair. We shall see...

When I bought her
IMG_0795

[jeffg1010]

along for the ride!

[K5 MAX]

Front 01 suburban seats to go in, they've been seriously cleaned now
44

Back seats to go in, got the factory hold down attachments out of the same vehicle 42

Used Softopper off CL
46

45

Time to remove the homemade half top, apparently somewhere along the way the top was damaged by a tree so they cut it down and made a half top, had a pickup slider back window in the back wall
32

33

34

35

Tops off!! Set up for pressure washing the under carriage, so nasty under there
51

My son / helper-Maddux, 1 yr old
53

[K5 MAX]

Gas tank out, before pressure washing though
47

Mostly surface rust
11

Old tank, cut the filler neck off because I wasn't sure how the 87-91 was gonna work. Didn't end up using it though. Was able to make the 87-91 work without modifying or reusing the old filler
12


Rear frame horns have been cut off for the homemade bumper that's on it. Oh well I actually don't mind the look of the bumper they built

14

[K5 MAX]

Removed the 4 rear body bolts and bushings (#2-#5) on both sides (loosened #1 under the floor boards) so I could clean the frame and body mount locations to prep for POR15 before the new body mounts and tank goes in. Gonna try to do the frame paint in sections because I don't plan to pull the body off until the full restoration happens down the road. Blocked the body so I could get to everything

My method to get the body up to block it
75

76

61

62

63

Had to remove the bracket (at the frame) that held the rear flexible brake line to the top of the axle, it was in the way of the new 31 gallon tank
64

[K5 MAX]

Wire wheeled everything clean that I was gonna paint, cracks in the passenger far rear body mount box, will be welded up the best I can (still learning) obviously the holes in the bed floor will need addressing but that can wait
55

Cracked on the other side too, on the bottom
56

Bought all three steps from POR15; their degreaser, metal prep and satin black. Got the rear frame coated (bottom, inside the frame and top) from the axel back basically. I'll do the outside later with the wheels off. Hit some rusty spots on the underside of the body, bumper and in the rear channel under the bed to try to stop it from getting worse
72

73

70

69

68

67

65

66

Cleaned up the rear tail light wiring harness of some hacker wiring and re-taped it before going back in

74

87-91 gas tank is fully mocked up, gonna write up a separate thread to make it easier for others to find later. I put the link here as well. I searched and searched an had a hard time finding a complete detailed write up. Found some good info on some of your build threads, just took a lot of time. I'll put the tank in for the final time tomorrow and hopefully get her cranked this weekend! Excited to drive her more than 15 yards and to cruise with the top off. We'll see what demons rear their heads during the drive. Pretty sure the brakes will need some work. Thanks for looking!

[1rippen6]

I have the rear frame horn pieces to fix what you are missing. If interested pm me your email or cell number and I can send you some pictures.

[K5 MAX]

Finished #1-#5 body bolts and bushings, #1 was a booger to get out without cutting the floor too bad because its down in that depression. Went with the LMC rubber kit, because i needed bolts also. When the body comes off later during another phase of the build i'll prob go poly for the mounts at that time
83

Cleaned up and painted the mounts, factory shims while #1 bushings were out
84

85

Mine had 2 factory shims per side in the #1 location
86

Painted the body bushings, seemed to be bare metal to me, trying to prevent future rust
82

Had to weld a large washer onto the #5 body bolts because one side was roached out in the body bolt hole area
79

Did notice that the #4 top body bushing didn't sit down into the hole once tight, almost like the round spacer they provided with the kit to keep all the rubber from compressing too much was too long. Anyone else had this problem?
115

[K5 MAX]

separate thread on the 87-91 gas tank install
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=772117

[K5 MAX]

After driving her a little a few issues have arose..leaky master cylinder out of the lid


And leaking out the radiator drain plug, gasket is dry rotted


Few more vehicle pics
Drivers kick panel rust, the front roll cage is welded directly to it, no plate or support underneath. I'll be taking the roll bar and front cage out soon


Roached out at the top of the passenger bedside, looking for a patch for this. Its weird the rust is worse on the passenger side vs the drivers. maybe the way it was sitting somewhere during its life. like one side got more weather or never was able to dry out from the sun or something


Passenger side windshield frame rust......

[K5 MAX]

Almost done with the 01 Suburban power front seats install, few pics

Cut the front mounts off the seat tracks


Marked and drilled a 1.5" x 1/2" "C" channel for the factory bolt hole locations


Set seat in place, marked then welded the tracks to the "C" channel, did have to clearance the tracks slightly to clear the welds


Idea of how they will look, front cage and roll bar are coming out, they prevent the seat from reclining like I want. Plans for a full cage later that will work better for my set up

[warrpath4x4]

looks like some fiberglass on the floor there too by the seats

[K5 MAX]

Yeah the POx2 did patch jobs everywhere there was rust before the guy I bought it from bought it....

[raggedjim]

I hope you came through the hurricane okay. I'm going to go with 503 on the jimmy I'm letting gather dust... If you still have the old tank would you like to sell the filler neck off of it? Let me know.

Rg

[K5 MAX]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

I hope you came through the hurricane okay. I'm going to go with 503 on the jimmy I'm letting gather dust... If you still have the old tank would you like to sell the filler neck off of it? Let me know.

Rg

Thanks for posting. My home was affected by hurricane Michael but I fared better than a lot of people so I can’t complain. Roof felt and shingle damage, and storm surge in my non living areas. My shop / storage where the K5 was sat 11’ above sea level. The surge came in enough to buckle a hurricane rated garage door like it was nothing. Then proceeded to blow out 2 walls in my shop. Pushed the K5 4-5’ forward. It took on 3-4’ of water but it didn’t reach the air cleaner or dash. All the interior was already out so I hosed it out real good, under carriage as well. Still had to drain and refill all the fluids from the purchase so that’ll get done sooner rather than later now. Pretty much a total loss on all my tools down there. Dealing with insurance companies now. Luckily I had flood insurance. I do have the filler neck cut off the old tank. Shoot me a pm with your email and ill send ya a pic of it. Build will loose some steam bc I have to focus on house items now. Sucks

[raggedjim]

Sounds pretty bad to me. I sent a pm with my email. I know you are probably busy so no big rush.

Rg