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1978, too much rust? salvagable? NEW PICS

J

JACKBURTON55

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Hey guys, first post here. I have always wanted a blazer since I could drive and now finally have one. Problem is, its rusty. Let me know if you guys think its too far gone? It has a newere crate motor, rebuilt trans, and i paid 1700$ for it. It also has a tach! which i hear is pretty rare. Its a really strong truck but this rust :( Frame is solid, just the floor pans . . and under the doors on the body and the rear floor by the tailgate and the rear support for the tail gate. Also, whoever had it before tried to hide the rust so under this black paint there is some more rust we cant see.
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right in front of rear wheel wells inside
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This cross memeber looks pretty bad, how necessary is it to structural integrity?
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like i said frame is good, motor trans are good, shifts great(better than my old 76 firebird)
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That doesnt look like to Much rust at all man...If you want too much rust you should take a peek at my build or some of the other 1st gen blazer builds.

If the frame is solid and the rust is mainly on the floor pans and such then thats no big deal at all. There have been Way Way Way rustier projects on this forum that turned out great.

Your blazer looks good though man, and it runs! which is a great plus.

What are your plans for it?
 
From some of the trucks I've seen on here, that's nothing. Granted I'm on my phone and can't see the pics real size, but it doesn't look to horrible.

One of the few things I like about Ca. The trucks don't rust away. Although I did find some in my floor. A 3" circle of surface rust, took about 2 minutes to fix:p:
 
Thanks for the quick reply Scottishdave! ive seen a few that have way more rust than mine, I just hate knowing there is all that cancer growing under there. Ive got a friend who can weld so i hope we can fix some areas and then rustbullet the whole thing . .i can see through the rear floor pans!!!


My plans are to make the vehicle more reliable and tank like :D I dont want to get to big of tires on there. 33 is probably where ill end up. It has 31's now. I really just want a vehicle that could get me home in an apocalyptic world! :cool: call me crazy:screwy:
 
no way, thats not terrible. You should see the poor blazers still doing plow work up in the north east. fred flintstone had more coverage.

Actually, I should thank you for the pics. Even though yours is a different gen, its good enough. I am replacing that same rusted out corner in my truck. All I can say is, don't be afraid to cut wider. Salavaging as much of the 'original" isnt worth anything, because the edges are going to be too thin. Rust is like a bomb. The center is the worst, but as you move to the edges it gets better- however, it is still in the affected zone. You have to cut/repair all the way until you get to solid thick steel. That was my beginners error, and I spent a lot of hrs cutting "little bits" away.

In this pic:
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you can see my rust issues.

But what I didn't learn in the beginning is, make easy shapes. Not like this.
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See that? DIFFICULT SHAPE!!! Also dont use stainless, its hard to bend. :)

The other thing is- you see that outer rocker? I ended up cutting it all off and replacing it and welding in new.

Dont be like me.
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cut straight lines. No wibble wobbles or strange turns. THere are enough bends to deal with, dont add your own!
 
Lol, what rust? That ain't nothin!

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Yep, there's still a frame and axles under there too. I opened the tailgate and the body fell down around the frame:eek1:

Seriously though, around here yours would be considered a rock solid Blazer. Definitely keep it and have fun with it:wink1:
 
That's not bad at all, although I didn't see any rear floor/tailpan pics...

This is mine...

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And I don't consider this to be a terminal case either...or I wouldn't have bought it. My rear floor is really good though.

It has some flaky paint and surface rust at the tailpan, plus an badly cut access hole for the fuel pump, other than that it's very solid and rust free back there.

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I find the key is to not try to save every tiny piece of the original truck when replacing sheet metal. It doesn't save any time at all. Here is my rear quarter repair.

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Rene
 
that aint bad man.you got more sheetmetal left than i do.some of that looks like surface rust.you may be able to just clean it up good and if youre using rust bullet it will strengthen up those areas a lot from the writeup i read on people using it.interior you could clean up and put new metal then herculine to keep the rust away.that crossmember looks like the one that goes under the rear seats.it is structural and helps to keep the rear from falling through when people sit on the rear bench seat.good find and a good price also.:wink1:
 
That's not bad , my '73 was worse and I made it work with sheet metal I had laying around. It would have looked better if I used patch panels, though.

BTW, welcome, and where in GA are you?
 
wow yeah so mine is in good condition, just looking underneath it though, and seeing the angled floor pans all flaky makes me sad. I was almost thinking that maybe I should sell it and get a rust free one but ive decided to keep it and just patch it up and beef it up.

You 4x4 guys will have to forgive me, I am coming from a classic car world where rust free is everything but im liking the idea of just making it work with parts available. I started off as a 4x4 but that was with an Isuzu trooper:o
 
Good luck with the build. That is nothing a little time and effort cant fix. I need to replace the passenger rocker and both rear wheel openings on my 77. A couple of years ago I would have taken the drive train and scrapped the truck. A 63 Chevy C 10 cured me of that. Just cut straight lines and remove all the effected area.
 
bigjbear said:
That's not bad , my '73 was worse and I made it work with sheet metal I had laying around. It would have looked better if I used patch panels, though.

BTW, welcome, and where in GA are you?
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Thanks! and I too am in Marietta GA. perhaps you could come over and see just how bad it is in person? Where do you go offroading around here?
 
Definitely not as much rust as my 73' that I am currently restoring. If that is all I had to deal with I would be proud. Take your time and like everyone else said, make sure you cut it ALL out. The moron that had my truck before me stuffed wire in the holes and bondoed them over.
 
JACKBURTON55 said:
Thanks! and I too am in Marietta GA. perhaps you could come over and see just how bad it is in person? Where do you go offroading around here?
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I can swing by if you'd like. I've been out of wheeling for a couple years and am just trying to get back into it this summer. I used to go to Tellico a lot, but sadly it is closed. Beasley Knob is also a good spot, but the trails are(were) tighter.
 
lol well all these comments make me feel better about her. ill have to take a few pics of the places its a little worse. mainly the rockers under the door and the rear of the floor by the gate.

Big bear, think you could swing by tomorrow? I have tomorrow and Wednesday off.


I drove around all day today with the top off, it was a lot of fun but man!! that top is a beast!!:eek1: weighs so much. Makes me want to get a soft top. Is there any way to get it off easily without having 2 people?
 
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