PresaCanario
Registered Member
Hey, I'm from BC up in Canada. In 2011 I picked up my second 1983 K5 Blazer. As a kid, I always wanted to drive a lifted blazer. When I first got one back in 2006, I had big plans to beef it up, but my plans were cut short when my truck was stolen. It never got recovered. Only had it for a year. Fast forward to 2011. I pick up a pretty nice Blazer.
While my first one was mostly stock, I wanted to make sure my second would come with most of the upgrades that I wanted so to make up for lost time, and my garage situation was not there yet. My 83' came with ff 14 bolt and dana 60 combo with detroit lockers, I was set on having one ton axles. The body was painted with what looked like liner up to the bottom of the doors, which was painted the color of the body, which was tan. There was no rust on the body that was visible except in the tailpan. The floors were redone with 1/8" sheet metal in the back. The engine had been redone in 2008 by a local performance shop and was strong. dual battery, offroad lights, checkerplate side panels, shock hoops, 56" spring swap, crossover hydraulic steering. 6" diy4x shackle flip, 3" body lift, 38.5 tsl uper swamper sx with a spare tire on custom rear bumper tire carrier paired with a custom bumper in the front with a 12000 lb warn winch. 700 r4 transmission with a np 208 transfer case. rear disc brake conversion, heavy duty rock sliders, differential armor, skid plate, bushwhacker fender flares, a custom soft top. and it came with 4 big rubbermaids filled with spare parts, u-joints, fuel n oil filters, extra bushwhacker fender flares. So many times I would break something like a belt, u-joint, or light and I'd find it in those rubbermaids. I was recently digging through one and i was baffled I never noticed that there was spare stainless braided brake line.
Since I've had it, with all the using and abusing, I've blown the transmission and rebuilt it, broke the steering column and replaced it, broke the transfercase and replaced it. Got pulled over and given a mandatory vehicle inspection, so I had to make everything street legal, good thing the previous owner registered the rig as a over 5000GVW truck, so my limitations to bumper height wasn't altered. replacing bushings and stuff really made me see the damage I was doing to my truck. So now I'm in the process of restoring and strengthening it's former glory. Starting with some welding and repair of some body mounts, along with new tailpan and rockers. Then I'll paint the whole body in black monstaliner. This will be my first project before I tackle the engine, then the transfer case, then the axles. This website has motivated and inspired me to have the confidence to do most of the stuff I'm attempting, so I'll be using this thread to document my progress and use it as a reference.
While my first one was mostly stock, I wanted to make sure my second would come with most of the upgrades that I wanted so to make up for lost time, and my garage situation was not there yet. My 83' came with ff 14 bolt and dana 60 combo with detroit lockers, I was set on having one ton axles. The body was painted with what looked like liner up to the bottom of the doors, which was painted the color of the body, which was tan. There was no rust on the body that was visible except in the tailpan. The floors were redone with 1/8" sheet metal in the back. The engine had been redone in 2008 by a local performance shop and was strong. dual battery, offroad lights, checkerplate side panels, shock hoops, 56" spring swap, crossover hydraulic steering. 6" diy4x shackle flip, 3" body lift, 38.5 tsl uper swamper sx with a spare tire on custom rear bumper tire carrier paired with a custom bumper in the front with a 12000 lb warn winch. 700 r4 transmission with a np 208 transfer case. rear disc brake conversion, heavy duty rock sliders, differential armor, skid plate, bushwhacker fender flares, a custom soft top. and it came with 4 big rubbermaids filled with spare parts, u-joints, fuel n oil filters, extra bushwhacker fender flares. So many times I would break something like a belt, u-joint, or light and I'd find it in those rubbermaids. I was recently digging through one and i was baffled I never noticed that there was spare stainless braided brake line.
Since I've had it, with all the using and abusing, I've blown the transmission and rebuilt it, broke the steering column and replaced it, broke the transfercase and replaced it. Got pulled over and given a mandatory vehicle inspection, so I had to make everything street legal, good thing the previous owner registered the rig as a over 5000GVW truck, so my limitations to bumper height wasn't altered. replacing bushings and stuff really made me see the damage I was doing to my truck. So now I'm in the process of restoring and strengthening it's former glory. Starting with some welding and repair of some body mounts, along with new tailpan and rockers. Then I'll paint the whole body in black monstaliner. This will be my first project before I tackle the engine, then the transfer case, then the axles. This website has motivated and inspired me to have the confidence to do most of the stuff I'm attempting, so I'll be using this thread to document my progress and use it as a reference.
