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My Blazer is gone... Fire BAAAD!!! - ***UPDATED*** with parts info

You would be alot better off finding another body and going from there. Your headliner is going to be shot, wiring lots of little stuff that your not going to find till you find it, heating and a/c etc. Find a donor with a bad drivetrain and put yours in it. Your motor should be good. It is going to have water in it so remember that.
 
I'm sure that you'll have a k5 up and runnin pretty soon. Looks like a clean cut deal. pull the body off and drop a new one on and then get your fuel system up and runnin and all you have to do is get some interior and few other things. My bro did a body swap after he rolled his s10 and its was pretty easy to do.... only took 3 days with 2 people workin on it and it wasn't even full days we were workin.

I said ask me how i know because i've just about burnt my eyebrows off about 4 times because of timing or being 180 out. I've never had it go up in flames(knock on wood) but its been just about as close as it can get without setting the stuff on the hood on fire. Also my dads old 3/4 383 73 chevy van caught on fire more than once.

Keep your head up, budget, get to work and you'll have a K5 again in no time.

good luck man.
 
gjk5 said:
Not to wander off topic but someone mentioned a "auto-extinguish" set up and I have a thought on that.

I've always thought it would be good to put one (or more) of the extinguisher ports they use on boats on my truck to access the engine compartment in case of fire. You drill a 1 1/2" or 2" hole in the sheet metal and these things are like a rubber cap that keeps out water but you just stick the nozzle through into the engine and blast away. Just a thought.



Just looked all over for a pic and can't find.
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I like the suggestion of the extinguisher setup your talking bout, but I would use Halon instead of ABC. It's more expensive up front, but it would do less harm to the motor.
 
I've had a couple of responses to my parts requests, and I thank you all for being so supportive... Mikey, your fire suppression post is great, but it's getting a bit off topic here and there...
 
Man, just 3 days ago I said to my wife as we were driving in my 71, "I should get a fire extinguisher in here" and what do you know. Yesterday, in the driveway trying to tune my new truck avenger, it caught fire!! Thank god it happened in the driveway, I always have one in the garage. Lesson learned, and 30 minutes later one was bolted behind my seat. I totally feel for you though, I was running around like a chicken with my head whacked off when it caught fire, had to change my pants. As for the insurance, I carry full coverage, but the blue book for a 71 K5 is 1300 to 12000, how do you deal with the insurance company to get what your truck is worth with something like what happened to you? If you had full coverage, how would you get your money back?
 
I have receipts for all the things I've done to my truck... but they are worthless without the insurance coverage... The truck was valued at $5,000 but I had almost $9,000 of work into it. For a 86 truck of any kind in Wisconsin, $5,000 means pretty much rust free and complete.
 
garlicbreath said:
Man, just 3 days ago I said to my wife as we were driving in my 71, "I should get a fire extinguisher in here" and what do you know. Yesterday, in the driveway trying to tune my new truck avenger, it caught fire!! Thank god it happened in the driveway, I always have one in the garage. Lesson learned, and 30 minutes later one was bolted behind my seat. I totally feel for you though, I was running around like a chicken with my head whacked off when it caught fire, had to change my pants. As for the insurance, I carry full coverage, but the blue book for a 71 K5 is 1300 to 12000, how do you deal with the insurance company to get what your truck is worth with something like what happened to you? If you had full coverage, how would you get your money back?
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I had most of my recepts when i had my fire or i woudlnt have gotten what it was worth. Like i said i had most of my recepts, dont keep recepts in the glove box is a lesson i learned. They go up in flames with the rest of the vehicle and cant really be turned into the ins agent then. I think that im going to start scanning my recepts onto a CD when i get going on my 72.
 
I don't know if this steering box would work for you. I am gonna take mine off my 87 one ton. You can have the pump, lines, and box. Not sure the condition. It doesn't have a pitman arm. It's yours if you can pay the shipping. Either reply or PM me. Thanks.

Brenton
 
Thanks everyone for volunteering your parts to this project...

***UPDATE***

The shop called and said I'd be better off buying a new truck and puting my engine in it... They aren't sure how hot the fire got around the frame, but siad because of the SM465 tranny being partly in the cab, it may be damaged due to the heat of the fire. The frame may have also been weakenned, but that's doubtfull. The things I know for sure....

1. The block is still good, but the heads may need to be redone if the fire got hot enough to melt anything inside.

2. The manifold and carb are melted... not puddles of metal, but deformed enough that they are useless now.

3. The alternator, water pump, and radiator are all toast... alternator is melted.

4. The starter may still be good, and the headers survived... in fact, they don't look any different after the fire except for bits of melted fiberglass from the hood.

5. The tranny is iffy... because of the amount of heat in the cab, it may very well have travelled into the tranny and done some damage to the internal workings of it.

6. The front quad shocks are completely messed up, as are their mount points from what the shop told me.

7. The steering box, power steering pump, and master cylinder are all toasted.

8. The brake lines all melted off, as well as any rubber parts in the engine bay... I'm pretty sure the rubber motor mounts and tranny mounts are good and gone too.

9. The interior is completely lost... thankfully, I have a tub lined up, but I'll need doors, seats, and shifter sticks.

10. The cap is burned on the inside, but looks ok from outside... I may just pressure wash it, cut it apart, and stretch some canvas over it to make a soft top... or I may leave it off and eventually put in for a real soft top.

11. All weather stripping will need to be replaced.

12. All body mounts will likely need to be redone, especially the front half...

13. All exterior lights on the front end, as well as the bumper and grill need to be replaced.


I'll put more stuff up as I find I need it... Again, thanks to everyone who has offered parts to me to rebuild my baby.
 
LMC is expensive... I priced out all the stuff I'd need from them... it's like $8000 or more... I didn't get very far, I was sick to my stomach after doors and hood...
 
LMC is overpriced. Half their stuff costs twice as much as buying from the dealership.

It sounds to me like there was something fueling the fire. I take it you ran an electric pump and it never shut off? Because even if the engine oil and brake fluid were fueling it I don't foresee that much damage.

Did you already buy it back from the insurance company? I'd keep it and use the parts after YOU inspect them to rebuild another vehicle. Shops aren't there to help you, they're there to help themselves and make you feel like they're helping you. You'd be surprised what will survive a fire.
 
I'll print off your list of needed parts, and go look and see what I have for ya.

Only cost to you will be shipping :)
 
PhoenixZorn said:
LMC is expensive... I priced out all the stuff I'd need from them... it's like $8000 or more... I didn't get very far, I was sick to my stomach after doors and hood...
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i can get you any thing you need man i have a 81 sub thats tan with a perfect body any thing you need email me at [email protected]

p.s. the burb had a 454 in it everything is there but the motor and tranny.
 
You guys all rock... I know I keep saying it, but I can't get over how much everyone comes together to help someone in need....

About the insurance company, since I had liability only, the insurance company won't even look at it... I had my mechanic look at it because while he overcharges for work that he does, he's never lied to me about a part being broken... I trust him to tell me what's wrong, and then if I'm capable of it, I'll do the work myself... if not, I'll pay him that little bit extra than the other guy is charging because I know he'll do a bang up job on it...

Yes, I know I'm getting ripped off... hell, with labor, I was charged $2000 for my rear end rebuild (it a friggen 10-bolt) because at the time I didn't know what things were supposed to cost.... had I known then what I know now, when they quoted me $1000 for the rebuild plus labor, I would have told them it had better come back with 14 bolts, 3 inch axle tubes, and a E-locker... if it ever happens again, I'll know what to expect... I did however know it was broken before I got it to the shop... I just had no idea what it should cost for a rebuild...

At the time, I even suggested just getting a new axle, and they said it would cost more... now I regret letting them pull the wool over my eyes...

Again, they've never lied to me about what needs to be fixed... only over charged the hell out of me when they do it.

Anyway, I really do appreciate all the help you guys are offering... and as soon as I can afford to do all the stuff, I'll get back to each and every one of you on what parts I'll still need. I have to start somewhere, and that's at the new body...


By the way, that Burb you said has a perfect body, I wonder how that would look shortenned up and put on a blazer frame... 4 door k5 anyone?
 
Like you said, the drivetrain will have to be inspected when it's pulled. If anything, I'd expect the bellhousing to be melted, maybe some crispy gaskets in the 465, but not much else. Where the shifter passes into the cab is actually pretty "non-critical" to the operation of the 465, it's a long ways down into the guts of the tranny, and I doubt your fire was hot enough nor lasted long enough to affect the beefy metal inside the trans. When you take your shifter off and look down, you'll understand what I mean.

I'd say if your reverse light plug isn't destroyed from heat, there is going to be nothing wrong with the trans itself.

So was it an electric pump, or speculation of what fed the fire to allow it to get like it did?? I've never had an actual car fire, (close!) but as bad as most seem to get when they burn, it would seem gas would still have to be getting pumped in somehow. Your wording seems to indicate it was an electric pump. You also mentioned a trail of gas, is there evidence underneath the truck that what you saw on the ground had burned the underside of the truck further back as well?
 
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