Resurrection of a Family Friend

[Erik V]

Hello all, sorry I'm still kind of a lurker. I have my car-oriented fingers in too many cookie jars so to speak.

So a little recap: Dad special ordered this 1971 Jimmy new back in the day, for the sole purpose of offroad racing and trail running. Those were beyond daily driver status, and tow vehicle. For about 10 years of its life, "Jimmy" as we've always referred to "him" as, lived as a 2wd low rider tow vehicle while his original frame was used as a racetruck with a custom short box pickup body. Then back to 4wd and more racing/trail running. Then Dad got a hinkering for a Jeep and built a mild 52 Willys CJ2A(?). That was the summer of 89, and Jimmy sat out behind the barn in the weather until 1995 when we got him together again for my Eagle Scout award prize/1st car/HS cruiser. That lasted a couple years until when going to college I couldnt afford to fuel him, he once again got relagated to behind the barn, but this time a shed had been built first. That was summer of 97 (according the expiration date on the license plate tags). I've built a 72 2wd GMC since then, only to have it suck the fuel down too and get sold, a couple VW bugs, and of course my beloved Dodge Neons (2 of them), and last but not least-my 2002 WRX Wagon. Now I still have both neons, the Subaru, and one VW Baja Bug-but I need a truck for that occasional heavy duty haul, and when summer returns I'll need a fun tow vehicle since the Subaru cant really haul more than about a ton.

Which brings me to my point. Starting Black Friday Dad and I tore into the barn and the shed, to unburry the Jimmy. Parked along side it for the last nearly 15 years is a 73 factory 2wd low rider Blazer. Had to get that one out first, in order to free the Jimmy of his decade+ tomb of spider webs and dustbunnies. The red low rider will be cleaned up and sold when the weather gets better most likely-Dad has no desire to keep holding onto it. The Jimmy is now happily resting in my garage alongside one of my Neons. During this weekend's rescure project we found that the top heater hose has no place to hook up, the shift linkage is gone (went to my 72 2wd pickup build years ago), moisture has rotted out one of the turbo mufflers, years of neglect led to moisture pitting rust all over the top surfaces of the body, but the soft top survived just fine, as did the now "vintage" 33/12.5 mud tires I got for HS graduation. The new at the time Baby Moons didnt fare so well, but oh well-least of my worries.

I'm going to get the Jimmy roadworthy again as I can over the next few weeks, hoping to drive him to the extended family Christmas shindig about 30 miles away. So far its only a few nitty gritty things before I can see if the old 350 will fire up. Then shift linkage to see if he's going to move on his own power, then test the brakes to see what componants need replaced. I was so excited when he cleared my garage door frame by about 2", so now I know he doesnt have to sit outside in the weather.

So you guys like pics huh? Yeah-Dad thought I was crazy as I snapped away shot after shot. Now both the only new cars Dad and I have ever bought are hanging out side by side in my garage, and I'm pleased as punch that things are looking up for me. Its been rough the past few years with personal life changes and losing loved ones. I'm ready to devote some time and money to my toys again.

















So as I replace the missing shift linkage, deal with missing engine pieces, and basically get the old truck back up and running again, I'll update this post and answer whatever questions the masses come up with. Thanks for reading.

Erik

[cvalcore]

i love it nice to see your going to put it back on the road.

[1LOW4X4]

Good story. Glad its being built up again!

[vtblazer]

Cool to have a one owner jimmy.

With the history between you & jimmie, you'll have it back on the road in no time, enjoy the ride.

[jaros44sr]

Nice story! Subscribed, wish you luck

[Erik V]

thanks for the inspirational votes of confidence gang! So I've been surfing CL for weeks in preperation of this, not knowing what was out there. I found a cheap parts pickup that looks to have most of my missing bits, and a good cab and passenger door. ...dont really know what I'm going to do with the cab/glass if I get it though, I really have no use or space for it...and it would be a shame to scrap good 40 year old metal. DC Trucks is local to me in Vancouver, maybe somebody there could use it.

My current plan:

get the heater hose plumbed correctly
change out engine fluids
verify that I'm really in Neutral/Park and start it up

after that:

replace missing shift linkage
replace hand pull parking brake with foot pedal assy
go through the brakes
replace at least one rusty muffler
make sure lights still work
locate/install front drive line

cosmetics/semantics:

figure out why the stereo speakers are MIA/replace
toss out the Volvo front buckets in favor of Sebring Conv. buckets
replace button in o/s pass. door handle
replace rear bumper with Sport style one, or make custom on w/ hitch

Worst case scenario, I'll find myself with a boat anchor of a dead sb350, in which case an unmachined all original sb400 I have kicking around will get freshened up and installed. Decided against trading the 400 plus cash for a running 454 out of an early 70's Chevelle a guy I know has. I want to keep things on a budget, and try not to interfere with my springtime plans of having my other toy on..err...off the road:




I am going to keep an eye out for matching slotted mags to replace the now rusty chrome smoothies on the Jimmy.

Erik

[1949gmc]

That's a great looking truck, Eric. You're very lucky to have a dad with enough cool to buy this new and enough sense to keep it this long. You know what my dad bought in the 60's and stored in a barn? A '58 Edsel. Wish he had bought a '71 Jimmy instead.

Good luck with Jimmy and have fun fixing him up.

[fun in dirt]

Projects with a history & good memories are always more fun!
Can't wait to hear & SEE more about it.

[Erik V]

Thanks to a couple local vender type people (DC Trucks in Vancouver and Classic Bowties in Portland) 2 of my hard to find pieces are now in my posession. Gotta round up the right bolts then the front driveline is ready to go in.

I threw my jumper pack on the truck last night to check power. My stereo still works, CB works, all lights work except RR marker and both brake lights. Blinkers are very slow too, so I think there is some corrosion in the fuse block. Low beams dont come on right away, you have to step on the dimmer switch a few times. I think the starter is dead, or close to it as it acts like there is a nearly dead battery in it, even off my jumper pack, so I may borrow the battery out of one of the cars I have before buying a nice one for the truck.

No new pics, he's still happily living in my garage next to my blue Neon. Still cracks me up that the only new car my dad ever bought, and the only new car I've ever bought now park side by side in my first house's garage.

Erik

[NW_Ryker]

Looks like its gonna be a good build, Erik. I know you said that you were going to try to get it roadworthy, but what about after that? How were the pickings at DC for us Blazer owners? Sorry to bombard you with questions, I'm just getting back into mine and need to get some parts before it's off to paint.

[Erik V]

I dont have much in the way of plans after that. Just use it, do some Work'In'Progress car shows, tow my bajabug, do some duning trips to the coast. Etc.

DC has loooooots of good stock shiney parts, but I heard Dave was closing his shop up and moving everything to storage places or his house. His lease was getting out of hand I think he said. But great guy, brought in what I needed off his personal Blazer since he had no 4X4 shift linkage at his shop.

I'm down to a starter problem at this point, it sticks in the start position, and even with a fully charged jumper pack it slowly turns the engine over little bits at a time, and the terminals are getting very warm. So I think a new starter is in the future.

Rear half of the master cylinder is dry, and the brake lights dont work-which I think are related.

I've been busy with one of my other car projects so I've not done much on the Jimmy in the last week or so other than look at it as I run out the door.

Erik

[CORSAIR]

Awesome story!! I love old family stories of good times with cars & trucks. I would like to see some sand dunning pictures of it back in the day? I grew up in So CA and went to the sand dunes all the time. I'm looking for old photos of the sand dunes maybe when I find them I will start a new thread on sand duning trucks & blazers?? Good luck with getting "JIMMY" back on the road

CORASIR

[Erik V]

Wow, sorry for the long delay-my 'other' cars took priority as they are my dd's.

So I got some wrenching time in on the Jimmy, found the fuel line is not passing any fuel from the tank up to the pump, but the engine turns over smooth. So I removed the line going to the tank, and ran a new hose directly from the mech. pump straight down into a gas can. Took a few primes by pouring fuel down the belly of the beast (I say beast, but we all now the Q-jet is far from beastly), and it roared to life! Oh my goooooosh has it been too long. I was instantly transported back to HS, this thing sounds great. ...until the squirrel/mouse condos came blowing out the turbo mufflers. I didnt let it run too long since I havnt filled the coolant, but now that I know the motor doesnt knock, I can do that. When I shut it down, fuel was leaking out of everywhere so either the float is stuck, or the carb itself didnt age well sitting in the shed forever. Engine is a 1979 2bolt 350 from a Caprice. So next up will be a aftermarket intake/carb if I dont source a stock replacement soon. Gotta flush the lines, and probably drop the tank to make sure the internal sock filter isnt gummed up. Good thing Mom bought me that plastic OEM looking replacement tank senior year of HS, it should come out fairly easily.

I'm going to install new U joints in the front driveline before installing just for the peace of mind. So I have some more quick chores to accomplish before I take it out for its first real drive. The rear master cylinder chamber is all but dry, so it looks like a thorough bleeding of the brakes should tell me where that fluid has gone, and what needs replaced.

No pics, over the holidays my digicam gave up. So I'll borrow one as soon as Jimmy can drive himself out of the garage on his own.

Which brings up an irrelevent question: Is it alright to have a male gendered rig? Far be it to be judgemental-but none of my cars are very feminane despite the fact that 2 of them were aimed at 16-19 year old girls when new. *shruggs*

Thanks for all the well wishes and input. I'm so glad I found this forum.

Erik

[basemodel67]

Nothing wrong with making it a manly beast...

BTW - I would punch my sister for your dad's 73 Blazer! That is one of my top 3 dream vehicles.

[Maxxd07]

Sweet looking rig, I kinda like the smoothies but one can never go wrong with the slots. Cant wait to see some pics of it driving!

[Erik V]

Originally Posted by Maxxd07

Sweet looking rig, I kinda like the smoothies but one can never go wrong with the slots. Cant wait to see some pics of it driving!

The smoothies are now rust pitted (as is most of the top edges of the truck), so that'll help me justify to myself that I need slots. Too bad the tires are less than a thousand miles, but over 10 years old-tire shops wont remount them, so I'll just run them out and keep my eyes open for slots for new tires later.

You and me both-I've been dreaming of this day for a long time. I kick myself every day for allowing time to slip by with it stuck in the back of a barn. I'll make up for it soon-even with the body/paint in as rough of a condition they're in-I'm going to be rolling in a classic to some local car shows this summer for sure!

Now I just need to pick up a new digicam-I think my old one has finally given up.

Erik

[BLUE THUNDER]

Sweet Jimmy. I like the bug too. My first car was a 68 bug. I loved that thing. Good luck on the Jimmy. Can't wait to see more pics of it on the road.

[VA72C10]

Cool jimmy and story...might try a CLR bath to help with the surface rust/pits. Might be surprised how nice it turns out. Just use a mix of a little CLR and warm water and use a green scotchbrite. Then you might be able to buff up the paint for the time being...

[Erik V]

So Friday my ebay 2 core aluminum radiator showed up. Took over an hour to get it installed since the passenger side top bracket needed massaged in order to clear the cap. So once I got it all in I decided I just HAD to drive it out on the real public roads, so I went a few blocks down the street for wiper blades (needed an excuse right?). The old ones are aluminum bracketed Trico's made in England (yeah-UK used to make Trico blades).


Now the engine bay looks ghetto, super shiney fancy radiator up front, grimey gross paint flaked engine, dirty inner fenders etc. So I spent some time degreasing as much as I could today. This week I hope to flip flop the valve covers around so the fill can be on the passenger front instead of hiding by the brake booster. Probably going to do some spot painting of the engine with stuff in place (ie: not pulling headers etc just for paintwork). Had to hunt all over town to find a proper form fit upper radiator hose. I didnt want do do the degreasing at my house and have my neighbors freak out about the rainbows I was washing down the drains, so I went out to a buddy's house in the country and oiled down part of his side yard. Then after hours of working on my own stuff, and some of his, I drove ~10 miles to dinner. So far, thats ~25 miles of road use with the worst hiccup being the constant shaking and violent bouncing anywhere above 25mph. While over at my buddy's place, I stole some air compressor time, and found my 33/12.50's were at LF-15psi, LR-25psi, RF-12psi, RR-15psi. No wonder it was so bouncy-once pumped up to 30psi all around, it drove great (as great as a neglected 40 year old short wheel base 4x4 could).

I swear, pics will follow-my buddy snapped some with his fancy camera while we were going to dinner tonight, and my sister's Bday is this week, so I might take my niece out to give my sister some Bday sanity-so if that happens I'll make her take some pics for me or at least lend me a camera.

Erik

[Erik V]

15 year old locking lugs have been removed by force. Picked up some 15X8.5 slotted mags to replace the rusty moons.

First oil change of this century is done.

New plugs and soon wires too.

Battery hold down fashioned out of a ratchet strap.



On this weekend's to-do list, bleed brakes rebuild as needed. Maybe sand and repaint the roll bar. I need to get the brakes in top notch form so I can go take my niece to ice cream and blow her hair around. Also-borrow my sister's camera for some much needed filmography work.

Erik

[Erik V]

w00h00, new digicam is my friend!

This is why the driver side of the truck sounds like poo at low RPMs, and burley mean as smeg at higher RPMs:


I guess Dad got tired of having air bubbles stop him from fueling up. Extra vent line anyone? :


What holds my backseat in are these loops with add-a-link threaded chain links which also double as seat belt holder-downers:


Does anyone reproduce this badge? If not, whenever I get around to restoring the body it'll be hard to protect, but I really dig it. Kinda like the 80's Toyotas when they badged the back of the cars "5-speed". Why not just point out the obvious? :


2 core Aluminum radiator needed some bracket modding. Dont mind the fancy overly expensive overflow bottle. hehe Fellow member on here showed me his similar hold down bracket setup, took quite a while to grind it just right:


Backseat loosely tossed in. Rollbar still needs sanded and repainted-but I'll get to that later. In the shiney area down low between the bars on each side are hidden speakers (and the only speakers in the truck):


Stock AM radio knobs on the 2post AM/FM/cassette head unit I picked up in HS (again-1996 era):


Anyone who's replaced all 3 Ujoints in the stock front driveline will know how rewarding it is to be done with that chore, and have it painted something other than mud/rust colored:


Still no action shots, but at least I drive it out of the garage every other week or so:

[Erik V]

And my friend's 69 Blazer that I went snow-wheeling with a few weeks back:

[Erik V]

Why has the driver side exhaust seemed much louder than the passenger side since the resurrection?





Why has the rear chamber of the master cylinder been going dry? Replaced master, and when bleeding the rears I found fluid dripping out the driver side drum. Yeah-pads were hosed, so I bought new ones. Drums were hosed, and already too far out to be turned, so I bought new ones. Went to install everything and found the star adjusters were also hosed, so I bought new ones. Geez, so the only original brake componants left are the lines themselves. This pic cracked me up, the cool looking paper package is Made in the USA, whereas the chincy plastic bag part was made in China. The US part had a "R" stamped on the part for "right side", but the Chinese part had no such ID. Took a call to the parts store to figure that one out since I started with the L, and didnt open any packaging until after calling.



Backseat mount setup, add-a-links holding factory seat belts in place, and holding the seat's frame to the eyelets bolted to the floor:



Went out for some topless errand running, this is how he looked just before I put him back inside the garage:




Next up, get my slotted mags moved onto these tires and be done with the rusty smoothies sans center caps. Also gotta reclean the passenger rear brake light bulb socket-some corrosion growing in there messing up brake light and blinkers on that side.

Erik