Story of two 72 k5's.

[scottishdave]

Lurked around this site for a few years under this and an older Screen name. Only internet forum i am active on is Coloradok5 where i have had a build thread for some time now. But enjoy coming here for info, pics etc.. and thought you might enjoy looking at anouther blazer project a bit, or in this case...two blazer prjoects.

[scottishdave]

So it started in April 2009 with a Marine who had too much money in his pocket, loved 1st gens a little too much and had zero patience. All that equaled the purchase of this non running rust bucket.


Now she didnt look too bad from the outside but things went downhill from there....and fast. So....In no time at all; this happened.




Followed by the typical pile up of the usual parts suspects







And more, but you get the idea.

[scottishdave]

Ok....So, In the process i learned a great deal about what i had actually purchased.

The rust under the hood was so bad that the eshuast manifolds had completey rusted through so that when i went to unbolt them, it just broke in half and fell off.

One of the Torsion Boxes was replaced with....TIN! while the other torsion box simply did not exist. The many many holes in the floor had been covered with fiberglass, And...the bottoms of both doors were almost gone, quarters were filled with holes. The tailgate had been tack welded in place to give it the appearance of being on...and, well i am sure there was more.

The front crossmember had a huge chunk cut out to make way for a PTO driven winch. About 8" were cut off the rear frame rails to jerry rig weld a hitch. Tranny was toast, rear end was toast, engine was toast... evidently before the engine died, the lift pump gave out and a jerry rigged electric pump was put in to pump fuel to the carb??? who knows.

But...I went on and with zero welding knowledge, or a welder i moved forward with the help of some old guy i had met who offered to help teach some welding/bodywork. This just keeps getting better and better

So we gave it a shot...probably made things look better but nothing was straight, and the quality just was not there.

Only thing that turned out great were the fenders and hood...mostly because there was nothing wrong with them to begin with, ha ha.

[scottishdave]

So while that ship was sinking fast, i spent alot of time on the drivetrain. Stuff i actualy new something about.

Stripped the frame to bare steel, primed it, coated in rustbullet, top coated in rustbullet blackshell and then painted it cast iron.

New crate 350, rebuilt the TH 350, re-sealed the np205.

DIY4x crossmember, new brake lines, Disked the 14bff

4" Tuff country EZ rides in the front, ORD flip with 6" shackles and 56" springs in the rear. Greasable bushings, new body mounts, fuel tank, etc....

So while the travesty that was unfolding with the body was done, i would be able to set a big turd on a nice piece of fine china.








Then the POS was put into place



Where it sat for a long long time.

[scottishdave]

Until...a month or two ago when the pace of work slowed and i jumped on facebook one night and found this


A running and mostly rust free 72 k5. Great running, mildly cammed 350. 700r4 swap, vintage air AC!!!, 4.56 front and rear, never been lifted and a brand new, never been used STC soft top still in the bag.

So she quickly found herself into my driveway




And after trying to sell the Tub from the old blazer with no luck..which i couldnt blame anyone for passing on that deal of the century. The old Tub found itself sold for scrap.



The frame was stripped of all its goodies



some new parts were bought to go along with the parts being carried over from the old truck




And then i decided to take advantage of my limited free time and went to work.









And this is how she sits now...just waiting on some U-bolts and then to get the 35x12.50's mounted, exhuast re-ran and that will be about it.

[scottishdave]

As she sits now i have replaced seals in T-case to fix leaks, had Aamco uninstal a Tq converter controller and adjust the tranny properly.

New tie-rod ends, drag link ends. Checked, re-packed and replaced a bearing or two, new rotors, pads, shoes, wheel cylinders, u-joints.

4" Tuff Country EZ-rides up front with ORD bushings, greasable bolts and shackles.

ORD flip with 6" shackles, bushings, greasable bolts out back.

Extended stainless braided/teflon coated brake lines, new hard lines in the rear.

wire wheeled everything i could get too, then Zinc primed and painted.

Waiting on some proper length U-bolts, gotta get the exhuast ran since it is now in the way of everything. Will add my flowmaster 50's while that is going on. Throw the soft top on and call it good.

Hope you enjoyed.

[EvanSouders97]

Originally Posted by scottishdave

So while that ship was sinking fast, i spent alot of time on the drivetrain. Stuff i actualy new something about.

Stripped the frame to bare steel, primed it, coated in rustbullet, top coated in rustbullet blackshell and then painted it cast iron.

New crate 350, rebuilt the TH 350, re-sealed the np205.

DIY4x crossmember, new brake lines, Disked the 14bff

4" Tuff country EZ rides in the front, ORD flip with 6" shackles and 56" springs in the rear. Greasable bushings, new body mounts, fuel tank, etc....

So while the travesty that was unfolding with the body was done, i would be able to set a big turd on a nice piece of fine china.








Then the POS was put into place



Where it sat for a long long time.

so you put 56in springs in the back with ord shackle flip kit with 6 in shackles and it ended up being a 4in lift for the back or were the 56in springs +2 +4 lift.......my question being my jimmy has a 6in lift and o wanna do the same rear set up as you and use the 56in springs do i just get 8in shackles for the extra or ....????? any help it appericated thanks

[elzombo]

Subscribed!

[elzombo]

Very nice

[AJs72K5]

This sounds vaguely familiar...

[scottishdave]

Originally Posted by AJs72K5

This sounds vaguely familiar...

Yeah, i heard some guy on CK5 has been rambling on about a similar project for some time now.

[AJs72K5]

welcome to the board Dave
Posted via Mobile Device

[scottishdave]

Done for the time being, now time to enjoy it.

[99-LS1-SS]

Do you have any idea what color of blue that is?

[scottishdave]

Wire wheeled frame to bare steel and primed in Zinc Chromate

[Littletony]

HAha...I tired to buy that blazer for about 3 years. I am glad the PO never called me back now. At least I can drive my rust bucket that I ended up with.

[scottishdave]

Regular ORD 4" shackle flip kit, but I went with the longer shackles that they sell. Then standard 56" springs.