Needed a new toy. Why a Blazer? Why NOT a Blazer?!?!

[2fast55]

After I sold my last truck (94 F150 4x4), I needed a new toy that would go anywhere I want, and do anything I asked it to. So the search was on...... I had a select few requirements: 4x4, more interior room than a standard cab pickup, and decent power/towing capability. After looking at lots of fancy rides WAY out of my price range, and too much "junk" that I could actually afford, I decided to hold out for a 1st gen Blazer. I finally found a 72 for the right price a few weeks ago, and had it towed home.



It definitely has its problems, but it was not much worse than ones I saw listed for 4-5 times the price around here. Some rust in the rockers, but not near what I have seen repaired in other builds on here. I figure it will be good practice for all the work I will have to do on my 55 stepside when its turn comes. Anyway, more pictures:



Yes, someone stuffed a truck bench in the back, I have no idea where the original rear seat went. I hardly got into the pile of parts in the back when I bought it. It appeared to have most of the missing parts buried back there somewhere.


A previous owner kept the engine (and unfortunately all the accessories), and cut a lot of stuff when they pulled it.

[2fast55]

I fired up the pressure washer and did some light cleaning, and started stripping it down for rust repair and lots of new parts. All the rubbers are bad, and the wiring harness is getting replaced too. If the age wasn't enough, previous owners' "fixes" were the last straw; the harnesses had been hacked, spliced, repaired, bypassed, and added onto more times than I wanted to deal with. The rust doesn't appear to be too bad. Just the inner and outer rocker panels, and a little bit into the edge of the floor. Windshield should be coming out soon so I can get a good look at the frame. I know it's rusty, but still don't know how bad. The factory A/C box was all broken on the interior side, and was held in with bungee cords and vented through pvc pipe and duct tape. Most of the A/C system is long gone, so I will probably just skip it and run a standard heat-only box from another truck we have. Who needs A/C when you have a convertible? Some nice aluminum wheels and good tires are on the list to replace the trashed 31s that look silly under a 6" lift. The top will need a fair amount of repair, and the rear hatch is broken into several pieces (most of them are still there) and will require major surgery to work again. I might just hunt down a soft top to run until I find a better hatch or fix the one I have.

A previous owner went a little crazy with the spraybombs on this one. So far, I have found red, blue, gold, and even hot pink on various parts of the chassis, not to mention all the flat black covering almost every visible surface.




Sorted parts to see what was there. It turns out I have way more door glass than I will ever use, and even some parts that don't fit blazers. I still need to check if the driveshafts will work with the lift, or if I will have to have them rebuilt.


Had to get the new harness while the rebate was still on...


Hopefully I can get the garage cleaned out pretty soon and it can go inside for some serious progress.

[scoyote]

I'm subscribed

[lks dcvn]

Looks like a solid project to me. You will have your hands full for awhile...ask me how I know.

[BLUE THUNDER]

Nice score. You'll have fun with it. It's also one of my fav colors.

[Yukon Jack]

Is the other front tow hook somewhere in the interior - some of those are worth quite a bit. Lots of work but it will be worth it for sure!

[swyfor5]

Wow, the frt hooks are what caught my eye too Yukon. Good luck with your new project and keep the pic's coming!

[2fast55]

Ok, more than 2 months later, It's time for some new pics. I cleaned off the patch of concrete next to the garage so that I wouldn't have to work in the dirt or gravel anymore. I'm still not out of the rain, but I'm a lot closer to the toolbox now. I'm ready to lift the body off so I can do all my frame and drivetrain work without it in the way.




The more I work on this thing, the more I find that a previous owner practically beat this thing to death. I think I may be replacing the tank. Does anybody know if there is a larger replacement that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?



I started pulling the weatherstrips and cleaning all the crud off the body. I saw a replacement rocker piece that extended into the floor a little bit, but I can't remember who makes it. It would definitely save me a lot of time to order those instead of the inner/outer rocker replacements from LMC.

Originally Posted by Yukon Jack

Is the other front tow hook somewhere in the interior - some of those are worth quite a bit. Lots of work but it will be worth it for sure!

No, just the one tow hook. I might be fabricating bumpers that use different recovery points, so the hook might be for sale in the future. I need to buy a tubing bender. A lot of my friends wish we knew someone who had one, but none of us has made the investment yet.

[JWPOORE]

Originally Posted by 2fast55

I started pulling the weatherstrips and cleaning all the crud off the body. I saw a replacement rocker piece that extended into the floor a little bit, but I can't remember who makes it. It would definitely save me a lot of time to order those instead of the inner/outer rocker replacements from LMC.

Is this the replacement rocker section you are talking about? http://estore.websitepros.com/126980...SEC/Detail.bok and http://estore.websitepros.com/126980...SEC/Detail.bok .This is from one of the vendor's on the site - mbgmike.

[2fast55]

It's been a while since I've updated my build (or even worked on it, for that matter), but I'm back to making some progress on it. A lot of time has been spent building a 7'x14' flatbed trailer, and working on my old man's 72 K20 (see avatar). Anyway, I've been putting in every hour I can at work to fund the projects, and collecting parts as I can get my hands on them. I've managed to land some good condition 37" MTR's, a single wall top with a good hatch, a billet dash loaded with auto meter gauges, new rocker panels, body mounts and engine mounts, and a complete set of axles with 3.73 gears out of another blazer. I've had the body off for months, and just last night pulled the transmission and transfer case out of the frame.

Here is how it sat last night before I got back to work on it.

[Yukon Jack]

Someone will chime in hopefully on whether a larger capacity tank is available - maybe a Suburban tank? If you get a stock replacement do not throw you old one away - you'll need to cut off your existing filler neck from your old tank and get it installed on your new tank - the new tanks neck is wrong.

Here is a good thread on that subject.

[72K5er]

Why a Blazer? I would have to say because every high school kid with his hat cocked to the side and his sister have a Jeep, Defender 90's are too expensive, and besides that, they just plain rule.

[Erik V]

Cottage Grove huh? I used to do some work at the Assisted Living home there.

Anyways, cool project-you'll love it. I cant wait to get back on the road with mine, I'm down to a brake system bleed/new fluid, radiator, and title transfer/registration.

I'm thinking all us guys within a few hours of each other should get together this summer for a tailgate picnic or something.

Erik

[2fast55]

Most definitely going to have to get a northwest gathering going. I'm planning on having this thing on the road sometime this summer, and I'll still have a lot of other modifications left to do after that.

Here's where I'm at right now. Still stripping the chassis down to check it all out and make any necessary modifications and repairs before I throw paint at it. The bolts in the engine and trans crossmembers are mostly loose, or just missing altogether, so now I need to go buy a bunch of hardware to put the crossmembers back on with.

I love other people's repair work. There is a big plate behind this monster crack, but the way it is all done is kinda hokey. I happen to have a spare frame section off a C20, so I'm going to splice that on instead of trusting an old patch.

The extra frame section that came under a front clip that I bought just for the perfect sheetmetal and grille shell, and the axles that will be going back under once the frame is sorted out.

[2fast55]

Got the frame stripped down and replaced the front section on the drivers side. Threw the 3.73 axles under it and put the body back on to check lift clearance and so I can get started on rocker replacements and fender trimming.



Rear tire clearance. It looked alright at first, but some work with a jack proved otherwise. Only a little work required on the front edge of the fender lip to keep it from rubbing too much.


Front tires are gonna rub BAD if I don't rework the openings to fit better. Already had planned to cut the lower boxes off the front, but do a much better job than a previous owners attempts at cutting stuff off. Also going to have to trim out the rear of the openings to clear with the tires turned.


I'll just have to make sure I get everything I cut on to look like it was supposed to be shaped that way, not like the usual sawzall warrior hack-jobs I see all too often. I was also thinking about drilling and tapping the wheels to accept an extra set of 73+ 4x4 rally center caps we have in the garage just to break up all the black with a little shiny. Sure it would be easier to just buy some cheap chrome center caps from the tire shop, but how many people have rally centers on daytona wheels?

[CTENTA1]

Answer: If you have to ask you just ain't ready!
J/K LOL..

Welcome, looking good and good luck on the build.
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[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like quite the project .. Welcome to the board from southern oregon..

[chevy2racr]

what year blazer are your new axles out of? if its 73+ then you'll need to get the shock for your lift and all for the 73+ my blazer has 3/4T axles out of like a 76 with a 4" lift and the 72 blazer 4" lift front shocks are too short, gotta run the 4" lift 73+ shocks. just a fyi might save you some frustration...

[2fast55]

The axles are out of another 72. Since the lift was never finished, I don't have any shocks or brake lines that fit. I have to buy new ones anyway, so I was thinking about cutting the inner fenders and relocating the upper mounts to run a longer shock. Thanks for the info though.

[2fast55]

Well, I got my stuff from Monster Transmission on Monday, and so far I am not at all impressed. I looked through the monster in a box kit (I got the mega monster ss because it was supposed to come with EVERYTHING to fully upgrade it) and am pretty disappointed. I could have ordered exactly the same parts for over $100 less from another supplier, and the kit doesn't even include extra sun gear bushings or a hardened intermediate sprag race for a proper high performance/heavy duty rebuild.

I also can't finish putting my transfer case back together because the seals in the NP205 overhaul kit (also from monster) don't fit right. I could have ordered the same gaskets and seals from somewhere else for about $40 less, which would have left me the necessary dollars to locally purchase the correct front output seal and the adapter housing/coupler seals to keep my trans from flooding my t-case with ATF

I called Monster trans today and am working with them to price match the other suppliers (they have a lowest price guarantee), or else I'm going to have to get nasty about their 25% restocking fee on returns (more than the price difference to order somewhere else) so that I can get ALL my money back and order from someone else.



I have also been busy cutting out my rocker panels for replacement. Sure, the torsion boxes themselves were solid, but I found a lot more rust hidden inside. I put in an order yesterday to Wes at Classic Heartbeat, and already got the parts today. It sure is nice to have such a local source for good metal when you come across some unexpected rot. I would have ordered my floor extensions there too, but dollars are dollars, and GMC Pauls had a much better deal on them and I wasn't in a hurry for shipping.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Bummer about the monster problems but at least ya got a good deal from wes and quick shipping..

[swyfor5]

Bought and buying all my stuff from WES!

[2fast55]

I got my problems with monster sorted out today. We finally agreed on a suitable refund amount, and I went and bought my own transfer case seals at the local auto parts supplier. I definitely won't be ordering from them again. Now I have to wait for another order of transmission parts that I thought would have been included in the mega monster ss kit. Oh well, now I can combine the shipping with the little things like the vent tube and kickdown cable that I was going to have to order separately anyway.

If it's not too cold tomorrow (not much heat in the shop, and none out where my blazer is) I should get my transfer case done, and either start working on the transmission or get back to cutting out rotten sheetmetal to replace it with nice new pieces.

[2fast55]

Transfer case is done. Now it gets to sit in the shop while I build the trans and get all my body work done so I can take the body back off to paint/coat the underside and paint the frame. All the drivetrain parts will go in while the body is off.



I spent several more hours cutting out sheetmetal to prepare for installation of the new parts. It sure is strange to cut off perfectly good metal just to get better access to the rotted stuff. I don't know when, but somebody did a lot of work on this thing MANY years ago. I'm finding an awful lot of brass and bondo in the panel seams instead of spot welds and body sealer.

There was so much bondo in the kick panel I skipped the mess of grinding it and went right to the torch and scraper to get it out.

[2fast55]

Finally starting to get some new metal going in. I was starting to get tired of cutting and cutting, only to find more rust buried in the layers. I got enough of the B-pillar area rebuilt that tomorrow I'll throw some paint inside before I cover everything up with the new patch panels. There is some rust left above the bed floor, but I'll dig that out from the top side when I can pull the roll bar out of the way. Right now it has braces welded to it holding the windshield frame and firewall in place.



Also took an idea I saw in another build. I figure that dirt and water is going to get into the torsion boxes anyway, so I might as well give it a good way to get out. I punched some 2 1/4" holes and flared the edges by hand.