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'72 K5 - Where do I go from here?

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Sand Wrench, not sure what you are asking man........A body shop painted it. I know it’s PPG 505, actually I thought it was 506, but you probably know better than me........I am learning as I go - and holy shit am I learning a lot. It is color matched to my ‘72 K20 Cheyenne. I figure the wife will drive the truck and I’ll drive the Blazer during Cruise Nights....

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So today I was getting my septic tank pumped at the house (it's been 5 years since I had this house built, better safe than sorry). I was going to be home during a weekday (rare), so I also scheduled a guy to install the windshield in my Blazer. He walks in shop, I hand him gasket......"Where is the chrome?" I tell him that I have not yet decided if I wanted to put it on.

Lesson for those coming behind me - if you are putting in the chrome, it goes into the gasket BEFORE the gasket/windshield are put in the vehicle. According to him, once you put in the windshield, no chrome unless you do some ghetto glueing or whatever. Huh, who would have thought that. Use the 'for chrome' gasket - nope, you will have this weird looking channel running around your windshield and it will drive you crazy.

I looked at hundreds of First Gen pictures tonight.....no chrome for me. I don't like how much it stands out/accents the windshield orifice.......my personal taste, to each his own. I ordered the gasket I need tonight......hopefully I can get the windshield guy back over sometime in the next year.........
 
If we don't hear from you again, we'll know it's because your Wife found out that you got undercoating on her bed sheets.
 
Guys, Sorry I have been a ghost. The usual excuse, work has been beyond insane, throw in a pretty gnarly jiu jitsu injury (my own fault)......... Pretty much all I have done this year is work to pay the bills. Add in my frustration trying to find someone to build a rollbar (ridiculous, I was pretty much telling people that money was no object.......within reason of course.....and nobody was interested). Throw in an annoying transmission leak (kick down cable) I absolutely cannot get to stop leaking (at $6.00+/quart I have probably spent $300 on tranny fluid) and I guess I just got frustrated and used work as an excuse......Bottom line, I have not been myself, and the rate at which empty Coors Light cans have been accumulating in the shop trash probably tell the real story............

We finally filled all of the open positions I was filling (3 of them, a strong economy has down sides.....) and life is slowly returning to normal. I also found a kid (at a damn High School football game, daughter in band) who does rollbars, tube frames, etc. I am going to give him the old one and just have him make a new version (rot on old one). Another thing that has been driving me crazy is that it ended up much higher than I wanted.....a long story. Anyway, I'll deal with that later.

I did fire it up a few weeks ago. The damn thing turned over ONCE and fired. Hell, my '88 takes more than that to start. This weekend, back to it. I am taking PTO on Friday (stopped earning PTO a few months ago because I have over 1.75%, so.....). I need to call that high school kid tomorrow and get him to come by and see what I want. We'll go from there......

Again, sincere apologies. With all of the amazing support this site and its members has given me, I at least owed some kind of update......very lame of me.

Onward!
 
I'm not sure if you are set on the high school kid, but @blazinzuk builds cages and has done several for 1st gen blazers. His prices are reasonable and he's willing to travel sometimes.
Might be worth hitting him up.
 
Dirsuper said:
Guys, Sorry I have been a ghost. The usual excuse, work has been beyond insane, throw in a pretty gnarly jiu jitsu injury (my own fault)......... Pretty much all I have done this year is work to pay the bills. Add in my frustration trying to find someone to build a rollbar (ridiculous, I was pretty much telling people that money was no object.......within reason of course.....and nobody was interested). Throw in an annoying transmission leak (kick down cable) I absolutely cannot get to stop leaking (at $6.00+/quart I have probably spent $300 on tranny fluid) and I guess I just got frustrated and used work as an excuse......Bottom line, I have not been myself, and the rate at which empty Coors Light cans have been accumulating in the shop trash probably tell the real story............

We finally filled all of the open positions I was filling (3 of them, a strong economy has down sides.....) and life is slowly returning to normal. I also found a kid (at a damn High School football game, daughter in band) who does rollbars, tube frames, etc. I am going to give him the old one and just have him make a new version (rot on old one). Another thing that has been driving me crazy is that it ended up much higher than I wanted.....a long story. Anyway, I'll deal with that later.

I did fire it up a few weeks ago. The damn thing turned over ONCE and fired. Hell, my '88 takes more than that to start. This weekend, back to it. I am taking PTO on Friday (stopped earning PTO a few months ago because I have over 1.75%, so.....). I need to call that high school kid tomorrow and get him to come by and see what I want. We'll go from there......

Again, sincere apologies. With all of the amazing support this site and its members has given me, I at least owed some kind of update......very lame of me.

Onward!
Click to expand...


Ghost? Pfffft..... amateur.

My build thread is on Page 10 somewhere.... :haha:


-G
 
great build, Ive gone through almost the whole thing and its inspired me to take my 73 down to the frame(it was a basket case when I bought it anyway). i'm pretty sure i'll need everybody's help when it goes back together. incidentally, dirsuper, I met Ernie, your WWII vet buddy this past Monday. he stopped in at our local hospital(just to say hi, not as a patient)in ocean springs ms on his run across America. 95yo and still kicking ass. i'm donating to his LST project. what a great country we live in
 
Guys,

I hope everyone is well. It's been an INSANE year and a half for me, as I am sure it has for all of you. This Covid thing has done more damage than I could ever have imagined (My personal feelings about it aside........). As soon as it started I went into 'maintain financial stability above all else' mode and stopped spending anything I did not have to spend (It's me......I've had nothing, and I do not want to go back). Anyway, we got lucky and my wife and I kept our jobs (my business actually got MUCH busier given what we do) and my wife is an RN so......in retrospect, I probably overreacted.

Daughter went away to college (briefly) and returned.....but kept taking classes online (when we dropped her off she had in-person classes, a month later they were all online.......something I personally have a hard time accepting given that she is studying to get her RN, but I digress.....). Anyway, as of Friday all of that drama is in the rear view mirror and she is (finally) back in school in Phoenix. At this point I have no fear of losing my job (and we saved enough that it would not be an issue if I did) and I am FINALLY back to the build.

Recommendation - NEVER (Not under any circumstances) pause a build at the 'wiring phase.' I spent this entire three-day weekend simply relearning where I was with the Painless wiring harness, Vintage Air, and retro bluetooth stereo. I just had wires......wires everywhere....unlabeled......tangled.......a freaking mess. Very stupid of me and I know better, but hey - where my mind was a year and half ago - the Blazer was the least of my concerns.

Assuming I successfully add the pictures to this post, you will see that I did get the rollbar and nerf bars built, powder coated, and installed. I think that is the only real change from my last picture update.

1300 - Super cool that you met Ernie. He's a hell of a man I am thankful to have him as a friend. I would do anything for him.

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Challenging year for sure!

Glad your back on track! :waytogo:

Btw thank your wife for being a RN and your daughter for studying to be one.
 
Just finished reading the whole thread great job on the write up great work on overcoming the challenges

thanks for sharing the journey
 
Thank everyone for the kind words.

Interesting day today. Put the battery in (new battery) who'd a figured 2 years on a tender and the battery died! Check everything 100 times, build up oil pressure (changed out the break-in oil yesterday) - it cranks, but it does not start. I verified 12VDC to the HEI distributor and will test spark at a plug next weekend (need someone to turn it over, don't feel like asking a friend up right now as it is 'get ready for the work week' time). I can tell it's a spark issue. I can see fuel going into the carb and all the times I turned it over it never gives any......'catch' (whatever it's called when in 'tries' to start).....I expect the gas to be bad - but I am 99.9999% sure this is a spark issue.

I found a great write-up (in case anyone else ever needs), here you go - hopefully no issues with pasting from 67-72.

Engine Cranks But Will Not Start

Turn the ignition off, remove the air cleaner, and look down the front carburetor barrels. Depress the accelerator once or twice while looking for gasoline squirting into the front barrels.
Gasoline present: go to Step 1
Gasoline not present: Fix missing gasoline problem.

1. With the ignition on, connect a voltmeter (or test light) to the + post or HEI BAT terminal located on the distributor cap.
+12 volts or Test LIGHT ON: Go to step 3.
No voltage or Test LIGHT OFF: Go to step 2.

2. Check for continuity or voltage drop in the ignition switch and in the circuit from the switch to HEI BAT terminal. Fix missing +12 volt problem.
STARTS: Stop—you’ve found the problem.
NO START: Go to step 3.

3. Remove a spark plug wire and insert a HEI spark tester ($2.99 from Harbor Freight) in line. Crank the engine and observe the light in the tester.
3a. Alternatively remove a spark plug wire and insert a metallic extension in the end of the wire. Using insulated pliers, hold the spark plug wire no more than .25 inch away from the engine block while cranking the engine. If you use the alternate method be very careful to hold the wire no more than .25 inch away from the engine. Greater distances can cause damage to the ignition module.

LIGHT FLASH IN TESTER or SPARK JUMP TO ENGINE BLOCK: The problem is not the ignition system. Check the fuel system, spark plugs, timing, and internal engine condition.
No light or NO SPARK: Go to step 4.

4. Remove and inspect the distributor cap for cracks and carbon-tracking. Visually inspect the distributor mechanism for moisture, corrosion, or burns. Repair as needed.
STARTS: Stop—you’ve fixed it.
NO START: Go to step 5.

5. Set an ohmmeter to the low scale. Connect the leads across the HEI’s “BAT” and “TACH” terminals.

ABOVE 1 OHM: Replace coil. If vehicle still doesn’t start, go to step 6.
0-1 OHM: Go to step 6.

6. Connect one ohmmeter lead to the “BAT” terminal and the other lead to the coil contact in the inside-center of the cap. Switch the first lead to the “TACH” terminal and recheck.
EITHER TEST READS 6K to 30K: Coil is OK. Go to Step 11.
BOTH TESTS READ INFINITY: Replace the coil. If the engine still won’t start, go to step 7.

7. Remove the green and white leads from the HEI control module. Connect the ohmmeter from ground to either lead.
INFINITE reading: Go to step 8.
LESS THAN INFINITY: Replace the pickup coil. If the engine still won’t start, replace the module.

8. Connect the ohmmeter across the green and white pick up coil leads.

READS 500-1,500 OHMS: Repeat Steps 7 and 8 while moving the vacuum advance with a screwdriver. If reading is still OK, replace the module.
DOES NOT READ 500-1,500 OHMS: Replace pickup coil. If the engine still doesn’t start, replace the module.

That is it. You will notice that there is really no diagnosis of the module. When everything else reads correct the module is replaced by default. In my case the coil read open. replacing it did not fix the problem so I had to replace the module also. BOTH items were bad and I assume the coil took out the module

Edited to fix a formatting error caused when pasting in t-shooting directions.
 
I really like the color of your rig old dark forest.

Any clue of it's official name? just curious... my body is so shot I can only justify rattle can paint LOL

Keep with it!! Looks awesome!!
Burt
 
Ever get the windshield back in?

Looking good, hope to see it on the road (in pictures).

Martin
 
Martin,

Windshield is in, I found a local guy who mostly does older cars - he did a great job.

I am very close to finishing this thing (meaning, within a year......I work an insane amount). It's really just time at this point. Also, I am at the.....'what do I do first' phase and need to do some planning. Little details - remove roll bar, put carpet in and then reinstall, or cut carpet around roll bar base? Things like that. I'll figure it out, and what I can't - I know the great people on here will help as needed.
 
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