Camp and cruise, 72 Jimmy 4wd Project

[bambbrose]

Hello gentlemen

Picked up a Jimmy last week and wanted to start a build thread to document my progress and also solicit feedback as I run into trouble getting her back on the road.

Some background on "why a k5/Jimmy" for me? Growing up my grandparents had a white k5, it was a 71/72 unit, which we took hunting, fishing, camping, and in general all over the place. As time went on it wore out and sat at their house. I told my grandfather I wanted to buy it when I was in high school, however a few years later in life when I was busy in college he sold it to a neighbor. I'm still kicking myself for not staying on him and reminding him that I really wanted it.

Nonetheless I've always had it in my mind that I was going to make one of my own either way since then.

Fast forward 15 years, I recall that we used to call it a Jimmy, even though it was a K5. I had it in my mind I was going to find myself "a Jimmy" as I'm partial to the looks.

I've been browsing online and the classifieds on and off for a few years. Finished building a new home last summer and started looking more seriously. Finally a 72 Jimmy came for sale and I picked it up last weekend.

Admittedly she needs some work. At some point in life she was painted maroon from her original olive green color.
Its a 350/hydro, PS, PB, AC, AM/FM, olive + black vinyl. What you see in the pictures is completely different, but if you dig around you can see what she once was.

Unfortunately, at some point it was converted to a blazer. Was this a common thing back in the day?

Fortunately for me, it has had a small front end collision, which worked in my favor as it had a lot to do with the lower price.

It has a "rebuilt" 350 with ~6k miles on it. Recently done brakes, fluids, and in general mechanically shes in decent shape. I drove it around and she has good pickup, great oil pressure, and very little blowby. The trans feels like a dog but I'm told these old TH350 eat up a lot of power before you start moving down the road.

So on to the immediate tasks:
-clean her up as good as possible
-the throttle cable is sloppy. I briefly inspected it and it looks like some plastic grommet is about to fail down at the peddle. Need to fix this.
-go through all fluids. Shes been sitting for a few years since the front end accident
-get the carb cleaned up and the choke working. Shes cold blooded right now.
-repair the front end. Source and locate original GMC parts.
-go through the wiring, particularly the lights, and get her road legal
-remove the top
-take it camping in summer 2016 original goal, new goal winter 2016

So those are the goals.

I'm going to list some of the parts I know I need just to keep a running list:
-GMC Jimmy front fenders, both sides. Found
-GMC Jimmy hood. Found
-GMC Jimmy 71-72 grille, headlights, etc. Complete assembly. Found
-Radiator core support? Found
-Jimmy front bumper Obtained from GMCPauls
-original 15x6 Jimmy 4x4 wheels, ideally 5. Found 6 of them
-GMC tailgate. Will sell the chevy unit.


and that is just the start.... I'll need quite a few patch panels for rust repair as well.


Now on to some pics.

These first 5 are how she was it the garage where I got it.