LFD's 4dr Tahoe Build

[texanidiot25]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

My WB is 2" longer than FF's and the over Tahoe is only 1/4" longer than FF's. Funny how a few small changes make big differences.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

Ah, tricky. The proportions make it seem shorter. Or because his is laying down on air bags, giving it a bit longer look.

Never the less, I'm diggin' it.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by Frizzle Fry

I love it man! Looks awesome!!!

From the Artist (FF) to the Forger (LFD), thanks it means allot.

Originally Posted by texanidiot25

Ah, tricky. The proportions make it seem shorter. Or because his is laying down on air bags, giving it a bit longer look.

Never the less, I'm diggin' it.

Sure rub in the fact that he has suspension and not flat plate welded between the diff and frame in the rear and fully collapsed heated springs in front

Well I got just a bit of time out in the shop tonight. My wife came home sick from her parents so I had two kids to take care of

I started Tigging up the pass quarter and got to the point were I needed to start hammering the welds so I came in for the night instead of waking the neighbors. Here's a shot of the two small spots of damage that I guess required a tub of filler to make it go away. Aside from those few spots it is a really striate Tahoe for a starting point.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[BlueJeep]

What are you using to strip it, just a DA? Is this quicker then chemical stripper (Aircraft, etc.)?

[Retro68]

Hey Kevin, That is some very creative work you have going. The transformation will be incredible when you get to paint. I follow your builds all the time. Good luck with your business growth in 2009. Scott N.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

What are you using to strip it, just a DA? Is this quicker then chemical stripper (Aircraft, etc.)?

I use a DA after I go over it with a 3" right angle air grinder with a woven disk. It removes paint quick and does not dig into the metal. They do not work good on filler so if I have much to remove I will use a 36 grit disk disk on the air grinder until I can see shadows of the metal under it then swap back to the woven disk and finish it off with 180 grit on the DA. I don't know if it is faster or not then stripper but way less toxic and I can start a panel and just stop for the night. If you use stripper you can not stop until you finish that area, wash it and clean up all the mess.

Originally Posted by Retro68

Hey Kevin, That is some very creative work you have going. The transformation will be incredible when you get to paint. I follow your builds all the time. Good luck with your business growth in 2009. Scott N.

Thanks Scott

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Since I have had allot of people ask me "Whats that blue stuff" on other builds I thought I would show a quick 5 step answer. It is called bluing die or layout die and it is used for many different things. I use it for two main things, one being panel layout. It sprays on and when you use a scribe or just any sharp point it comes off leaving a very visible line to follow. Then I also use it for getting panels as striate as I can when doing body work or metal finishing. Let me be the first to say I am not that great at metal finishing but everything I practice I get a very small amount better. So after welding the seam and working it with a hammer and dolly every step of the way I feel it is almost done but needs a little touch up here and there. So I spray the die on the panel and let it dry for about 10 mins then go over it with a body file to show thew highs and lows.

Then I use the hammer and dolly on the real lows and some on the real highs then I hit it with a long board with 40grit. After that I hammer and dolly more on the low spots and hit again with the long board. I keep repeating this process until I am happy with the results. In this case I would say my lows are only about a 1/6" to 3/32" in the bad spots so I will leave it here and finish it off with lead later this week after I get the other side in the same shape.

In these pics the very front and back of the seam are not complete but it gives you the idea anyways.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[woodwright]

Where do you get the spray blueing?

[Rokcrln]

I got this stuff at a Good Guys show last year, I will get a pic of it so you can find some.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[gregfull]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

I got this stuff at a Good Guys show last year, I will get a pic of it so you can find some.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

Kevin, you must have some machinist blood in you. Layout dye is widely used in the machine shop industry, the most popular brand is Dykem. It should be readily available at any industrial supply.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by gregfull

Kevin, you must have some machinist blood in you. Layout dye is widely used in the machine shop industry, the most popular brand is Dykem. It should be readily available at any industrial supply.

Like this old stuff





Kevin
LFD Inc.

Wanted to add this just for kicks, here's the next LFD build. It is a 41 Chevy street rod pick up. I will be building a new chassis for it with IFS and IRS and get it ready for the road after a 15yr slumber.

[gringoloco]

What about the Blazer?! A little birdie told me there was some cool stuff in store...

[nuke1]

i use dykem also kevin, works great, and that is one fine 41!

[MrBeast]

Dykem is good, also I use some stuff that is made by krylon, it is pretty good as well, I actually like it better because it is darker.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

What about the Blazer?! A little birdie told me there was some cool stuff in store...

We made a business decision and decided the Tahoe would be a better place to put the time and money so the Blazer will be going down the road cheap! I just need to get the parts together for pic's so I can post it.

Originally Posted by MrBeast

Dykem is good, also I use some stuff that is made by krylon, it is pretty good as well, I actually like it better because it is darker.

How does the other stuff clean up. A little brake kleen and the Dykem wipes right off. Also what is the name of the Krylon stuff $ ?

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[68GMC454]

great work as usual.. looks great...

[Rokcrln]

We decided to go with PT Cruiser door handles but it is a little more work than just bolting them up. The PT's are a flat mount and out trucks are not so the PT handles have a gap that needs to be dealt with. I first made a hammer form so I could make stand offs that were all the same for all 5 doors but they dint sit right. The handles are angled up hill and don't look right. So I will cut out some larger blanks for the hammer form so they stand off about 7/8" at the top and will be flush at the bottom. Here are a few pics to show what I have tried to give you an idea of were I am going with this.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[LEEVON]

Wow those look great.

[XXL]

Originally Posted by Rokcrln

We decided to go with PT Cruiser door handles...

Er, eh... interesting choice.

From a design perspective, I'm curious how you see the integration of the ovoid shape of the PT handles, buttons, and your standoffs with the generally "square" lines of the truck. It's not a typical combination.

/2 cents
//or less

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by XXL

Er, eh... interesting choice.

From a design perspective, I'm curious how you see the integration of the ovoid shape of the PT handles, buttons, and your standoffs with the generally "square" lines of the truck. It's not a typical combination.

/2 cents
//or less

Well I see these trucks as having some striate lines but still mainly being a very curvy truck.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Here is the second go round, they are now just about were they should be but I am not a 100% sold.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Another possible direction would be the 60-66 truck handles and door pockets. I just checked the body curve with a contour tool and they are almost exactly the same. The Handle if I remember correctly they operate the same and would be easy to do.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[88JRFAN]

I like the look of the 60-66 truck handles better. Plus you can even get rid of the stock lock's. Would be better and easier to mount.

[woodwright]

Yeah I'm not so sure about the P.T. handles either. I'm all for making things custom, but I think it looks cool when you can make it look like it came that way. IMHO, the amount of standoff that you have to make them sit right, doesn't look right. You do awesome work though.

[vk_chevy]

good job on figuring out how to mount the handles, however,

if it was me, I'd go with truck handle, the PT handle is kind of bulbous on the standoff and seems to stick out too far

[VA72C10]

I would also vote for either the truck handles or a custom flush option. I admire your work to get the PT handles to sit right, but think that it takes away from the truck.

it's your truck and the rest of your modifications have been spot on so maybe this will work with a little massaging.