Blazer Build

[ALF]

Figured I'd start a build thread on the new toy. Looking back I've always regretted not taking more pics of my progress. So here goes.

1976 Blazer

was originally a 4 speed but somewhere along the line someone did a half ass conversion so now its auto

350/350/205.

4 inch lift of an unkown manuf. but measures a bit higher than most I'm 26" between fender lip and center of hub

Apparently the engine has 25k on it and was dynoed at the rear wheels with 300HP true or not it runs well.

Heres what I'm starting with.



tires and wheels are being swapped out for 35" Big O Mudders and prime wheels

New front and rear bumpers have been ordered as well.

Right now I'm mostly working on interior.

New steering wheel, guage cover and dash pad.

Found a 40/20/40 seat set up out of a 2003 silverado and rear seat is still undecided.

Carpet is being replaced with black

and rear side panels will be made from diamond plate (again) I liked it in my last K5

Heres the interior progress so far.

 

[Tacoma]

Sweet... let me know if you need anything. I might have parts you can use.

 

[ALF]

Sweet... let me know if you need anything. I might have parts you can use.

Right now the only thing I can think of that I need is good rear seat and a hood. Although I would be willing to take your soft top off your hands

Eventually I'll tear into the suspension and do a shackle flip in the rear with some 56's

 

[ALF]

Wtf!!!

Whats the saying?? One step forward and two steps back?

Got the new (to me) 35's on but WTF is that behind the old rims?

Yes they are fender washers



But it does look alot better with descent size tires




Now on to the real ugly:sick: I thought it was rust free but I was wrong, luckily it should be an easy fix and no matter how sh!tty my welds look no one will ever see them:greg:

 

[lewis]

Fender washers is a new one on me. Truck looks tons better with 35's.

 

[ALF]

Scares the hell out of me to think that people pull stuff like this!!

Thanks, hope to have the rust repair and the stick shift hole covered and at least carpet installed by sunday night!

 

[ALF]

Made a bit of progress this weekend

The missing horn contact pieces in the old spray painted grant steering wheel were all replaced with new grant wheel and install kit. Surprise surprise upon reassembly I could hear the horn relay clicking Once the grill was removed and the wires were reconnected to the factory horns I again have a horn that functions as designed. And the old air horn attached to a choke pull have been removed

The 10 guage wire acting as a exhaust hanger as well as the 4" hose clamp have been replaced with appropriate exhaust hangers.:sick:

The missing return spring on the hood latch has been replaced and now the hood shuts nicely without having to slam it to keep it closed.

It seems like the PO used whatever he had laying around to fix whatever broke even when fixing it correctly would have been cheaper and easier.

the rust in the DS floor boards kicked my ass and yet again I failed miserably at my attempt to weld sheetmetal Below the rust I welded in some hefty angle iron for needed structural integrity and then fiberglassed the floorboards after spending hours of grinding and cutting the rust away, I'm waiting for it to dry now but so far it looks to have come out alot better than I was expecting, once the carpet is in there will be no indication of the repair aside from the angle iron underneath.

Put in a pretty trick red anodized 3" fan spacer to get it in the shroud...I hate reaching over a spinning fan to make carb adjustments.

Thats about it for now looks like It will have to sit until next weekend before I can do anymore

oh and...
I splurged and ordered all my stereo equipment...damn ebay although I don't think I did too bad considering I'm under $400 for it all

This stuff should make time in traffic, on the trail or around the campfire a whole lot more enjoyable


Pioneer DEH-P500UB head unit

Kicker ZX700.5 5 Channel amp

Kicker KS600 6" speakers for the doors I've already got a set of pioneer 6x9's that will be going n the rear panels

Kicker C12-4 12" sub thats going in a small truck wedge box to take up as little room as possible

 

[ricsrx]

It is always fun to get into a new project. And to find out what little treasurs the PO left for you!

 

[ALF]

Little more progress today.

Replacement windshield washer pump is installed so All I have left to do to be street legal is to put mudflaps on

Turned out the old radiator had a sh!tty JB weld fix on the heater hose inlet and the auto tranny lines were ghetto fabulous 3/8" fittings into 3/8" fuel hose into half ass bent cooler lines So...a call to my guy in Elko got me a new radiator and I ordered new prebent tranny lines from LMC. Old radiator is out and new one is set in place, I'll pick up new hoses and antifreeze on my way home from work tomorrow. Tranny lines should be here wednesday.

After being dissaponted saturday when I found out wasatch metals was closed I made it tuesday night to get my Diamond Plate so I can do all my interior panels mount the new seats and get the carpet in hopefully by sunday night!

And my new bumpers from goodmark showed up today!

 

[jsudar]

rear side panels will be made from diamond plate (again) I liked it in my last K5

What year was your last K5? I just bought an 89 and it looks like someone put a lot of time into making diamond plate side panels for the interior. I wonder if it's the same Blazer.

 

[sixb]

I would curious to know how you like your LMC products when you recieve them as I will also be buying some parts from them for my K5 build. Thanks.

 

[ALF]

What year was your last K5? I just bought an 89 and it looks like someone put a lot of time into making diamond plate side panels for the interior. I wonder if it's the same Blazer.

My last one was a 78, Jlowry on here bought it. They've gotten a bit more popular over the last few years and I've seen it done on alot of rigs. I doubt I was the first to do it but I hadn't seen any when i did the first one.

Heres a link to my first one that has pictures of the diamond plate...it's really easy to do.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/523048

 

[ALF]

I would curious to know how you like your LMC products when you recieve them as I will also be buying some parts from them for my K5 build. Thanks.

I've ordered from them before and have been happy with the quality. The only downside I've found is they usually don't ship the day you order they wait a couple days.

 

[ALF]

I'm finally getting somewhere



Had a distracting weekend, with my kids bday party and helping a buddy get a new rig of his streetworthy but I did manage to get some stuff done.



Old radiator is out and new one is set in place. Checker was out of radiator hoses!! Oh well I'm still waiting on tranny cooler lines.:-\



Got the rear seats from the local salvage yard just like the front seats I got a couple weeks back



I threw in the new carpet and for the most part its good, the fit leaves alot to be desired but it will work just fine for the purpose of this Blazer





Heres some shots with the seats set in just to see how they were going to look. Seats in the back sit kind of high but it will mostly be the kids sitting back there,









I also got the old bumpers off and the new ones put on. Not quite the quality of OEM but pretty close. I had to enlist the help from the wife and daughter to do the rear as my hands are to big to fit up in between the frame and receiver hitch.







Still have lots left to do but it's coming along.

 

[ALF]

 

[Thursty]

Those seats look great. Nice and comfy.

 

[ALF]

More progress

OK...

Radiator is in with new thermostat on a bling bling chrome housing...Real reason I replaced it is because the old one was rattle canned red and looked fugly!

Fan shroud had to go it was no where near the correct one and was rubbing on the fan, I should be okay until I can upgrade to electric fans anyway.

New tranny lines are in.

Stereo is in with all the wiring run back to the back for rear speakers, amp and sub. I decided to run a single 12" in a small truck box to minimize the room it would take up.

Diamond plate side panels are made

Dash is completly re assembled.

New shocks and steering stablizer have been ordered and should be here next week.

Now all I need to do is mount the seats and I'm ready to roll For now....

 

[AX10TOY]

Lookin good
always like the full size rigs

 

[ALF]

My intent for the weekend was to get it street worthy... this meant getting the carpet completly installed and at least the front seats in.

Well tu mas tequilla friday night gave me a late start saturday, I didn't get started until 11 or so. Got the carpet all in and secured, and a buddy needed help moving a fridge... into a split entry:-\. Finally got all of the front seats in and it was alread 3:00 so I figured I'd run it down and get it inspected.

Good news and bad news

Good news is it passed emmisions, is running a little rich but it passed. I'm going to order new jets and metering rods and lean it out a bit which will probably make it run better.

Bad news is it failed safety...No not for no mudflaps although I had forgot to install them anf he didn't say a word For brakes the rear pass. side was way off the charts and the drivers side was doing very little...yipee new shoes...I HATE drums!!

Also I watched as they ran the high idle test and the fan blade was wobbling all over the place so a new water pump was needed also.

Got the new brake shoes in today and the drivers side adjuster was completly froze which probably caused the problem.

New water pump with a new temp sending unit is in but now with the added pressure I blew out the fitting on the heater hose that is used to flush the system oh well cheap fix. One weird thing is the old pump had a threaded fitting for the power steering attachment and the new one didn't it just had a drilled hole go all the way through so I need to buy a longer bolt. I ran it up to temp and although it didn't seem to get very warm the temp guage maxed out??

 

[lewis]

Its fun working on one thing that turns into 10 other things. Everyday experinece for me as well.