Some new information about my not so rust free Blazer

[Thealien]

I had a friend come over today to do some work on my NOT SO RUST FREE Blazer. Even though he is a good friend of 30+ years I pay him so he doesn't get tired of helping. Still cheaper than a mechanic or body shop and I tell him what needs to be done.

Changed the plugs and air filter. Every plug was covered in soot. I meant to change the sires also but I am still an idiot and bought regular wires as I had not noticed the HEI back there. I guess I have been distracted.

There was some kind of stereo and amplifier at one point and the wiring is scotch locked and a mess everywhere. I removed a bunch of live wires and and found some still unresolved issues.

Here is a picture of some cut wires. Not sure where they go (I assume the rear lights but they work (license plate does not?).



This is the mess of a fuel fill it sticks out about 2 inches past where the side panels would be. I would like the fuel fill behind the tail light or sidemarker or at least a door and not hacked together. did I say it showed up without even a gas cap?





In anticipation of a body shop welding that abortion up I wanted to replace some of the pipe with fuel hose so when it is welded closed I can add fuel with it turned into the bed until the permanent solution is figured out.



While he was fixing the fuel fill pipe the bottom hose to the tank fell out. They had put 1 1/2" hose instead of the 1 3/8" and tried unsuccessfully to tighten it down with hose clamps, it wasn't working and had to of leaked gas when filling.



So he fixed that (I had some 1 3/8" hose left over from my Jimmy 10-15 years ago).



Only 2 bolts in the rear bumper

[Thealien]

On top of all the rot, the fuel gauge does not work. I had power to the fuel gauge and grounded it out and the gauge did not move (gauge?). I had bought a new sending unit but did not put it in, it "may" be working since the gauge is not (but based on everything else I doubt it). I was planning on getting one of the correct new gas tanks but they are out of stock for about a month. The tach is not working (reads about 2500-3500 at high idle and doesn't move much. There is an HEI installed maybe that is part of the problem? Going to just get a rebuilt cluster and go from there.

The directional switch needs replacing, waiting on 1. The gear indicator light is also cut hope to take care of that when the switch arrives. Oh and there is no neutral safety switch so it will start in any gear. I guess Ill add that to my next order. Needs all the body mounts and I have ordered them. I hope I can have my friend install them before the body shop to save on some of their labor?

All the AC hoses were split, duct taped and all need replacing.

The Blazer arrived on the carrier with a flat. No way he didn't know it had a slow leak but he just sent it anyway! See the bubbles!



And this is what we found!



Look at the nice windshield wiper that was on it. How can someone sell **** with all this wrong and say rust free runs great, drive anywhere?



Everything was cheaply wrapped in blue vinyl covering broken dash pad, armrests, door panels. If I or anyone would have looked at this we would have walked, no maybe ran. This is all I can remember for now. With some help I/we are chipping away. A forum member has introduced me to a more reasonable body guy. Hopefully hw can get me in about a month from now.

[truckster]

The wires are for rear lights. They may have been for a trailer wiring adapter.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by truckster

The wires are for rear lights. They may have been for a trailer wiring adapter.

Kind of what I figured and I cant lay on the ground. Well I can but with my shoulders it's fun getting up. When we do the body mounts we will investigate more. The rear lights, brakes, and directional work so hopefully it is a trailer tap but most likely they just cut and taped like everything else!

[DeadheadNM]

What’s the plan? Keep and repair or sell?

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

What’s the plan? Keep and repair or sell?

It appears there is no interest in anyone buying (I can see why, I would/should have ran). At the moment I am trying to fix all the hack jobs the previous owner cobbled together. I have plans to bring it to a local body shop for all the rust repairs when he has room in about a month (waiting on a bunch of patch panels and other parts). Once it hits the body shop I will not be selling as I will be so upside down on it (get it) that it will be mine forever. Hopefully when done it will be nicer then anything I could buy (and probably twice what its worth).

It really runs like crap if I can get it to run reliably maybe I'll drive it for a while after rust repairs.

[DeadheadNM]

Are you in need of good OEM wiring harnesses?

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Are you in need of good OEM wiring harnesses?

One of the decisions I am struggling with now. With no neutral safety switch at all it should not start but it does. I assume they jumped the 2 purple wires. There is lots of other cuts, splices, scotch locks. I cleaned a bunch up but there is more to do.

The part I am struggling with is I would like to upgrade to the newer fuses but not sure I feel like crimping all the connectors on an aftermarket harness. Not sure what a good OEM new or used would cost. I hate doing things twice but might have to just to get everything working?

I am open to suggestions or?

[DeadheadNM]

I believe I have all the oem harnesses from my blue blazer - I could sell these as a package: forward lamp, engine, under dash, intermediate, tail lamp. I believe I reused my AC harness. Could be a quick route to a safer more reliable ride and resold down the road if upgraded.

The aftermarket harnesses I’ve used were all plug and play oem-style. Never saw a need to upgrade to new style fuses when the original style work fine.

[Skymortar]

I think were going to see this for awhile.The prices at barrett Jackson got alot of people putting lipstick on a pig and putting big numbers on them

[rsavage]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

I believe I have all the oem harnesses from my blue blazer - I could sell these as a package: forward lamp, engine, under dash, intermediate, tail lamp. I believe I reused my AC harness. Could be a quick route to a safer more reliable ride and resold down the road if upgraded.

The aftermarket harnesses I’ve used were all plug and play oem-style. Never saw a need to upgrade to new style fuses when the original style work fine.

I have done the same on the trucks I have restored. You can buy cheaper harnesses that aren't plug and play, but whatever you save on initial cost will quickly be exceeded by the cost of installation. I also don't like crimped connections.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by rsavage

I have done the same on the trucks I have restored. You can buy cheaper harnesses that aren't plug and play, but whatever you save on initial cost will quickly be exceeded by the cost of installation. I also don't like crimped connections.

Why not, all the factory harnesses are crimped properly. I was a commercial industrial electrician for 40 years prior to my career ending injury. I also worked on motorcycles and cars my entire life as a necessity and hobby. There is a place for soldered connection but a vehicle that vibrates (my opinion from personal experience) is not the place for a soldered connection. No matter how well you solder it stiffens the wire and with vibration can break right at the end where the solder ends (left me stranded on my motorcycle a couple of times). These harnesses are 50 years old crimped and if someone didn't hack them up that crimp is still good after all these years. I have all the correct crimping tools (just would take me days to do a couple hours worth of work now) and I can make crimps and connectors just like factory. On the older connectors like our trucks there is enough room for a little heat shrink which adds a layer of support and moisture prevention at the crimp. On the newer vehicles with Deutsch, Metri-pack, etc there are seals and locks preventing any heat shrink from being installed.

[jaros44sr]

I have to agree that soldering only weakens the connection, I suppose if they were supported in some way, this wouldn't be the case, since copper becomes work hardened and can break.A good mechanical crimp with a sealant in the shrink tube seams to be the best way to go, having the right crimper only helps

But it sounds like you have way more experiance than I, mine just came back from the electrical shop, so that tells you how much I trust my work when it comes to computors and electrical stuff, if it were of my doing, my engine would not be running YET!

The thing that drives me nuts, are the scotch locks, thank goodness I'm past all the PO's work

All the harnesses I used were from M&H, great customer support, I was on the phone with him Daily