Some assembly required……
 

After reading the boards for months, I took the plunge and purchased a 72 Blazer. I had looked at several, but most had unknown cosmetic repairs done, and decided that at least with this one, hopefully most of the issues were at least visible. It’s a bit rough, but I’ve seen folks resurrect worst and figured I would give it a try.
The tub seems reasonably good. The bed floor is solid except for the last foot or so. The one remaining door aligns well, although I haven’t been brave enough to loosen the top. The rocker boxes, while needing to be replaced, are certainly stable at this point.
I know I need to replace the bedsides, tailgate, inner/outer rockers, rocker boxes, doors, and patch the floors, etc.
Although I’ve done a couple frame off’s before, I’ve never done a convertible, so I get a little nervous about doing something out of order and ending up with alignment issues as I progress.

I was trying to plan out the proper order to continue with and I’m hoping to get a perspective from some people that have been down this path before.

-Pull body off frame , remove the rear bedsides, and get the frame and remainder of the body media blasted.
-Put the body back on frame with new body bushings, repair the rear floor, and loose install new bedsides/tailgate. Put the top back on, square the bedsides, align doors, and tighten everything up.

I could then move on to the inner/outer rocker panels and rocker boxes. I guess this is also a bit of a mystery to me as well, but it looks like you do the inner/ outer rocker panels first, and the rocker/torsion boxes are the last step.

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I'm on board for your build. I can't speak from frame-off experience with a K5 but many excellent build threads here. I'd invite the members with the following builds and you are sure to have excellent results. Good luck!

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=628612

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=645076

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=626752

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=210641

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Thanks! I have been doing a lot of reading, so much great information on this site. Luckily I'm only an hour from White House so I plan to spend the weekend there getting ideas and getting started.

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"-Pull body off frame , remove the rear bedsides, and get the frame and remainder of the body media blasted."

Yikes!? What's this remove the rear bedsides? I'd think there will be problems if you do this with the tub on the frame. With it off, things will probably be worse.

I'd replace the body to frame bushings first, then get some opinions after describing "remove the rear bedsides."

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Thanks. I probably should have described that better. Looks like guys have repaired the sides using truck sides. or replacing the entire bedside. Probably pro's and con's to either method. I'm definitely looking for opinions on both. I attached a pic of the good side. It might not look that way, but at least that side isn't full of bondo

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Glad to see someone brave enough to tackle a fine southeast specimen. They can't all be Californians. On our build, we only ended up keeping about 30% of the original tub. Basically the firewall, windshield frame, center hump and first quarter of the rear deck were the only bits that survived. Our sequence as previously suggested was to first replace all body mounts, then A-pillar repair, floor board, inner/outer rockers, rear deck, wheel tubs, bed sides, then rocker boxes. Gaps set with top on, then doors off, braces places between the jams, then body off. I think it's a safe sequence and nothing got away from us. I've got a fair number of pics of the process in my build thread in my signature below. I look forward to following your progress.

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Thanks for the help Brad. I'm glad I asked some questions, looks like I was about to exactly the wrong thing by starting at the back and working forward. Looks like I have a lot of parts to get ordered!

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No sweat. I'm excited to see you step into the ring with this rascal...she looks like a wildcat. Remember, be strong...they can smell fear.

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Slow progress......strange how I encounter some parts that are completely rusted away, yet others look almost brand new. I've removed some more of the floor, trying to minimize metal removal until I know exactly what I'm doing. Its surprising how stubborn rusty metal is to remove, you would think it would practically fall apart.

I don't see a way to replace that cab support without cutting out the spotwelds on the plate above the support. I did get a spotweld cutter, and it does work pretty well.

Door hinges are cooking in the derusting tank, figured I would re-pin those before hanging the new doors to check measurements. As usual, 3 pins came out pretty well, but the lower driver hinge has refused to budge, will have to see if I can scrounge up a replacement.

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That reinforcement plate does in fact have to be removed to access the cab support. I just used an impact hammer to break the spotwelds, then hammered the plate flat again so that I could re-use it. Spotweld cutters are a great thing, but I only use them on sheet metal that will be seen because they are time consuming to use IMHO.

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Looks exciting and challenging....I will be tagging along. Looking forward to a good learning experience.

Remember, they can smell fear...love that advice from Iron Canine!

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After you remove the plate Hemi is referring to, you will encounter a spacer. I had to torch mine off, couldn t get a tool in there to cut the spot welds. You ll see it in the pictures in post 19 of my build

Also, I would cut the old floor forward to the factory seam, will make for a cleaner install of the patch panel JMHO. Only do one side of the floor at a time

Thanks Pete for recommending me

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Thanks for the advice guys, its helping.

I got the plate off, and ran into the spacer. I tried to figure a way to leave it, or remove and reuse it. Both options failed and I ended up chiseling it off.

I'm getting closer to test fitting, although I'm a bit stuck with what to do at the back of the door. I have backed out the two bolts that secure the bedside, and the bedside will be replaced later. I expected to run the patch panel all the way to butt up against the new bedside, but there is something still attached in there. I don't really want to leave the last couple of inched of old metal there, just haven't figured out what is still in the way.

On a good note, although I will replace the torsion boxes later, they are provided a great deal of support. The drivers side isn't rusted through, and combined with the top still on its holding everything pretty solid as I mock up parts.

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Make sure you weld some sort of support in to prevent the front of the cab from creeping backwards as you cut all the old metal out. I can't stress this enough !!If you don't do this, your doors will never line up again.
If it was me, I would reinstall the doors before proceeding forward to make sure things haven't moved already. A bit of work now could save you a lot of grief later.
Dan

EDIT;
Take a look at the build tjsblazer did, and you'll see what I mean by the reinforcement I'm talking about. He used the original hinge mount and door latch area to bolt his on, so it didn't have to be welded in.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=626752

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The 'B' post area is the most difficult, as you have about 5 or 6 pieces of sheet metal joining in that area. I think I see rust in the lower area, so it will have to be cut out. The metal is doubled in that area so be careful not to cut through both pieces, and DO NOT cut above the spot welds shown. Keep your cut to a minimum of the patch you have. Where did you get your patch panels from?

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When you work on your inner and outer rocker panels, don t get rid of the top flange, as your weatherstrip gets mounted on that
Take lots of pics of the areas your working on, will help you to remember how it goes back together
Don t final weld everything until you have your fenders, core support, hood and doors reinstalled to check final gaps

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I bought my patch panels from Southern Kentucky Classics, but I may have more to purchase. I was planning on putting on new bedsides, but I may not know what parts come with the bedsides. I'll probably show my ignorance here, do the bedsides include the "B" pillar? I was hoping for $700 per side they installed themselves as well

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From what I see of the bedside, they come with a portion of the 'B' post, but I 'm not sure if they go all the way to the bottom
don't know what you mean by "they installed themselves as well". If I get time I'll look them up. Make sure you ask how thick the sheet metal patch panels are.

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Hemi43 - Good call on the doors. My old doors are pretty beat, I have new doors, but for the truck. They didn't have Blazer doors, and I've been procrastinating on cutting these. I'll have to start measuring and remove the top of the door. The old hinges have been through the derusting tank, I'll rebuild those with new pins and get a door on there to make sure nothing has moved around.

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Today was a milestone, a part was actually put on the Blazer, rather than being taken off (or falling off). I test fit a door. Its a reproduction door, but fits pretty well. I was hoping for a little tighter gap, its running at a 1/4 inch, but very even around the back of the door. I put a strap on the opening to put tension on it but it didn't budge, and the passenger side measures the same as the drivers side. I have read that the reproduction doors are slightly off in the hinge area, and guys have had to shim them a bit. Its possible that when I put the new bedsides on I could tighten up the gap a bit at that time.

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Been fitting patch pieces, hoping I was close to tack welding, but I've run into some fitment issues. Since most of the A pillar, inner and outer rocker and cab support were rusted away, I haven't really had a good reference point to know if new parts were in the correct location. In hindsight, I should have left as much of the existing rusty bolt locations as possible. I've test fitted the door and fender, and they fit well in relation to each other and the rest of the truck.

As a reference point, the inner rocker had a hole in it, and that hole seemed to line up with an existing bolt hole and the rear of the door opening. However, when that hole is lined up, the front fender lower bolt mount is about 3/4 of a inch too far forward to thread into the fender. Additionally, the floor patch panel doesn't fit well, as it sits a bit forward as well if I try to line up the "gutters" in the floor.

Everything appears that it would line up if a trimmed more off the back of the inner rocker, allowing it to slide back, but then the existing bolt hole at the rear of the inner rocker would not line up.

The top is still bolted on, and luckily one of the few things that isn't to rusty is the torsion boxes. Both doors fit well, and the openings all measure the same left to right, so it doesn't seem like the firewall has shifted.

Anyone else run into this? I don't want to trim the inner rocker to get everything to align, and find out I missed the real problem

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I notice you don't have any bracing. It it was me, I would re install the passenger door, and pay close attention to the A-pillar and door frame gap. By cutting out the rockers like you did, the whole front part of the cab will have a tendency to sag rearwards. Just keeping the top on is not sufficient IMHO.
Dan

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First you should be using zip screws or clecos to hold the patches in place, if you still need to move the patches, easy enuff to weld up the holes later

Second the outrigger, the patch that the body mount goes thru, has to be fitted under the floor patch

Third, the 'A' post lower patch has to be fitted along with the kick panel patch. When you fit up the 'A' post patch, make sure you can bolt up the lower fender mount. Don't cut anymore of your upper 'A' post as it will give you problems, like running into the plate for the door hinge

Patches are cheap, don't worry about screwing them up by cutting to much off. Also don't count on patches being a good fit, sometimes you will have to bend them or cut them to work

Post up pics with lots of light

JMHO

Also mount all of your sheet metal back on the front of truck, to check alignment of gaps

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I second Bracing the doors... You don't wanna deal with the nightmare I'm dealing with.

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Thanks guys!

I put the old passenger door back on. It dropped into place and aligned great. I then put on the driver door on again. Its a reproduction, but seems to fit pretty well, and aligned it. I rehung the driver fender, and aligned it. Put a couple of screws in the inner rocker....

Everything seems to be fitting a little better. Still some work to do, but getting closer.

Again, thanks for the help

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Looking Good!! Following!

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Great work so far. I did my rockers with just the top On and my gaps stayed perfect. The top keeps the a puller from leaning back when you
Have the rocker off pretty good. Not everyone is so lucky it sounds like though.

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Thanks! Made a little progress, got most of the work done on the drivers side, probably still need a little welding/grinding/cleanup but moving on to the passenger side now.

Chulisohombre - noticed you are in Bangor, I used to live about ten minutes from there in Portland, PA. Moved south because I hated working on rusty vehicles. Guess that didn't work out like I planned.....

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I've been in Bangor since 2001. Lived in Portland a couple years off of state street. Good little area. Not a lot of old Chevy trucks left. Depending on when you left I had this truck as a daily driver for the first few years until the salt kick the body's butt. It used to have "the beast" painted down the sides and eyes and a mouth on the front fenders like the world war 2 planes. Yeah I guess you didn't beat the rust down there. It just followed you. Haha

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Nice work looks great, keep going

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Worked on the passenger side over the holiday weekend, this side seemed to go into place much easier than the drivers side. I hope that was just because I learned from the first side, but it definitely makes you start second guessing your work, wondering if you did something wrong on one side or the other.

I'm working out some bracing for the door openings. I picked up the new bedsides, tailgate and bed floor about a week ago, so I want to brace everything well before I remove the top. Its a little tough to figure out where to brace to, since pretty much everything behind the doors is coming off. I think the best I can do is tack steel to the cargo step plate and at the cab around the door hinge area.

I'm not really sure if I will put the back half of the truck together, and then pull it off the frame, or pull the tub, do the frame, and then reassemble everything. I guess my preference is to pull the tub and do the frame, and reassemble it. The tub will be able to maneuver around easier, and I can get the underside completed with exception of the area under the torsion boxes. I was going to leave those on until everything was back together, and complete the outer rockers and new boxes at that time once everything is fully assembled, the top is on, and everything aligned correctly.

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Great progress!!!

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X2. Looks terrific, good work. Can't help on bedside, never did it

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Well, its finally a convertible. I braced the door area by tack welding to the step up panel, and I'm getting ready to remove the bedsides. I has happy the only area that doesn't seem to be full of rust was the windshield header, was hoping I wouldn't have to do any repair there. It looked good from what was visible, which was one of the reason I took a chance on buying this Blazer. I did have to drill the head off the passenger side bolt holding the the top on. Its a spinner, not sure how I'm going to repair that. Sucks because other than a couple of small stress cracks the top is in great shape. Maybe someone will have some ideas about that, but doesn't appear to be simple. If it were stripped I could helicoil or something, but this is a captive nut or something that has broken loose.

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Nothing better than taking her top off for the first time. ;) Congrats. I'm afraid you might have to cut into the top to repair it in a way that satisfies you. I don't think we had to replace any hardware in the front of the top...but most of the stuff in the rear had to come out and be re-fixed and glassed back in.

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I'm running out of parts to remove.....I pulled the cab and pressure washed the frame just to she if there were any obvious issues. Frame look great other than a thin stop on the rearmost bed mount. I probably throw the cab back on, and call a media blaster tomorrow.

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It's looking good. I also struggled with the drivers side, especially the rocker panel and getting the a-pillar lined up. Lots of cutting and welding to get it all lined up.

Good luck, Rg

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Had the frame and other parts media blasted, and then rebuilt the drivetrain with new joints, bearing and brakes. Slow work, but now I can turn my attention back to the body.

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Looking good. Congrats on the progress. Keep it up. Looking forward to more.

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A lot of assembly has taken place…..but to be fair, I should have posted a bit more frequently, I had two weeks off around Christmas, so I probably got a dozen 10 hr. days’ worth of work done over that timeframe.

I know there all always a lot of questions around replacement panels, and pretty much everything from the tub back is replacement, so I thought I would give my observations around what I experienced.

Overall, I was reasonably pleased with all the aftermarket panels. Do they drop into place, require no fitting, and bolt up perfectly?…..not exactly. However, I don’t really know if NOS stuff would either. It’s a 40+ year old vehicle, tolerances were not as tight then as they are today, so I suspect the assembly line had its share of fitting as well.

My assessment

Bed Floor – I don’t want to say perfect, but I haven’t found an issue yet that I could attribute to the bed floor. Every hole lined up, every captive nut worked.
Bed Sides – Generally pretty good. The annoyance I had is that the bedside would not fit onto the bed floor. The “pocket” that the rear of the bedside has in one case was smaller than the rear bed rear support, and in the other case it was identical. With a little bending I got the “identical” one in, but on the other side I had to drill out the spot welds to spread the pocket to get it on. You would think the folks manufacturing the parts would double check that they fit together. I would say some of the issues I experienced were self-inflicted. I tightened and loosened a lot of things a lot of times. Sometimes it was intentional to confirm fit, sometimes it was a mistake, and I would later find something I forgot to install that would have make since to do first.
Biggest challenge – The area where the bed side, bed floor, rockers, torsion boxes and re-enforcement plates gave me the biggest headache. To be fair, there are about a dozen bolts that need to line up between all of these pieces, but in my case the re-enforcement plates seemed to be always slightly off. Doesn’t mean the plate was the issue, maybe it would have dropped right into place on a different vehicle, but it my case I spent a couple hours per side laying on my back with a Dremel tweaking holes to gets bolts in,

Advice/Things I learned the hard way…
I didn’t chase any threads, but I tried to pre-test every captive nut with a bolt with anti-seize. If you are working by yourself, holding the part with one hand and trying to start a bolt with other, makes life much easier. I usually knew when I ran across one I had missed…….

Bedsides are heavy, secure your work – Even if you think they are positioned and balanced and you can reach for a tool, don’t do it. After making that mistake I always secured the bedside in the ratchet wench I rigged up for removing the top, my penance will be some bodywork on what had been a perfect panel.

Still a long way to go