CK5
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'85 K5 "Denali" Blazer: Front 4-link
- Thread starter Conner
- Start date
The goal is to restore and upgrade this truck for mixed use on/off road (ex: drive across the country to a national park to 4x4 camp).
I did consider both a full convertible top conversion and the access door in the bed floor, and ultimately decided against both.
I really like the full convertibles, and have seen some very impressive conversions on this site, but realized that I personally prefer the half-cab body style. I just like how they look.
And maybe I just have PTSD from fixing all the holes in the sheet metal this truck has had (or almost all of them at this point), but I don't think I can force myself to make any new ones. LOL. I will just suffer through dropping the tank when the fuel pump inevitably dies. That being said, it will be some time before I paint the truck (going to do suspension stuff first), so I will have time to change my mind.
Thank you for the suggestions, I definitely am all ears for ideas and things I may not have thought of yet!
I didn’t get as much done this weekend as I wanted to, but progress is progress I guess.
I patched a small section of the inner roof panel (basically the top of the B pillar) that had some pin holes coming through.
I also patched the very top of the outer B pillar panels. This part is not visible with the roof skin on, but the roof skin does spot weld to it from the back. I also don’t want to leave any rust damage, visible or not. Both sides needed a patch but the passenger side was much worse.
I think next up is to finally repair the actual roof skin. I’m dreading this because I will need to go very slow to avoid warping it, and it needs several patches that will need to be cut/bent/welded to fit.
I patched a small section of the inner roof panel (basically the top of the B pillar) that had some pin holes coming through.
I also patched the very top of the outer B pillar panels. This part is not visible with the roof skin on, but the roof skin does spot weld to it from the back. I also don’t want to leave any rust damage, visible or not. Both sides needed a patch but the passenger side was much worse.
I think next up is to finally repair the actual roof skin. I’m dreading this because I will need to go very slow to avoid warping it, and it needs several patches that will need to be cut/bent/welded to fit.
I can appreciate the level of rust attack you are doing. It is definitely no easy task.
Thanks man. I am definitely tired of it at this point but getting close. Looking forward to the more fun parts of the build!
I got a small patch on the roof skin done tonight. This is the front passenger side corner. These types of from-scratch patches are a total beat down. They are very hard to make and it takes forever (at least for me).
For now I am leaving it tacked in place until I finish the other patches the roof skin needs and can test fit the roof skin on the truck. Assuming that goes well, I will fully weld and grind at that point.
The other 3 corners need similar patches unfortunately. One of the back corners is particularly bad. There are also a couple small patches along the rear edge of the roof skin. Really wish someone reproduced this panel for Blazers, but it looks like currently it’s only made for pickups.
For now I am leaving it tacked in place until I finish the other patches the roof skin needs and can test fit the roof skin on the truck. Assuming that goes well, I will fully weld and grind at that point.
The other 3 corners need similar patches unfortunately. One of the back corners is particularly bad. There are also a couple small patches along the rear edge of the roof skin. Really wish someone reproduced this panel for Blazers, but it looks like currently it’s only made for pickups.
Got another roof skin patch done tonight. This is the front driver side corner. Slowly but surely getting there.
Subscribed because 6.2 LS
Thanks! The engine feels great in the Yukon. I have a newer version (L86) in my 2017 Silverado, and I love that one too. I'm really excited for it in the Blazer. Have to power through this last section of rust repair and then things get fun!
I test fit the roof skin with the front corner patches tacked on. Somewhat surprisingly, it fit pretty well. The gap on the passenger side looks worse than it is because of the piece beneath it having a hole in it (which I will fix of course).
Since everything fit decent enough, I welded the patches in fully and ground the welds.
Next up is to fix the back of the roof skin.
Since everything fit decent enough, I welded the patches in fully and ground the welds.
Next up is to fix the back of the roof skin.
Patched the rear driver side corner of the roof skin. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good and I test fit it on the truck and it fits very well.
Next up is the rear passenger side corner, which is by far the worst one.
Next up is the rear passenger side corner, which is by far the worst one.
Finished up the rear passenger side corner of the roof skin. This ate up the hours but came out pretty decent.
There are some rotted areas along the back of the roof skin than need some work, but thankfully those should be significantly simpler to fix than the corners.
There are some rotted areas along the back of the roof skin than need some work, but thankfully those should be significantly simpler to fix than the corners.
Work on the Blazer got delayed when my daily driver 2017 Silverado 1500 had an AFM lifter fail. My brother in law and my dad helped me get it fixed. I went ahead and did the Texas Speed AFM delete, so all v8 all the time now. This was a big job but thankfully it’s all back together and running well for a couple weeks now.
My brother in law is the Auto Tech teacher at the local senior high (the one we both went to and took Auto Tech at actually), so thankfully we did this indoors with a lift available, which was awesome.
That’s my brother in law’s ‘86 K-10 next to it.
Thankfully, back to working on my Blazer now that my daily is running again!
My brother in law is the Auto Tech teacher at the local senior high (the one we both went to and took Auto Tech at actually), so thankfully we did this indoors with a lift available, which was awesome.
That’s my brother in law’s ‘86 K-10 next to it.
Thankfully, back to working on my Blazer now that my daily is running again!
Got a few parts in for the LS swap in the meantime. Looking forward to that but forcing myself to finish the rust repair first.
32 spline input gear for the NP208 to attach to the 6L80:
ORD crossmember and motor mounts:
Speed Engineering short tube stainless headers:
32 spline input gear for the NP208 to attach to the 6L80:
ORD crossmember and motor mounts:
Speed Engineering short tube stainless headers:
Finished up the roof skin today. I am not ready to put it back on yet, but it’s rust free, all in one piece, and (after some adjustment) fits well enough. This was probably the least fun thing so far. Very ready to be done with rust repair.
The back edge needed to be pretty much completely replaced. And it’s not flat unfortunately, so rebuilding that was time consuming.
These are all the small pieces I cut out of the roof skin and patched.
The back edge needed to be pretty much completely replaced. And it’s not flat unfortunately, so rebuilding that was time consuming.
These are all the small pieces I cut out of the roof skin and patched.
Impressive! Being on the same path I know how grueling the roof skin is. Just separated the skin from my donor yesterday. Dropped a lifter in my 2018 Silverado as well so had the full dod delete done about a month ago. Keep up the good work man, it will be worth it when you are cruising!
Thanks man, and that is a funny coincidence we are doing the same stuff! Good luck with your project too!
Slowly making progress. Cut back the drip rail on both sides to expose the top of the windshield frame.
Got most everything off the firewall, the wiper linkage out of the cowl, and the steering column out.
Have almost all the spot welds drilled out of the reinforcement plate for the brake booster and steering column. Just a few more at the top.
Once that plate is off, I can drill out the spot welds for the windshield frame/upper cowl panel and remove it. It needs some minor rust repair, and so does the cowl underneath it. I’ll also be able to make sure inside the A pillars is nice and clean and get a coat of paint in there to ensure those never have future problems.
Supposedly UPS is dropping off some fun stuff from ORD tomorrow… That’s my motivation to power through the last bit of not-fun stuff.
Got most everything off the firewall, the wiper linkage out of the cowl, and the steering column out.
Have almost all the spot welds drilled out of the reinforcement plate for the brake booster and steering column. Just a few more at the top.
Once that plate is off, I can drill out the spot welds for the windshield frame/upper cowl panel and remove it. It needs some minor rust repair, and so does the cowl underneath it. I’ll also be able to make sure inside the A pillars is nice and clean and get a coat of paint in there to ensure those never have future problems.
Supposedly UPS is dropping off some fun stuff from ORD tomorrow… That’s my motivation to power through the last bit of not-fun stuff.
I am very excited, lots of cool stuff showed up today!
Still waiting on the shocks/springs. Kyle at ORD was super helpful by the way.
Back to working on the not fun stuff to get ready for the fun stuff. I can’t wait!
Still waiting on the shocks/springs. Kyle at ORD was super helpful by the way.
Back to working on the not fun stuff to get ready for the fun stuff. I can’t wait!
