Insufficient Funds - '70 4x4

[kodyb87]

Since this is my first post I guess I should give a short intro. I'm 24 years old, wifed up, the proud owner of twin 1 year old girls, I scrape a living as a Assistant Project Manager for a commercial construction company, and we live just outside of Panama City, FL. I've been lurking around the board for a while just reading and soaking up what all you guys have to say. The wife and I decided that I needed to find a bigger truck for hauling the crib midgets around. After owning my '88 Jimmy I naturally went back to the Blazers.

I looked around for a month or two before I remembered the one that sat out back at the body shop where I used to sweep floors and run a sanding block. I had an 80's model in mind but the '72 the guy had sitting in the yard was even better. After a few phone calls to hunt down the owner, I went to take a look. The '72 turned out to be a '70 and now I had to have it.

I talked to my buddy that owns the body shop and he told me that he had just done over $2,000 worth of metal work on the truck and that the owner wanted $3,500 and not a penny less. He had replaced or patched all of the floor and most of the rust on the exterior. He told me the motor is out of a 1980 Corvette and that everything works and runs. I took my income tax return to the guys house and now I'm the proud owner of a 1970 Chevy Blazer.













Now for the problem spots that still need to be addressed and the fixes that need to be finished. A lot of this rust is just flash over from the replacement metal that wasn't sprayed. The floors and rockers are rock solid. The rest is in the pics. If you guys spot anything that I don't, please speak up. I am pretty new at this body style, especially a project this in depth, so I'll need plenty of eyes and wisdom.






















Plans for this one are pretty simple. Nothing super flashy, just a nice old truck. This will be my daily driver and the family beach Blazer. I drive about 25 miles one way to work every day so I've got some decisions to make about the gas mileage. I had planned on just getting it on the road and working on it while I drove it, but now that I've gone through it a little more, I think it might be better to pull as much apart as I can without removing the tub. I just don't have the tools or cash to do a frame off restoration, so I'll do as much as I can in the backyard.

Exterior:
Going back with the stock blue, but I'll probably do a light tan above the body line and on the top. 4" lift and 35x12.50's on the current wheels. I'll probably go black with the wheels. Going to shave the side markers and a lot of the trim and badges. I was thinking of going with a cowl induction hood but the stock one is in perfect condition so I'll probably stick with it. The front bumper is pretty banged up so that will be replaced. I would like to add a hidden winch behind the stock bumper eventually.

Interior:
I doubt I'll keep the stock seats just because I don't know how practical they will be trying to get my girls in and out of the back seat. Hopefully somebody can chime in and let me know how well the original setup works with car seats and little ones. Eventually I'll have to add A/C since we live in Florida. Going to do the interior black, blue and tan, just haven't decided exactly how to mix and match yet. Carpet in the front passenger area and bedliner in the back. I have some ideas for adding a mild sound system and some cargo lights into the rear panels.

Any input or ideas is more than welcome. This is probably going to be a slow one, but I'll keep it updated as much as possible.