Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

I'm new to the boards, and to restorations and truck ownership in general. I've been in love with first generation Blazers ever since I was visiting my grandpa in the hospital when I was about 15 (about 15 years ago) and I picked up a truck magazine with a bright orange K5 on the cover.

That dream came to fruition last Summer, when I bought my '71 K5 from one of my grandpa's good friends. Vaughn couldn't stand to watch her sit and rot any longer. So my friend and I drove a trailer 2 1/2 hours to Fruitland Maryland (from Wilmington Delaware, where we live) to pick it up. Didn't fit on the trailer, so I drove her home. About 3/4 the way home the drivers side front tire fell apart. The tread blew off while I was doing 60 on Route 1 in Smyrna (swerving me into the left lane where there were no cars, thankfully). Scared the hell out of me! Swerved the truck to the side of the road, put the (original??) spare on it and drove her the rest of the way, limping the whole way. The tread even blew out the headlight bulb and ripped the K5 badge off the fender. It was a sad turn of events. But I did get her home in one piece, sort of. Since then I've been trying to scrounge cash together to begin a frame off restoration. In the meantime I've been picking at little things like having the seatbacks powdercoated and replacing the brakes lines, etc. Doing these things has kept me sane while I wait to begin the actual restoration. Here are some photos of her when I first got her. I'll update as I go.

The nice thing is while the truck is a rust bucket, she's all original. Un-molested. I'm thankful for that, because I've seen a lot of hacked up Blazers. Calling her Orange Blossom Special because it's one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs, and the original color is orange, though the exterior has been painted red. The original orange is still on the interior. I'll be going back to the original orange in the end.

The plan is to restore her to somewhere between a daily driver and a show truck. I will definitely be driving her on a regular basis, but don't want to make her so nice that I'm afraid to mess her up. I plan to go mostly original, but with slightly larger tires/wheels, a roll bar, Line-x the inside of the tub, and a few other modern updates. Enjoy…

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

I bought a set of rally wheels off of a '91 Suburban and had them blasted and powercoated, and wrapped in BFG ATs. The lipstick is on the pig ;) …

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Welcome aboard! Nice K5! I installed one of those whip cb antenna's back in the day, it looked good then but now need to repair the holes. Good luck with your project and keep the pic's coming!

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

I knew the floor was rusty under the carpet and patch sheet metal, but didn't know it was this bad til I drilled out the pop rivets and patches. Good thing I bought a 'new' bed from Mike Krug in AZ last week. Photos of the 'new' bed to come. Here is the floor as it stands now…

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Here's a pic of the cross member that fell off the bottom of the truck when I unbolted the bench seat. That's how rusted the underside of the truck is…

http://i557.photobucket.com/albums/s...P1080458-2.jpg

Floor pan shots…it's worse than it looks in the pics. Some of those dark sections have patches in them. Any suggestions on whether to replace the entire floor pan, or patch it with panels? I figure a complete new floor pan would be easiest and cost less with my body guy?

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

New floor pan would likely be easiest, but I don't know about the cheapest. Just depends on how much work you're willing to do vs. what you'll pay.

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Wow she looked pretty solid untill you pulled the carpet...

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

The disassembly begins…got the front of the truck off this morning. Firewall has a couple of rust holes, each of the fender wells have a hole in the front inside corner and the radiator core support has a couple of holes. Not sure whether these can be patched for a reasonable price (I don't have the know-how to patch them myself), or if I should just buy new ones. Anyone have an opinion about that? Here are the pics…

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

It is just much faster and easier to replace the panels, no skill involved...as for the cowl, that will require a skilled welder, not to difficult of a task, but a skill non the less

As far as the bed goes, it would be easier to replace it all at once, rather then try and patch it, hardly any welding involved...jmho

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Yeah I hear ya. I just figured out while looking at my LMC catalog that I can replace the entire inner cowl, which would take care of all the rot holes that I was mistakingly saying were in the firewall. Plus the bottom ends of the cowl are rotted. I have a friend who has a body shop. I'm hoping he can weld a new cowl to the existing firewall.

As for the bed, I bought a rust-free bed from arizona to replace my rotted one. Problem is the floor pan is rotted too. So I guess I need to get a new floorpan assembly and have it mated to the replacement bed and existing firewall.

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Looks like a lotta work to replace the whole cowl for just a few small holes, unless when you look inside the vent boxes there is a lotta of work, I would just fix the holes. The lower outside of the vent box is an easy fix, but usually if the outside has rot, then the inside will need help as well

You may want to use the whole floorboard that is now available in repop, nevermind, just reread your reply. Sounds like your going that way....

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Got the doors off and the body mounts unbolted. Ready to disassemble the steering column and everything else on the firewall, then take the body off. My wife is pregnant and is due within about a month. Goal is to get the body off by the time my daughter arrives. Gotta get moving! Here are some pics…

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Latest progress…dismantled the body. Once I got into it I realized it was worse than it looked from the outside. I was hoping to mate the replacement bed I got to a new floorpan, to my existing firewall. But there are a few critical parts of the firewall and windshield assembly that are rotted beyond reasonable repair (I believe). But nonetheless, I stripped her down the frame. Surprising the frame appears to be really solid. Just needs some cleaning up.

The only mod I came across it where it appears someone hacked off the back few inches of the frame rails and spliced in the bumper brackets from the '69-'70 K5s, then they welded a trailer hitch to the assembly. It's not pretty. I guess I'm just going to have to clean it all up and maybe replace the bumper brackets. Not sure what else I can do. Anyone ever seen a mod like this? Can't figure out why they would've done this unless they had bent the frame rails in an accident, or they needed to do it in order to weld the hitch receiver into place. See photo down bottom…

Also, I need a right rear body mounting bracket if anyone has one they could spare. My right rear one is rotted (also see photo below).

Here are some current photos…

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

WOW!

Maybe should have not taken that one apart! Lot of rust there...good luck on the project.

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Yeah it was bad man. I had all been patched and puttied looked like on a number of occasions. Seems solid until I started digging. Then it just kept getting worse and worse. There was no hope building on what was there. She needed to come completely apart.

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Now that you know the extent of the damage, what is your plan for putting it back together....another body from the arizona area?

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

One of two options:

1: Find a solid floorpan and firewall, and mate it to the bed I got from AZ.
2: Find a solid complete tub

I'm considering 3 tubs currently. 2 are all original and have some rust (but not near as bad as mine) and one is completely done over. Problem is I can't fly out west to look at a tub, and shipping would be cost prohibitive. Weighing my options…

What part of Philly do you live in?

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Well, at least you have a plan, good tubs are out there...better to spend the money now and be done with it, versus, labor and patch panels and loss of time

Actually, im northof king of prussia

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Wow. The tear down look similar to what I did two years ago..

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Been thinking about the overall plan and here's what I think I'm going to do…going to restore the frame, add new shocks, brakes, brake lines, gas tank, fuel lines, etc, and get a new (to me) tub on there and build the truck back and get her on the road. Afterall she does run well. So once I get her back together and driveable, then I'll get to work on the engine and cosmetics. As much as I want to do everything over and make a lot of updates, I won't be able to live with myself if it takes me years to get her back on the road. So goal #1 is to firm up the foundation and get a good tub. Time to get movin…

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

The latest…

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Pulled the motor today. Though it's obviously really exciting, it's also a bit scary seeing it in this stage. I've never done anything like this before.

Once we got the motor out, we confirmed our suspicion that the frame is in fact in excellent shape. The only rot is on the rear passenger side body mounting bracket. Other than that it's just surface scale. I plan to take the axles and crossmember supports off the frame and fix the body mount bracket this week. Then off to the powder coater. Then I can get rolling on getting her back together. Some photos from today…

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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Dusty.. I have that rear passenger mount. When I get the body off my frame, you can have it.
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Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Awesome. Thanks Jeff. Did anything come through with that other guy interested in your tub?

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Yea, It looks like he is going to buy. However, the deal isn't complete yet. If he buys I will have a soft top to sell if your interested.

Re: Project OBS (Orange Blossom Special)
 

Frame is back from the powder coater, leaf springs are cleaned and painted, new bushings installed, new shocks on the workbench, and Kurt Lindner's (VTBlazer) beauty is on it's way to Delaware to come live at my our house. Stay tuned for photos and progress this weekend!