1972 Build thread.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by 1rippen6

Security token is your pictures are to large, either resize them or do fewer pictures. You can resize in paint fairly easy if you have that. I'm late to the party but your transfer case clearance, did you use the dana 20 or rockwell crossmember. Why I ask, I've parted a few blazers with the dana 20 and the crossmember seems to be a hair shorter. I would say by about 1/2 an inch. I've checked 2 different ones in the past, look the same but shorter. It could just be supplier differences, I've never tired looking the part numbers up.

Thank you for the heads up on the pictures - I will try that!

I used the same crossmember the Rockwell was attached to... with a 1" drop I was perfect.
What you are saying makes perfect sense now. Thank you for this, I was still scratching my head about it.

[Spf79]

Ok - here are some more pics.

Also - when wet sanding the dash and windshield frame, this little Milwaukee buffer makes life a lot easier.

I received my glovebox insert from Cheyenne Superman, very pleased!

I purchased an aluminum radiator, 4 core from Brothers Truck Parts, the fitment has been good so far. the Radiator is a Champion MC369. I am currently fitting dual 14" electric fans. I met a guy that has been running this set up for a year at least, it looked clean & appeared to work well for him. So here we are. The fan shroud and fans are from radiators4less, you are looking at $290 for the entire kit with wiring.

[Spf79]

Other items I forgot to update.

I went with a dual battery set up, I got the 2nd battery tray from Brother's Truck Parts. It fit very well on the aftermarket core support. I have been doing some electrical learning as I go, kind of a crash course... I purchased a battery separator from an overlanding company called Redarc, This will allow me to run the deep cycle battery dead, keeping my cranking battery isolated. fingers crossed. I plan on having all of the 12v accessories, stereo & heated seats connected to this battery.

While I was at it I put in the battery disconnects, I thought it may be a good thing to cut the battery connections when it sits in the winter... or if I am parked in a shady area I can kill the power sneakily.

I also added a separate little fuse block in the engine bay that will allow me to have a connection point for whatever I fancy. I hooked in a weatherproof dual 12v socket power source I could use for a small air compressor... or anything else that requires that type of connection. I will also run my electric fans to this fuse block power point, it keeps it clean in my option.

I changed everything over to LED, the headlights are plug and play. I tied the headlight halo lights into my marker lights, I didn't want to install a separate switch for those. I hope I do not have trouble with my blinkers... I purchased the resistor - so we will see. The reverse, front marker, and rear brake light bulbs will give you 1700 lumens... the side marker lights are supposed to be 650 lumens. they are much brighter than stock, so hopefully I do not look like a space ship running down the road.

[Spf79]

more pictures.

[7D2N]

Spf79 that looks great, thanks for the update and that's an awesome blazer.

7D2N

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by 7D2N

Spf79 that looks great, thanks for the update and that's an awesome blazer.

7D2N

Thank you sir!

[Spf79]

Other thoughts...

Wiring is fun, as a newbie you think that once you buy the painless kit, or the AAW kit you are good to go for the most part. Man... I was wrong, so many little things you end up buying along the way to make it go smooth and look clean. I added in one of the wiring diagrams I worked with when doing my dual battery set up. The Redarc kit came with a far more detailed diagram, but I did not take a pic of it.

I got some fun little battery terminals I thought were pretty cool. these will sit on a side marker post battery. The deep cycle battery only had top post mounts, so I will have to do some work on that connection to make it look organized.

Anyone running an MSD box in the engine bay? If so - where did you mount yours? I am still looking for a good spot to do this.

[Spf79]

Last update for a bit.

Here is a pic of what I did to make the header fit, the exhaust shop welded in a 45 to the down sweep on the header, and they also added in a bung for an oxygen sensor... just in case I add fuel injection later.

I had the driveline altered twice, they ended up reducing the size of the CV & tube to make it fit next to the deep transmission pan. I have good clearance now.

The crossmember, now that I put in the 1" drop spacers I am in good shape. It makes so much more sense now about the Rockwell crossmember being different than the np205 cross member. The np205 side mount was not fitting correctly until I did the drop on the crossmember, now it fits as intended. what a pita.

[Louisvillekytruck]

Originally Posted by Spf79

Last update for a bit.

Here is a pic of what I did to make the header fit, the exhaust shop welded in a 45 to the down sweep on the header, and they also added in a bung for an oxygen sensor... just in case I add fuel injection later.

I had the driveline altered twice, they ended up reducing the size of the CV & tube to make it fit next to the deep transmission pan. I have good clearance now.

The crossmember, now that I put in the 1" drop spacers I am in good shape. It makes so much more sense now about the Rockwell crossmember being different than the np205 cross member. The np205 side mount was not fitting correctly until I did the drop on the crossmember, now it fits as intended. what a pita.

Very nice truck

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by Louisvillekytruck

Very nice truck

Thank you!
It is taking forever.

[Spf79]

Quick update.

Merry Christmas to me.
I received my door panels from Cheyenne Superman, and my instrument bezel. I am very pleased, and this man was a pleasure to deal with.

I also finally got my instrument cluster figured out. I went with Classic Instruments velocity series gauge cluster. I liked the white gauges, something different. I am a little sad that I did not go with a stock looking set, but I will get over it.

Funny story, the first set of gauges they sent me were black. It appeared to be a pulling error at the factory since the box was marked correctly. They righted the mistake and sent me the correct set of gauges after a week or so... and told me to keep the first set, no charge. I am still surprised by this customer service. I will hold onto the black set for a while, just in case they change their minds. I will let you know how the installation goes. so far it looks pretty easy.

In case you are curious, I am still wet sanding... and I hate wet sanding... so much orange peel... long sigh. Thankfully the space heater makes the 38 degrees and raining feel like 55 and raining

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

[MDFarms]

Originally Posted by Spf79

Last update for a bit.

Here is a pic of what I did to make the header fit, the exhaust shop welded in a 45 to the down sweep on the header, and they also added in a bung for an oxygen sensor... just in case I add fuel injection later.

I had the driveline altered twice, they ended up reducing the size of the CV & tube to make it fit next to the deep transmission pan. I have good clearance now.

The crossmember, now that I put in the 1" drop spacers I am in good shape. It makes so much more sense now about the Rockwell crossmember being different than the np205 cross member. The np205 side mount was not fitting correctly until I did the drop on the crossmember, now it fits as intended. what a pita.

What did you use for Calipers and brake disc?

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by MDFarms

What did you use for Calipers and brake disc?

I left it stock, disc & drum. I am running a larger booster/master than stock to add a bit more stopping power... hopefully.

[Tom Vogel]

Look really nice.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

Look really nice.

Thank you, I appreciate it.

[CG]

You should put the black gauges in so you can compare. My personal preference would be the black, but I have to admit those white gauges look damn good.

I like the thought of an upgrade like this, but my wallet said no lol.

Great build all around. I really love the tires and wheels.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by CG

You should put the black gauges in so you can compare. My personal preference would be the black, but I have to admit those white gauges look damn good.

I like the thought of an upgrade like this, but my wallet said no lol.

Great build all around. I really love the tires and wheels.

It took me a while to go with the set I have now. I was looking at the dakota digital stock copy... but I couldn't swallow their asking price. These guys look to have a quality set up, so I hope it fits & works as advertised.

I love the wheel/tire combo as well, probably my favorite part of the build so far.

Thank you for the compliments!

[Spf79]

Been a while since I posted.

I'm trying to wrap this up by the spring. Most of the interior is installed as of this weekend. Hopefully I can start hanging doors this week.

The center console has been a work in progress, I mended together an old console bottom section that was pretty much destroyed... and used the upper from a good console. All of the heated seat elements, 12v power plug-ins, power for the bucket seats and stereo run through the console from the secondary battery.

[Spf79]

Here are some more pictures of the process.

Happy New Year!

[7D2N]

Perfect very nice, you will be on the road in no time.

[notsolo]

Beautiful work on all of this, your paint is amazing. Are your seats refurbished OEM, or from something else? They look very comfortable, Gage cluster is very nice also.

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Beautiful work on all of this, your paint is amazing. Are your seats refurbished OEM, or from something else? They look very comfortable, Gage cluster is very nice also.

Thank you!

The seats are out of a 99 Denali. I thought they were newer until I got into the electrical switches. They came in GM trucks & SUV's 95-99. I had them upholstered to look similar to utility buckets. Between what I paid for the upholstery, heating elements & the 72 dark dark saddle vinyl, I was still less money than a set of sport buckets. I'm including the cost of the rear bench upholstery as well. That makes me sad, I prefer the look of the sport buckets. On the other hand, these seats are way more comfortable than sport buckets, heated, and 8 way power with lumbar, I put heated elements into the rear bench as well.

I'm glad you like the cluster, it was hard to go away from the stock look. I went with Classic Instruments, they were the only company I could find that offered the clock. The cluster was the price point between a Dakota Digital cluster and a new stock cluster... sadly there was no vacuum gauge option.

[notsolo]

Power seats and way more comfortable, wins for me over originality. They look nicer wider deeper etc....I looked at Dakota Digital also not going that way either. With an LS going into mine I am still looking for an option, might build an S10 electric cluster again and use mostly original gauges. Classic instruments looks like a decent option need to read up some....

[Spf79]

Originally Posted by 7D2N

Perfect very nice, you will be on the road in no time.

Thank you!

Trying to spend an hour a night. I got a door mounted tonight, no scratches either... all by myself. Lol. Total PITA trying to get the gaps right. I'm close, but not perfect.

That red stool on the floor jack works way better than you would think.

I kept the GMC Jimmy Custom badges on the doors. I didn't know they existed until I started this project, I liked them better than the square CST badges that Blazers had. I know it is not correct for a Blazer, but they make me happy.

[CanadianNascar]

Love the ashtray mod, may use that idea myself, thanks for sharing.