Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Well i am hoping to make more sense of the assembly of the truck when the time comes. I went ahead and purchased a factory assembly manual off of Feebay yesterday. I have heard others talk about them but this is the 1st time I have seen one for sale. With 600 pages I hope it has something useful in it.

Richard

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Great ref. matrl., just hard to find what your looking for. Service manual is another great source, but you have all these knowledgeable guys that can help you out faster. Best forum around, bar none....

Good luck on your reassembly

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Well I think that the black Blazer will end up getting parted out. I have been robbing parts off of it for the two other ones so I think it will be better off utilized as a permenant donor. I will be posting it up on the parts board when I make sure I have everything I need off of it.

Glad it has finally cooled off some here hoping to get some work done soon.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Not to say I have been procrastinating but I finally got to pull the black 71 in the shop tonight and start the full dismantl. Did not get a whole lot acomplished since I had to soak most everything with blaster. I did get the front clip completely unbolted ready to lift off tomorrow along with the front bumper. !st thing I dd was get all four wheels off it and lower it to the drums/rotors so it was easier to work on. The more I looked at it the more I was convinced it had a 6" spring lift and not a 4". I got the tape measure out and set the weight of the truck back on so I could get an accurate measurement. I measured from the top of the axle tube to the top of the frame in the same exact place on all three blazers. The red one and green one measure 14" and the black one I am taking apart measres 20". So I guess that settles it having a 6" lift. I am almost sure I could have put 44" tires and they would clear. The 38's looked small. I am getting to old for that much lift so I will most likely get rid of it. I hope to get the top off tomorrow as I have a near local member asking about the windshield frame and need to check the hidden part for rot.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Good stuff Richard. Glad to hear you're making progress. We will be in Fruitland Saturday. I will text you if I have time to come by.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

thats cool I should be around.You will be driving yours right?

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Right… :lol:

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Well just about have the black one striped to the tub. Still have several more things to remove but I may pull it back out for now and cover it up. A buddy of mine stopped by this afternoon and got my green one running. Still have some tuning to do but I have to get the gas tank down and get it cleaned out. I am running out of 5 gallongas cans and rope :lol:. I did move it around to make sure the transmission and transfer case functioned correctly. My goalis to have it running good enough to take it to the truck show along with the panel 2nd Saturday of October. Once I get it running decent Iam going to get started back on the metal work.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Well got the black parts blazer off the lift tonight and got hte green machine on the lift. Transfer case leaks, transmission leaks rear seal on engine leaks and have brake fluidleak somewhere. other than that it is dry as a bone underneath :lol: Now that I can get it up in the air 1st thing onthe list is to drop the tank and get it cleaned out or replaced and get some fresh gas in it so that I can get the can off the grill. Before I put it on the lift I drove it up and down the driveway a few times just so I could say I have driven it under its own power. With all the leaks and all now I need o decide if I amm going to leave it a 3ott or if I am going to change it out to something more sturdy. I have another SM465/205 setup and I also have several TH350/205 setups. The radiator has been changed out at somepoint with an automatic radiator so no expense there. I might just go ahead with the automatic. time will tell.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Well finally got back to work on the green blazer. Had a man come by and work on the points distributor a while back and got it running. It lasted for a couple days and quit getting spark (something in the distributor) I got tired of it and yanked it out yesterday and put an HEI I had laying on the shelf. Ran power wire to fuse box, hit the key and she fired right up. Just getting it running again has put me back in the mood to work on it again. I am going to tear back into the sheet metal and get all the panels put in. then will see where we go from there.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Finally got something accomplished. Got the new (to me) gauge cluster assembled and put in and everything works except the gas gauge (no gas tank in truck right now. Now to get back on the metal repairs.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Very nice Richard. Keep it goin!

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

two cans of SEM super white and a few squirts of Krylon 1910 blue :chevy: and the console is ready for DD use. Did not spend a whole lot of time on it but it turned out pretty nice. It has a couple small holes on the side of it but once between the seats they will not be seen. This is actually the black one that came out of the black Blazer. I think I am going to build some adapters that fit in the seatbelt slots for holding my drinks. Should be fairly simple to accomplish out of aluminum.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

looks great Richard, thanks for the product info. Guy before me used the wrong paint, so I have to do a respray

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

So... I bought another blazer floor to help to out with getting the green blazer back together. It has some rust in the floor but all of the cross sills are in real good shape. I had a pc. of floor section here that I got from Warbucket some time back and decided to get started on getting it repaired. The good thing is the underside of this floor must have been undercoated from factory/dealer/new which is what saved it a bunch from rotting out. First picture is what floor looked like when I got it

Attachment 1530187

The other four pictures are closer up of the rust

Attachment 1530188

Attachment 1530189

The pc. of floor I had is actually from the front of another floor and the stamping does not end like the rear does so it will need to be cut and modified to match. On the front of the floor the ribs stop short of the end, on the rear they taper flush to the end.


Attachment 1530190

Attachment 1530191

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Today I got all of the cutoff bolts and body bushings off the bottom of the bed. Next I started cutting out the rear section that was rotted.


Attachment 1530195

Attachment 1530196

The last two pics show relief cuts to bend the tail sections down. I left the original metal on the very back on this side but I think it ended up being more work.

Attachment 1530197

Attachment 1530198

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Since the rot was worse on the drivers side I cut the entire pc. out. I did not give enough thought before cutting and forgot the one rib is narrower than the rest as it comes around the back corner of the bedside.



Attachment 1530200

Attachment 1530201

Because of the radius on the rib I elected to fix my mistake but cutting it out of the pc. I cut off and piecing it back in.

Attachment 1530202

Attachment 1530203


Thankfully I have a a 10' metal brake and a 4' box and pan brake here so I can bend the metal pretty easy. The narrow rib on the left was full width on the start.

Attachment 1530204

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

This is where I am now, cutting and slicing the rear section for the rib taper. Hands are worn out for today and neck hurting from being bent over the table all day but feel like I got more done today then I have in a long time. After doing the Mothers day thing tomorrow I plan to come back out and work some more.


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Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

I am not going to weld any of it until I get all of my patches made. That way I can spot everything in and keep the heat spread out between all of the patches and not lose any time waiting.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Got some welding and grinding done between Mothers Day activities. I am glad I started back with metal repairs on this floor instead of body panels, I forgot a lot of things I used to do to make it go easier but its been 20 years since I have done any. It is slowly coming back to the front of my brain so hopefully by the time I get to the body panels I wont cost myself a lot of headaches. Hope to finish both back patches this week. After I get patches done I am going to get my neighbor to bring his diesel compressor and blaster home so i can blast several big parts including this floor.

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Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Got some more patch work done yesterday. I still have plenty of welding & grinding left. I am glad my labor is cheap :lol:


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Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

more

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Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

And this is where I left off last night. I remade the pc that I cut out but still have to do the front edge of the wheel opening.

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Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

Just curious, but why fix something that is so rotted, when a new floor panel that is as good as original can be had for a reasonable price? I understand if you want to keep it all original, but damn, that's a lot of patches and the inside of the crossmembers will still be rusty.

Re: 71' Blazer Rust bucket build
 

The main purpose of repairing this floor section was to see if i still had the patience and brains to do it before I get back into the main body portions of the 3 blazers & panel truck that i can't buy new parts for. It has been at least 20 years since I last did any metal work of this nature. As far as the cross members the only bad spots I could see were directly below the floor rot and I will be repairing that as well as putting rust neutralizer on it. My labor is the cheapest part of the work. If i had to pay someone..... no it would not happen, but since I can do the work it leaves my money for buying the other major parts that I cant repair like the drive train parts that need restoring.

Richard