Anybody tube out their Blazer half cab?

[pcorssmit]

Has anyone cut off the factory Blazer half cab and replaced it with a roof integrated with the roll cage? What I'm thinking of is a roof that would still allow use of doors, and also interface with the soft top ('76-'91 style), but not be as vulnerable to offroad damage. The biggest problem I can see would be how to tie it in to the windshild frame; I have a feeling that if it were solid it would break the windshield when it flexed. It might be nice if the door frames were made to seal against a frameless window (like the full convertible '73-'75 doors) as well.

Pete

[Motornoggin]

I guess I don't understand what you are trying to do. If you want a roof to work with your doors and your back-half soft top, you already have it. Anything you make will basically be what you already have. I don't know how you could make it less vulnerable without removing the whole thing, switching to 73-75 doors and getting a full soft top.

[pcorssmit]

Originally posted by motorhead72k5
Anything you make will basically be what you already have.

Thats essentially what I want, I just want it stronger. I want something I can lay into a wall or tree hard, or survive a mild roll, and not be totaled. For example, last summer I put the passenger side door opening (running doorless) into a tree, and the top got pretty jacked where the door mates to it, I would like something that would just kind of slide along.

Pete

[Erich In AZ]

Are you saying you want kind of an exo for your fullsize?

[Motornoggin]

Originally posted by erich_in_AZ
Are you saying you want kind of an exo for your fullsize?

That's exactly what I am thinking.

[BadDog]

Do like I did, just cut it off and build a tube that sets just outside the window frame. Twice I've leaned hard into rock walls on the driver's side and just drove on through. When I got through the chute, I just turned into the wall and set it back down. No damage except scraping a little paint off the bars, and it was sliding along at one point about 1/3 of the way down the a-pilar but didn't bust the wind shield...

[Shaker]

I'm getting ready to do a full Exo on my 83 K5 here when it warms/dries up around here. I plan on using 2 in. x 120 wall for the main hoops and using 1.5 for the triangulation pieces. I got the tube/bender already just waiting for the weather to warm up....I'll post pics soon......Tim

[NE-RokToy]

Ever seen a Land rover D-90? It has a bar that comes off the cowl area and goes back over the area your trying to protect then ties into the rest of the cage. You could get the benifits of an exo without loking like ass and weighing evn more.

[Shaker]

yeah.....they will protect you like this.....NOT

[charlo]

Haha..... I hate land rover.
Nice pic shaker!


Charlo

[reeser]

have you seen the off road design blazer? i think he has what you're looking for. go to their website www.offroaddesign.com or go to coloradok5.com and go to the off road design message forum. their blazer (before they turned it into a cut up tube chassis) is exactly what you're looking for.

[rcurrier44]

If you realy wanted to keep your cab intact you could plate the area above the door opening like you would a rear diff. Simply use something like 3/16 plate cut and formed to the roofline, weld directly to the roof. If you realy wanted it strong, you could weld a couple of pieces of tube between an interior cage and the bottom of the roof ware the plate was attatched.

[Cheepin]

I say either plate it like rcurrier44 or do like Baddog and cut everything and tube it all.My choice was to ditch the Blazer and build a Heep with the Blazers drivetrain. Blazin

[pcorssmit]

Thanks for the replies. Been thinking some more about it over the weekend, and still not sure exactly what I want. I was looking at bgreens pics in his thread (project "freak"), and kind of like how he has the a-pillar bars, I'm just thinking a little tighter to the body.

The problem I see with the plate is that that much 3/16 plate is gonna add around 100 pounds, about as high as it can go, for a minimal increase in strength.

I tried a couple CJ doors on it yesterday for the hell of it (buddy had his CJ-7 over here to put in a rear 60). The soft half door fit suprisingly well, and I think I could make one similar to it pretty easily. If I really wanted, I think I could even make it fit. the hard door stuck up a couple inches too high, plus the window sill is way too high. Hell of a lot lighter than my cut down Chevy door, though.

I started working on the front end the last couple days, and the external bar (at least near the a-pillar) definitly would make it easier to tie in the new fender bars. So far I just have the fenders off (which will be turned into skins), the core support off (which will go in the trash), and the old winch mount off. Basically I just have the hood on, and the winch sitting on top of the frame rails. Picked up the bender, now just have to figure out WTF I'm doing.

Pete

[BadDog]

I'm in the same place you are with the front cap. Can't figure out how I want to do it. I picked up a skint-up hood with dinged corners, gonna cut that down for my new hood. But I can't figure out how I want to do the tube front. I think I may go electric fan and lay the radiator back, then slide the hood back over where the cowl vent should be. But exactly how to get there, I can't make up my mind...

[pcorssmit]

Hmm, hadn't thought about an electric fan. Would definitly save some space, but I'm kind of hesitant about whether it would do the job or not. Right now I have the 8274 sitting on a CJ mounting plate, on top of the frame rails, and if I leave the radiator in the stock position, and ~1-1.5" of clearance between the rad and the drum, the winch front plate is just about even with the stock bumper brackets at the end of the frame rails. Which is a definite improvement over the old mount, but it would still be nice to have more. I was planning on just putting some expanded metal between the drum and the rad to protect it from the cable. I had thought about tying the tube into the body mounts in the front, but that obviously wouldn't give enough support for the winch.

Pete

[BadDog]

Main reason I want to lean the radiator back (and move the hood back) is visibility. The front of my hood will only be about 2-3" wider than the radiator (I have the narrow one now, not the wide diesel) and with the hood moved back about 10" (so the front lip hangs over the radiator by only about 1-2") it should give me MUCH better visibility.

Have you considered remounting the winch down between the rails? Whack them off at the front spring mounts, then build a mount like Brook or some other "box" that mounts to the frame stubs. You could do a sort of slide in plate mount like the CUCV shackle mounts. Hella strong, opens up the radiator, frees up some approach angle too...

Anyway, if you have any cool ideas on the tubed front design, let me know...

[pcorssmit]

I guess I'm just so used to the poor visibility I didn't even think of it. Would definitly be nice to get the front of the hood down, in addition to narrower. I'm in the process of trading my diesel radiator/shroud, etc, for the gas stuff. I may also try to mount the batteries against the firewall.

I'll have a look at lowering the winch, sounds like it might work out well. And Brook's mount is sick.

I did a little searching on the electric fans yesterday and it sounds as if people are having good luck with the Taurus fans, it just still makes me a little nervous. I've never had cooling troubles with this truck, and its hard to beat the simplicity and dependability of the mechanical clutch fan. Its nice to be able to walk away from it when its running and not think twice about the heat (except when you forget its running, and have to get on someone else's CB to ask bystanders to turn it off ).


Pete

[BadDog]

Yeah, the fan thing has me waffling too. I've been looking casually for the taurus or similar fan for over a month. People must really like them in Phoenix, cheapest I found was $50 with a busted shroud. I switch opinions on it about twice a week. I even grabbed the steel and started to make the front cage with the radiator in stock position, then stopped and looked at it a little while, and decided to wait and think on it a bit more...

[pcorssmit]

I need to figure mine out in a hurry. It just occured to me that we're leaving for Moab a month from today. Guess I'll try to hit the junkyard during lunch tommorow and take a look for/at a Taurus fan.

Pete

[pcorssmit]

Originally posted by BadDog
Main reason I want to lean the radiator back (and move the hood back) is visibility. The front of my hood will only be about 2-3" wider than the radiator (I have the narrow one now, not the wide diesel) and with the hood moved back about 10" (so the front lip hangs over the radiator by only about 1-2") it should give me MUCH better visibility.

Have you considered remounting the winch down between the rails? Whack them off at the front spring mounts, then build a mount like Brook or some other "box" that mounts to the frame stubs. You could do a sort of slide in plate mount like the CUCV shackle mounts. Hella strong, opens up the radiator, frees up some approach angle too...

Well, I got frustrated with the cage last night, so I started working on the radiator situation again. It seems that the main problem with lowering the front of the hood is that the radiator is just too tall. If your electric fan motor is anywhere near the water pump pulley, the top of the radiator only drops 1/2" or so. You may be able to get a little more if you went to a short pump (at least on mine, the belts could stay where they are if you found a new pulley that worked with the shorter pump, the hub just sticks out too far). The frame turns up right where the radiator is, so you can't really move the bottom of it back. I was suprised at how close the top of the rad is to the hood in the stock configuration.

Tilting it back would allow you to shorten the hood, which would increade visibility, depending on how high your winch was (IIRC, I could see my 8274 from the drivers seat with my old setup). In order to have the front of the hood near the top of the radiator, you'll also have to cut out the bottom of the hood where the stock latch stuff is.

As far as frontal width, I was planning enough for the gas radiator, plus 1 small square bulb headlight per side. I found some that ar the same size as the stock ones in my 4-light setup, but are high/low beams, and seem to be commonly available, and only a couple bucks more that a single element bulb. I looked at some really cool ones at the junkyard off a '95 Grand Prix, little bitty sealed beams, but found out they are $25/each (4 light system), and not as readily available. (I found a Geo Storm w/the same lights too).

Pete

[BorregoK5]

I'm running a single t-bird electric fan, runs great and no overheating problems (after I put on a 4 core radiator). I chopped my front end pretty good to fit my 38's with minimal lift, and in the process took out the bottom fender bolts at the cab, my front clip is held on solely by the body mounts under the radiator and 2 bolts at the windsheild cab which are ready to bust off. I've been playing around with tube designs on paper but have yet to commit for many of the same reasons listed in this thread. I too want to add a little visibility to the front clip, especially when your following someone over a hill. I was planning to relocate my front axle forward quite a bit which would come in contact with the lower radiator mount. It looked as if moving the bottom of the radiator up and forward with the top tilted back, and then running the fan on the outside instead of inside would allow all kinds of new room and let me slope the hood. Lots of tellico hybrids take this route, some desert trucks too. But I'm still looking at options. If your going to take the time to tube that much, doing the rest of the chassis might be in order. Then you could move the engine and tranny back toward the center of the truck a bit and create lots of new room.

[pcorssmit]

Well, I picked up a 2 spd electric Toreass fan at the j/y yesterday, not set on using it by any means, but fingered for the price, I'd play around with it a bit.

As for taking the time to tube out the whole chassis...I have 16 days till we leave for Moab.

Pete