1972 Blazer - 'Bullet' Project

[lks dcvn]

Thanks guys!

Got up pretty early yesterday to get moving on this before the day began...now that the truck is turned around in the garage - I feel like I am making serious progress. I would like to get the driver side done by St. Patrick's Day (my goal) - 32 days.

I got the driver side front fender and the door off and then removed the most of the rest of the outer rocker - no pix yet - as I am at work right now, but I did get some of the progress documented.

Having tackled the other side I know what I am dealing with now so I should be able to move a bit faster on the driver side.

Now that I have a spot weld cutting drill bit - things should go a bit smoother for the areas I struggled with before [without one].

If I get time tonight I will continue removing the outer rocker and clean up the floor a bit to see what I am really getting into. Driver seat will be coming out and soft metal will be identified in the next coming days.

Pix will be posted later tonight.

[lks dcvn]

Pix as promised - also ran into a new issue - see later pix for that ordeal...

first few are getting started on Sunday and then I knocked out an hour when I got home from work.

[lks dcvn]

here is the new issue - the middle portion of the torsion box is weak and is rusted out - the front half, the rear half and the portion that runs along the back under the floor is solid - should I patch this or would it be easier just to replace the whole thing [I do have the whole torsion box...]?

I didn't remove any metal really - just the front of the remnants of the rocker and the remaining portion of the inner rocker - the doors shut fine and this would have been weak for months and even when I drove the truck in/out to switch sides - the door opened and closed fine [with me in it and when I was out] - so I don't know what I should do at this point...

thoughts?

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by lks dcvn

here is the new issue - the middle portion of the torsion box is weak and is rusted out - the front half, the rear half and the portion that runs along the back under the floor is solid - should I patch this or would it be easier just to replace the whole thing [I do have the whole torsion box...]?

Replacing the whole part as one piece will be far easier in the end, with better results too.
(good rule of thumb)

As long as the torsion 'rod' is still intact everything should stay in place.

Great watching you dig in and push forward.

[lks dcvn]

Thanks VT - the toughest part of the project so far was the time I spent wondering if I could pull this off - now it is moving along pretty steadily -

torsion rod is solid - just that middle portion of the torsion box is pretty much gone...

so replace torsion box last or first?

my thoughts - (but not sure if they are accurate):

Replace everything else [except the outer rocker] with the current torsion box in place and then swap out the torsion box and then do the outer rocker last - since the rest of the metal will hold everything in place...or am I wrong in that theory...I think Jaros did it this way...

How hard will that be to cut the torsion box out when I have the rest of the floor done?

As mentioned the doors open/close fine now with me in/out of the truck - so things are lined up now. I should test fit my driver side rocker and see how it lines up now before I start to see if I am out of whack at all.