Finally fixing up my 86 S-10 Blazer

[Blaze]

The time has come to finally save this thing. It was my first car and I still have it. It has seen better days, MUCH better days. I have so many memories in this thing, I just can't get rid of it.

So anyway, back to it. It is a northern truck so it is RUSTED. Really rusted. As soon as I get it back to my shop (it's in storage at my grandfather's place in PA) I'm going to tear it down to the body and have a local guy go to town replacing all the rust with new metal.

Then it goes on the rotisserie and get a full undercoating in Scorpion and a full interior liner in Al's Sound Deadener. I'm also going to coat the inside of the fenders, the wheelhouses, firewall, etc. Basically EVERYTHING that doesn't get paint is gonna get Scorpion or Al's. This thing is NEVER gonna rust again.

I had my fun in this thing in the mud, now it is time to build a fun cruiser out of it. I am going to lower it about 3-4", put an AWD t-case out of an Astro, build a 5-spd for it, drop in a mild 350 and cruise.

Gonna use it to showcase my business, so this thing is gonna be nice. It's basically going to be a resto-mod deal, so it'll look stock with some modifications. I always liked the way the exterior/interior looked so I'm going to stick with the theme and just update a few things.

I'll post pics as I go. It's going to be a very slow process, but I'll get it done.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

I understand the sentimentality of it...but why not go find a body from a nicer S10? Plenty of them out west and southwest with NO rust and far less work to restore. Basically start with the modifying and not the restoring.

 

[Blaze]

It is the sentimentality, and the fact I have a guy who works really cheap.

I talked to him today about it, he's gonna take care of it cheap like I thought.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

There you go.


I just wonder about this sort of thing if it's exercise in futility for most folks. There was a guy on here last year who I think I annoyed by telling him not to fix his K5 and get a new one out west. He was going to spend like $5000 to have a body shop in Chicago fix his rotted out body when Shawn (supersize75k5) was throwing up all kinds of links to pristine K5's that could be had for under $4000.
Your case sounds different for sure.
I'm biased though. I own a fairly original and solid K5 and my K30 has had some sketchy body work done in the past...guess why I would rather go with original and pristine...

 

[Blaze]

Yeah, it is one thing if it was going to cost me $5k to to the metal work. That would just be stupid.

For example, my metal guy just fabricated an entire rear trunk floor, rear seat area, minitubbed the rear, fixed up a bunch of metal work, fabbed up the shock mounts, welded in my rear frame rails, and a ton of other little stuff on a 68 Camaro I'm building.

For $600.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Nice...

 

[Blaze]

I'm starting to think that a turbo diesel would be really cool in this thing.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Which one?

 

[Blaze]

I was thinking 6.5L TD, but they are really heavy.

Maybe a Cummins 4bt, they are plenty light and should give me plenty or torque.

I knew I shoulda kept more parts lying around from my college internship years at Cummins. :

 

[Blaze]

Well, I traded a guy an Al's Liner kit for a rebuildable 350, so no diesel for me.

I probably could have done it, but it would end up halfway done before I ran out of money like the rest of my projects.

 

[Blaze]

Well, got the truck home last night. 9 hours on a tow dolly with no problems, so I'm happy.

This thing is a lot rougher than I remembered it, but I'm taking it all the way apart anyway, so not like it matters!

Pics coming tonight.