The Blazer Train
 

On a snowy weekend last winter my brother and I set off 800 miles to pick up a craigslist purchase I made
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...DF302EA38A.jpg


It was mostly complete, and appeared to be mostly rust free. I was :metal:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...F290209FA7.jpg

After some google internet searches I actually found a previous "for sale" add that answered the most obvious question about the paint job. The add was actually on this forum, and claimed the original owner painted his blazer to match the train he drove for work.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...D9AFDB123D.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I saw that Blazer too, it was only an hour from me. From the craigslist ad it appeared to be a good deal. Is it as rust free as it looked? I wasn't shopping at the time, so I didn't go look at it.

Re: The Blazer Train
 

over the summer I added some bars to the roll cage, and a Tahoe rear seat (per the wife for the seatbelts). besides that we just enjoyed it, and took it to t-ball games, ice cream runs, and the dunes
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...073CCDA7AC.png

Re: The Blazer Train
 

the "plan" for the blazer is to make it some thing I can take to the dunes, run around town in, and something the cleans up well if I want to show it off a bit. Ultimately I would like to have a 5.3 and over drive trans. But I DONT want a project that is always a project. I want something I can drive.

So once the snow started falling I started the process of painting the blazer. The train paint job was fun for the first year but now it was time to give it my personal touch. The funny part is during the first year of driving it you wouldn't believe how many people told me they actually love the look of it. thought it fell right out of the 70s.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...2648FE2C3D.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...46173C89F5.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

it wasn't long until it was a frame off
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...EA1AE9FC7C.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...8A4EA8EDEA.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I was pretty happy at this point because everything was looking pretty good
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...885B1EC89E.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...41AA5CA382.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

the frame got a POR15 treatment
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...2632AFD97B.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...9129276773.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

next it was onto the body, the rockers had very light rust bubble starting to pop so the plan is to replace the rockers before they get to bad. Otherwise the body looks to be in good shape!

These photos are after I blasted the area to see what is under the paint.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...127BC1CA53.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...CC9BF3F52F.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I must have lost the pictures of it, but when I went to replace the outer rockers I quickly learned someone at one time had capped the rockers with new ones. The original rockers were filled with expanding foam too, and soon I figured out the b pillars were too.

so I cut out the inner and outer rockers first

but before I closed it up I POR15 the inside of everything
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...C1951D8B39.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

and soon after I moved back to the b pillars

you can see the foam in this picture
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...B1E2C880B2.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

and after a few patch panels from hell

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...F134F6E515.jpg

I took a stab at making some of my own ( oh yeah I picked the really expensive ones to make)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...776F9B7377.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I just patched and POR 15 the reinforcement plates
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...8C66EF4DC5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...141D0BDC40.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

another patch panel down and more POR15. At this point people I work with have just excepted that I permanently have black paint adhered to my skin. No matter what I wear or how careful I am I cant keep a few drops of that stuff off of me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...EDD7F035E9.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

once both sides had all of the rust fixed it was on to the body work. I cant take credit for a lot of the body work because my dad helped me on the majority of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...43E7D9792B.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...9672F45997.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...90F4AB7B30.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...34F5AFE3DD.jpg

at this point I HATE the train paint. That stuff was thick on there.

Re: The Blazer Train
 

NW Ohio....close to Defiance? Are you going back to ochre? Looking forward to progress and seeing it back at SL dunes!

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I'm about 30 min from defiance. It is not going back orche. It's goidng to be tangier and white two tone with upper and lower trim.

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I think I did ok. i looked it over pretty close when I was there and it wasn't until I tire it down before I realized what was done to it and after finding an old add I knew he bought it that way. Here are pictures I found of it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...f/IMG_0762.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...f/IMG_0760.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

Sure looks different one in primer and all one color.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...C6014E6A22.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...14231F4EFA.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

Bottom of the door was starting to bubble so it was removed por15 the insides and patched back together
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...7620B06810.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...FA70A767A8.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

Also while the rustolum was flying I cleaned up the booster
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...D454C1F01B.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

here are a few pictures once the jams were painted. its been a big motivator seeing some color on it
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...92FB4723B3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...E071586486.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

Very nice, not to say the old train theme looked bad, but getting rid of rust is a great step forward. Speedy as well

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I laugh because i think the paint job it had got a lot of looks and waves. however up close it was ugly. it was just so flat it looked good from 10 ft back. Hopefully its new skin will be able to turn heads as well.

I was apprehensive to start one of these build threads until I had made some significant progress so it gives the illusion of crazy speed!

Re: The Blazer Train
 

I'm really happy with the way the paint has turned out. It's a big motivator to push forward http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...5D1AD523BB.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...04CA2A0EEE.jpg

Re: The Blazer Train
 

looking sweet!