Attempting my first build 72 K5

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Fired the motor up and she's alive and breathing. I let run for about 2 minutes. I'm hoping my friend can make it over to help me set the timing. I want to get that dialed in right away.

Here's a video of me starting the motor.

Starting motor - YouTube

[Tom Vogel]

If this motor doesn't have roller lifters, you need to stop starting it up for theses short periods and. You need to start it up and get the rpm's up to 2000 and keep it there for 20 minutes, or you will flatten that cam. Continued short runs won't allow the break in lube to do its job on the lobes. That first start up is critical to the longivity of a flat tapper cam.

[SeventyOne]

Not to speak for Mike but pretty sure he went with a roller set up.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

If this motor doesn't have roller lifters, you need to stop starting it up for theses short periods and. You need to start it up and get the rpm's up to 2000 and keep it there for 20 minutes, or you will flatten that cam. Continued short runs won't allow the break in lube to do its job on the lobes. That first start up is critical to the longivity of a flat tapper cam.

Originally Posted by SeventyOne

Not to speak for Mike but pretty sure he went with a roller set up.

Yep, roller cam.

[DeadheadNM]

Another milestone achieved. I smell success. Congrats!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Figured out why the e-pump would receive power as soon as I connected the battery.. I removed one of the red wires, the one I had going from the pump to the battery.

I now have it setup like this:

Positive wire from e-pump to switch
Red power supply wire from positive battery terminal to switch
Ground for pump
Ground for switch.

Now I got to go hide this switch somewhere only I know

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

A family friend of ours has been a mechanic for 50 years and he's been my go to for any kind of trouble shooting over the phone. He was supposed to come over today to help me bleed the brakes and set the timing, but he had a few things come up. Hoping he can make it tomorrow.

There's a local car show happening October 15th, less than a mile from my house. It's at the Santa Cruz Harbor and I plan to debut it there.

It would be safe to say the list of things I need to get done is now a short list.. I'm down from 3 white boards to only half of one.

That damn Horn relay as been lingering for a while. I don't think that's the right description for what I need to do. The horn closest to the fender originally had a plastic housing connector ( I still have it but took the terminal out of it) that used a two spade type terminal. the connector plugged into the horn closest to the fender and it used double spade terminal to feed the other horn.

Been searching everywhere for this kind of terminal but no luck


Here's where I was 8/14. I had three white boards filled back in the middle of June when I first got her back from paint.


Where I am now.

[parb]

Super cool!

I'm new to the board. I just bought a 72 Jimmy area weeks ago. Will have it repainted and restored over the next couple of months.im trying to retain it mostly stock and the original orange color. I'm just over the hill in mountain view.

I hope to meet you on the road next year sometime!

[IronCanine]

Mike--apologies for being late to the congrats...can't believe I missed this most important milestone. Congratulations!!!! Huge step. You're conscientious and thorough approach, your willingness to share, and gosh, lately your ENGINEERING are all to be commended. I sure have enjoyed this follow. You'll be spinning that odometer any day now. Well done!!

[72ironmike]

Steering wheel in. I really liked how this looked on Ironcaine's.
Attachment 1683090[/QUOTE]

What is the steering wheel - Wood ? Looks good.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by parb

Super cool!

I'm new to the board. I just bought a 72 Jimmy area weeks ago. Will have it repainted and restored over the next couple of months.im trying to retain it mostly stock and the original orange color. I'm just over the hill in mountain view.

I hope to meet you on the road next year sometime!

I'm just over the hill. I frequent the other side all the time so I'm sure our trucks will bump into each other. If you need any suggestions for sourcing original parts locally, PM me

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Mike--apologies for being late to the congrats...can't believe I missed this most important milestone. Congratulations!!!! Huge step. You're conscientious and thorough approach, your willingness to share, and gosh, lately your ENGINEERING are all to be commended. I sure have enjoyed this follow. You'll be spinning that odometer any day now. Well done!!

Hey no worries, Brad. Thanks for the kind words and encouragement through this process. I remember we started our builds right around the same time.. Feels like forever ago.

Originally Posted by 72ironmike

Steering wheel in. I really liked how this looked on Ironcaine's.
Attachment 1683090

What is the steering wheel - Wood ? Looks good.[/QUOTE]

I'm pretty certain it's this one. OER 3960722 Rosewood Grip

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

More unexpected issues coming up. I bought the rear brake line that runs alongside the frame rail from Inline tube about 3 years ago. The threads from the flare nut (towards rear) somehow got damaged along the way.

I was bleeding my brakes and a drop would seep out every minute or so.

I made a couple attempts to fix it, but still no dice.. I couldn't get a good enough double flare to keep a good seal. The flaring tool I have works well for Steel lines, but stainless is much harder.

Luckily, here in town we have a big industrial hose shop. Took my line down there for them to do it. Took about 10 minutes 20 bucks. Went home and put the line back in and filled the MC.

I have an appointment tomorrow to have my windshield put in. The place I'm taking to is less than 2 miles away and I'll have to drive it there. So hopefully my brakes work. They were the only place that could order a Pilkington brand. I must of called a dozen places including online and no one could get one. The reason I wanted Pilkington is after talking with Wes from Classic Heart Beat he had the most success with them compared to others.

[SeventyOne]

Let's see that sexy windshield!

[Tom Vogel]

Originally Posted by 72K5CSTDarkOlive

More unexpected issues coming up. I bought the rear brake line that runs alongside the frame rail from Inline tube about 3 years ago. The threads from the flare nut (towards rear) somehow got damaged along the way.

I was bleeding my brakes and a drop would seep out every minute or so.

Pilkington is the only way to go .

I made a couple attempts to fix it, but still no dice.. I couldn't get a good enough double flare to keep a good seal. The flaring tool I have works well for Steel lines, but stainless is much harder.

Luckily, here in town we have a big industrial hose shop. Took my line down there for them to do it. Took about 10 minutes 20 bucks. Went home and put the line back in and filled the MC.

I have an appointment tomorrow to have my windshield put in. The place I'm taking to is less than 2 miles away and I'll have to drive it there. So hopefully my brakes work. They were the only place that could order a Pilkington brand. I must of called a dozen places including online and no one could get one. The reason I wanted Pilkington is after talking with Wes from Classic Heart Beat he had the most success with them compared to others.

Posted via Mobile Device

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm trying to get the K5 ready to debut at a local car show here in Santa Cruz - Hot Rods on the Beach on Nov 4th

I'll try to recap what has happened in the last 4 weeks with pics and details.

So here goes.

My mother has now officially contributed to the build and one of the most detailed parts I must say.

I took apart my old door panels and used 3M's Rosewood Di Noc vinyl to replace the old grain. This way it matches the steering wheel. I held the heat gun while she carefully laid it down. The corners where really hard to lay flat so we made a slight cut down the apex (edge) of each corner and heated it up to conform together.

I repainted the door panels using OER's paint which said it was specific for GM 67-78 or something like that. Cant remember exactly.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I ordered a complete new set of lower side panels through Mar-K. With the steering wheel and door panels redone using the rosewood 3m di noc, I just felt that it would look off with the original wood grain used on the lower side panels so I decided to change them all to match.

The 3M Di Noc rosewood grain start out at 4' wide x 1' length and the grain runs length wise not width,

In order to have the grain run the length of the tail gate band and lower panels, I had to order a 4'X7'... Let just say I have enough left over to do 2-3 more of these lol

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

more pics

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Windshield is installed using original trim and precision weather strip. The local auto glass shop did a great job. I used Pilkington for the glass. My original had a crack in it from disassembly.



After that I took it down the street to get the mufflers installed. I went with Magnaflows 4x9 - 2 1/2" center / offset. No balancer for now. I wanted to see how it sounds with straight through mufflers. ( I would recommend offset/offset so you can make a straight shot with the piping over the transfer case ) But we made it work.




Next stop was alignment.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

The engine runs great and sounds even better! The roller cam in this engine sounds like its pissed off!

The timing is set to 36 degrees total advance and 11 degrees at initial timing. The choke takes longer than normal to turn off, but I think that might be because the thermostat that is on there is set for a lower temp or maybe higher (I'll have to look into to that at some point)

She stops, drives straight, and handles better than when I first bought it 12 years ago.

So far I have about 140 miles on it.

Yesterday, I took it back to the body shop for the final cut and polish and to make some adjustments on the hood to line up. I also scratched the **** out of the tailgate putting it on so that will get completely redone. I'll have it back this Saturday and then I can finish the rest of the exterior cosmetics.. (dog dish caps, emblems, tail gate trim, lower side panels, spare tire, etc).. Dwayne, once again hooked it up with the correct hardware I need to mount my spare tire behind the seat.

Speaking of those dog dish caps... Is there a trick to get them on? I feel like I'm going to crack them if I press to hard.. I'm also thinking the powder coating might be a little too thick?

If you look closely you can see my dog riding shotgun (His name is Kade) I had my plates named after him and added a 5 to make it a KADE5.. At first, I told myself no way, but he spent just as many hours underneath this truck as I did, completely useless when it came to lending a hand, but he did provide moral support!

[SeventyOne]

So awesome. I didnt realize you bought the truck 12 years ago.

You see my truck at the shop? are they done yet?

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Originally Posted by SeventyOne

So awesome. I didnt realize you bought the truck 12 years ago.

You see my truck at the shop? are they done yet?

I did. I'll text you the details

[DeadheadNM]

That has to be seriously rewarding. Big congrats. The Blazer looks great and the black plate couldn't be cooler. Keep the pics coming!

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

I can officially announce the K5 is finished.

It was 3 1/2 years ago I started this journey of restoring my Blazer. The initial project started out as a mechanical overhaul that quickly led me down a rabbits hole and the next thing I knew the body came off the frame.

I had no idea what I was doing or getting myself into. Growing up as a kid I always wanted to own a muscle car and learn how to work on them. My father never owned or had any experience working on classic cars, which led me to learn everything on my own.

This experience has taught me so much and the knowledge I gained is invaluable. I hope one day do something like this again with my son or daughter (if she's into that) and pass this knowledge down on them.

I can't thank this board enough. The information and the willingness of other members to provide help is invaluable. There would have been no way for me to do this without it.

So for that, I want to thank all of you for the support, help and compliments over these last 3 years.

Here some pics of my road trip down to Big Sur.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

more pics

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

a few more