1st Post 71 Blazer Project

[joedragrace]

1st attempt at posting. Bought this Blazer in April of 2011. It was a Forest
Service vehicle from Ruidoso NM. I'm 3rd owner. 2nd owner purchased
from FS and sanded off white paint then lost interest. Wheels and tires
are off my 83 k1500. Blazer came with rally wheels and 4 different paper
shell tires.

A month after purchasing Blazer my wife and I bought a pool service route
form her boss. So not much spare time for Blazer. We were also leading the points at our local drag strip. In October we bought a house and finished out the racing season. Won the championship. View attachment 322961

Over the next 2 years worked on Blazer when timed allowed. Install a 2"
Easy-Ride lift. Then decided to do a frame off.

Sanded blasted frame. Tried making my own V-8 crossmember and when I
got ready to weld it up was not happy with how it attached to the frame.
That we I joined K-5 and saw DIY4x4 crossmember/motor mount. Gnarly
design and added strength to area.

Primed frame with U-Pol acid etch and sprayed frame with Raptor bed liner.
Turned out nice.

Replaced all bearings, seals, brakes to get chassis rolling.

These last photos are from this week. Had to fab up a new center link. Mine was bent and apparently no one is making replacements. You can see in
the photos body has normal amount of rust. I like the cheesy rocker panel
cover. I guess if you cover up rust in goes away.

I'll work on keeping my posts shorter. Greg thanks for the help with posting!

 

[ashman]

Looking good man! Welcome to the club. Long posts with lots of pics is what we love, so keep em coming!

 

[AJs72K5]

Gotta love a first post to CK5 with a ton of pics. Well done sir!

 

[munepit]

Awesome!!!!!!!

 

[tRustyK5]

Almost two years from join to first post...but I can see you've been busy.

Welcome to CK5, and seeing as you've already met Greg72 I know he'll be steering you to all the first gen goodness to be found here.

 

[70jimmy]

Welcome! Nice rig to start with, but then I may be slightly biased. Keep the updates coming!!

 

[MajMike]

Welcome . . .

Welcome, and I'm jealous of that 1st Gen, eventually I want one of those too.

 

[max 02]

Nice first post!

Rare beast with the straight 6 and 4 speed with oil bath air cleaner...but yeah v8 is better. Cool Blazer, nice work!

Congrats on the drag racing too!

 

[diesel4me]

Nice rig--I was surprised to see it was a six banger originally!(personally I'd have left it a six,its rare to see one in a 4x4 K5,but I'm an old fogie who likes the straight sixes more,the older I get).....and I never knew they still had oil bath air cleaners available that late either!..

I see a hand throttle too,another rare option..I see its located on the opposite side of the dash,than the one on the '70 CST Camper in another thread here too..

I would kill for a frame that looks like that one!..here if you want one that nice,you have to dissasemble a brand new truck and have it prepped and Rhino-lined!..

I may have the "long" tie rod for that,I kept several off trucks I scrapped in past years,one off a '71 K10 and a '73 K10,but it looks like you already have a nice new one made up and working..

 

[lamberthkp]

Welcome ! Off to a great start.

 

[Greg72]

Nice project.... Great start!

You'll find plenty of rust in those front cab supports just like we all do, but it looks like you definitely have the skills to get it fixed correctly.

I can tell you came from a drag race background when I saw that rear axle cover. You never see that style of cover (with the load bolts) on this site....definitely unique.

What sort of ET/MPH does your car run? Looks like a monster.


-G

 

[joedragrace]

Thanks for all the welcomes. The 6 cylinder found a home in a 56 chevy
truck that was being restored. The buyer was excited about the oil bath
air cleaner. The throttle control is not molded into the dash panel. Looks
like a factory add on, so it could go on either side of the panel. When I
lived in Oklahoma and racing, Camaro ran 10.60's at 125mph. Out here
with a density altitude of 5000ft, ran 11.20's at 120mph. Actually sold
the car in March. Pool business grew enough I resigned form the Phone
Company and the wife and I work it full time. A guy from Phoenix
bought it and was going to race it that weekend. Car was a proven
winner and I didn't want to see it just sit around.

Looks like front floor section, rocker panels, rocker boxes and lower
cab pillars will need to be replaced. Where is the best place to
get good quality sheet metal? Looks like GMC Pauls has nice stuff.

 

[Greg72]

Wes @ classic heartbeat is a good source as well...

I try to support the companies that support the forums, and he's pretty active and helpful on the 67-72 Forums.

SOKY Classics and Top Banana are two recent ones I found. Top Banana is the new name for Tri-Pro, I believe. That's where I got my doors, bedside and floor patches originally.


-G

 

[Z71paramedic]

First off, welcome to the club man! Looks like a great start for sure

I second Greg on Classic Heartbeat. I bought some B-pillar patches and a few other assorted items from him and they were very high quality.

 

[RANDAL]

Looking good, keep the pictures coming.

 

[tp85]

What was involved with the install of the DIY4X4 crossmember mount? I am going 6 to 8cyl as well...so this might be a good solution.

I just freshened up my front D44, and noticed I seem to have a positive camber as shown in joe's photo front-view of the frame w/axle. is this normal?
tom

 

[bigjbear]

Talk about jumping in with both feet. Pretty cool the I6 and oil bath got saved. Are you doing the body work now, or is that a future project?

 

[Engineered Vintage]

Looks good - welcome to the board!

 

[Deuling]

Subd

 

[joedragrace]

Tom, The DIY4X4 crossmember was a bolt in install. No problems. As far as the camber, I installed new ball joints the upper insert was a 0 degree. So
I'm not sure on that. No load on the frame but I'm sure if that matters.

Jim, I plan on replacing the rusted areas in the cab section to bring strength back to that area. My body work skills are basically tin work
on drag cars. Like putting together a puzzle, but you get to make the pieces. I don't want the exterior being so nice I'm afraid to take it
off road an scratch it. After I finish cab area and add a roll cage the
top is history. Maybe a rag top but we'll see.