Tough Decision - Opinions Please

[Huskerboy2]

Hi All:

I'm having a dilemma and could use some advice. Right now, I have the fenders, hood, doors, tailgate, rear fender wells and the top off my Blazer. The truck runs great, 96K original miles and the tranny and xfer case are solid. My original plan was to do a body on cosmetic restoration and I wasn't planning on touching the drive train. My dilemma is that now I am thinking about going frame off full resto. I need to replace the body mounts anyway. What would you all do?

It would be nice to be able to powder coat the frame and chassis parts, etc. It would be nice to even have the tub acid dipped or at least plastic media blasted top side and under side. It would make for a better job, no doubt, and it would also cost $$$.

Here are my questions and concerns if I did full frame off:

1. My biggest concern is that while I'm pretty handy with a wrench, I'm a little worried about disassembly (suspension, wiring, A/C etc.) and mainly re-assembly. It's a little intimidating for me, even though I know that there are a lot of good resources on this board to help.

2. Would you go ahead and have the engine, tranny and xfer case rebuilt? I would hate to get her put back together and then have something go wrong.

3. Would you replace the wiring with a "painless" wiring kit while you're at it?

4. The Blazer is not a CST, it's a 4 speed manual, no tach, tilt, etc. It does have some heavy duty suspension options, A/C, etc. It was a worker Blazer basically and it's in better than average shape, I would say. It was a one owner with 96K miles. Does it still make sense to do a full frame off resto on a truck that isn't that highly optioned?

I would appreciate any opinions.

Thanks all.