Painting My Rusted 72 Blazer......Lots of Questions

[Got Sand]

The dood used a sawzall first, then a chop saw.........................



Then a torch..................but it was OK, he had his buddy throw water in the cab whenever the floor mat caught on fire



The price of the cab section was worth it just for the entertainment

[Got Sand]

Lower cowl welded in and painted.........this was a big relief....................................and yes, I should have gutted the interior before even starting this project, but that time will come.





Right side inner and outer rocker panel done




The Blazer sits outside while the old dood cleans up his shop..............




...........................time to put some new paint down.

[Onalaska Blazer]

It's looking great, please keep the details and photos coming.

[Got Sand]

Sorry I haven't posted anymore updates, progress is happening and some day I'll get this thread caught up with said progress

[Got Sand]

Yep, she's painted................




..........................and I do have more questions, but I'll wait until I have more time so I can respond.

[Chulisohombre]

Lookin real
Nice.

[jerry moss]

looks awesome so far, keep the pics comin'

[Got Sand]

Originally Posted by Chulisohombre

Lookin real
Nice.

Originally Posted by jerry moss

looks awesome so far, keep the pics comin'

Thanks, It's coming along

Hood was the first piece to get painted and is getting buffed out.



I love this pic. As the sun was setting behind the trees it put some natual flames on the tailgate.

[Got Sand]

Doors are on.



The old dood had a hell of a time lining up the drivers door, could have been from the years of rot that was going on around the door pillar or the after market parts that were installed, or a combination of both. A friend of mine who restoring his Blazer suggested that I loosen all the body mounts on the drivers side, jack it near the mount behind the drivers seat and install a 1/8 inch shim.................................it worked



He installed the trim on the front fender (he was waiting on the passenger fender until I got the heater box installed) since the piece by the door needs to be installed before the fender gets bolted on, I will put the rest of the trim on when the truck comes home...............soon I hope



No pics, but I finally got the heater box (the one that came off the junk yard truck) cleaned up and put together. The rubber on the door/gate that opens/closes for the heat being on or off was rotten on the good box, but the factory didn't make them removable, so I had to cut the good one out of my heater box, that had been cut in half to replace the heater core years ago (very common on this vintage truck), then reassemble it in the good heater box, The fan motor was cleaned up, painted, I installed a new gasket kit, then installed the refurbished heater box on the truck.

[Got Sand]

I got my glass guy over to put the windshield



This dood is awesome, he put a used windshield (all I could afford back then) in the Blazer over 20 years ago and has been doing all mine, friends and family's auto glass since then.

$185 bucks for glass, gasket and mobile installation including the chrome trim..............not a bad deal.

Oh, and now you can see the heater box that I refurbished and installed, along with the scar from grafting in the piece of the cowl, which I don't mind. I just consider it a "battle scar? LOL .





At home I put the springs on the hinges.......................using my vise, a motorcycle tie-down and a solid post made it quite easy to install them

[Got Sand]

When I first started this thread I had lots of questions and knew I would have more. But thanks to google and this site.............which usually directed me to a thread on this site, I have had most of my questions answered
I tried to edit my first post, but was unable so this is where I'm at.........

- I have 2 sets of different mirrors but are still looking at other options.

- Grill is painted dull aluminum, Thanks for that suggestion.

- $old my old doors and tailgate at the big auto swap meet last April........couldn't believe what I got for that rusted crap

- Was having problems aligning the drivers door but used a shim in one of the body mounts to correct that.


OK, here's a couple more questions:

- Whats a good sound deadner to use on the floor?

- What do the masses think of carpet vs rubber for the floor? I've had carpet in my Blazer for years, and when it got wet I would just pull it back and let it dry. I was going to go with rubber/vinyl this time but my wife reminded me how they hold moisture and the old carpet always dried out easy.

- Anyone use Plasti Dip? I'm thinking of this for the inside bed/fender wells https://www.dipyourcar.com/PlastiDip-Spray-All.html

That's all for now...............Thanks in advance for any insight.

[Got Sand]

The old dood finally got the right side fender on.......................but after loading the pic I noticed he forgot to put the trim on it....................so it's gunna have to come off :evil

He also has one more coat of paint to apply to this side.



Here's his shop in the back..............yeah if I would have saw this before I dropped it off in his driveway last summer I would have ran away, oh well



But it's getting closer


Fender was properly put on.




He couldn't get the drives door to properly align, so he takes a port-a-power to it WTF?

This is where it starts getting ugly, I got a lot of work done, and it was done at a good price, but I'm about done with this guy.




The rains come and the Blazer sits outside covered in a tarp with bungees...................new paint and you cover it with a tarp?

It's time for the Blazer to come home.

[sambrutay]

Grill Color Argent silver.

[notsolo]

Blazer body is like a slinky, it is best to align doors with the top on...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=286915

[Got Sand]

Thanks, but I have already painted my grill and I think it turned out pretty good, but I will earmark that in case I end up not liking it.

Originally Posted by notsolo

Blazer body is like a slinky, it is best to align doors with the top on...http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=286915

Thanks, that was a good and interesting read and explains a lot, like when I first got the truck 23 years ago and someone told me not to take the top off because you will never get it to line up right and it will leak. My response was "I'm sure it's been off before, and it already leaks". Years ago I used to put all the bolts in but stopped doing that because it was a pita and it didn't help with the leakage.

So now I'm thinking it will be very interesting putting my top on now after both inner and outer rocker panels on each side have been replaced. But the chart and the thread will help a lot.

My doors are aligned pretty good right now, hopefully they stay that way after I put the top on.

[Got Sand]

I didn't want it to end this way but dispite the good work that was done to it, I could no longer stand the way the old guy treating was my Blazer (leaving it uncovered under the pine trees, leting the interior get wet, covering it up with bundies and a tarp, ect...) I brought her home............in the rain LOL




It's almost finished, but still needs to be wet sanded and buffed on the right side, some touch up work on the paint, including the inner post for the wing window..........yeah he missed that.

But she is now home and cleaned up, and I'm feeling way better about that.





Now it's time for ME to get to work

[notsolo]

From the photo's truck looks Awesome, Great color, tailgate gap looks nice, Get a soft top and Drive- Drive- Drive....( Maybe add headlights and wipers )

[Got Sand]

Originally Posted by notsolo

From the photo's truck looks Awesome, Great color, tailgate gap looks nice, Get a soft top and Drive- Drive- Drive....( Maybe add headlights and wipers )

It does look good (to me anyway) but you can't see all the imperfections in the pics.
But that's OK, cause this truck will still be for work and play.



Grill and front bumper are on, and hood is aligned...............now it's looking like the Blazer that I once knew





And I do have a soft top for it.............but no frame.

Anyone here ever made their own?

[Got Sand]

Front and rear diff oil changed, as the was the tranny and transfer case oils.



And I got a leaky steering box, rear seal and oil pan

[Got Sand]

New steering box: check
New rear main seal: check
New pan gasket: check
New fuel pump: check
New motor mounts: check







Yeah I know................I'm doing this backwards.

I blame it on my adult ADD

[Got Sand]

Took her for a spin and the starter was not happy, it would crank fine when it was cold, then turn over hard when it was warm................it worked fine before I pulled it out????




Put in a new high output starter today and it worked great..................for a couple of hours, now it whines and grinds.


I've read a few posts on starter issues here, but not sure what to do next, I'm going to try to shim it but it worked great for at least a dozen starts. I'm thinking I might be cooking solenoids through a short. The truck has cast iron headers, but they have been on for years and I've never had starter issues like this before

[Got Sand]

It looks like a new flexplate is in my future

[67Steven]

Blazer looks great! The flexplate isn't too hard to change, but why are you changing it?

I swear I know where the last picture was taken, I just can't quite place it.

[Got Sand]

Originally Posted by 67Steven

Blazer looks great! The flexplate isn't too hard to change, but why are you changing it?

I swear I know where the last picture was taken, I just can't quite place it.

Thanks, I'm changing it cause it's looking pretty worn and I suspect it my be cracked. I'm going to tackle it tomorrow.

Pic was taken in front of the Christmas Tree Farm on McCord.
A few of my co-workers have spotted your Blazer (at your work?) and have been telling me "you gotta see this awesome Blazer" I told them "yeah, you should see the build report on it"

[cleszkie]

Its water under the bridge now, but I'm pretty sure that all body panels should be installed and shimmed to fit before paint is sprayed. Once everthing has been tweaked, shimmed, and bumped into position, it gets blown apart for paint. Then it is reassembled with all the proper shims so you don't have to roughhouse with the new paint. Its more time consuming, so thats probably why your "old dood" skipped that step.