1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Intro to my Blazer. Purchased last November from California. Due to covid affecting shipping (and everything else) I was only able to take in to my possession last Thursday. She is a little rough, but does not appear to be rusty. Has been bleached by sun. First thing is to get her running and driving nicely, then on to body and interior
I replaced 15" rims and non roadworthy tires with 17" rims, and 285/65 Toyo Open Country AT tires.
We are working on brake system overhaul, new rotors, pads, shoes, flex hoses and master cylinder, make sure it stops. This in part necessitated by the fact that customs remove pads and shoes, and anything they deem may have asbestos.
Of course we then found a couple of grumbling wheel bearings, leaking rear seals and one bent shock absorber, so have ordered new set of shocks and bearings and seals.
Will then do fluid and filter changes to see how sound drive train is.
I will have lots of questions, but this message board is a fantastic resource

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Looks like a great start. Customs actually takes parts off or they have you do it?

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Customs remove and charge you for the honour :)

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

So they take off pads and shoes because they may have asbestos so you can put on new ones that may contain the same?:gi:

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Pretty much ;), and in the back of Blazer was a full spare set of drum brakes with shoes still intact. Makes you wonder how well it is inspected.

I know a lot of us feel it is revenue raising. The new one here is decontamination for stink bug. There were 11 cars unloaded at same time as Blazer, all were failed by quarantine (2 of these that I saw were show quality) and sent off for cleaning at the quarantine station, cost of around $700 AUD.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Good that it arrived and best wishes for your build. Eager to follow the progress. Cheers.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

To date we have now updated front brakes, with new rotors and pads. Calipers rebuilt. New wheel bearings and seals. was a good call to go all in. New spark plugs, oil and filters etc. May have an issue with ignition switch. Rear brakes are next on agenda, and replace shocks. Sorry no pics at this stage as it still looks same :)

Took hatch off as was broken at bottom and we could not close it. Some pics of repair progress attached, will post in main forum with some questions I have after pulling hatch apart.

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Thanks to all those who have responded in my other threads, info is scarce down here. So many small differences between a pick up

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

So as part of the hatch repair had a new reinforcement plate made to replace old rust/pitted one

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Now waiting on some hatch pieces from Motor City K5, to reassemble, and finish repair

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Nice progress. Glad Motor City K5 had some helpful pieces. Keep the updates coming.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Most of the brakes are done, but is 2 steps forward, 1 step back like all these builds.
Pulled rear axles to do bearings, and found that one bearing had eaten through the hardening. New axle on the way from Rock Auto.

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I have the Blazer back at home, after new brakes, shocks, wheel bearings & seals, new universal joints, 1 rear axle, ball joints, drag link ends, steering box. Not much has changed to look at, but have been able to drive it a couple of times.

Had a wheel alignment done and has 5 degrees positive caster. Still feels lighter than I was hoping. I have a square body anti sway bar set up on the way, hopefully here early January

I also have an operable rear hatch.

Next on list is lower driver's door hinge, driver's side lower rocker panel, steering column, interior rear view mirror. Have ram horn manifolds to install and new exhaust.

The driver's seat tracks, are loose and rock, does anyone have image of what I would most likely need to be replaced/fixed on these.

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

One or possibly all 3 of these pieces missing.

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I just rebuild 2 sets for people last week, here was the worst set.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Congratulations on getting your Blazer. It took me a while to get mine back on the road (7 years - it's a long story) but I drive it every day now. Does Australia have tough inspection laws like the European countries do?

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Thanks, do you have any pics of where those pieces go in slider? I moved seat forward and that removed a lot of the movement

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Yes we do. It can seem a little over the top, but in the end you have a safe car to drive.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Well, they are internal, you have to remove rivets to get to them. I may have a picture with the disassembled but will have to look. I had to buy rivets to put them back together, depending on which end, if any are missing, will determine which length rivet you need.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Yes we do. It can seem a little over the top, but in the end you have a safe car to drive.

Tailgate finds
 

So as I continue to peel back the layers of this truck, i got stuck in to the tailgate. It had a rubber matting covering the inner.

From a previous question we had found that there was no original weatherstripping and brackets had been removed

So I pulled off the rubber matting, held by so much glue and so many screws, to find a piece of styrene board attached to tailgate, by again so many screws. I attempted to remove the screws using a rust penetrant, but was mostly unsuccessful. So i did next best thing and started breaking pieces of it off only to find spray foam on tailgate.

I swear a previous owner must have owned a hardware store.

I am planning to take truck to body shop later this week for work on drivers side outer rocker and A pillar for door hinge issue. Will discuss if tailgate is salvageable, as there are so many screw holes to fill

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Rear Seat Belts
 

A follow up on a previous question on bolt sizes to hold rear seat, thanks member richard2717 for the answer. Not sure again why the rear selt is not held down, can only guess previous owner was using as a 2 seater.

So this is how seat belts are attached, which seems to align with assembly manual. Appears an extra set has been added for a middle passenger

Can someone please confirm if this correct or not

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

So yesterday I removed a coolant overflow set up which went no where? Started looking for horns as nothing was happening when pressing horn button. It finally rained, so I know wipers now work, and washer seems to be aftermarket, no spray yet, so need to check if it hose or power.

Today we (help from son) removed what I can only assume was not a factory optioned auxiliary battery (non working) :). This uncovered the horns, 1 bolted in no wiring connected, 2nd horn found loose in front of wheel well.

Bolted horn to rad support, connected wires and now have horn. Not a great sound, so one may not be working. Have electrician coming this week to hopefully diagnose wiring and remove any surplus.

When removing auxiliary battery, we found a positive terminal, a ground terminal and a yellow terminal with two black wires that ran through firewall, but stop under door sill plate. There are multiple circuit breakers and relays that appear to have no purpose. I think we will have removed a couple of hundred pounds of non functioning upgrades by the time i have finished. I have included pics of what i believe to be a non genuine auxiliary battery bracket :)

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Super rare left handed spanner.😎 Blazer is looking good, hatch repair looks solid. If the Tailgate is as straight as it looks, definitely worth saving.

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Had auto electrician come over and clean up wiring, removing any redundant pieces. Also checked all of lighting operation, and with a cleaning of a few sockets, a few new globes everything works. Replaced the current faulty aftermarket water temp gauge with new aftermarket gauge, this is a temporary remedy as I wait for new dash I purchased from member anew4961 to make it's way down here.

Engine bay previously

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After wiring tidy up

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Still not very pretty, will look better with ram horn manifolds and spark plug leads run as factory. The goal right now is to make it a fully equipped and functioning vehicle that I can take out for a drive. The cosmetic restoration will be undertaken further down the track.

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Big moment today, we completed the 140 mile trip to the body shop :)
Blazer ran pretty well, no issues, temp solid, used around half a tank. Got up to around 70 mph at times.
Body shop to peel back the horrors of driver's rocker and A Pillar. Bit of rust on top of passenger rocker, see how deep this goes. Tailgate to be asessed, repair or replace.
Good news looks like we can use original seat belt arrangement.
Is there a way to confirm build date? VIN KE181S6004xx

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Congrats.

Check w the build date project to see if this can help dial in a build month: https://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/...d.php?t=815033 it appears to be a very early model year sequence number. FWIW I think that should be an "S" not a "5" after the 1.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

If that is an "S" as suspected. It would be a pre-December St Louis build.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Been a while

So a little while ago the shop pulled off guard, door, carpet etc to check out the extent of rust and lower door hinge issue. Photos attached.

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I finally got an opportunity to go and see in person today.
My original plan was to leave as was, fix issues, put on road and drive for a bit.
After seeing it today, and a chat with main man (Shane), I have decided to go ahead and strip it down, remove paint and then body work and paint.
As Shane said, that the rocker and lower hinge appear to be only areas that need rust or panel repair, his words "that is nothing". Floor looks really solid, just some holes to fill, guard was really good, Pretty sure quarters will need some remedial work, so in the scheme it is in really good shape, so let's get on with it.
This has changed my parts requirements in the short term.

Now I need to decide on color. Had always wanted white, but I kinda like the original light yellow. Have also thought about a lighter blue metallic. Want to go with Highlander interior, so
White with grey plaid
Light yellow with grey plaid
Blue with blue plaid

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Good to see an update. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade: I'd go the original light yellow color. That's my favorite 72 color. Grey or orange plaid would be stunning. Any plaid color paired with that light yellow would be great (even green).

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I'm a big fan of the light yellow also!

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May have come across wrong, but I am so pleased that there was no other areas that need metal replacement. The fact it is in such good shape, and will require minimal work/time in body prep is the reason I am going this way, so will only assemble once. I didn't want it disappearing in to paint jail.

Here are some images of 70 Camaro they did a build for me

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Tear down completed. No nasty surprises, paint removal next week. The frame is possibly better than I had hoped, just had to remove the tow hitch that had been welded on. Need to make brackets to hold front anti sway bar, a good clean and then off for powder coating.

Can anyone suggest a supplier for Truckworld seat covers. I am after a white set with grey plaid.

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Back from blaster, no surprises :). Doesn't appear to be any large accident damage

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Drivers rocker and lower A Pillar is by far the worst area.

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Passenger rocker, looks like will just need to replace outer

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and rear of bed, will make up some patches to fix

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Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Good deal. How were the doors?

Reach out to SoCoC10 regarding seat covers.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Doors are really good, expected back from media blasting tomorrow. As you can notice no media blast on large flat surfaces, will hand strip those.

Thanks Pete for lead will contact him

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Pics of doors, bottom corners were worse than expected but are an easy fix. Someone was good at hiding holes :). Bottom of doors are as good as i could hope for

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Tailgate was also pretty good, just a small depression on inner to sort.

There is a small dent around tail lights on passenger side, on the lower section. Will unpick quarter, so can do the repair from the inside

All in all still very happy overall with the body.

Dropped engine at rebuilders, will tear down and report. Had a remanufactured tag on rear side of block so assume it has had at least one rebuild.
If rebuildable, plan is around 9.5 to 1 compression using AFR Eliminator heads (or like), small cam, Comp Cams X4260HR, Edelbrock Performer EPS manifold and Holley Terminator Stealth with Hyperspark ignition
Local gear specialist picked up transfer case, will pull it down and put new bearings and any other items it may need. Thinks the damaged rear yoke might be able to be machined.
I have Turbo 350 to drop off to my local transmission guy to recondition tomorrow.
Waiting on lots of parts currently shipping via ocean freight. Alcan springs should be available around Sept 9th

Pete do you have pics of transfer case colour, or where on your rebuild thread I can find, so I can forward to the rebuilder?

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

Not bad at all. Glad the sheet metal won’t be too much of a barrier toward the rebuild.

Folks have said Chrysler red is a close match to the red used to paint the transfer case. I believe that can be had in a spray can too.

Re: 1971 K5 Blazer - down under
 

After unpicking quarters. more rust spots were revealed. Every corner of panels had some amount, and behind door strikers. Lower A pillar on passenger side needs some work. More filler than expected,

Nothing that can't be sorted pretty easily for these guys. Inner rockers done. Hope to have all the tub sorted by end of next week.

And I'll know i have a rust free, straight Blazer

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And this is a lot of filler. Panel will be repaired from the inside.
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