mstockton
Registered Member
Hello,
I'm new to the site and all, and I figured I'd share the story of how I got my truck and all thats happened in the short 8 months or so since I've had it, to see who else out there has had similar experiences.
Alright first and foremost, I'm a CAT equipment mechanic (still in training however, only 20 years old). I love my job and I love all things diesel. I had never been able to acquire a diesel vehicle, or a 4x4 for that matter. However, I have been and I'm sure always will be a truck man, my other two trucks are a 2002 Toyota Tundra (Bought with my own money that I earned when I was 16) and a 1959 Ford F500 that my parents got for me as my first project. (Drove that sucker to high school every day I could afford to get 9 mpg
). Anyways, I love all things mechanical, and my latest love is why I'm here. Heard about the 6.2 GM diesels a couple of years ago, And last fall my cousin saw one on craigslist. 1982 Blazer 4wd 6.2 700r4 for $700 !!!! I was ecstatic! Called the number, got a seriously shifty sounding dude on the phone named Terrell who couldn't seem to tell me much about the truck other than it was in good shape. Figured it couldn't be for what he was asking for it. But whatever, it was in Vallejo, I was living in Stockton, CA at the time, got my cousin to grab his DD and flatbed and we drove out to look at the thing.
Dear Jesus it was ugly. It was a factory two tone paint job of white with red. "whorehouse" red interior.....everything was red!!! It was a visual assault! And almost all the paint was gone to surface rust. I initially wanted to just cut and run and not even knock on the door, but I did anyways. Got to looking at the truck and realized the underside was completely rust free with all the original paint underneath. And then I saw the rear driveshaft was gone. This guy was driving it around in 4wd. In fact, when I asked him how he could know how well it drove with the rear driveshaft missing, he proceeded to tell me he drove to modesto with it, at 70 MPH on the highway! Whatever, I offered him 500 he settled for 600. We loaded the sucker up on the truck (after driving it around the block, in FWD) Took it to my cousins house, stopping to grab new filters, oils, and a new set of glows, also a new UJoint for the driveshaft, which was sitting in the back. Worked our butts off all night on the the thing, and it ran better, but still smoked like crazy and was still uglier than sin.
Next morning we painted it rustoleum metallic silver, but first primered it after hitting it with a DA sander. SHould have looked good, did all the masking, etc. Except for we had to paint it outside and it was windy. The paint blew away and the mettalic stuck to the spotty primer. Whatever, it was better than rust, even if it looked like a cheap bass boat.
Then I drove it 120 miles home at night, and alone, after getting the rear driveshaft hooked up and saying my good bye's and thanks to my cousin and his family for putting me up for the weekend. Drove it for a month, got a nasty letter from my apartment manager about the noise (cutting off the mufflers in one of those will get peoples attention :P ) Put on a 6" explorer pro comp lift (dumb decision looking back on it, but oh well, went cheap) 35 bfgoodrich muds, and went out and wheeled my truck the for the first time, and almost rolled it. Headed down a steep descent that was DEEPLY rutted...ended up balancing on two wheels. PS Front crammed into the fenderwell, DS front hanging in space. DS rear stuff, PS rear hanging, as i leaned my head out the window to look at my front tire, the truck rocks forward, then back as i *quickly* withdraw my head from the window. Sweet!
Then drove it 280 miles to my folks house here in Bakersfield, then up to my families ranch here with my mechanic buddy to do some pig hunting. When we get to the ranch, 1 mile short of the trailer we are staying in, it starts bucking and stalling on the dirt road. Chit.
5 months later and I'm finishing up a total rebuild of the engine, done entirely by me, no machine shop whatsoever, just the support and advice of my coworkers, who are all much wiser and more experienced than I (Thanks to my co workers at Quinn Co, bakersfield california, machine shop). Got the engine back into the truck in January this year, then in a week, my transfer case starts going to hell on me, so I rebuild it, then a few weeks later, one of my calipers goes out and i find out that the rears aren't working either, and braking on one wheel alone is a scary experience. Rebuild the front end, repack bearings, all new brakes,
turned rotors, etc. Then I have to get the d/s rebuilt, (the only thing I have ever had another human being touch on this truck since I've owned it). THen i destroyed my gov-lok and found out the the bearings are shot too. Since I do light wheeling mostly these days, and can't afford 550 bucks for a detroit, I bought another slightly used gov lok. Going to install it as soon as i can afford the bearing kit. Now the only mechanical running gear parts left are the front diff and trans. The front diff is excellent. I doubt previous owners hardly ever used it, the gears still had the machining marks on the faces! But now I'm going to swap out the 700r4 for an SM465 because I haven't been trained to rebuild slushboxes yet and also don't want the thing dying on me randomly in the middle of nowhere. The engine is running like a top and is coming up on 4 grand on the rebuild. And even with a trashed rear diff, the girl is still taking me around daily, just not out of town for now.
All this in 8 months of ownership and no hard wheeling. Lord I must be crazy, but I love it.
Anyone else have stories like this?
Right now I'm also fabbing up rock sliders too.
Also try to get some pics to amend this thing with, whats the easiest way to post pics?
-Martin
PS, discovered last owner was a crackhead. Some paraphanlia in the truck. And as the guy I bought it from wasn't the owner, but had signed paperwork and said he was "selling it for a friend", and firmly held to 600, I think he was getting bail money together, but thats just my thinking thus far. Also absolutely no service records from previous owner, first owner great records. Also my blazer is a sierra with about every option you could get, with a name plaque on the dash that reads "Limited Edition 1982 Chevrolet Blazer especially built for Norman E. Kinsey"
Hats off to you Norm...I like your truck
I'm new to the site and all, and I figured I'd share the story of how I got my truck and all thats happened in the short 8 months or so since I've had it, to see who else out there has had similar experiences.
Alright first and foremost, I'm a CAT equipment mechanic (still in training however, only 20 years old). I love my job and I love all things diesel. I had never been able to acquire a diesel vehicle, or a 4x4 for that matter. However, I have been and I'm sure always will be a truck man, my other two trucks are a 2002 Toyota Tundra (Bought with my own money that I earned when I was 16) and a 1959 Ford F500 that my parents got for me as my first project. (Drove that sucker to high school every day I could afford to get 9 mpg
). Anyways, I love all things mechanical, and my latest love is why I'm here. Heard about the 6.2 GM diesels a couple of years ago, And last fall my cousin saw one on craigslist. 1982 Blazer 4wd 6.2 700r4 for $700 !!!! I was ecstatic! Called the number, got a seriously shifty sounding dude on the phone named Terrell who couldn't seem to tell me much about the truck other than it was in good shape. Figured it couldn't be for what he was asking for it. But whatever, it was in Vallejo, I was living in Stockton, CA at the time, got my cousin to grab his DD and flatbed and we drove out to look at the thing.Dear Jesus it was ugly. It was a factory two tone paint job of white with red. "whorehouse" red interior.....everything was red!!! It was a visual assault! And almost all the paint was gone to surface rust. I initially wanted to just cut and run and not even knock on the door, but I did anyways. Got to looking at the truck and realized the underside was completely rust free with all the original paint underneath. And then I saw the rear driveshaft was gone. This guy was driving it around in 4wd. In fact, when I asked him how he could know how well it drove with the rear driveshaft missing, he proceeded to tell me he drove to modesto with it, at 70 MPH on the highway! Whatever, I offered him 500 he settled for 600. We loaded the sucker up on the truck (after driving it around the block, in FWD) Took it to my cousins house, stopping to grab new filters, oils, and a new set of glows, also a new UJoint for the driveshaft, which was sitting in the back. Worked our butts off all night on the the thing, and it ran better, but still smoked like crazy and was still uglier than sin.
Next morning we painted it rustoleum metallic silver, but first primered it after hitting it with a DA sander. SHould have looked good, did all the masking, etc. Except for we had to paint it outside and it was windy. The paint blew away and the mettalic stuck to the spotty primer. Whatever, it was better than rust, even if it looked like a cheap bass boat.
Then I drove it 120 miles home at night, and alone, after getting the rear driveshaft hooked up and saying my good bye's and thanks to my cousin and his family for putting me up for the weekend. Drove it for a month, got a nasty letter from my apartment manager about the noise (cutting off the mufflers in one of those will get peoples attention :P ) Put on a 6" explorer pro comp lift (dumb decision looking back on it, but oh well, went cheap) 35 bfgoodrich muds, and went out and wheeled my truck the for the first time, and almost rolled it. Headed down a steep descent that was DEEPLY rutted...ended up balancing on two wheels. PS Front crammed into the fenderwell, DS front hanging in space. DS rear stuff, PS rear hanging, as i leaned my head out the window to look at my front tire, the truck rocks forward, then back as i *quickly* withdraw my head from the window. Sweet!
Then drove it 280 miles to my folks house here in Bakersfield, then up to my families ranch here with my mechanic buddy to do some pig hunting. When we get to the ranch, 1 mile short of the trailer we are staying in, it starts bucking and stalling on the dirt road. Chit.
5 months later and I'm finishing up a total rebuild of the engine, done entirely by me, no machine shop whatsoever, just the support and advice of my coworkers, who are all much wiser and more experienced than I (Thanks to my co workers at Quinn Co, bakersfield california, machine shop). Got the engine back into the truck in January this year, then in a week, my transfer case starts going to hell on me, so I rebuild it, then a few weeks later, one of my calipers goes out and i find out that the rears aren't working either, and braking on one wheel alone is a scary experience. Rebuild the front end, repack bearings, all new brakes,
turned rotors, etc. Then I have to get the d/s rebuilt, (the only thing I have ever had another human being touch on this truck since I've owned it). THen i destroyed my gov-lok and found out the the bearings are shot too. Since I do light wheeling mostly these days, and can't afford 550 bucks for a detroit, I bought another slightly used gov lok. Going to install it as soon as i can afford the bearing kit. Now the only mechanical running gear parts left are the front diff and trans. The front diff is excellent. I doubt previous owners hardly ever used it, the gears still had the machining marks on the faces! But now I'm going to swap out the 700r4 for an SM465 because I haven't been trained to rebuild slushboxes yet and also don't want the thing dying on me randomly in the middle of nowhere. The engine is running like a top and is coming up on 4 grand on the rebuild. And even with a trashed rear diff, the girl is still taking me around daily, just not out of town for now.
All this in 8 months of ownership and no hard wheeling. Lord I must be crazy, but I love it.
Anyone else have stories like this?
Right now I'm also fabbing up rock sliders too.
Also try to get some pics to amend this thing with, whats the easiest way to post pics?
-Martin
PS, discovered last owner was a crackhead. Some paraphanlia in the truck. And as the guy I bought it from wasn't the owner, but had signed paperwork and said he was "selling it for a friend", and firmly held to 600, I think he was getting bail money together, but thats just my thinking thus far. Also absolutely no service records from previous owner, first owner great records. Also my blazer is a sierra with about every option you could get, with a name plaque on the dash that reads "Limited Edition 1982 Chevrolet Blazer especially built for Norman E. Kinsey"
Hats off to you Norm...I like your truck
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