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72 K5 "About Time". Windshield Header Bow time.

Greg72 said:
.....also, brace the doors. :waytogo:


Then BRACE THE DOORS!!!





...... You feelin' us on this? :haha:


-G
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Haha I remember seeing this before.....perhaps the 2 of you repeatedly telling that guy on the 69-72 page where he ended up having a shop do it. U guys!:haha:

I will be doing so before I cut a thing. Did you guys cut the hinge and use the plate bolted to the A and then the striker plate?? Are these parts readily available? I don't have to save the hinges and striker plate do I? I know I can search the old Web for it but I figured I'd ask the boys who have been there since I have your attention! :D
 
I ran a bar from the top hinge to the striker plate and welded to both of them. Some of the guys have added a bar from the bottom hinge up to the striker, too. Making half of a Z pattern. Up to you on that, but I will tell you, you're going to be in that area a lot. Personally, the bottom bar would have pissed me off and I would have removed it anyways. We have seen a turnbuckle used on one too. This might be cool for adjustment???


All in all, just brace it somehow. One of the best feelings was cutting that bar in the middle once I was done with rust repair and the bar didn't bind the blade or for that matter, move at all.


Where are the pics??? We like pics......:D
 
Wet noodle is my best description. And if you have and plan to use the hardtop keep it bolted in place if you can.
 
Bigblue7-2 said:
Haha I remember seeing this before.....perhaps the 2 of you repeatedly telling that guy on the 69-72 page where he ended up having a shop do it. U guys!:haha:

I will be doing so before I cut a thing. Did you guys cut the hinge and use the plate bolted to the A and then the striker plate?? Are these parts readily available? I don't have to save the hinges and striker plate do I? I know I can search the old Web for it but I figured I'd ask the boys who have been there since I have your attention! :D
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I had an extra set of hinges so I just welded my supports to them directly. Then welded to the striker plate. It doesn't take much to clean up afterwards, so I wouldn't worry about welding to them directly.

I did a brace from both hinges up to the striker. Triangulation is good.

You can do a lot of the floor patching (flat areas) without a door brace, and like Mike said, the brace will make you insane if you try to work around it for that stuff. However for any torsion box, inner or outer rocker repairs.....get that brace installed! It wouldn't hurt to pull a few measurements across the door area BEFORE you mess with the metal too much. Then you have a target value to shoot for if anything droops on you.

-G
 
Ok.. Obviously the floor is rugged to be expected. Box and rockers, shot. Bolt areas by a and b pillar, probably not good. But the door jambs are quite solid. I am not cutting off anything until I finish ripping stuff out taking off the front clip and BRACING the door!

Ill be doing my homework on where to get these parts starting....now. Ordering within a week probably. At least the rocker areas and front floor. That's my immediate goal.

DS Swiss cheese.jpg

DS hole thru rocker box.jpg

A Pillar DS Floor.jpg

B Pillar DS Floor.jpg

looking up into rocker box.jpg
 
Yipes!

Wow....that's quite a project you've got there. :yikes:

I guess the first thing to decide is how "nice" you ultimately intend to make this truck. There is quite a bit you can do to address the worst areas and sort of patch things back together. But if that's not your style and you want to go "all in" and do a full-on restoration there is a LOT of hard work in those photos.

It's natural to say "I need floors and outer rockers"..... Everyone says that initially. This kind of work is like peeling a big rusty onion and you are going to find a lot more in there the more you dig.

You front cab supports are definitely gone, the lower "4 bolts" area is most certainly bad as well..... The torsion boxes need to be replaced, and the end caps for them appear to be completely missing. The firewall / cowl has quite a bit of bad metal in it as well.... Let's hope the upper windshield isn't rotten too. Ultimately that's not as tragic as if the lower windshield frame is bad (where it joins the cowl)...

The lower b-pillar areas tend to trap dirt and water, so those are probably bad too. The outer skins look really tender and perforated, so it's a safe bet that the support behind it is bad as well.

So...yes, the outer skins give you the "look" of a repaired truck but there is a whole lot of structural stuff underneath that really should be addressed first. Go all the way to the center with clean metal......then slowly build your way back out from there!!!

It's going to be a long process, but we're here to help. Lucky for you, just about EVERY part for a Blazer can now be purchased as a reproduction item....even the cowl panel.


-G
 
Bill, Welcome. I think I'm in the same boat on rust repair. Almost need
a procedure on repair process. I guess work on one side at a time. Keep the top in place for support until lower cab repairs are finished? I have
some pictures on the 67-72 side of lower cab area showing rust. Plan on digging
deeper later this week.
 
Greg72 said:
Yipes!

Wow....that's quite a project you've got there. :yikes:

I guess the first thing to decide is how "nice" you ultimately intend to make this truck. There is quite a bit you can do to address the worst areas and sort of patch things back together. But if that's not your style and you want to go "all in" and do a full-on restoration there is a LOT of hard work in those photos.

It's natural to say "I need floors and outer rockers"..... Everyone says that initially. This kind of work is like peeling a big rusty onion and you are going to find a lot more in there the more you dig.

You front cab supports are definitely gone, the lower "4 bolts" area is most certainly bad as well..... The torsion boxes need to be replaced, and the end caps for them appear to be completely missing. The firewall / cowl has quite a bit of bad metal in it as well.... Let's hope the upper windshield isn't rotten too. Ultimately that's not as tragic as if the lower windshield frame is bad (where it joins the cowl)...

The lower b-pillar areas tend to trap dirt and water, so those are probably bad too. The outer skins look really tender and perforated, so it's a safe bet that the support behind it is bad as well.

So...yes, the outer skins give you the "look" of a repaired truck but there is a whole lot of structural stuff underneath that really should be addressed first. Go all the way to the center with clean metal......then slowly build your way back out from there!!!

It's going to be a long process, but we're here to help. Lucky for you, just about EVERY part for a Blazer can now be purchased as a reproduction item....even the cowl panel.


-G
Click to expand...

I am all in!:woot:

I do appreciate all of everyone's wisdom here so I hope I will entertain you guys and u guys will keep me motivated and sane!!


Obviously no one knows what's there till you peel it all back...I kinda have an idea and I agree with you Greg. On my 87 I had to do cab supports whole quarters rear floor I even had cancer on the frame. I had to reconstruct the passenger rear most body mount. The only original metal was the hood roof and parts of the cab. The firewall was the only solid thing in the cab! My biggest regret besides selling the 87 was not taking the cab off and going all out.

So with all of this said....I am mentally prepared for the long haul! No cut corners.
 
Might want to buy a couple bottles of nice whiskey....

There are going to be days in this restoration when you will need some. :)


-G
 
Greg72 said:
Might want to buy a couple bottles of nice whiskey....

There are going to be days in this restoration when you will need some. :)


-G
Click to expand...

Now we are talking!

That's my posion....:waytogo:

As far as what to order first...I'm thinking rockers boxes caps supports. I want to start there and then head to the floor. Thoughts? ?:dunno:
 
Be careful with your terminology.

What most people call the "rocker" area is actually 3 parts:

Torsion box (rectangular structure mounted from underneath)
Inner rocker (closes off the torsion box behind the outer rocker)
Outer rocker (cosmetic part that everyone sees under the door)

You should really work the the inside out. That means torsion boxes and cab supports first, then inner rocker/floors...then 4-corners areas and b-pillar sections..... Outer rocker is dead last.

It's really important to study the way the factory parts overlap each other, especially in that 4-bolts area. The order you remove those layers gets reversed when you reinstall everything.

One final suggestion: the pickup truck version of the outer floor patch, is integrated with the vertical inner rocker. It's a nicer part than the two-piece solution that is typically sold for Blazer applications. Check my build in the first 100 posts or so... I've got a photo of it there.


-G
 
One final suggestion: the pickup truck version of the outer floor patch, is integrated with the vertical inner rocker. It's a nicer part than the two-piece solution that is typically sold for Blazer applications. Check my build in the first 100 posts or so... I've got a photo of it there.


-G[/quote]

6772outercabfloorextensioninnerrocker.jpg


GMCPauls has this. Is this what you are talking about? Says its for blazer too now.

Thanks for the direction....I want to order basically both sides of all above mentioned first. This will get me a lot of shop time and I can plug away as I please while getting the blazer structurally sound again. Like I said...no cut corners unless its rusted, then I am cutting it off!
 
Hehe, yay baby.... I like the attitude. :waytogo:

Hopefully you can keep it up, because that's a sh!t load of tack, tack, swig beer, let cool, tack, tack tack. :haha:


I did a nice photofest of the 4 bolt area and what goes first in somebody's thread within the last year. Made it kinda simple. It might help Joe and you. I'll see if I can find what thread it was. I also put a link to all of VTblazers measurements in that thread. Anybody remember?:dunno:

As far as panels, a word to the wise, stay away from LMC. I ordered a lot from them initially, then had to reorder because they fit like carp and were thin.

I'd stay with Wes at Classicheartbeat, ( who looks like he just became a vendor here) or GMCPAULS. You will be much happier.

Pretty cool you are going all out. Don't get discouraged, and have a lot of adult beverages on hand. :D
 
Those are the ones. IIRC they are about 1/2" long on the back bolts by the B, but are really nice to work with.
 
That's it.... :waytogo:

Don't feel bad if you spend a LOT of time just looking at the front cab support area and playing the chess game in your head. The sequence is complicated to get the parts installed the way you want them.

Case in point: you can't install those inner rocker / floor edge parts first.... The original cab support will be in the way.

The way I did it (from memory) is I cut out most of the floor around the cab support and dropped the torsion boxes completely. Then I did the cab support in new metal and fit it up to the rotten metal in the 4-bolts area since I trusted the dimensions of the original parts.

Then you can cut off the outer A-pillar area so that you can get the inner rocker/ outer floor patch in cleanly. Once that's in, you can put the outer structure of the A-pillar back in place... From ther you can do the larger floor patches, and once all the rusty metal is gone, the torsion box can be refitted from underneath and capped off at the end.

Like I said, the order of those "layers" in the 4-bolts area will dictate how you have to work. There's no way to sneak the inner rocker into that area first...

You'll see. Just be patient and study it carefully. Take photos....even of the rusty stuff, before you cut. You'll be amazed how much it will help you later on in a couple of years when you forget how things are supposed to look! :haha:

-G
 
By the way.... Unless something had radically changed with repro parts, the cab supports will be a lousy fit. They are not "L" or "R" side parts as they should be.... It's a generic part that won't fit well on either side. It will need to be cut, stretched and finessed..... Don't try to make your truck fit the part....you'll make a mess of things.

-G
 
Greg72 said:
By the way.... Unless something had radically changed with repro parts, the cab supports will be a lousy fit. They are not "L" or "R" side parts as they should be.... It's a generic part that won't fit well on either side. It will need to be cut, stretched and finessed..... Don't try to make your truck fit the part....you'll make a mess of things.

-G
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Awesome advise on all. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge!:bow:

U did forget to mention one thing though.....but I wont forget..to brace the doors!
 
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