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Interior swap for a 76 Blazer to a 90 Blazer?

Desert Rat

Desert Rat

Fetch the comfy chair
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Ok, did a search and got a lot of good info, but nobody really answered the basic questions. I have a 76 Blazer but would like to swap in a 90 Dash and door panels. Is the sheet metal under the dash and on the doors the same for a 90 as a 76? Will a 90 dash slide in and secure the same as the 76 dash? Will the door panels screw on the same way as the 76 panels? Can I leave the 76 instrument cluster intact when I put the 90 dash pad over the top? In all the pictures in the catalogs for the instrument cluster they look the same. In most of the catalogs for doors, it strangely lists 73-76 doors together and then 77-91 together. This is the same for LMC and Classic Industries. You would think it would be a problem if you ordered a door for a 74 and it had a frame on it like a 76 wouldn't you? Shouldn't it be 76-91? I also notice other items like the window regulator and the door panels use the same year designations. On the pictures of the door panels, it does look like the door handle recess sits higher. Anybody with a 76 and prior do this swap? Looks like it would be no problem for a 77 and up, but 76 and earlier is the issue.
 
i have an 86 k5 and an 80 k5 the only diffrence i see with the door panels is the inside door handle is different other than that the door is the same from 76-91. the dash looks very similar but i havent taken it off the 80 yet so dont know how they mount up
 
I have 89 in my 76.On the dash pad you dont have a place in the metal dash for one clip on driver side,take it off the pad and toss it,it`s in the corner and dosen`t do enything.Door panels fit if you had a custom deluxe (stripy) model like me you will have to drill some holes for the mounting screws,mine didn`t have the cut outs to hold the clips for door poanel mounting screws.,get the inside door handles and arm rest brackets off the newer one there a little different.I have 89 silverado power door panels and manual windows shaft for the handles fits through the hole where the switch was and almost covers the whole.For the dash bezal,your stock gauges work,turn signal bulbs kinda line up weird ,off angle you can still see them flash no biggey.newer dash bezals have bigger cutouts for din chasis radios.It makes it easeyer to see how much to cut out for cd player.I`m thinking maybee I used a 85 ,Because the 89 didn`t have wiper switch in dash and I couldn`t find a newer colum for a manual trans.My memories fading it was about 8 years ago.Hope that helps . JB
 
It helps a lot. I noticed on one of the websites that they actually list the hole sizes for the guages for each year. Seems that Chevy changed the guage diameters from year to year, but not the basic layout. I was also concerned that the top of the instrument cluster was different. I will have all manual windows and locks but I was worried that the window regulator and door handles for the newer years wouldn't bolt up if there wasn't the same holes in the sheet metal. My 76 is the Cheyenne model with the funky fake metal wood grain.
 
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I noticed on one of the websites that they actually list the hole sizes for the guages for each year. Seems that Chevy changed the guage diameters from year to year, but not the basic layout. I was also concerned that the top of the instrument cluster was different. I will have all manual windows and locks but I was worried that the window regulator and door handles for the newer years wouldn't bolt up if there wasn't the same holes in the sheet metal. My 76 is the Cheyenne model with the funky fake metal wood grain.

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Do you remember where that site was?
 
as mentioned the wiper controls on a 90 are on the column, whereas in 76 they were in the dash.

the dash pads are different, and am not sure how well they can be interchanged. IIRC the VIN placement is different from the years and you will most likely not be able to read yours if you swap years.

most likely a 90 gage cluster will not work well with a 76 harness. you may be able to modify the pin locations to make it work, but another time consuming set back.
 
The PO installed an aftermarket intermittent wiper controller that is mounted down below anyway so I won't have to worry about that. There is a VIN plate on the door but I'd hate to have somebody tow it due to no visible VIN. Maybe I can move it. If you go here: http://www.classicindustries.com/pdf/t03_dash-components.pdf which is the Classic Industries dash part of the catalog, you can see they put the measurements for the guages inside the bezel holes on the billet replacement bezels. I didn't plan on swapping out any of the instrument cluster or bezel. It looks to me like I can leave all that intact and simply swap dash pads?
 
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My 76 is the Cheyenne model with the funky fake metal wood grain.

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Not to change directions on you, but My 75 had the same door panels that looked hideous. I have an idea if you can't or don't want to use the 90 panels. I got lucky and found a similar door panels out of a 76 that were in WAY better shape (the aluminum band around the cheesy woodgrain wasn't pulling off). The only problem was they were red. I went to the store and got some Krylon Fusion plastic paint and some black Hammertone finish paint. I cleaned up my junkyard panels real good, let them dry and pulled the metal woodgran section off so I could shoot the plastic panel without masking. While I was letting the panels dry I masked off the aluminum trim on the metal/wood part and scuffed the woodgrain up real good with some scotchbrite pads. With the fake wood ready I threw down a coat of the black hammertone and wend back to the plastic panels for another coat on them.

Two coats on each covered it perfectly and I was able to put the panels back together a couple of hours later. A little more time to dry and I installed them on the doors.

Much better than the faded puke green ones I had on there, and I don't run the risk of slicing my hand wide open on the loose aluminum trim when rolling the window down.

I plan on repainting the dash in a similar fashion, black dashpad from green and painting the lower metal section in black hammertone from white. Should match my charcol '02 silverado seats better. Just an alternative if you don't want to mess with the later stuff.
 
If I could get away with only swapping the dash from a newer rig, I would. Problem is, the door panels and the dash kind of match up the way the newer dash curves out and melds into the door design. I may just have to stay with what I have for a while. My cheesy woodgrain metal panels are in pretty good shape and aren't bending out anywhere yet. But, they are butt ugly....
 
I hear you on how the new dash and door panels go together. If you got to stick with the old ones for a while you can at least "de-uglify" them with a couple of cans of paint. Here's how mine tunred out:

149083.jpg


Ignore the green armrests, I havent decided to paint them or replace with new ones from LMC, in the meantime I still needed to close the doors! I plan on doing the dash, kick panels and console to match and fianlly remove the nasty green carpet and coat it with bed liner I should finally be without Green in my interior.
 
Looks like they came out pretty good. I've always been leery of that dash spray paint, but maybe I should re-think it. The dash pads that come black are usually cheaper than the pre-colored ones.
 
Thanks. The came out looking better than I thought. I haven't tried the fusion paint on the dash yet, but as well as it covered the door panels, it looks like it should do the trick. I just have to make sure that every ounce of dirt and grease are removed. That stuff fish-eyed like crazy on the backside of my door panels (just trying to get the edges). My dash is not perfect since it has a couple of cracks, nothing major though so if a mess it up it's not much of a loss. I may try the armrests first since they are similar to the dash in flexiness.
 
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