Continuing 72 Blazer build

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

As she sits the front has stock c10 52s, and 6" shackles and the rear has skyjacker 2" lift 52s with a shackle flip and 4" shackles. The tires are 16" van wheels from the junkyard for $20

We really didn't get as much lift as we had anticipated from the 52" fronts. It's more or less where it was with the 2" front lift spring. Maybe because our junkyard springs are shot?

We're still planning on running the same lift 52" springs all the way around. Probably 6" maybe 8" lift. We're going to run an ez inch in the front as well.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

The pics are kind of dark cause it was getting late but I was really excited so I took them anyway.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

All cleaned up. Back in the garage.

New brake calipers are up next on the list. We might wait on the lines until we see how much travel we get with the lift springs and can determine the length we need.

Winter project is definitely bodywork. We're getting together a list right now. Might just do one side at a time.

We'll finish cleaning and degreasing the chassis and start the teardown

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

It was such a nice day we wheeled the truck out of the garage and pulled the front clip off to start prepping for body work.

The spot on the firewall was worse than anticipated. The PO thought it was ok to rivet a piece of sheet metal behind the rusty area and bondo over it. There's a couple areas on the truck like that.

We basically have no structure to build off of on the passenger side rocker. You can also see the bad shape the passenger door skin is in.

Pretty much spent the day taking inventory of what pieces we need for the body repair, and removing massive amounts of mud and debris from inside the cowl

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

The drivers side is in slightly better shape. We found a crusty fiberglass patch in the toe panel. The cab floor is slightly more eroded on this side but the supporting structure is still there. I think the grey stuff is the factory seam sealer

We're both pretty new to bodywork so we're thinking about fixing the passenger side first so at least we can study the structure on the drivers side to see how it should look.

Burned up a harbor freight air sander already. Going to have to swap it out and get some more of their cheap sanding discs.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

We found out Year One is in Braselton only about an hour away and we can pick up our replacement parts there and not pay any shipping. Has anyone heard how good their sheet metal is?

Here is our list for the rocker repair;
Inner rocker
Outer rocker
Front Cab support
Rear cab support
A pillar patch
B pillar patch

I don't think we're going to put the rocker boxes back in. For the cost of the boxes and caps you're most of the way into a cage. We're going to replace the existing cage with something better

We were also thinking about going ahead and doing our 1" body lift and replacing the factory bushings with poly. It would give us more room to work and possibly equalize any irregularities in the body to frame distance caused by worn out factory rubber bushings

 

[bigcatt]

rust hell

wow we are in the same bondo/rust hell. keep posting.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

Will do. Waiting on some money for the welder. Then, all the rust will be cut out.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

Hey guys! It's been a while since I've done an update but life sometimes gets in the way of important first gen quality time.

Since my last post I got married and got a new job I really enjoy so I'm in a good place to start on some body work

Bedsides are in decent shape relative to the rest of the truck. I had no idea that patch panel on the driver side was even there. Whoever did it didn't bother to weld it in all the way.

We've been working away a little at a time. Put a 12' cord on the DA and got a sandblaster for those hard to reach areas.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

Here are some more pics of paint removal.

Compared to some of the other first gens I see we're worse off in some places and better in others. It seems like the corners of every panel have rusted through. I removed the rusty tailgate so it can't infect anything else with its rustiness. The wheel arches I'm not too worried about. I'm going to try to find some cut out flares. I know Bushwacker quit making them but they pop up every now and then.

Definitely need the patch for the last 6" or so of the bed. Going to try and scour the junkyard for a decent tailgate.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

We're making our plan to get out of bondo and rust hell. This is definitely the worst. The non existent rockers and rocker boxes. We removed what was left of the boxes last fall. The rockers, As, and Bs will be the first patching done.

We have a little bit of a conundrum with the roll cage. My understanding is that if you have a full cage there's no need to put the rocker boxes back in, which is our plan. But we need to remove the cage to patch the inner rockers. The plan is to take out this cage and sell it and build a better one from DOM.

So I guess we need to really brace the door openings up well before we remove the cage, but not so well we can't get the cage out in one piece. We would like to use the funds from the cage to put back into the truck.

Anyway I'm open to suggestions on getting it done as efficiently as possible. I know a lot of you guys have been thru this once or twice already and I bow to your expertise.

I ordered some goodies last night so some more updates should be coming soon!

 

[NorCal69]

A lot of us feel your pain.

 

[Greg72]

A lot of us feel your pain.

Yep! that sure is a big rusty onion you've got there!

We have a little bit of a conundrum with the roll cage. My understanding is that if you have a full cage there's no need to put the rocker boxes back in, which is our plan. But we need to remove the cage to patch the inner rockers. The plan is to take out this cage and sell it and build a better one from DOM.

So I guess we need to really brace the door openings up well before we remove the cage, but not so well we can't get the cage out in one piece. We would like to use the funds from the cage to put back into the truck.

Anyway I'm open to suggestions on getting it done as efficiently as possible. I know a lot of you guys have been thru this once or twice already and I bow to your expertise.

Man, oh man. You've got rust in basically every single panel on that truck.

My suggestion is to stop wasting time stripping paint from panels where there is excessive rust (like those floor sections) and just cut them out completely and replace them. A common mistake that n00bs make (including me) is to try to patch very small sections of rust instead of jumping in to the larger necessary repair right away. It's probably just the intimidation factor of removing large sections of the truck, but ultimately it needs to be done. You can't weld to rusty metal, so you will just end up blowing through with your welds and chasing holes all over the place.... I know it's hard to accept early on in your bodywork career, but try to take a step back and be honest about how much metal needs replacing.... GMCPauls or Classic Heartbeat has almost every single reproduction panel you will need. If your wallet could handle it, I think you could build almost the entire shell from repro parts.

As far as the cage comments go.... It depends on a lot of factors.

To replace the strength of the torsion boxes (the important part of those areas) yo need to tie the cage to the frame somehow. Otherwise you still aren't preventing twist between the frame and cab. The torsion boxes also prevent the cowl from folding backward when you open the doors, so think carefully about how your rollcage needs to be built so that it serves a similar function.

Making a cage fully removable requires some planning as well. The a-pillars are the worst interference point. If you want a "through the dash" design like all the cool kids are doing now, then you'll either need to install tube clamps in those bars, or make the dash removable. There's no other way to slide the cage back-and-out if you can't clear the dash somehow. Watch the width of your cage plates too..... If you make them too wide in the c-pillar area they will get trapped in the bed sides and the cage won't come out when the time comes.

You've got a LOT of work ahead of you, take a deep breath and try to relax. It's going to be a long journey.


-G

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

Greg72, we don't want a removable cage. We want to swap out the horrible for looks only thin walled tube "cage" that's in there for a safer more sturdy cage. I am contemplating a thru dash cage and hopefully diy4x will have the kit ready by the time we are ready to install it. I want the cage to tie into the frame, have crossmembers to bolt seats to, and tie them into the rock sliders and under belly protection similar to what NorCal69 has done, but that is a long way away. will take your advice about large sheet metal removal to heart, we will get some decent sized panels as long as we can afford them. have looked at gmcpauls offerings and prices and they aren't too bad its the freight that I don't want to pay for. it costs more to ship the parts than it does to buy them.

 

[Greg72]

If you know anyone in the body shop / mechanic biz, you might be able to save a lot by shipping to them instead. When I got my doors and bedsides, I don't recall paying THAT much for freight costs.... Might be worth checking out.

-G

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

I'll think about that and look into that. I looked at a front quarter panel a few months back on the webpage, something like $127 for the part and shipping was an additional $130.

 

[bigjbear]

My suggestion is to stop wasting time stripping paint from panels where there is excessive rust (like those floor sections) and just cut them out completely and replace them. A common mistake that n00bs make (including me) is to try to patch very small sections of rust instead of jumping in to the larger necessary repair right away. It's probably just the intimidation factor of removing large sections of the truck, but ultimately it needs to be done. You can't weld to rusty metal, so you will just end up blowing through with your welds and chasing holes all over the place.... I know it's hard to accept early on in your bodywork career, but try to take a step back and be honest about how much metal needs replacing.... GMCPauls or Classic Heartbeat has almost every single reproduction panel you will need.

Greg is right. The biggest mistake I made when building my '73 (I know it's a 2nd gen, but still full top, so a lot of the same issues) was all the little patches I started making. Once I started replacing panels things went faster and looked better.

 

[MWjr]

Any updates? Do you have any pics that show how the grille fits with the A-bomb?

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

Hi CK5 family! Hopefully I'm back picking up slightly ahead of where I left off.

I bought a new house and moved since I've posted last. So a good bit of time has been spent working on the house and getting settled. On the K5 front we've actually been digging into the rusty spots and replacing panels.

We started with the B pillar. We had to fabricate a panel for the front of the bed that sits behind the door jamb. Then we could start grafting in the patch.

 

[IRIECHEFDEEZY]

Sorry for the pic quality. I've just peen snapping some randoms with my phone here and there. The patching process isn't actually as bad as we had envisioned, just time consuming. Getting the cab support in was probably the toughest part. We used about 3/4 of the new panel and grafted it together with the usable portion of the factory piece.

Passenger side is at a good point now. We're just now removing metal from the driver's side. After we finish this side we're going to test fit the front clip back on and see how everything is lining up before we start working on the cage. Once the cage is in and we're satisfied the body isn't going to fold in half, we can remove the bracing and test fit the doors. The passenger door will have to be re skinned so I'm sure that will be an adventure.

I'm hoping to be working on the truck a little more steadily, so hopefully the updates should be coming a little more frequently.