I have NO idea what i'm doing (pics)

[Jtrux]

Well i've decided to start fixing up my blazer a little more like I want it.



I pulled the front end off, both fenders need work. I would of taken pics of them but there in the backyard in my shed so when I start to work on them I post some pics of them.

My doors are gonna need work as well, I took my grinder with a flapper disk to the bottom of my passenger door and this is what I found.



You can see it's eaten all the way through and the PO just slathered some bondo over it for an instant fix. So far i've come to conclude that the PO was an idiot cuz there are lots of hackjob repairs on mine.



This one is my favorite. I noticed a crack in the side of the tub so I stated to sand it off and found an old CB hole, great!



The inside of my doors seem alright, looks like some sanding and they'll clean right up. If anyone has reskinned a door, chime in and let me know how hard it was to do, otherwise i'll be looking for some more doors.

Both floors on mine are bad, the passenger is covered up with junk but the PO bondoed it up completely and the drivers side needs to be replaced as well.



I don't know what i'm gonna do with my interior, I like the factory look but I think I might make them all black, not sure yet though.



I guess i'll take a sec to talk about what I want the finished product of my blazer to be. My blazer was a pretty low optioned truck from the factory. No AC, no PS, the only things it had were 4WD, a 350, 4 speed, PB, tach, and rear seat. Tach and rear seat were missing when I got it.

The one major improvement i'm making to it is AC. Critter and I picked up a 69 C10 with AC and the dash is in great shape so i'm gonna swap that dash into my truck along with all AC components and modify my firewall. I've got all the parts to convert mine to PS.



You can see that my ashtray has been bondoed over as well, apparently the PO didn't like smoking.



I have two Auto Meter Phantom guages in the 2 1/16 size so i'll get a few more to fill my bezel so I can be cool like everyone else. I'm not too sure which guages will be used but I already have a mechanical oil pressure and water temp. Looking back on it I should have got electrical guages, oh well. For sure i'll get a fuel guage, tach, speedo, and volt meter. That's probably all i'll need unless I go with an auto then i'll also fit a trans temp in there somewhere.

I kinda want to go auto but I think i'll just chrome my 4 speed shifter and go with a hydraulic clutch
setup.

I still am not sure what I want to do with my lift or tire size, part of me wants me to stay stock then part of me wants to go 6 inch lift with 35's. I'll post pics and more progress updates as things come along.

I just got the tank filled up on my welder so i'm ready to go.

[bouncytruck]

Nothing looks too bad, despite the POs liberal use of bondo.

I would probably cut the dash under the dash pad rather than try to deal with the spot welds at the windshield.

Having had 3 lifted blazers, two with 35's, I'll say that the stock, skinny tires on my current truck ride much nicer than my previous two trucks. All three have had block lifts in the back, and that may make a huge difference in ride.

[Jtrux]

Originally Posted by bouncytruck

Nothing looks too bad, despite the POs liberal use of bondo.

I would probably cut the dash under the dash pad rather than try to deal with the spot welds at the windshield.

Having had 3 lifted blazers, two with 35's, I'll say that the stock, skinny tires on my current truck ride much nicer than my previous two trucks. All three have had block lifts in the back, and that may make a huge difference in ride.

I have a set of stock wheels, if I can find some stock wheel covers I might go that route. I do plan on cutting along the dash pad, I want to mess with as few spot welds as possible.

[bouncytruck]

I like the look with stock wheels!

[jaros44sr]

I'm subscribed, keep the pics. of progress coming...good luck. I hate PO's, but I'll be one someday

[Yukon Jack]

Always interesting to see what is lurking under paint. I see a fair amount of fiberglass on my rocker panels but I'm thinking that might be the extent of bad repair jobs on my K5. Looks like you have a good plan and you'll enjoy the a/c I'm sure. Have some seat covers for the black seats for when the top is off to keep from frying yourself!

[Jtrux]

The engine is all unbolted, just needs to be lifted from imbetween the rails. Actually i'm pulling both engine and tranny together.

The very first thing i'm gonna do is order the poly body mount kit and install it while I have the front end and engine/tranny out. I need to pick up my top from critters and put it on while I do this to make sure it still fits right and all that good stuff.

I'm not going all out frame off on this, I plan to just clean the front part of the frame that's exposed with some of that POR stuff more than likely. I will be dropping the tank and replacing it with a aftermarket one, the PO once again stuck it to me with some home made half a$$ gas tank.

Once I get the body mounts on i'll feel alot better about starting repairs on the floors and rockers but before I do that i'll concentrate on cleaning up the front exposed frame rails and going through my front d44. I will be swapping in some 3.73's ( it has 3.07's ) more than likely, it all depends on tire size I go with. I will be changing out u joints, seals, bearings, and ball joints if needed and probably some tie rod ends as well. While i've got the front axle apart i'll be deciding on the amount of lift i'm going with so that way I can swap out the leaves and get my fresh axle underneath it with out having to worry about taking it in and out to change leaf springs.

So that's my short term goal for now...remove gas tank and rear bumper, change body mounts, clean and paint front of frame, overhaul d44, and choose front springs.

I'll hopefully get the mounts this week or so, then some more pics will be taken and posted.

[BLUE THUNDER]

Wow dude, when you said you had taken your truck apart I had no idea you had gone that far. Let me know if you need a hand. I'm sure it'll be looking twice as good when you're all done. Later Mario.

[Critter]

Originally Posted by Jtrux

So that's my short term goal for now...remove gas tank and rear bumper, change body mounts, clean and paint front of frame, overhaul d44, and choose front springs.

Yeah...short! We all know how "short term" this will be. Me and you are the slowest people on this board. Let me know when you want me to come over with the BFH and some bailing wire so we can get that puppy put back together.

[AJs72K5]

Originally Posted by Critter

Yeah...short! We all know how "short term" this will be. Me and you are the slowest people on this board. Let me know when you want me to come over with the BFH and some bailing wire so we can get that puppy put back together.

That's some funny stuff right there. I just have to bleed the brakes and align the hood and I'm driving again.

[Critter]

I have to admit, Jtrux is really making me want to totally tear mine down as well. I figure I will wait a while and see what kind of progress we make on his. I am pretty excited for him on the A/C dash swap. It is something that I have always wanted to try to do and his will be a good...uh...guinea pig.

[Jtrux]

Originally Posted by Critter

I have to admit, Jtrux is really making me want to totally tear mine down as well. I figure I will wait a while and see what kind of progress we make on his. I am pretty excited for him on the A/C dash swap. It is something that I have always wanted to try to do and his will be a good...uh...guinea pig.

Guinea pig is a real good word to use.

Also on the dash I plan to modify the radio hole before I put it in. I'm going to be installing a standard single din (sp) radio in it and I can't stand it when it's not done right on one of these trucks. What I mean by right is when you can see the little indentions from the stock radios knobs. Mine will look right when i'm done.

[Critter]

Originally Posted by Jtrux

Guinea pig is a real good word to use.

Also on the dash I plan to modify the radio hole before I put it in. I'm going to be installing a standard single din (sp) radio in it and I can't stand it when it's not done right on one of these trucks. What I mean by right is when you can see the little indentions from the stock radios knobs. Mine will look right when i'm done.

Careful when you talk about cutting an original dash...late at night you will look out your window and see the angry mob coming to get you!

[vtblazer]

Now you've gone and done it...

Ton's of work ahead for you, great to see another one rescued.

[Jtrux]

No new pics but progress none the less. I cut the old dash out, what a PITA. There are these little spot welds that join it and they basically suck. The under dash heater assembly is out completely as well as the box that hangs on the firewall. I left the parking brake assembly in the truck didn't really want to take it out yet, my stack of parts is getting huge!!

The engine is still sitting imbetween the frame rails all unbolted and such. My uncle has a hoist I need to run over and get. The tranny and transfercase will come out as well, I will reseal them but not rebuild them. My driveshafts have all new u-joints but I need to get the rear one balanced and then probably clean and paint them.

I'm really undecided about what to do once I get the engine and tranny/xfercase out. On one hand I want to completely take it apart, every bolt and washer and sand blast everything. On the other hand I want to do what I would consider a "rolling" restoration where I leave the frame under it and leave it like it is. I do need to swap out body mounts as mine are toast so that will be addressed. I have some goofy aftermarket tank that needs to be swapped out as well as it looks like it's dragging the ground it's so big. That's what i'm leaning towards.

I've got a few things going against me here. #1 i'm a renter and i'm looking to buy at the end of the year so if I get this thing taken apart it's gonna be that much harder to transport to my own house when I buy one. #2 at the rate I do things it will be 13 years before I ever drive this thing again and that just doesn't fly with me. #3 rather than cose me 5000 it's gonna cost me 15000, and that's probably being conservative. #4 this is where i'm gonna get laughed off the board. I've got tons of hand tools. I can rebuild your engine and swap out clutches all day but body work is a different story, i'm kinda just buying stuff as I go and I guess that's how everyone gets started but it's really slowing me down and putting a dimmer on my attitude towards the whold situation.

So enough with the rant. Right now i'm still in tear down mode and hopefully sooner that later i'll start putting this thing back together and it will be better than ever.


I think i've mentioned this before but if anyone forgot or didn't read the above post this is my goal for my blazer. It started as a low optioned truck: no AC, PS and was really stripped down when I bought it, no carpet, dash pad, crappy seats, no rear seat.

So when i'm done it should have AC, PS, rear seat, carpet, new dash pad, Auto Meter Phantom guages (starting collecting these already). Oh and the color i've chose is the same dark blue it came from the factory with. It looked like crap when I got it but after seeing some trucks with nice dark blue paint mine will stay the same as well as installing some black trim on it. And black interior such as seats, door panels, steering wheel and column, dash pad, etc.


That's it for now feel free to leave input on what I said above.

[AJs72K5]

My only suggestion is to figure out what your plan is and execute it in small bites. You've taken a huge bite out by tearing down, but I would suggest staying focused on one area at a time. That way you actually see progress. But a plan of attack is a must.

[Jtrux]

Originally Posted by AJs72K5

My only suggestion is to figure out what your plan is and execute it in small bites. You've taken a huge bite out by tearing down, but I would suggest staying focused on one area at a time. That way you actually see progress. But a plan of attack is a must.

Your right, if someone came up on me while I was in my garage working they'd think I was crazy since I pretty much talk to myself the entire time on working on it.

[72Levi]

Talking to yourself is ok, just don't have a complete conversation with yourself and you'll be ok! I do admire your build, teardown, etc... It'll turn out great and we can go for a ride in mine when you need motivation.

[hgs_notes]

You may not drive it for 13 years, but at least you'll have a pile of parts to play with when you feel like wrenching on something.

AJ is right though. Have a plan and try to focus on completing parts of the project. For instance, on my C-10, I would pick an upgrade and just work on that until it was done, such as the power brakes, then I did the power steering, then I did the exhaust (blew a muffler apart), then I found a tilt column and rebuilt it, etc., etc.

In your case, your doing the tear down. But if you want to keep this moving along you'll probably want to make the tub mounts and body repairs the priority. Having a pile of parts is overwhelming. You can't really do anything with them if the chassis and body tub are not ready to put things onto.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I agree on the plan........ I should have made one of those up before I tore down my truck that was 8 years ago...... Looks like your doing a pretty good job just work on getting the p.o. crap work finished and then move onto improvements and modifications. J.m.o.

[Jtrux]

I took some time to mess with the bedsides today and found about 1/4 inch of bondo the PO once again decided to help me out with.







You can see how thick the piece in my hand is, of course rust and holes under it.

Here is the dash removed, i'm still working on the spot welds on the passenger side, I hate spot welds.



That's it for now.

[BLUE THUNDER]

Looks like progress.

[vtblazer]

So you found a garage to work in?

[Jtrux]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

So you found a garage to work in?

Yeah it's the house I rent, I need my own though.

[Jtrux]

Good god, I removed my driver's seat and found so much crap under there. No mind you, I never did clean this area out when I was driving it but I couldn't believe how much dirt was under that thing, it was nasty.