72 project

[red71cheyenne]

You are getting there! It takes time. I have been doing the Blazer for over 4 years now! Are you planning on staying with the quadrajet? I would get rid of the points dizzy and go to HEI. Way nice mod. Keep us updated, Jeff.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Wow....sorry for the long time without posting on this. Update for anyone interested.

I have finished with dissasembly on the motor. block heads and crank go to machine shop on Monday.

heres a few pics.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Everything is off to the macjine shop now. 3 angle performance valve job, new springs and lifters, bore and hone the block, polish the crank....plus cam and bearings.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

motors back. started on cleaning and then painting the block.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

I've started the initial rebuild of the motor now. Nothing exciting but its getting there.

Ordered a new gas tank from FCG yesterday as well so I have to get the bed off

[Joe67]

Very nice progress indeed

[Chris4x4Gill2]

and heres the Camshaft




heres the cam specs...I thin kthis should do what i want pretty well (lots of torque/towing) what do ya'll think?

Intake Exhaust
Duration 218 226
Lobe lift .3080 .3200
Lobe seperation 111.0

[Chris4x4Gill2]

How come no one told me how heavy the bed is on these things?! Jeeze, I think I pulled something but its off now. Now I can start preping for the gas tank from FCG. Looks liek alot of degreaser and a pressurewasher followed up by some rustoleum

[CAL 58 GMC]

Looks like some good progress on the motor!

[Chris4x4Gill2]

thanks. I'm at a stopping point for right now on the motor. I decided to replace the pushrods as well so they are on order. Hopefully they will be here by the weekend.

[hawaiianblue72]

I've had good luck with LMC parts so far. Here's some pics of mine so far. I replaced a lot of metal. HAV'IN FUN!

[Chris4x4Gill2]

your floor board came out good. Basically you just cut out the bad and weld in new to repalce it? Body work is completely new to me

[junkyardjohn]

DON'T DISCOUNT A SET OF BUCKETS OUT OF A LATER MODEL TRUCK OR CAR. THE NEXT TIME YOUR IN A JUNKYARD TRY A SEAT OUT FOR FIT OUT OF A EARLY 80s JEEP GRAN CHEROKEE . I'VE GOT A PAIR IN MY 69 TOWTRUCK & THEY ARE THE MOST COMFORTABLE SEATS I'VE EVER HAD. (I HAD CST BUCKETS IN MY 71 CST BLAZER & THESE ARE ABOUT 100 TIMES MORE COMFORTABLE) I BROKE MY BACK ABOUT 30 YEARS AGO & CAN ONLY SET IN BENCH SEATS FOR ABOUT 50 MILES. I RECENTLY DROVE MY TOWTRUCK 2340 MILES ACROSS COUNTRY, & AFTER 10 HOUR DAYS DRIVING I NEVER ONCE HAD A BACKACHE. THEY ARE LOWBACK, ELECTRIC, & COST ABOUT $60 & ABOUT $300 TO REAPHOLSTER OR LESS THAN 1/2 OF WHAT ORIGINAL BUCKETS COST. UNLESS YOU'RE GOING FOR A CONCORSE RESTORATION.. GO FOR THE COMFORT. I DO RECOMEND AN ORIGINAL CONSOLE THOUGH. (ANY ONE OUT OF A BLAZER UP TILL 88 ARE THE SAME WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CUPHOLDERS INSTEAD OF SEATBELT HOLDER SLOTS) JOHN

[Chris4x4Gill2]

I havent even started to think about the interior yet! That is on down the road a while. I have too much mechanical work that needs to be done first. Since I am removing the gas tank, Late model buckets are in the plans, just dont know out of what yet.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Bringing this back from the dead.

Little update on me first and hopefully ya'll will let me slide a littel on letting the truck sit for so long.

Since last post.. I have started a new job, wich initially has required a good deal of travel and I have bought a house, which has required a good deal of money!

So, I spent about 4 months looking for a house, trying to find the right one with relation to cost, location and space. I finally found it about 6 months ago.

3bd 2 bath, decent size wooded lot.........and a 4 car garage.

Yep, thats right the 72 has a place to park out of the weather....or at least she will when I get her over here.

So....since buying the house, I've painted almost all of it, redid the cabinets, Epoxy coated the garage, changed out some leaking water hoses to the frig, refinished a yardsale table for the kitchen, installed ceiling fans, brought in loads of fill dirt to level out the back yard, and cut down/pulled up overgrown flower and weed beds around the house as well as completely moved some of them.


SO.........thats is mostly done, especially for the winter. That means, I have moved the motor over to the new shop. still disasembled unortunately. I am still stumped on assembly becasue of it locking up when I torque everything down. I'm guessing i need different bearings but dont know how to figure out which ones I need. Hopefully I'll be able to bribe someone with experience to help me soon.

The truck is still not here, but I have managed to get the bed off, sand off all of the rust on the frame and paint it. I've started to measure for the FCG tank to go btwn the frame rails but its not installed yet.

My goal is to have it to the new place by February.(after hunting season) Once I get it here I'll strip the bench seat and stock gas tank out. Install the new tank and get to work on the rust at the door sills.

What I need help doing is holding me accountable! Please guys ask me for updates so it stays on my mind and I dont let it fall off the priority list!

[Chris4x4Gill2]

OK....didnt make the Feb timetable I set for myself but....I decided it would be better to get the motor done first instead of trying to cram everything in at once. This way it will give me more floor space to work on the body and frame.

I had to mothball this project for about a year but I finally got it started again this weekend. I figured out the problem I was having with the rotating assembly locking up when I torqued the caps down. half of the Rod caps were mismatched. I'm pretty sure I had them all right when they left for the machine shop, but who knows?

Anyway, The shortblock is complete. I am waiting on a few parts I orderd yesterday to get back on it. Hopefully I will have the motor assembled completely before too long.

I'll try to get pics soon.

[Andy4639]

Very nice truck and a grandpa owned one at that! Very Cool.
I noticed on one of your post you want disc brakes. Your 72 should already have the disc up front. You may need to rebuild them but it should have it already.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Thanks for the compliments! You know I've never even pulled the front wheels off to see what it has yet. If they are alreasy discs then thats one less thing to worry about. Its hard to get much done with the truck being at my parents house. As soon as I get the motor done, I'll be cleaning out alot of old parts and odds and ends. Then I'll get the truck moved into the garage so some real work can start on it.

[heavy71chevy]

Nice work....im lookin forward to ripping all my rusty steel out and putting fresh life back into old sheetmetal...grandpappy should be happy and proud freind

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Well, picked up oil pan and timing cover bolts today. They are installed. Then started on the heads. Heads are on and torqued down, lifters installed and pushrods lubed and in place. Was going to start on the rockers, but noticed the time and its about time to quit for the night. So she's covered back up and waiting hopefully I will get the heads done and the intake on tomorrow.

I have pics, but my stupid camera wont upload them for somereason. I'll try again tomorrow.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Heres the current pics for anyone interested.

[72BlckButy]

Looks like it's coming together... keep it up!

[joedoozer]

Very nice. I like posts like these. I have a 72 too, and it has buckets from some late model car. Swing by a junkyard and do some sitting haha. Do some measurements of the floor space in the truck. Give you a rough idea what will fit and what not. Have you looked at those buddy buckets? I think they were in blazers. I think those are way cool. Keep up the good work.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Interior is waaaaaayyy down the list still. When I get the motor together and get the truck over here to the house my FCG tank will be going in along with the plumbing for it. Still have to figure out how to do the filler though. after that is rust removal/body repair.

[Chris4x4Gill2]

Ah! Work is driving me nuts! All week its been 10+ hour days so on top of my commute I'm dead by time I get home...which means no work on the motor! Not too mention the lady friend is not too happy since my complaining centers around the motor, not missing her. (oops) I've got tomorrow off and me and my cousin are going to hit the river for some fishing. That should help me relax and wind down so I can hoefully get alittle bit of work don on the motor on Saturday. I got new lock nuts for the rocjer arms and the new balancer and pulley came in the other day. So Ishould get them installed and try to get the valve lash set this weekend. After thats it should just be bolt on the intake nad then start with accessories.