American Revolution 2nd time around 2wd Blazer

[Rokcrln]

Finlay I have something to report!! I have been out with a bad back so progress was stopped for a bit. Lucky for me the owner is in no real hurry and is very understanding. That being said lets get back to it.
I put in a few hours last weekend completing the front suspension and ran the air line Through the cross member over to the pass side were it will meet the pass side line and run down the frame to the control valve. I did not want any future problems with the lines so I picked up 25' of cheap 3/8" ID vacume line and ran the 1/4" air line Through that for added wear protection. So right now the front is complete except for the height switches because I want to set those once the ride height is decided on.

Today I spent some time out in the shop working on the rear rust issues with the floor. It was worse than I thought but still not that bad and is easily fixable at this point so I am glad we are not waiting to do this down the road. A month or so ago I picked up a real spot weld drill set for about $60 or so and boy is it worth the money. I started by slicing the rear floor into sections down the middle of the ribs so I am only dealing with 1 or 2 spot welds at a time. Once I find the spot weld I just center punch it and drill it out. Simple as that. Once the back section was removed I cut out the rust that was hiding in the rear sill header and made sure I went past the rust into good metal. I will simply brake some 16ga to patch these areas before cleaning and prepping and installing the new floor. I then trimmed down the new floor section so it was at least one rib wider than the hole in the floor. Once I am happy with the fit I will screw down the rear sill and just take my cut off wheel and slice Through the two over lapping ribs to make a clean but weld cut. Well this is it for now I plan on just doing a few hours a day until my back is back in motion. Here are a few pics to follow along with my rambling




Love the bondo filler patch!





Kevin
LFD Inc.

[BlueJeep]

What do you have for a sheetmetal brake that you're using? I'm looking for one, but don't know what type I'd be happy with. Thanks.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

What do you have for a sheetmetal brake that you're using? I'm looking for one, but don't know what type I'd be happy with. Thanks.

It is just a small 36" POS harbor freight one I picked up a few years ago. It works OK for this kind of stuff but is not real accurate. I want to get a 50" commercial model down the road and then a smaller box brake.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Had some time today while my wife and son were out food shopping so I did what any guy would do. Went in the shop and welded stuff
Got the rear floor patch finished and now I am just waiting on one more floor cup for the new rear seat I am going to install. Then I will put on the new body mounts and start wiring up the ART computer, get the new exhaust put in and do an alignment.











Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Palf70Step]

It's coming along real nice Kevin.

[BACKYARD88]

Looks good! But you really didn't need to hear that from me did you

[pcorriveau951]

Kevin, very nice work as usuall. One questions, have you though about mounting the rde height sensor for the front on the rear side on the crossmember? i believe another member has them mounted this way, i wanna say its the incredible hulk build. Seems like it would be alittle easier then in the front, wih the steering and sway bar and all.
Please dont take that in a negative way just trying to offer a suggestion.
Great Work as always and look forward to viewing more of your builds.
Phil

[pcorriveau951]

Kevin, this picture is from 68 short step build thread, hopefully he doesnt mind me posting it!!! ride heoght sensor mount on rear of front crossmember near shock mounts.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by pcorriveau951

Kevin, very nice work as usuall. One questions, have you though about mounting the rde height sensor for the front on the rear side on the crossmember? i believe another member has them mounted this way, i wanna say its the incredible hulk build. Seems like it would be alittle easier then in the front, wih the steering and sway bar and all.
Please dont take that in a negative way just trying to offer a suggestion.
Great Work as always and look forward to viewing more of your builds.
Phil

I looked at that but figured with were they are now they will be out of the way and all I need to do is put a few bends in the arms or the sensor. Plus I must admit I thought it would look like a better install with a few bends in the arms instead of strait like they just came out of the box and I have a nice 4.5Ton Iron worker I like using on brackets and suck for a custom touch.

And never worries about me taking any input Negative, heck you are taking the time to read my posts and give your input. So even if I do not agree with the input or want to do it a different way thanks for taking the time. None of us are perfect and we can all use a second set of eye's on these projects.

Heck I have a crew of guys (my hot rod friends and my Wife) that come over and I run ideas by then from time to time on builds that can not be posted due to being a new show car or what not and they always give other ways to do things and it works great.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by pcorriveau951

Kevin, this picture is from 68 short step build thread, hopefully he doesnt mind me posting it!!! ride heoght sensor mount on rear of front crossmember near shock mounts.

Well see their you go when I first saw that pics awhile back I thought it was the front side of the crossmember and I set mine in the same spot and it would not work with out conflict. So I made my mounting brackets and set it up that way. Then I ran my lines out thru the spot were he has his sensor so it all worked out for the better.




Kevin
LFD Inc.

[sandking]

WOW! And you say I do nice work???? You got the skills. Looks good. Nice project. I may be able to steal some ideas from you.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by sandking

WOW! And you say I do nice work???? You got the skills. Looks good. Nice project. I may be able to steal some ideas from you.

Thanks, do a thread search with my name and you will find a few hours of decent reading

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Well after over a month of staying out of the shop due to my back being out I was finally feeling no pain so I put in a 10hr day in the 103* heat

I got tons of work done and was real happy with my progress. I started by replacing the body mounts and all hardware. One of the PO's thought it would be a good idea to weld in all the bolts. So I started by grinding the heads loose then removed what was left of the few body mounts that were even their. I then put in the new ones and tightened things down nice and snug. This kit came from ECE and they had all the mounts, bolts, washers, sleeves and nuts all pre-assembled so their was no guess work as to what goes were. One thing I find to be a real time saver is to tack weld the square washers to the bolts for the front radiator support mounts so they can not spin or lift out when you are installing them.

Then I moved to the rear diff floor bump. The C-notches are larger then normal on this Blazer so in order to use all the travel and get it as low as possible I did a 2" diff floor hump for the diff to pop up into. This let the rear end go 3" lower then before because it was also hitting a floor brace that I re-worked as well.

I then started to run all the computer harness's for the AIR RIDE kit through the floor and into the passenger side rocker box. I also mounted the two air compressor's that came in the kit. Next I will run the rear air lines, connect all the fittings and figure out a good ride height so I can install and set the height sensors.

Also last week I put in the rear seat floor mounts so I guess it has not been a full month but I was not suppose to be out their so don't tell my wife

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Here are the rest of todays pic's

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[BACKYARD88]

Glad you back was feeling good enough to make some progress. Looks awesome, as usual

[Rokcrln]

Here is this weekends progress. I completly re-did the gas tank filler, vents, filters and also the floor opening around the fill neck to get rid of the great foam job. Then I installed the bumper brackets, bumper and lic plate holder. Who ever did the leaf spring conversion reall screwed up the rear frame horns and they needed a bit of work to get right. I then put the carpet back in, instaled the speaker boxes, tailgate and rear seat. The inside is now all finished being torn apart for other fixes so it is a big step in the completion of this rig. I mounted the two air compressors, rear storage tank and I wired everything up inside the rocker box. For splices I soldered and heat shrank everything to make sure it will perform for many years to come. Here are a few pics of the work.











Kevin
LFD Inc.

[BACKYARD88]

Do you know how many gallons that tank is Kevin?

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like a 20 gallon poly tank replacement for blazers... Wheres the filler at on the passengerside?

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by FRENCHBLUE72

Looks like a 20 gallon poly tank replacement for blazers... Wheres the filler at on the passengerside?

Yes!

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[BACKYARD88]

My bad I meant the air tank. Sorry.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by BACKYARD88

My bad I meant the air tank. Sorry.

I think it is the 5gal if I remember right.

Here are a few more pics. I have the air tank all finished up and filled. The twin pumps do a nice job of keeping up. I fixed the rear shock mounts, mounted the shocks, centered the rear diff at full drop so it can still roll and not rub. Re- placed the rear brakes, set the pinion angle and welded in the perches. Put in the new ECE headers and had to make a few mods for then to clear since the old full length headers were wider and things fit different. I still have several things left to do but that is for another day. Right now only the front bags are working because I had to order two fittings for the rear bags.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[hotrodhomi]

FYI - Sacramento hose and fitting has every fitting you will need in stock if you wanted to make the drive.

[Rokcrln]

Originally Posted by hotrodhomi

FYI - Sacramento hose and fitting has every fitting you will need in stock if you wanted to make the drive.

You know I have been their for hydro parts but I forgot they also have air fittings.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[Rokcrln]

Loaded up and going for exhaust Friday morning and if time allows alignment as well. Here are a few pic's.

Kevin
LFD Inc.

[68 short step]

cool pics...glad to see you're useing low buck