Not sure, don't want to steer you wrong.
Could be a partial vin.
Could be a partial vin.
CK5
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1974 K5 Build Path Guidance
- Thread starter Coontail
- Start date
I'll come back tomorrow and check on top of the frame rails on the passenger side, the weather is crap tonight over here
I currently have a 91 but still have my 74 vin plate for sentimental reasons! The 91 will have the vin on the dash look down through the winshield lower left hand corner. When i did the 74 i didnt remember the numbers on the frame matching the vin?? but it wasnt a priority back then. anyway i boxed my 74 it added a lot of weight and didnt really do much for stiffening, Leaving the frame as is and Increasing the cross bracing with tubing keeps weight down and leaves room for exhaust doublers also helps ALOT with keeping rust away. Boxing killed the frame,, trapped road salt and rust just got carried away, yes i used weldable primer it when i did it and yes i coated it afterward inside best i could and yes it was mirror clean when i did it,,thats just my experience. Thank you Penndot,,, brine on the roads before snow such a great idea.
There's spot for a tag but there's nothing there! He probably got rid of it after branding it with old VIN. That's interesting with the frame boxing, I read the same thing a while ago but figured they may have just been boxed frame haters. I'll have to put some more research into that and ask a friend. I'll let you guys know tomorrow if I find any numbers and where I find them
Green Monster
1/2 ton status
If it's from CA, you most certainly have a true 91 with a bootlegged 74 VIN tag. Someone would have done that to avoid smog.
That sounds the most reasonable to me. a regular 91 and a pilfered 74 tag and title.
Oh sorry if I worded that incorrectly what I meant by that was he got a 91 body from California to replace the body of his 74 in Massachusetts over here. Though we don't even know for sure if the frame really is a 74 yet, I'm pretty confident it is though
Some note from someone who is knee deep into a full restoration.
Budet: Take what you think it will cost and throw it out the window. I'm an easy $5k into mine and the body just went back on the frame. That's with me doing all the work, rebuilding/replacing/upgrading things as they go back together.
Sit down and list everything the truck needs, not what you want, but actually needs to function. Now add in consumables for each task. Easy for each project to grow in price 1.5x.
If you have to pay someone to do something, figure in that cost.
Time: Again, take what you think it will need and toss it out. Look around here at some of the full builds (either resto or other) to get a real figure. Some of them have been going to 2, 5, close to 10 years and still haven't hit the road. Some have been sold or parted before finishing.
How much time do you have to work on it? I had to step away from mine for about 3 months. Life happens. When that happens it's easy to loose interest/motivation.
Having to farm out work, you're on their time now. Sometimes you become less of a priority. "Body shop jail" is a thing. Not uncommon for a project to sit for a year or more waiting for its turn.
Skills: This sounds like it would be your first major project. Nothing against you, but you might not have all of the needed skills to complete each task. We all started somewhere and had to learn as we went. I know my first "build" would look like ass compared to what I can do now. Often times learning means having to things twice, this also adds to the cost side. Being here (Ck5) is one of the best things you can do for your project. There are so many talented people here who are willing to help. Some may even be close by and able to come lend a hand. The $25 for the membership is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the build.
Tools go along with skills. Again, unless you have friends/family in the trade you will probably need to purchase some tooling. While an invesment, it adds to the bottom line. Buying quality is usually cheaper in the long run here.
Space can also go in this catagory. Got room for and entire vehicle to scatter its parts everywhere? Then have room to work around it? I built myself a fairly decent sized shop for my property size. At 30'x36'x14 with a 8'x30' loft.....it's full. I would probably consider this the minimum size for a project this scale. Keeping it picked up, organized and tidy will go a long way (that goes in the time catagory). I do try to keep one bay open at the end of the day for the sidework I pickup.
I'm sure there are a bunch of things I've missed, these are just off the top of my head. Not trying to discourage you at all. One of the best things you can do is keep it driveable for as long as possible. Break things up into smaller projects. The take a break from working on it to go out and enjoy it. Once it comes off the road it's too easy to fall in the spiral of do everything at once.
Budet: Take what you think it will cost and throw it out the window. I'm an easy $5k into mine and the body just went back on the frame. That's with me doing all the work, rebuilding/replacing/upgrading things as they go back together.
Sit down and list everything the truck needs, not what you want, but actually needs to function. Now add in consumables for each task. Easy for each project to grow in price 1.5x.
If you have to pay someone to do something, figure in that cost.
Time: Again, take what you think it will need and toss it out. Look around here at some of the full builds (either resto or other) to get a real figure. Some of them have been going to 2, 5, close to 10 years and still haven't hit the road. Some have been sold or parted before finishing.
How much time do you have to work on it? I had to step away from mine for about 3 months. Life happens. When that happens it's easy to loose interest/motivation.
Having to farm out work, you're on their time now. Sometimes you become less of a priority. "Body shop jail" is a thing. Not uncommon for a project to sit for a year or more waiting for its turn.
Skills: This sounds like it would be your first major project. Nothing against you, but you might not have all of the needed skills to complete each task. We all started somewhere and had to learn as we went. I know my first "build" would look like ass compared to what I can do now. Often times learning means having to things twice, this also adds to the cost side. Being here (Ck5) is one of the best things you can do for your project. There are so many talented people here who are willing to help. Some may even be close by and able to come lend a hand. The $25 for the membership is a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the build.
Tools go along with skills. Again, unless you have friends/family in the trade you will probably need to purchase some tooling. While an invesment, it adds to the bottom line. Buying quality is usually cheaper in the long run here.
Space can also go in this catagory. Got room for and entire vehicle to scatter its parts everywhere? Then have room to work around it? I built myself a fairly decent sized shop for my property size. At 30'x36'x14 with a 8'x30' loft.....it's full. I would probably consider this the minimum size for a project this scale. Keeping it picked up, organized and tidy will go a long way (that goes in the time catagory). I do try to keep one bay open at the end of the day for the sidework I pickup.
I'm sure there are a bunch of things I've missed, these are just off the top of my head. Not trying to discourage you at all. One of the best things you can do is keep it driveable for as long as possible. Break things up into smaller projects. The take a break from working on it to go out and enjoy it. Once it comes off the road it's too easy to fall in the spiral of do everything at once.
I like the ambition, but with the vin in question you won't have a true '74 in the end. It can look like one, but like others have said, the original numbers matching restored stuff is going to carry the money. A customized one with a later body converted back to the earlier style with a Cummins is going to be worth what somebody is willing to pay for it. That depends on the quality it was built too.
I don't mean to say that to burst your bubble. But the reality is so many projects get started with crazy ambitious goals, but so many fall flat due to lack of skill, money or both. Read around here, the statement of "might as well" is a rule of law no different than Newton's. Might as well has you into a project and one thing leads to another where you say, "if I'm already here, I might as well fix this too." It snowballs. What seems simple ends up with the whole darn truck blown into a ton of parts and nothing to drive.
If this is your first project at 19 I'd suggest to scale back the plans. Any one of the items you are focusing on is a good sized project by itself. The cummins would certainly require some strength added to the frame, but if the engine has been exposed with the intake off you best plan on spending a good chunk of the budget in rebuilding the engine. While LS engine's are becoming the norm, getting a LS in place of the Cummins could be done for a similar or lesser cost of rebuilding the cummins, the rest of the frame boxing, new or rebuilt turbo, intercooler and such. A LS or 8.1 would get you modern driveability without the added work to make the frame and front axle survive under the weight. You don't have to do that if you stick with a modern gas power plant.
Body and paint is a whole major project of its own. Then you add the sub project of the full vert conversion and the other of changing the late style clip to the round eye. Again, both have been done countless times, but you are throwing three together at once. That takes time to do right for any of those items.
What it gets to is big projects take huge investments in time just as much as money. You have to be committed to take years. Look at some of the big builds here. Larry's been working on his for over 20 years. Greg72's been on his for a long time. It's the norm for an all-encompassing build. Again I'm not trying to discourage, but set the reality of what it can take. The idea of getting the truck up and running with what ever engine you choose, make it safe and get to drive it some. You'd be surprised how driving it can change your outlook, change the direction and keep the interest up.
I don't mean to say that to burst your bubble. But the reality is so many projects get started with crazy ambitious goals, but so many fall flat due to lack of skill, money or both. Read around here, the statement of "might as well" is a rule of law no different than Newton's. Might as well has you into a project and one thing leads to another where you say, "if I'm already here, I might as well fix this too." It snowballs. What seems simple ends up with the whole darn truck blown into a ton of parts and nothing to drive.
If this is your first project at 19 I'd suggest to scale back the plans. Any one of the items you are focusing on is a good sized project by itself. The cummins would certainly require some strength added to the frame, but if the engine has been exposed with the intake off you best plan on spending a good chunk of the budget in rebuilding the engine. While LS engine's are becoming the norm, getting a LS in place of the Cummins could be done for a similar or lesser cost of rebuilding the cummins, the rest of the frame boxing, new or rebuilt turbo, intercooler and such. A LS or 8.1 would get you modern driveability without the added work to make the frame and front axle survive under the weight. You don't have to do that if you stick with a modern gas power plant.
Body and paint is a whole major project of its own. Then you add the sub project of the full vert conversion and the other of changing the late style clip to the round eye. Again, both have been done countless times, but you are throwing three together at once. That takes time to do right for any of those items.
What it gets to is big projects take huge investments in time just as much as money. You have to be committed to take years. Look at some of the big builds here. Larry's been working on his for over 20 years. Greg72's been on his for a long time. It's the norm for an all-encompassing build. Again I'm not trying to discourage, but set the reality of what it can take. The idea of getting the truck up and running with what ever engine you choose, make it safe and get to drive it some. You'd be surprised how driving it can change your outlook, change the direction and keep the interest up.
I'm honestly blown away at how helpful and considerate you guys are, truly shows there are some really good people out there. I've grown up around cars for almost my whole life and started really working on them when I was I think around 10 so I do know how to do most stuff but i still have LOTS to learn.
Both of my brothers who are in their 20s, I've watched them get into builds and completely toss the build or at least have girlfriends get in the way when they're knee deep. My brother wanted to build his 95' Dodge Cummins so it was gonna be a compound turbo setup and then he changed it to multiple different configurations and got lost in ideas and had also spent ridiculous amounts of money on a set of Kings shocks so he could huck it someday but his girlfriend took over his life and now he's trying to get out of a salvaged car he sold himself to way too much money. My other brother bought a pair 56' bel airs to make one nice one and had bought all the panels for it and had a built turboed ls for it and then just lost interest due to too many projects. He also currently still has a 72' Suburban that was pretty much ready for paint and he decided to drive it for a month to see how he felt about it and an ignorant semi truck decided to pull out in front of him and he ended up crashing it so now he has to replace the entire passengers front clip and the frames tweaked so he has to get it straightened.
My dad has taught me everything I know mechanically and every time I work with him im learning something new. He's a welder by trade.
Sorry if any of that sounds self loathing or anything
But I definitely have the tools, the help, and the motivation (so far) but what lacks so far is money but that'll get better as time goes on. And hey! No girlfriend either so I've got the time haha.
Like I said earlier in the post though I don't plan on making this a show car I've decided on that. I want to, in the big picture, just make it a nice weekend driver. Bodywork and paint doesn't have to be stellar, so far I think I'm gonna just get the nose to a 74' and do the full top conversion and put a new coat of gloss white paint on there. The engine I'm gonna tear down and go through but if I don't have to rebuild it I'm not gonna to save money even though that really would be the right thing to do. The chassis I'm gonna box the frame with dimpled pieces that I can buy off of eBay from another guy that built a Cummins swapped Blazer. It will be POR'ed so it should definitely never rust or at least for a very long time. The interior is actually pretty decent in it so I could leave that.
I'm gonna try to keep my interest on it as I've been hooked on the square life ever since I saw a picture of one. Also I am quite aware of how many little things I left out in that I try to look at the big picture so I don't get discouraged.
Again thank you for your unconditional kindness
Both of my brothers who are in their 20s, I've watched them get into builds and completely toss the build or at least have girlfriends get in the way when they're knee deep. My brother wanted to build his 95' Dodge Cummins so it was gonna be a compound turbo setup and then he changed it to multiple different configurations and got lost in ideas and had also spent ridiculous amounts of money on a set of Kings shocks so he could huck it someday but his girlfriend took over his life and now he's trying to get out of a salvaged car he sold himself to way too much money. My other brother bought a pair 56' bel airs to make one nice one and had bought all the panels for it and had a built turboed ls for it and then just lost interest due to too many projects. He also currently still has a 72' Suburban that was pretty much ready for paint and he decided to drive it for a month to see how he felt about it and an ignorant semi truck decided to pull out in front of him and he ended up crashing it so now he has to replace the entire passengers front clip and the frames tweaked so he has to get it straightened.
My dad has taught me everything I know mechanically and every time I work with him im learning something new. He's a welder by trade.
Sorry if any of that sounds self loathing or anything
But I definitely have the tools, the help, and the motivation (so far) but what lacks so far is money but that'll get better as time goes on. And hey! No girlfriend either so I've got the time haha.
Like I said earlier in the post though I don't plan on making this a show car I've decided on that. I want to, in the big picture, just make it a nice weekend driver. Bodywork and paint doesn't have to be stellar, so far I think I'm gonna just get the nose to a 74' and do the full top conversion and put a new coat of gloss white paint on there. The engine I'm gonna tear down and go through but if I don't have to rebuild it I'm not gonna to save money even though that really would be the right thing to do. The chassis I'm gonna box the frame with dimpled pieces that I can buy off of eBay from another guy that built a Cummins swapped Blazer. It will be POR'ed so it should definitely never rust or at least for a very long time. The interior is actually pretty decent in it so I could leave that.
I'm gonna try to keep my interest on it as I've been hooked on the square life ever since I saw a picture of one. Also I am quite aware of how many little things I left out in that I try to look at the big picture so I don't get discouraged.
Again thank you for your unconditional kindness
So the thing that keeps getting brought up is the whole 91 body on a 74 frame. The 74 frame is pretty different, and to get a 91 body to sit on it you need to carve the floor behind the front seats significantly. The 73-77 Blazers didn't have a footwell behind the front seats. The 78-91 had a flat footwell area behind the front seats. 73-77 had a pair of body mounts behind the front seat area on a cross member and between the frame rails. The 78-91 had outboard body mounts at the same position, almost identical in style as the body mounts at the firewall area.
I've done this swap, and it required a ton of fabrication and creative cutting to make work. If your Blazer appears stock underneath, it's more likely had a VIN swap than a body swap.
I've done this swap, and it required a ton of fabrication and creative cutting to make work. If your Blazer appears stock underneath, it's more likely had a VIN swap than a body swap.
Either way you have a K5 
Well, I'm gonna go ahead and assume it was just a VIN swap cause i can't see what's on top of the frame for the life of me. If it really was a swap it was done extremely clean and theres no way that knucklehead could've pulled that off lol. Oh well at least it's a k5.
CrpMag122
1/2 ton status
Unless he plans on wheeling it and getting out of sticky situations with the skinny pedal, Dana 60 money could be spent elsewhere that really needs it in my opinion.
The main thing is you have no legall issues with the vin.
If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal. If her daddy's poor do what you feel..
Do want you want with the K5
If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal. If her daddy's poor do what you feel..
Do want you want with the K5
All great advice. Get it running and driving first. Then fix her as you go. And yes a girlfriend will kill your build at that age.
Or in my case three or four times....
