First Attempt 71 rebuild: running again!

[cwalton]

So I recently purchased a 1971 Blazer for $1500. I used to have a nice new Chevy truck until i totaled it into a telephone pole this winter. I took the opportunity to buy myself the new 5th gen camaro i always wanted, but still needed a vehicle for camping/exploring and towing my boat. I have wanted a first gen Blazer for a long time and I stumbled across one on craigslist on the NH/ME border and snagged it. It had a lot of body rust, but the frame was pristine and the it runs like a champ, fires right up in dead cold weather. I drove it through the winter and now I am starting to repair the rust. Turned out to me more extensive than I anticipated. This is the first car I have attempted to restore so I have quite the learning curve ahead of me I'm sure. Pics to follow, but I think I need to make more posts first....

 

[NorCal69]

Turned out to me more extensive than I anticipated.

They all kinda turn out that way..


Anyways, welcome to the site.. You'll find a lot of knowledge and helpful guys around here.

Four more posts and let's see some pics..

 

[ekajkrats]

Welcome

Welcome, looking forward to seeing your rig.

I am a first timer too and pretty new to the site as well. My rule of thumb for this site is if someone has a bunch of posts in the forums, such as Norcal, they generally have some good things to say and great advice, so dig into their build threads...sooooooo much to learn.

-Jacob

 

[cwalton]

yeah the rust is pretty bad in what i have read to be the common areas; rockers etc...the torsion boxes were non existent. I have never had or delt with a convertible truck before, so when I was looking underneath I didn't realize something was missing haha ....had I known that prior to, I might have made a different decision, but oh well, too late now.

 

[cwalton]

fortunately the windshield frame doesnt have a spot of rust on it, which i have heard is tough to get parts and repair, and everything that i have found to be rusted out seems to have an ample amount of aftermarket parts out there

 

[NorCal69]

Just watch where you get your new panels. Some are way better than others..

 

[cwalton]

Yeah I have been reading a lot of the builds people have posted and it has been quite helpful so far. I've started working on it and done a fair amount of work to it already. Replaced all the crossmembers for the tub, new body mounts (the previous owner was using hockey pucks. not just using them insitu with actual body mounts to give it a redneck lift...the hockey pucks were the only thing being used at all....) and i have done a fair bit of patching all the rusted out parts of the bed where each crossmember was where the PO just put sheet metal down on top, screwed it in and bondo'ed the ever loving hell out of it.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Welcome dude. We're here to help you through the rust repairs. We're like a weird support group that secretly convinces you to spend more money/get deeper in a project than you originall intended. Anxious to see pics!

 

[cwalton]

Here are some first pics. Papa smurf blue, seems the front panels were replaced with a c/20 truck's, and you can see the delightful hockey pucks that provide oh so much cushioning in compared to bushings, as well as the rusted out crossmembers... more pics to follow...

 

[cwalton]

Just watch where you get your new panels. Some are way better than others..

Can you list some of the good places, as well as some of the places to avoid buying said panels from?

 

[ashman]

that's a fair amount of rust, but if it runs good and has a solid windshield frame, it looks like it's worth $1500 all day. good pick up!

afa blazer advice goes, you've come to the right place for sure.

 

[Z71paramedic]

Yep, it's a first gen! Give Wes at classicheartbeat.com a call. He sells high quality repro parts, many of which you'll need. He sells the outer parts of that cross sill that's rusted out on yours too in the last pic.

There'll be times when you and everyone around you questions your sanity, but ti'll be a great project and a great truck. Glad to see another one getting saved.

Congrats on the rust-free windshield frame too. I didn't have your luck in that department

 

[cwalton]

350 small block, and they changed the trans from 3 in the tree to 3 on the floor.

 

[Z71paramedic]

that's a fair amount of rust, but if it runs good and has a solid windshield frame, it looks like it's worth $1500 all day. good pick up!

afa blazer advice goes, you've come to the right place for sure.

to add some perspective I paid $5,000 for mine and although it wasn't as rusty underneath I still replaced everything that you need to... plus the windshield frame and I still need to do work to my bedfloor. You didn't do bad for $1,500 at all.

 

[cwalton]

At least the body mounts were official NHL pucks, not some ammature league makes me feel a lot better....

 

[cwalton]

Here is how the PO did their previous patches for the tub floor....flat sheet metal screwed into the bed with bondo excessively plastered all over.....

 

[cwalton]

started cutting

 

[cwalton]

Patched the rear bed in

 

[cwalton]

Rear and middle patch done yesterday. Started the last area up front I had to do, but it got windy out and the air blowing in started interfering with my shield gas and causing some bad weld porosity so I had to hang up my hat for the day. I guess i started this thread about 2 weeks into my work, but from here on out updates shown will be present and not from the past haha.

 

[NorCal69]

Patches look good. It's absolutely no fun at all grinding down your welds in between the bed ribs, huh..

Looks like that patch is a KEY Parts panel. I found those to be the best of all the panels. I bought some in the beginning from LMC and they really sucked. Called up Wes and also bought some from GMCPAULS. Both of those guys sell Key Parts and they blew away the LMC panels.

Where did ya get the Butt weld clamps? I like using those, too..

It's up to you, but uploading your pics to Photobucket might work out nice for ya down the line. Non-members can see the pics then. I still have about 7 pages to fix from attachments to Photobucket in my thread. That way my friends and family can check out the build without my password.