Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Grey all day. Can’t see your last pic, for whatever reason...

Edit: what’s your plan for master cylinder? I’ve been contemplating this exact setup, curious to see how it works out for you. The stock rotors are cheap and plentiful and converting to 5x4.75 is almost a wash money-wise, if you’re already buying wheels.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I edited my last post... I was trying to be fancy and had built a .gif that cycled the color choices next to the pic of the Blazer.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I don’t think the green would look all that bad. You can two tone some of the other parts of the truck as well.
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Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I’m somewhere between galaxy and speedway. Like a cast iron, but with flake.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I have a hydroboost setup that I could use, but not sure I want to go through the trouble and if I really need it with these bigger brakes. I have buddies that are using the Wilwood masters with no assist and that would probably be all I need. Or I could run a normal vacuum booster. Obviously, master cylinder bore size would be determined by whether or not I use a booster, and which type. I guess I need to figure that out soon, huh?

Right now, I have a stock 72 style manual master cylinder for the factory disc/drum setup which would probably work fine if I replace the prop valve with an adjustable valve.

The rest of the truck is staying original paint, so two-toning other parts of it won't work. The green probably wouldn't look horrible, but it would bother me that it's not tied in anywhere else.

My wife is telling me to just go with a gloss black which might not look bad with the textured black that is on the pad abutment brackets already.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

The Black that Brandi says will look good, or the Galaxy. I am not a big fan of the bright colors calipers my self. To me it distracts from the vehicle.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

So you're saying that I should steer away from the hot pink and neon green candy cane striping?:lol:

I just found this Graphite Charcoal which looks promising...

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Funny, I was gonna say gloss black as a second option. Have you seen evo grey? It’s a prismatic color that I used on all of my PB stuff. Nice dark grey, that flops from near black to almost silver depending on lighting

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I went back and looked through your thread to see that color, and you are right, it does look good. It's so hard to pick a color based on pictures on the internet though. My wife may be right in the fact that I should just do gloss black and call it done. My powdercoater keeps gloss and 20% gloss black in stock ready to go, any other special color I want would have to be ordered.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Well, I ordered swatches of all the colors listed on this page, to include the Evo Grey. If I don't like any of those, I'll just do the Gloss Black.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I've done a lot of measuring for my rear axle, and it looks like I will end up with about 1/2" clearance between the tire and the inner wheel tub. Do you think that is enough? If not it looks like I am going to have to do the "Lucy" mod that n2billet did.

The powder swatches came in today! I've taken about 100 pics, but it is amazing how hard it is to get an accurate representation of the colors. I have my favorite already, but which one do y'all like?

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Plan on “Lucy” modding mine, too.

I like 2, but I’m also partial to 6 ;)

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Actually, you would be partial to 5, that one is the Evo Grey. ;)

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Wow, the pictures really do mess with you...

2 or 6 would be my pick
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Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

:agree
6 or 2 (or Brandi Black ;) )

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I was trying to NOT remove the original rear end until I had the new narrowed setup ready to go in, but I knew I would regret not pulling it before-hand if I didn't. Tonight I removed the rear axle and stuffed one of the back tires up in there, and am I ever glad that I did. My measurements that I was taking told me that I would have 1/2" clearance when aired out, but physically sticking the tire in there says that my math was wrong somewhere. It is touching on the inside and outside. Now I HAVE to do the "Lucy" mod that N2billet did on his bedsides. It's just a little more work, but as you can see in my pics, it will be well worth the trouble! :metal::metal::metal:

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

God bless America!

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

:metal: :metal: :metal:

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

The Speedway is #2 and the Galaxy is #3 in those pics above. The Kingsport Grey is #4 and is almost the same color as the Evo Grey but with more flake and more gloss. Because of the extra flake it lightens up the color a little and makes it seem to be a shade between the Speedway and the Galaxy. I'm thinking that I will end up going with the Kingsport.

I finally got a picture that is closest to what I actually see with my old eyes.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Solid plan.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

What did you end up doing with your air tank(s)?

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I have one of the old style Accuair 5 gal. tanks with the Exo Mount system and I was able to make it fit between that last crossmember and the bumper. I got the ECU, valves and all mounted on that back crossmember with the compressors mounted out side the frame rails. It's tight in there and everything has to go on in a certain order, but it fits. I like to say that I fit 27 lbs. of sh!t in a 1/2 lb bag.:lol:

Why? Is the new Blazer getting air?:metal:

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Thinking about it. That was pretty much the mounting method that I had in mind, IF I were to bag a Blazer...

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

With the new Accuair Endo-CVT, you could just put a 3 Gal. on each side of the frame with only one having to have a compressor. Then all you have to mount is the ECU and sensors. Of course, that is IF you are going with an Accuair control system.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

This past weekend wasn't a great weekend for the Blazer. I wanted to at least get the offending metal out of the way for the "Lucy" mod so that I could get an accurate measurement for narrowing the rear axle, but the spinning carriage bolts holding the wheel tubs in fought me the whole way. After I left for TX again Monday morning a friend suggested that instead of trying to loosen them, I should have just tightened till they broke. DOH! (said in my best Homer Simpson impression)

After drilling out most of those bolts, my wife wanted to get in the back and vacuum up all the metal shavings to save me some time. With the blazer up in the air, she was coming out backwards on the passenger side and lost her grip and fell out of the Blazer. She banged herself up pretty good and had the knob on the passenger seat release handle hit her in the eye. After I made sure she was OK, she still didn't think it was funny when I told her that her friends were going to be jealous of the black eye she got for Valentine's Day. On her way out of the Blazer she fell against the passenger door and tweaked it a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that fact until after I heard the pop of the door skin coming out from under the back lip of the front fender when I went to close the door. Yep, it chipped some of that 48 year old paint on the front of the door.

My wife was more concerned about the door than herself. I told her that I can fix the alignment of the door, but I'm not going to fix the paint, it'll be one more part of the story of this Blazer to go along with all of the other bumps, bruises, scrapes, and scratches that it has from living on a ranch in TX most of its life. I told her that the next owner will make up stories about all of the damage just like I did. I pointed out a dent above the passenger reverse light and told her an elaborate story about a prize winning bull named Armando Montenegro III that kicked it because he was jealous of all the attention that its owner was giving the Blazer. She did laugh and feel better about it after that story.

I did get a jig built to properly locate the trailing arm perches, so I have those welded on in the correct place and went ahead and welded the axle tubes to the center section. I also made some cribbing blocks to hold the tires up in place for measuring.

Needless to say, after her accident I turned off the lights, locked the shop up, and left it alone. Hopefully, this weekend will be better and I can get the housing dropped off to get narrowed, and the calipers dropped off for powder.

That sucks but at least she’s mostly ok. And the wife as well. Lol. One more story to tell doesn’t hurt.
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Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Glad Brandi is alright.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Rough weekend, buddy!

What’s your jig look like? Been pondering this myself for the conversion...

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

God Bless America is right! Those wheels look so good tucked!

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I just screwed a couple of 6x6 blocks that I had to a half sheet of 1/2" plywood and traced the outside and holes of the perches from a stock axle housing. I used a plumb bob to mark the center of the pinion on the plywood and used a digital angle finder to get the angle of the pinion as it sat on the wood blocks. Once I had the perches off of another axle, I screwed them to the wood blocks where they matched up with my marks, set the axle housing in the perches, centered the pinion with the plumb bob and raised the pinion til my angle finder matched what I had before. Then I tacked the perches to the axle tubes and rechecked eveything before I fully burned them in. Not overly technical, but it works. I believe 4x4 blocks would work or even stacked 2x4's, but I didn't try them, it just has to have enough height to keep the center housing off of the plywood. This is the only picture that I have that shows my redneck jig.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

As if I didn't already have enough to do before Power Tour, I just ordered a set of the Dakota Digital VHX Gauges in the Classic style from Pro Performance.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Thanks a lot for that! Way simpler than what I was planning in my head :lol:

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Wow, glad your wife is OK!

I like that process for the differential too...simple and effective. Oh those gauges are nice....!

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I wish I could get them to stop sending me all this junk mail! ;)

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

My favorite gauges

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Looking great! Still haven't decided on which Dakota gauges to get for my Blazer project - those look sharp. Can't wait to see them installed.

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

I just can't stop myself... I bought another 1970 original paint Blazer last night in TX...



































:haha: I had to buy it, it's an exact match! Plus, it was only $11.00 shipped!

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

Good score! :)

Re: Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint
 

:metal: