moving post to 1st Gen forum (sorry if duplicated)
Hello All,
New to forum, and just signed up for recurring membership.
I live in San Diego and have a restomod 1970 K5 Blazer.
I've been working on this pup for about 9 years and still upgrading things little by little. (I will post pictures of the whole build eventually).
I bought truck from a farmer in Sonora, Mexico and body was in great shape but most mechanical was shot.
First took body off frame, sanded and undercoated frame and changed all support gaskets and bolts with full body Prothane kit, new gas tank, changed bearings, upgraded front brakes to drilled, slotted rotors and 4 piston calipers and upgraded to a hydroboost from newer Suburban, overhauled TH350 tranny and NP208 transfercase, installed newly built gen1 sbc 350 with MSD ignition, a nice cam, intake and hooker headers into an x-pipe dual exhaust with Flowmaster Super40's (it sounds amazing and roars just right at full throttle), reupholstered seats and rear side panels, sanded interior and exterior body down to metal and put grey Durabak-18 on floors and formulated a custom exterior paint after 5 spray outs (Remember that movie where that creepy girl in an asylum said: "I'll never tell...")
The original cigarette lighter still worked, but for reliability redid all electrical and added USB ports and marine grade 9V charging ports. All the original gauges were replaced with Autometer Ultralite gauges and polished billet bezel.
Also added Retrosound stereo (though I still can't get myself to cut panels for speakers -and might eventually add a console with them instead of carrying a huge boombox).
I drove to Arizona to pick up some original Western Wheels mag slot wheels; three of which still have their original SEMA stickers on the inside! Tires were 35" KM3's at first, then I changed them out to 33" as I didn't want to mess with the suspension any more. The leaf springs were reworked and are mostly flat and soft to provide a Cadillac-like ride. This ended up too nice, and I don't intend to take it offroad except camping or beaches, so this is fine for me.
Until recently, I had omitted rebuilding the front end and steering was really loose. This past fall, I replaced ball joints, drag links and tie rods, added a Fox steering stabilizer and completely redid front and rear differentials adding an Eaton Posi-traction and Moser chromoly axels and finally disc brakes in rear.
Right now, I'm waiting for delivery of my new roll bar and am having my top cut and re-worked. (I know, I'll get hisses and boos from purists, but I removed the top for a few years and stored it at a relative's house -who proceeded to place things on top and crack it a bit, so I might as well make the best of it!)
Finally, I'm really excited about the newly built engine that I'll install next month: its a fully balanced internals sbc block stroked to about 392ci with all sorts of goodies like a forged crank, Howard cam, J&E pistons, Mahle H-beam rods, and hand polished, ported vortec heads with retrofitted valves and lifters.
Looking forward to meeting and learning from some folks on the forum!
Best,
Louie
Hello All,
New to forum, and just signed up for recurring membership.
I live in San Diego and have a restomod 1970 K5 Blazer.
I've been working on this pup for about 9 years and still upgrading things little by little. (I will post pictures of the whole build eventually).
I bought truck from a farmer in Sonora, Mexico and body was in great shape but most mechanical was shot.
First took body off frame, sanded and undercoated frame and changed all support gaskets and bolts with full body Prothane kit, new gas tank, changed bearings, upgraded front brakes to drilled, slotted rotors and 4 piston calipers and upgraded to a hydroboost from newer Suburban, overhauled TH350 tranny and NP208 transfercase, installed newly built gen1 sbc 350 with MSD ignition, a nice cam, intake and hooker headers into an x-pipe dual exhaust with Flowmaster Super40's (it sounds amazing and roars just right at full throttle), reupholstered seats and rear side panels, sanded interior and exterior body down to metal and put grey Durabak-18 on floors and formulated a custom exterior paint after 5 spray outs (Remember that movie where that creepy girl in an asylum said: "I'll never tell...")
The original cigarette lighter still worked, but for reliability redid all electrical and added USB ports and marine grade 9V charging ports. All the original gauges were replaced with Autometer Ultralite gauges and polished billet bezel.Also added Retrosound stereo (though I still can't get myself to cut panels for speakers -and might eventually add a console with them instead of carrying a huge boombox).
I drove to Arizona to pick up some original Western Wheels mag slot wheels; three of which still have their original SEMA stickers on the inside! Tires were 35" KM3's at first, then I changed them out to 33" as I didn't want to mess with the suspension any more. The leaf springs were reworked and are mostly flat and soft to provide a Cadillac-like ride. This ended up too nice, and I don't intend to take it offroad except camping or beaches, so this is fine for me.
Until recently, I had omitted rebuilding the front end and steering was really loose. This past fall, I replaced ball joints, drag links and tie rods, added a Fox steering stabilizer and completely redid front and rear differentials adding an Eaton Posi-traction and Moser chromoly axels and finally disc brakes in rear.
Right now, I'm waiting for delivery of my new roll bar and am having my top cut and re-worked. (I know, I'll get hisses and boos from purists, but I removed the top for a few years and stored it at a relative's house -who proceeded to place things on top and crack it a bit, so I might as well make the best of it!)
Finally, I'm really excited about the newly built engine that I'll install next month: its a fully balanced internals sbc block stroked to about 392ci with all sorts of goodies like a forged crank, Howard cam, J&E pistons, Mahle H-beam rods, and hand polished, ported vortec heads with retrofitted valves and lifters.
Looking forward to meeting and learning from some folks on the forum!
Best,
Louie
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