1972 Jimmy 4x4-Hillbilly Budget Build

[The Gibster]

So I've been on a search for a first gen Blazer/Jimmy for the past six months. My standards were that it had to be under 2K, Preferably already an 8 lug, minimal rust, and have somewhat of an interior. I ended up with a 1972 Jimmy 4x4 original A/C truck. I cant tell if it was a manual originally but it has a sm465 and np205 in it right now. It has crossover steering, the rear axle is the 14 bolt and it has the D44 upfront with 8 lug axles. It has functioning 4 wheel disk brakes. The rust isn't too bad, it only needs new front pillar panels and some patches in the floor boards. Tub is Solid and the front fenders are somewhat salvageable. The top doesn't appear to be cracked but I need to find a new rear hatch and I need to clean up the holes where it bolts to the bed rails. It has 63" rear springs and 56" front springs with one leaf removed from each pack. Right now it is way to bouncy to be road worthy but I have plans on how i will deal with that situation. I have an extra 350 in my garage that is rebuild but needs a cam, gasket kit, and a carb. I was thinking either the Summit 1103 or 1101 for the cam. I haven't heard anything about the 1101 so if somebody can chime in on that. It came with Auto Meter gauges which I sold to get a stock cluster. I has seats and a roll bar out of a 73+ Blazer which are fine with me, I just need to figure out how I am going to mount them properly.

My goal for this build is to get it safe to drive with spending as little as possible, when I get to that point it will turn into a drivable project and replace and get the things I skipped over to save money. The reason I am calling it a Hillbilly budget build is because it is going to look like a pieced together lifted old truck that was built for dirt cheap.

Now to the pictures: