Going 1970 Shopping this weekend... HELP! *PICS ADDED*

[K5dreamer]

Ok, so I found a 1970 Blazer for sale, and I'm going out to look at it this weekend. Looking for any and all advice from the guru's here. So here's the skinny...

1970 Blazer / 4wd / SM465/NP205(?) / non-original holley carbed 327 cid sbc under hood. unknown axles

Bought by current owner in 1999, driven daily to go to and from beach, and on beer runs. owner started full restoration 4-6 years ago, and mild lift. did "all" body work, including rockers, doors, door sills, floor pans, bed pan, quarters, and fenders. Full inside and out orange paint job done at same time as body work 4 years ago. removed camaro seats and located correct front and rear seats with center console. new lights all around. He installed a 1in body lift with red poly bushings, and installed a 3in suspension lift, and 35in tires. He didnt do anything with the original hard top, and it shows, its a bit rough

The truck is very pretty in pictures, but yes, it has sat for 4 years. and the inside is slightly rough, looks like not all the trim wound up installed after the body work was completed. He did put in a battery, and pour some gas in the carb and cranked it and verified it fired. then he shut it off to keep from pulling bad gas out of the tank. (not happy he did that, was going to pour oil in the top to make sure it was lubed, but ah well.) He claims he's going to drain the old gas out and put fresh gas, and some fuel stabil, and marvel mystery oil in there, so we can start it when I come out this weekend.

Here's my biggest concern, With the battery in, he checked the lights. the headlights don't come on, the marker lights do, and the tailights come on but are flashing . Obviously I'm hoping to get this thing checked out, inspected, tagged, and on the road ASAP, so if its got a big electrical issue, its gonna be a big issue in general. He did mention he was having a hard time getting the headlight switch out of the dash, he couldnt figure out how to get the knob off so he could pull the switch out from the rear. I'm hoping its a relatively simple thing related to that, like he buggered the switch, or accidentally disconnected something????

Any one have the schematics for the lighting system on a 1970 blazer they would like to share??

Anyway, asking price on the Blazer is $5000, I'm hoping to talk him down to $4000, but he has another offer on the table, so I'm going to play everything by ear.

He said he may also have a buddy with a "mint" hard top for maybe $300-500, if so, think I should grab that for that price? seem to remember y'all saying they normally go for $1000 or so.

 

[ashman]

not sure on the wiring issues, but these trucks are pretty simple so it shouldn't be too hard to fix.
as far as the headlight switch goes, you have to reach up to it from under the dash and push the button on the top of the switch. that will release the knob and then you can just unscrew the retaining nut.

 

[Greg72]

Take lots of photos especially underneath near rockers and cowl areas then post them here.

Don't be seduced by shiny paint. It can hide a lot of sins and shortcuts.

-G

 

[K5dreamer]

ashman - Thank you, that's gonna be handy. Ill email him to let him know about the button.

Greg72 - Will do, I have photo's he sent, and am gonna reup my membership tonight and upload them, however he did neglect any shots of the rocker boxes or anything underneath. My brother got hosed on a 1973 Bronco that was "pretty" and wound up rusting along every panel joint and bubbling up after a few years. So I'm hoping I'll be able to keep my head screwed on strait and not get too excited.

Also, found schematics online, so at least have that covered.

 

[Greg72]

As time goes on you'll care less and less about a hardtop, so don't spend too much to get one. You can buy a Softopper for around $800 IIRC

 

[K5dreamer]

solid point on the top, hadnt thought about that.

as for uploading pics.... i seem to have left my brain in my other meat suit. I renewed my membership, and went to the user cp, went to photos and albums.... and cant find the "upload" button...

can someone jog my memory real quick so I can put these up tonight?

EDIT - deleted a bunch of old photo's and albums, apparently I had just used up my allocated space. Will be uploading photographs tonight when I get home.

 

[K5dreamer]

 

[NorCal69]

Correct me if I'm wrong here guys, but that does not look to be a 70.

1) The cheaper repop grill without chevy on it.
2) No cheby emblem on the hood.
3) Heater vents in the dash
4) The screws under the vent windows in the doors are for a 72 only. The doors do have the plate on them, so they are true blazer doors which makes me think it's a 72.
5) Although, the mirror is attached to the WS frame, which was only 69-70..??? or something like that..

Nice paint is cool and way scary at the same time. I paid $3900 for mine with pretty paint.

In the end, that cool paint just took me longer to get to all of the bondo and rust..

Granted all of these could have been changed around, but I don't think that the dash heat came out until later..71-72..

I'd check the vin.

 

[80' 427]

I thought the dash stuff was for the A/c

 

[nocok5]

Does it have front disc brakes or drums?

 

[ashman]

I thought the dash stuff was for the A/c

it is, but I don't know if it was available only certain years or not.

I'm not expert, but it looks pretty clean to me. as the other guys have said, do your best to check for bondo and/or hidden rust. check the rocker boxes and the area around them. it looks like whatever year it is, its certainly a mix of different year parts, so it's been put back together at least once. eyeball it all as closely as you can to make sure they did it right.

all in all, I'd say it's probably worth the money from what I can see in the pics, or at least it would be in my area assuming no warning flags come up after the above checks.

 

[K5dreamer]

NorCal69 - I will check the VIN when I go out, is there a digit to look at to determine certain things such as the year? Ill use the search button to see if theres a VIN decoding thread somewhere on here. Im not sure of the condition when the guy bought it, but it sounded like a 80's hack up job, grey outside, purple inside, 80's camaro buckets, and bought for $1900, so for all I know it was missing doors, and he put a set of "first gen" doors on it. Or it could be a 72.
And yeah, the paint gives me pause, because it is one of those things that is either great, or cancer camo (Ca-Ca). Learned that lesson with my brothers 73 Bronco, but to be fair I'm not a body guy, so I really wont know what I'm looking at unless there are obvious rust bubbles or orange peel in the paint, something to that effect.

NoCoK5 - no idea, you got what I got at this point, I aint holding nothin back. Is that just to determine the year? or something else?

Ashman - Solid, I will be going out with the intention of finding a reason not to buy it, to try and avoid buyers remorse. So ill be crawling all over and under this thing to eyeball panel gaps, rust, shoddy shade tree stuff and so forth.

Also, found this vin decoder, printed it out and will be taking it with me.
http://www.classicheartbeat.com/vin_number.htm

 

[nocok5]

NoCoK5 - no idea, you got what I got at this point, I aint holding nothin back. Is that just to determine the year? or something else?

1970's had drum brakes they didn't switch to discs until 71 I believe. Someone could have changed them which would be a good thing in my opinion. I swapped a 10 bolt onto my 1970 Blazer with disc brakes and it made the vehicle much more enjoyable and safer to drive. If someone has already done the work for you or it's a later year your money ahead.

 

[ashman]

1970's had drum brakes they didn't switch to discs until 71 I believe.

that's a good point. no brake booster, so I'm betting drum brakes (unless the axle has been changed) which leans towards it being a '70 afterall. I believe disk brakes were an option for '71 and standard for '72 but I'm not positive.

 

[K5dreamer]

Yup, I called the guy, and he said it had drum brakes up front. I had noticed the lack of a booster, and totally forgot to ask about it here. that answers that question.

As for swapping it out, I do have the 10 bolt from the M1009 if that will work as an easy swap, but I also have the 1 ton axles out back that will eventually find their new home under my next truck (be it this one or another). the D60 has disks already of course, and the D70HD is going to get them if i ever get around to fabbing some mock mounts out of plexiglass (i get as much as i could ever dream of for free at work) and get Kurt to make em out of metal for me.

Anyway, hitting the road this morning, thanks for the tips and pointers all.

 

[K5dreamer]

 

[K5dreamer]

Sooooo I decided not to get it. Honestly, its not THAT bad but its kinda with a completed first step, which is just not what I'm looking for. It looks like he replaced all the VISIBLE sheet metal. but the underside is pretty rough when you start to look into it. the driver side rocker box is missing completely, and the passenger side has rust holes through it and significant visible surface rust. the actual driver and passenger floor boards are solid and apparently original, the bed is solid, as are the wheel wells, but where the wheel wells meet the bed it has rusted through. the fuel tank is cashed, as is the fuel pump, the engine cranks, but I didnt see it fire. the tires are totally shot with dry rot, front end bushings are similar. the front steering damper is not bolted through the tie rod, and is held on with a set of u-bolts and a plate, which may not be original, i dont know.

The body work is shoddy at best. It looks like improper prep was done, and there are multiple points of rust bubbling. theres silicone in the gaps on the windshield frame and other places, and several places instead of proper replacement panels, simple metal plate was used to fix things.

Its a solid start for a project, and probably would have been rusted to scrap if he hadnt done what he has so far, so I credit him for that, but its just not the right truck for me right now. I need something I can register and drive, and work on over time. Figure Ill post it up here as a craigslist find in the classifieds, and maybe someone on here with a garage and welding ability will pick it up as a kick ass project.

 

[K5dreamer]

Although, I do have one question regarding SM465's, is the level of slop shown below normal? the shifter felt really loose. keep in mind, the positions shown in the pictures are not stop to stop, thats literally just slop, moving the shifter to the left until it touches the shift rails but doesn't move them, then moving it to the right through free space, until it touches another set of shift rails, then stopping. pure slop in the shifter, not moving the gears.

Is that normal? or was that shifter in need of some sort of adjustment? or transmission trashed? he claimed its been like that the whole time he was driving it.

 

[ashman]

I've had several of these transmissions and they've all had that kind of slop. I don't know if that means it's normal, but I think it's fine.

I think you were right to pass on this one. the body issues are a lot worse than they first appeared, and not having disks or a brake booster is no good for a DD imo. for the amount of money you're looking to spend, I'd think you could get one in far better shape, even if you have to ship it from the southwest or something.

 

[Greg72]

Passing on that orange one was a good call....

That truck had rust problems everywhere you don't want them, and any "small" rust bubbles under the paint are always a much larger rust problem underneath.

I'm not sure what internet sources you are using in your search but try the 67-72 board classifieds. You tend to find sellers who are more knowledgeable and also more critical of their own trucks... So the pricing tends to be more fair than some guy who doesn't know anything about 1st Gens but thinks he's sitting on a gold mine.

Ideally, you will end up with a southwestern "desert truck" with faded paint but minimal rust. Knowing what I know now, I'd rather deal with mechanical issues and electrical wiring problems than severe body rot.

As your search continues, you will probably be tempted to increase your budget. At certain price points almost everything you'll spend time looking at will be really junky.

-G