What do you love\hate about your 73-75 or 88-91?

[Yo]

My water pump blew on Tuesday so I upgraded to an EMP Stewart unit. I parked the truck while I waited on my summit order and drove the GF's Nissan Sentra fleet car.

I can say that it's nice to just get in a car, turn it on, and drive away. You don't realize how much you take it easy on your rigs until you drive a new car. I'm constantly making checks on my Blazer it seems like. I also like how the AC on new cars is nearly unnoticeable, whereas on the Blazer it clearly sucks power and is generally inefficient.

But all this comes at the cost of personality; how often do you see nice K5's cruising down the road these days?

 

[CUCV2]

What I like about these GM vehicles in general is that they are still here after all this time and you can get any part you want to fix them. I hate new cars with all their extraneous electronics, emissions, and safety devices that have actually done the opposite of what they were designed to do.

 

[JPOutfitters]

I agree with this......look at how many mid 90s to 2000 year models are sitting around and leaking like crazy all over the place! The cash for clunkers was designed to get rid of those models because people get rid of them for new cars and they aren't worth putting in a new motor when the time comes. Interiors fall apart and degrade. Electrical everything just quits working........that's a Decade of junk! And the stuff that has come out in the past decade is going to be even worse.......

 

[Chief Brody]

I was telling my kids that I remember when gas was right around $1/gal when I was in High School and I could fillup my '64 Falcon for less than $15 and it would last me 2 weeks!!

I remember when it was .35 cents a gallon.....

 

[stillyz]

Love:

+ The simplicity of everything. Plenty of room and everything is generally straight-forward to work on. I am not a mechanically-minded person at all, but even I can figure stuff out.
+ You can wheel basically stock and have a blast. I threw some 33" BFG KM2's on my 90 Jimmy and there isn't much that can stop this truck.
+ The 30 spline 10 bolt axles are actually decent. I've been through some hairy situations, and they have held up great. Originally I had planned on going the d44/d60 and a 14 bolt route, but I am reconsidering that now.
+ Overall toughness of the truck. 21 years old, 184k and it still runs and drives great, even after a day of wheeling.
+ Mentioned many times already, but the TBI reliability, specifically on the trails, is awesome.

Hate:
- Rust. Mine has spent it's most of it's life in Michigan and it shows. Rockers, floor pans, and tailgate hinge areas are basically gone.
- Auto-locking hubs. I can never fully 'tell' when I'm in 4wd. These will get swapped out soon.
- Finding OEM parts for the 30 spline axles.

 

[nsxxtreme]

I was telling my kids that I remember when gas was right around $1/gal when I was in High School and I could fillup my '64 Falcon for less than $15 and it would last me 2 weeks!!

That's one thing I think the genral population completely forgets. They have this huge push to make cars more fuel efficient. While I think it's a good thing it's never going to bring fuel prices down. Once 30 mpg is the norm the gas prices will just readjust.

 

[Chief Brody]

I am very thankful that I have a K5 Blazer. I have a 1999 Ford Ranger which is my daily driver and I have babied it and it's still going strong.

I love the Blazer and am glad that I am able to take my time with it and not have to rely on it for daily transportation, right now it just get driven on the weekend.

The 1974 Blazer is a memory of my childhood and I am so lucky to have one today 37 years later. I get heads turning when I drive it (God knows it isn't me they are looking at ) I even have people follow me till I park it so that they can look at it up close.

My tag is a JAWS reference and most people get it....

 

[Minnesota]

Totally agree! Especially the part about sitting up underneath, but not being able to reach anything in the engine bay!

This one is great. I also have a '93 VR6 Passat that is a bit hot-rodded, and a great car. More to the point, can barely even look under it, and when I spend too much time under the hood, it's so low, that it aggravates my sciatica (am 6'2").

Now with the Blazer, have to watch the knees when leaning over and in. And not pull a Munson-to-Christopher Reeve swinging a leg over the front end after sitting in the engine bay. "So tell me again how he broke his neck...?" Ahhh, the ergonomics of wrenching...

 

[chalet2506]

My experience with 72 & 76 year models.

Great because parts are plentiful and cheap. You can work on them without plugging into a stupid computer. You can work on it yourself without a technical degree. Haynes manual, ck5, and Napa

Love the full convertible, but like the protection of the half cab. You can dress them up or down because they look good either stripped down and rattle canned, or fixed up with some chrome and nice shiny paint job. Also, they are built of steel - and lots of it. Aftermarket parts are cheap. Have you priced ranch hand bumpers or lift kits for newer trucks? **** is gettin crazy expensive.

Dislikes. Fuel mileage and lap belts.

 

[Kevin Strident]

I love my 8' bed bed but I hate my breakover and departure angles.

 

[rdn2blazer]

Only thing I hate about my 73' is that it's NOT finished

 

[BlazerFarm]

Nice truck! Was the swing out spare carrier a factory option? Rare?

I believe they were dealer installed options but I know you could get them aftermarket too (i.e. Hickey). Just don't put too heavy a tire wheel combo on them or they'll tear out the bolts where they are mounted into the body. They aren't really meant for anything heavier than a 33".

I've owned many '70s Blazers and a '90. Hands down the '90 is the most maintenance free Blazer I've ever owned but it's also 15 years newer.

Rust was a big problem with all of my '70s. No rust on the '90.

Love the serpentine belt setup on the '90. TBI is great, just more complicated. I actually love the '70's Quadrajets too. I knew how to work on them.

On the '90 I HATE the rear seatbelts mounted into the roof. When you take the top off you lose 2/3 of your rear seatbelts. '90 and '91 were the only years that did this stupid design.

Hate the '90's NP241 slip yoke design. Also hated the '70's NP203 full time design. There are fixes for both though.

Love the '90's OD on the 700R4.

Don't really like the non-foldable rear seat in the '73 - '77. I like being able to fold the seat up and there's more leg room in the back with the lower deck on the '78 - '91.

Overall I like the looks of the more squared off bodies of the '73 - '80 (don't like the '80 headlights) but the front grilles of the '89 - '91s are cool too.