New Member with a new Ride

[Elk]

Howdy to the forum. First off a big thanks to another member Mr. Deadhead who I singled out for bombarding with questions and he was just overall a great guy and a great help.

I have been wanting a 72 or older blazer or Jimmy since I was in my mid teens. I am now 38 with a wife and 3 kids and found one that I thought had good bones to be a sweet part time commuter and hunting/get into the hills rigs. I dabbled with a 77 bronco for a short time and realized it was just too small for my needs and point blank I have never been a ford guy but I always liked the old broncos. My kids always want to ride with me any chance they get and the blazer will fit them much better than the bronco for quite a while

I found this 72 blazer a few years ago and kept hammering on the friend who owned it and he finally gave in this year. She from what I can tell is pretty much all stock. Mechanically she seems good, drives well and fires right up. She has the cancer but from what I can tell it seems to be limited to the part of the front floor pans, rocker and small portion of the fender and quarter panel. The tub, firewall, kick panel and all body mount look to be in great shape. I am now at the big decision of due I pull the body and spend big money which I really don't have or cut out the rust with the body on and then some day at the earliest a few years down the road do a body off. My initial thought was to pull the body off get on a rotisserie and get the rust out from the under side and paint areas that were repaired. Then paint below the trim black primer put the body back on and run the for 2-5 years and then do a body off. Truth is I really like the patina paint almost as sparkly new paint. I ended up talking to a guy who has way more experience than me with old rigs and he says I ll just open a can of worms and spend a pile of money pulling the body. He recommended I just cut out the obvious rust with the body on, paint what is needed and drive it for a while then some day take body off. Which this method is all fine and dandy except I am not the kind of person that can just drive something knowing that it is self deteriorating away and I could be doing something about it. Another factor is I don't currently have any shop to park it in at my house and wont for another few years. I definitely could cover it with no major hassles. I could also store at an offsite shop during the winter but that would kinda suck but maybe a good option till I get a shop built.


The interior is sunbaked pretty bad. All seats either need to be rebuilt or new seats put in. My plan is to try and not make any changes that could not be reversed to bring the truck back to stock. I like stock blazers and if I ever wanted to or if I had to sell and needed the most money out of it which would be returning it to stock

I have many questions and would appreciate any and all input.

1. body off or leave on and have cut out what the best the can do for now? Money is a big factor in this project and I have some but not a lot and the bottom line is I want to be able to use this rig for getting up into the woods and for me that would be really hard to do with a body off restored blazer.
Any thoughts on this would be great!! Where is the best place to get the floor pans and rocker kits that I need?

2. Too lift or keep stock? I like slightly lifted trucks plain and simple. I could picture this rig with a small 3" lift and some 32-33s max and I think it would look great however I think it would look great just getting the ass sag out of it and giving it a better set of tires and calling it good.

3. The safety for my kids is very high on the list of priority's in this build. My rear bench seat is shot and it will need to be reupholstered or replaced. I am leaning toward replacing and going with a Tahoe 3 rd row seat to get the over the shoulder belts and removable seats. Any thoughts on what to do here or other options?

4. Roll bar. I know many people don't have roll bars and don't care but knowing that I will be on some trails and fire roads with lots of exposure and going down the road at 65, I would feel better doing some type of roll bar even though cosmetically I am not a big fan. Doesn't seem like many people due a family style bar that goes over the rear seat? Any ideas ?

5. Currently my turn signals are out and I haven't had much time to mess with it but it seems like my fuse panel is a little sketch and may need work or just to be replaced. Pretty common to just install a new harness ?? or should I just spend more time with the stocker and see what's going on? Any brands of new harnesses the best?

6. Thinking about having built a rear bumper with tire carrier and gas/water rack. Anybody have ideas or pictures of one or does anybody manufacture one?

7. Soft tops depening upon what I do with the roll cage I guess will determine what I can get or do for a soft top? I'd like to replace fixed side windows in the top with sliders. Where is the best place to get them?

That's all I can think of for the moment but many thanks to all that help and I look forward to talking blazers for many years to come!!