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83' M1009 Rebuild to Civilian

Thanks guys. It looks so much better in person. Of course it still needs to get buffed. I new it was going to look really good as my buddy is known all over as being an incredible painter but I was still amazed when I walked into the booth. He told me he painted it Friday night after he closed the shop. He said total time was 5hrs. I never realized it was that long to paint a vehicle. He then got into explaining keeping a "wet" edge and doing the roof, etc. My buddy is a young guy and 15yrs ago when he started dabbling in auto-body/painting he rented the front of my garage to do it. As he got officially into business and he moved into his bigger garage he still has rented my small garage area for storage of stuff. His rent is low and he usually pays once or twice a year which is fine with me. When I asked him how much I would owe for the prepping, painting and buffing he told me that it was for rent. Needless to say I won't tell you how much he owed me because it was so little it would make you sick! We're friends and he mentioned how I helped him get his compressor back up and running quickly and how I was able to solve an electrical problem on his Volkswagen that even the Volkswagen tech couldn't fix. He said our friendship was worth more than making money to him. Even though he is a younger guy he's old school. A breath of fresh air especially for this day and age. He then told me after the fenders, hood, and tailgate gets painted that they would help me assemble it in his shop so I would have help and everything would be perfect. I will be taking him my fiberglass top soon for both inside and outside paint. He told me once it's painted and the gaskets glued on to bring the truck back and they would help me mount the roof. All this will be in his heated garage which will save me a lot of time, work, and money not having to heat and do it alone in my garage. Got to love that. I guess it's been worth the wait!
 
Was sitting down with the wife going over bills tonight. Bills for the house, bills for Christmas, and bills for the Blazer rebuild. Thought she might go a little crazy but instead she says to me, "I've been thinking,......I think you should get a convertible top for the Blazer because I really like the way it looks with no roof on it." :eek1: So I said,"while I'm buying that, I should also buy some stainless steel nerf bars so you can get into the truck easier." She says," OK, that works for me." Got to love that women. She did complain for the last 8yrs or so I've had the truck in the garage and never did anything with it but once I've started it she been happy it's getting done. Not one single complaint about the money spent to do it right. Lucky me!
 
Here's a picture of the truck out of the booth. Fenders, hood, tailgate, and smaller pieces got painted today. Going over tomorrow afternoon to put them on the truck.

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Went to the paint shop today to put on the fenders but it turns out he didn't get to paint them until this afternoon. I was able to watch the truck get sanded with 1500 wet paper by hand, then wet sanded w/3000 on a DA. It was then followed up a wool type buffing wheel then finished with a foam finger type wheel buff job. It will later get waxed. I think you guys will like the finish. Going in to the shop tomorrow, yes, New Years day, to meet my buddy and put on the fenders then finish up the wet sanding/buffing. Pictures will show the truck real dull after the 1500 hand wet sand. Then the DA sanding and buffing process. The guy doing it put in a few hours for the job. Not sure if I'm going to want to drive it.:D

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Here's the results.


Looking at the pictures blown up I realized I forgot to clean my damn lens. Sorry for the water spots in the pictures. Though it looks black the color really shows up in the third up close picture of the left side from the tail light forward. Really sparkles in the light.

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Went to the body shop today to work on the blazer. I completely pulled all the masking off the truck while a worker finished buffing the passenger side. I then removed the batteries and the trays so I could install the fenders. Before I could start to install the fenders they had me painting with a brush anything around the door hinges/cowl that could be seen through the door jamb when it was open. Things like bolt heads, the cowl rubbers, etc. The town, who at one time owned this truck, painted it orange and got that color in every single crack. What a pain.
I can tell you I have a lot more understanding why a good paint job costs so much. It must have taken me over an hour just to remove all the masking done. It was all back masked in every single area the way it needed to be done. There is absolutely no over spray anywhere.
Only installed the right front fender because there is some small debris on the left front that might cause them to repaint it. My buddy was not in today to look at it to decide what will be done so it didn't go on. Installed the left fender only. Will go by tomorrow and install the fuel filler pipe and body fuel door. On this truck it is a lot harder to install the filler and door as it is the military one. It is much larger diameter than the normal civilian one and is mounted on a metal mount unlike the civilian which is on a plastic mount. There is no "give" when installing this mount which make it difficult to install the door without hitting the body. I do not want to mess up this paint job so there will be many hands and some safety taping around the fuel door opening to prevent scratches.
In the pictures the fender is installed but not yet sanded/buffed like the rest of the truck. SORRY, NOT LETTING ME DOWNLOAD PICTURES RIGHT NOW.

GOT THEM UPLOADED FINALLY

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Chevy305 said:
I see you cleaned your camera lens
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LOL. No. These I took with my antique Black Berry! Heading down pretty soon with more parts I can put on so I can take advantage of the heated garage.

Went back to my first post and realized that this thread has been going for 2yrs!!!!! I need to get this done for sure. Also read the first few pages and kinda laugh how some guys got really pissed at me for not following their recommendations to change the gear ratios right away even though I said I would if I didn't like the way the truck drove. I never said I wouldn't change them or that they were incorrect in their recommendations yet they got pissed because I didn't completely agree with them to do it then and there. Oh, well. It's a New Year! LOL
 
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Went to the body shop today to get more done. With the snow coming down my buddy was anxious for me get the left fender on and the battery in so we could start the truck and move it around. He needed to jockey cars around, in and out of the paint booth and on/off the frame machine. He also had to get some in and out because of the snow.
Got the left fender on, battery tray and battery in. Tail lights on and driver's side mirror on and working.

Once we put on the fenders I realized these 33" tires are not going to work. They will not clear the fender edges with any sort of body twisting during turns. I will have to go back to the 31's or possibly something a little bigger.:dunno:
Here's a couple pictures.

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I'd rather not lift the body at all honestly. I can make due with a slightly smaller tire. These are actually pretty large. The tires that were on the rear in the pictures are 1 1/2" shorter or 3/4" in diameter smaller for some reason. Yes there is wear on them but not that much. It seems that two of the tires are newer than the other two with the newer ones being the taller ones. Even the way the bead of the tire is on the rim is different. We switched the two smaller tires to the front and they now clear by about 3/4". Much better so if I can find just a slightly smaller tire I should be OK. I will look and see what is offered in sizes that will fit and go from there.
 
Nothing much really other than I would have to cut out the rear mounting carriage bolts as the heads are welded to the bed in enough areas I would get the fresh paint burned off. I don't see a 1" lift offered either and I don't want to use hockey pucks as some have suggested in other threads. Not sure how much bolt is sticking through though and maybe could use the same bolts. Would have to look.
 
ORD makes the 1" body lift. They are quality aluminum pucks.
 
82355 said:
Yeah, ORD is the way to go. Makes them easier to work on underneath as well. Now a 2" or 3" I wouldn't recommend.

Here is the link:

http://www.offroaddesign.com/catalog/oneinchlift.htm

Martin
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Thanks for the link Martin. I know this might sound stupid and before I ask I'll try answering my own question. I see bolts and nuts in the picture with enough nuts for every bolt. The Blazer on uses nuts on 6 of the 10 bolts. Is this a generic picture. Also, there doesn't seem to be enough thread on those bolts for the 4 mounts in the door area. If I remember correctly those bolts had about 2" of thread at least on them. Bolts in the picture only show 1 1/2 or less. Again, could be a generic picture. Anyone use one of this body kits before and might know the answer?
 
kennyw said:
32" tires are a good fit without trimming usually.
Click to expand...

This is what I believe I will do. Easiest way and not messing with lifting the body but it is good to have the option of both fixes. True what was said though about lifting the body that 1". It would make it easier to work on especially when working in the fuel tank area. GM want you to use a shoe horn in that area!

Going back to the paint shop today to install the other mirror, door locks, handles, glovebox door, ashtray, fuel filler neck, and that damn fuel door. Plenty of work for the day. 1 degree here this morning and I still have some plowing to do before I go.
 
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