Hey y'all, I'm new to forums in general, so I apologize for any formatting or weirdness in this post.
Here's my 1971 K5 Blazer, my dad bought it back in the late 90s down in Oregon, at the time it was spray painted blue (the kind of paint that would rub off on your hands if you touched it.) I believe shortly after he bought it he buffed down the blue paint, and sprayed red paint right over it. After painting it he drove it all over the coast with my aunt (his little sister) and several other family members.
After this he moved up to Alaska, and brought it with him, I believe he had it ferried up. This was about a year before I was born (2000-2001?)
After I was born he drove it alot when I was a kid, and I have alot of memories of riding it around Alaska, several trips to Jim Creek, a popular off-road river crossing here in Alaska. My Uncle was driving it down a slippery Alaska road and lost control of it, quickly stuffing it underneath a flatbed semi truck trailer. Surprisingly, only the hood and the cowl were damaged, and with a few hundred dollars worth (at the time) of spare parts, he was able to get it back on the road and better than ever, shy of some mismatched paint. Here is a 8 year old me dreading the coming hike up a nearby mountain trail.
It was later used in the 2012 movie centered on Alaska "Big Miracle" but not for very long in the final cut.
My dad sold it around 2008-2010, before I was ever into cars, around the time I was 14-15 I had just bought a 280z with no title off the side of a road from a crack den, and started to appreciate classic vehicle more than I ever had in the past. At this point I had started giving my dad a hard time for selling it before I could ever get the chance to really appreciate it for something other than the old beat up truck it was. For the past 10 or so years, I had come to sell that 280z, buy not one but two square body Chevys, inherit a 1977 VW Westfalia, buy a little speedy Subaru WRX that got me several speeding tickets, buy and sell a 1984 VW Rabbit Pickup with the 1.6l turbo diesel that couldn't break the speed limit even if it had a jet engine strapped into the bed, as well as a few other vehicles, and all the while I had yearned for a K5 Blazer. This summer of 2021, I had seen a 1971 K5 Blazer pop up for sale that had some interesting and familiar mirrors on it, after asking my dad it was the same exact one!
So now it's mine, I picked it up and it had some very fresh miles put on a rebuilt-ish engine. I guess I need to figure out where to go next! It's very sketchy to drive, having about a 1/2 turn of play in the steering wheel before there's any response. It also likes to steer whichever way it wants while I go in a straight line and don't have any input on the wheel. My question is, what are some ways to rectify this issue, I already plan on redoing everything to do with steering, ball joints, pitman arm, ect, and I think I'm gonna buy a new steering box as well as a rebuild for the one in it to learn how to do it for the future. Is there anything else I should look into? I'm sure the 35" tires don't help but I'd like to keep them if possible. I think I also want to convert it to EFI with a Sniper system, to help with the cold starts up here in frigid Alaska.
Thanks for reading my long ass post, feel free to submit any suggestions or whatever for the future, I'm not too sure what I'm doing, I'm only 19 after all
Here's my 1971 K5 Blazer, my dad bought it back in the late 90s down in Oregon, at the time it was spray painted blue (the kind of paint that would rub off on your hands if you touched it.) I believe shortly after he bought it he buffed down the blue paint, and sprayed red paint right over it. After painting it he drove it all over the coast with my aunt (his little sister) and several other family members.
After this he moved up to Alaska, and brought it with him, I believe he had it ferried up. This was about a year before I was born (2000-2001?)
After I was born he drove it alot when I was a kid, and I have alot of memories of riding it around Alaska, several trips to Jim Creek, a popular off-road river crossing here in Alaska. My Uncle was driving it down a slippery Alaska road and lost control of it, quickly stuffing it underneath a flatbed semi truck trailer. Surprisingly, only the hood and the cowl were damaged, and with a few hundred dollars worth (at the time) of spare parts, he was able to get it back on the road and better than ever, shy of some mismatched paint. Here is a 8 year old me dreading the coming hike up a nearby mountain trail.
It was later used in the 2012 movie centered on Alaska "Big Miracle" but not for very long in the final cut.
My dad sold it around 2008-2010, before I was ever into cars, around the time I was 14-15 I had just bought a 280z with no title off the side of a road from a crack den, and started to appreciate classic vehicle more than I ever had in the past. At this point I had started giving my dad a hard time for selling it before I could ever get the chance to really appreciate it for something other than the old beat up truck it was. For the past 10 or so years, I had come to sell that 280z, buy not one but two square body Chevys, inherit a 1977 VW Westfalia, buy a little speedy Subaru WRX that got me several speeding tickets, buy and sell a 1984 VW Rabbit Pickup with the 1.6l turbo diesel that couldn't break the speed limit even if it had a jet engine strapped into the bed, as well as a few other vehicles, and all the while I had yearned for a K5 Blazer. This summer of 2021, I had seen a 1971 K5 Blazer pop up for sale that had some interesting and familiar mirrors on it, after asking my dad it was the same exact one!
So now it's mine, I picked it up and it had some very fresh miles put on a rebuilt-ish engine. I guess I need to figure out where to go next! It's very sketchy to drive, having about a 1/2 turn of play in the steering wheel before there's any response. It also likes to steer whichever way it wants while I go in a straight line and don't have any input on the wheel. My question is, what are some ways to rectify this issue, I already plan on redoing everything to do with steering, ball joints, pitman arm, ect, and I think I'm gonna buy a new steering box as well as a rebuild for the one in it to learn how to do it for the future. Is there anything else I should look into? I'm sure the 35" tires don't help but I'd like to keep them if possible. I think I also want to convert it to EFI with a Sniper system, to help with the cold starts up here in frigid Alaska.
Thanks for reading my long ass post, feel free to submit any suggestions or whatever for the future, I'm not too sure what I'm doing, I'm only 19 after all
