70 Jimmy--Rusty Rebuild

[toomany]

I think I’d have just gotten some diy4x sliders and called it a day.

While I could have gone the simple route, I would have had to compromise a little on the height. The door sill is just over 27" from the ground. When the steps are out, they are 16" from the ground. Shut the door and have all the clearance as if they weren't there.

If you have old cranky knees like me, from working on heavy crap all of your life, you may think differently.

My body is still holding up fairly well. Have more back problems than knee/leg issues if anything. The convenience of a lower entry is something you notice after getting in/out all day though.

 

[toomany]

Finished up the wiring for the steps last weekend. Left the trigger wires a little long for now, will trim them when the harness goes in for good later on (same for the courtesy light wires).

Installed the Trique door latches today. Went fairly smooth. Had a little issue with the lock rod on the first side. Bent it like they wanted and couldn't get it to fit at all. Ended up getting it through the top hole and working it into shape from there. The other side I was going to do the same thing but it didn't even need to be bent.

I spent quite a bit of time fitting my doors with the factory latches. In my opinion they opend/closed great and I didn't think there would be much improvement. I will say that I was 100% wrong on that. You don't notice it much with the factory parts, but because of their design, they rattle a little bit when you shut them. Even when they are closed there is a little bit of play. Now, they close so much better and positively. Even sounds better when closing. If you have a 67-72, you need these. Absolutely worth every penny.

I'm 99% sure that these are the set of doors I'm going to keep on here (I have another good set of truck doors too). I only bolted the latches in when I had planned on welding them. I'll probably weld them in once I get to body work on the doors an am committed to a set.








Truck budget took a little hit recently. Had to go to the ER a month or so ago. Went in for severe abdominal pain and found out I had a kidney stone. Bills are starting to roll in from that. So far it's up to almost 7k. I think I've gotten all of them now and paid. I had wanted this to be on the road sometime this summer, still going to try for that but I'm not going to rush it or cut corners to do it.

 

[toomany]

Pulled the dash out to trim up the Holley harness a little. Being a universal system, they give you more than enough length to let you mount the box wherever. Since mine is almost on top of the motor...I've got a lot of extra to deal with. You can see how it comes through the bulkhead and wraps under the HVAC box. I need that space for my AC and heater hoses.





Awhile back I bought set of connectors and pins to shorten up the main two plugs. Took close to 30" out of it. The only thing I couldn't shorten was the DBW harness. They tell you multiple times in the manual in big bold letters not to alter that one.




Around December I picked up a new dash. I think it was around then atleast, I've been buying parts and stock piling them for when I need them. I got the non-AC one as I figured I would have problems with the A-pillar bars in the area by the outside vents.




It "fits" but not as well as I'd hoped. It's about 1/2" to narrow too. The factory dash fit good along the windshield flange and was a snug fit at the edges. Once I get everything pulled out I'll see what needs to be done to get a better fit.

 

[Greg72]

View attachment 444661

This is a really cool photo.... I like the way it shows the amount of room that the HVAC consumes and all the little spaces where electronics might be tucked away under the dash.



-G

 

[ashman]

This is a really cool photo.... I like the way it shows the amount of room that the HVAC consumes and all the little spaces where electronics might be tucked away under the dash.



-G

agreed. I wish I had realized just how much room was up under there when I did my LS swap. I'd definitely have moved the ECU under there if I had known.

 

[centexk5]

Gonna have to see if I've got that kind of room on mine there for my holley ecm.

 

[toomany]

This is a really cool photo.... I like the way it shows the amount of room that the HVAC consumes and all the little spaces where electronics might be tucked away under the dash.



-G

agreed. I wish I had realized just how much room was up under there when I did my LS swap. I'd definitely have moved the ECU under there if I had known.

Gonna have to see if I've got that kind of room on mine there for my holley ecm.

I think I've done a pretty good job using the space I had to work with. It's been a few years since I pulled the stock HVAC out, can't remember how much room that took up.

It's tight back there with the "glove box" Vintage Air supplies. Once pased that there is a decent amount of room to place stuff.

 

[toomany]

Pulled the front end off in preparation of pulling the motor. I took a better look at the driver's side cylinder head by the firewall. I could have sworn it was touching at one point. Maybe when I shimmed the body mounts before I installed the fenders and started on the roll bar that gave me some clearance. It's still tight, but no worse than the other side now. I'm going to blow the dust off of it and see if I can sneak the valve cover out. If I can, then I'll leave the firewall alone. If not then I'll cut it back for some more clearance.



Removed the harness and most of the stuff from the inside. Still a few things left. I want to leave the column in until I get the truck turned around again.

Harness is currently all integrated together, chassis side and Terminator. I did use a Weatherpack on a few of the wires that connect the two. But, the two are zip tied together in multiple places. Going to see if I can separate them before they go back in. The chassis side has some branches that can get wrapped now, other spots I'm going to leave until it's up and running. Terminator wiring needs to be unwrapped to remove a few wires. IAC and TPS were unpinned when I installed the new plugs, DBW has those two in the throttle body.

 

[toomany]

Gave pulling the valve covers off a try.






Both sides came off fairly easily. Take the bolts out and you can lift them off towards the top/center of the motor.


Pulled the headers next. Driver's side came right out. Passenger side fought me a little. Can't remember if I put it in from the top, but that's the way it came out. Leaving the rest of the exhaust in place might have made it a little more difficult.




Plan to pull the driveshafts and transfer case, then the motor and transmission as one.

 

[toomany]

Took an hour or so to pull the driveshafts and transfer case, then the motor and transmission.




One more small thing to do to the pedal box before I strip the firewall down and work on getting the new dash in.

 

[toomany]

The one thing I needed to do to the pedal box was add a return spring on the clutch pedal. While I'm sure the hydraulics would have pushed it back, I didn't want to rely solely on that. I couldn't use the factory spring anymore because the bellcrank bolts on in that space now.

Simple bracket that bolts to the top. Easy to change if I need to.




With that done I pulled everything off the firewall and set the new dash in. I got it to fit better. I think I can pull the dash flange over to the windshield flange as I'm welding it in. Dash pad dropped right in when I set that on.




Drilled my holes for the spot welds. Pretty sure I'm going to clean up the welds on the firewall, prime then seam seal. After that I'll install the dash.

 

[CK5]

Took an hour or so to pull the driveshafts and transfer case, then the motor and transmission.

View attachment 445529


One more small thing to do to the pedal box before I strip the firewall down and work on getting the new dash in.

I would love to have that much room to work/walk around my Blazer!

 

[toomany]

I would love to have that much room to work/walk around my Blazer!

It's definitely nice having room to work around it. The building is 30x36, but the loft takes up 7' or so. The hoist columns get in the way a little bit too. Had intentions to add on but the city pulled my permit after the slab was poured and materials were already on site.

This is about the minimum size I would want to do a project like this in. Even still, I have a big enclosed trailer I stash parts in while I'm working on other areas.

 

[toomany]

Cleaned up the firewall some. Didn't plan on taking it down to bare metal initially. The rubber/undercoating that was on the floor took some work to get off. Was most of the way to metal so I kept on going.




Plan to get some primer on next week so I can continue with the dash. Once dash is in, I'll prime and seam seal the rest of the interior.

 

[toomany]

Primer is on and drying. Shot two coats and only in the areas that will be hard with the dash in. Once it dries for a day I'll seam seal a few spots and move on with the dash.

 

[toomany]

Dash is welded/bolted in for good. I did slice the ends incase I want to remove the face of it, will only need to cut the slots under the pad at that time.




Started in the middle and worked towards the ends. The little bit that was sticking up I just trimmed off.




Have some more disassembley to do before I prime the inside. Will do the rest of the windshield frame at that time as well.

 

[toomany]

Cut the hole for the center AC vent. Going to leave the ends uncut for now. I've got an idea for those vents where the roll bar is in the way.




Pushed it outside and gave it a good scrubbing. Knocked off the few years of dust and overspray that had accumulated. Plan to try spraying some primer on the inside tomorrow.

 

[toomany]

Primer is on. Did two coats on the windshield frame/dash/inner bedsides. On the second coat on the way out I did the floor and rockers. Laid down one more the best I could while reaching over the sides.







In hindsight I should have masked off the wheel wells and sprayed the bedsides as well. Will get those after I do a few spots of body filler that are needed on the firewall.

I'm about at the point where I need to decide on a color. Have it narrowed down to 3 at the moment.

Hope to get out to seem seal later tonight.

 

[toomany]

Seams sealed.






After I took this picture I realized I missed the upper part of the windshield frame. Hit that before calling it good.




The areas that are getting paint got a smooth over with a wet finger. Ultimately I plan on some kind of bed liner for the floor and maybe a half inch or so up the sides. So those areas I mostly left as they came out of the tube.

 

[toomany]

Not much got done this weekend. Did finish welding the roll bar and got some paint on it. There are still some pieces that need added, but those can be done with it in place. Wanted to paint to keep the flash rust off before it starts getting real humid.