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CK5
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1989 Blazer - Clean(ish) Slate for Father/Son Build
- Thread starter markwik
- Start date
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Dang. That’s a clean rig.
Being a dad doesn’t mean getting rid of your toys. My first family vehicle was a brand new 392 charger. Finally had to sell it for a Durango RT. My kids love going fast and love how loud my vehicles are and love the blazer.
But I gotta know, what did your parents say when they pulled up?
Being a dad doesn’t mean getting rid of your toys. My first family vehicle was a brand new 392 charger. Finally had to sell it for a Durango RT. My kids love going fast and love how loud my vehicles are and love the blazer.
But I gotta know, what did your parents say when they pulled up?
I can tell you that my parents thought my wife pulled into the wrong driveway! After realizing that I had made the purchase and the Blazer was mine, my dad was definitely excited. We immediately started talking about it and I was sharing specs before I even had a chance to unload their bags from my wife's car.
Well after only a few days parked in my driveway, I noticed a small puddle forming beneath the truck. I quickly put down an oil pan to capture whatever fluid was escaping from the truck until I had some time to crawl underneath and investigate. It appears that the leak is coming from the power steering pump:
The previous owner had a mechanic replace the steering column and gear box right before I purchased the truck, so I'm wondering if this is related.
This leak prompted me to start making a list of things I need to repair or replace on the mechanical side of things. In addition to what's below, I need to do some routine maintenance like flush/replace fluids, change spark plugs, etc.
So far the parts list contains:
The previous owner had a mechanic replace the steering column and gear box right before I purchased the truck, so I'm wondering if this is related.
This leak prompted me to start making a list of things I need to repair or replace on the mechanical side of things. In addition to what's below, I need to do some routine maintenance like flush/replace fluids, change spark plugs, etc.
So far the parts list contains:
- Power steering pump and related lines
- Pretty sure most of the fluid has leaked out.
- Replace all belts
- Some are showing wear and I might as well do that while I'm in there. The desert heat is really hard on belts and any rubber.
- New radiator and overflow reservoir
- I peeped inside the radiator and there's some gunk inside.
- Current reservoir is badly cracked on top and has duct tape holding it together
- New tires
- Current 33x12.5x15 KO2s are dated 2012 and they don't look too hot.
At first glance, the interior was in good shape. While it looked complete and to be in relatively good shape for a 33 year old truck, I quickly changed my mind during the multi-hour drive home. This truck had a stink to it that was a mixture of cigarette smoke, motor oil, gasoline and wet dog. Driving the entire way home with the windows down did nothing to help. This made me a bit afraid of what I would find underneath all of the mats, carpet and even the spare tire laying in the back.
As expected, everything was filthy. Once I started pulling up the carpet, I quickly decided that I was going to redo the ENTIRE interior with new materials. I did not want to even attempt to clean this carpet.
As expected, everything was filthy. Once I started pulling up the carpet, I quickly decided that I was going to redo the ENTIRE interior with new materials. I did not want to even attempt to clean this carpet.
Moisture...on the inside of a desert truck... 
I'm not entirely sure how this much moisture was soaked up by the carpet underlayment, but here we are. One of the previous owners must have either enjoyed spilling all of their drinks on the floor or driving through monsoon flooding with this truck because everything was slightly damp. Luckily most of what you see is very light surface rust or adhesive residue and all of it comes off very easily with a metal wire brush.
Enter interior issue #1: both of the rear seat mount holes on the driver and passenger side bucket seats are cracked and caved in. I know this is a common problem with the Blazers and I need to decide which repair route to go; reshape the metal back into place, weld up the cracks and add bracing underneath the floor, or cut out and replace this entire part of the floor pan. I'm leaning towards the first option since it is much less involved and also because I have not found replacement pans that have the seat mounting holes pre-cut into the panels.
I'm not entirely sure how this much moisture was soaked up by the carpet underlayment, but here we are. One of the previous owners must have either enjoyed spilling all of their drinks on the floor or driving through monsoon flooding with this truck because everything was slightly damp. Luckily most of what you see is very light surface rust or adhesive residue and all of it comes off very easily with a metal wire brush.
Enter interior issue #1: both of the rear seat mount holes on the driver and passenger side bucket seats are cracked and caved in. I know this is a common problem with the Blazers and I need to decide which repair route to go; reshape the metal back into place, weld up the cracks and add bracing underneath the floor, or cut out and replace this entire part of the floor pan. I'm leaning towards the first option since it is much less involved and also because I have not found replacement pans that have the seat mounting holes pre-cut into the panels.
Pulling out the carpet did wonders for ridding the truck of the wet dog/oil/gas blended aroma, but the cigarette smoke smell persisted. Removing the cigarette butts from the ash trays helped a bit, but I quickly found that the headliner and door panels were the main culprits. After pulling those out (and spraying copious amounts of air freshener around the rig), the Blazer finally started to air out and it quickly stopped wafting unpleasant aromas into the neighborhood. While I was at it, I removed the deteriorating dash panel.
This brings us to present day. I still have some work to do in removing the rest of the carpet padding, but I'm starting to make some progress with the few hours that I have to work on it over the weekends.
This brings us to present day. I still have some work to do in removing the rest of the carpet padding, but I'm starting to make some progress with the few hours that I have to work on it over the weekends.
That’s the best thing you can do is gut all that old dirty interior. Let’s you get a real good look at everything. Put it back together fresh and it makes it feel like it’s really yours.
Any new progress?
Well...most of my free time has been spent with my now 10-month old son, but no complaints there!
Since the last update, I've done the following:
- Replaced power steering pump with an Endurance reman. unit from AutoZone
- Replaced the accelerator cable as the old one was causing a stiff gas pedal
- Replaced the belt tensioner and the belt itself
- Replaced both tail light assemblies as the old blacked-out ones made it nearly impossible to see the brake lights in direct sunlight
- Fixed a few minor electrical issues with the headlights and turn signals
My new to-do list is as follows:
- Repair cracks in floor pan. I have a cheap HF fluxcore welder and have zero experience welding, so that will be an adventure.
- Replace radiator and hoses - rad is full of hard water deposits and is a deep rust color on the inside
- Start on paint prep. I will need to sand all of the flaky paint off which appears to have been laid on top of the original white paint job. I'm likely going to paint it with a dark gray metallic.
- Since the truck will be going gray, I will need to clean and repaint all of interior panels a darker color to match, maybe black?
