AJ's '72 Cruiser Crawler Build

[AJs72K5]

UPDATE 03/13/09: Took a drive out to the body shop after work to check out the progress. Firewall patches and paint work are done. He did a really great job. The dish on the firewall has been opened up a bit to give me more room for the engine. Hood and cowl are prepped for paint...they're working on getting a good silver match.

[OARNGESI]

Thats really nice too bad the fire messed up that paint

[jaros44sr]

AJ, anything new? That guy did some really nice work... How soon before it comes home?

[AJs72K5]

Tub came home this week. I stopped by the body shop yesterday and they were shooting the silver on the hood and the cowl.

I've been painting the engine accessories in the front yard...the neighbors love me. Other than that, I'm waiting for a couple of parts to come in before before I start building...again.

[dutchadams]

Amazing Blazer you've got there. That primary silver you have on there is beautiful. Do you know the brand and color code for the paint? That exactly the color I have been looking for.

[Big J]

2 questions for ya.... What color is the engine going to be? What is that on the roof of the Burb sittin' next to your Blazer in the garage? Glad to see you get to get it back up and going pretty quick.

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by Big J

2 questions for ya.... What color is the engine going to be? What is that on the roof of the Burb sittin' next to your Blazer in the garage?

My guess is they use it to hunt quail or to get on the back of an elephant

[AJs72K5]

Originally Posted by dutchadams

Amazing Blazer you've got there. That primary silver you have on there is beautiful. Do you know the brand and color code for the paint? That exactly the color I have been looking for.

Chrysler Argent DAH1-S4A

Originally Posted by Big J

2 questions for ya.... What color is the engine going to be? What is that on the roof of the Burb sittin' next to your Blazer in the garage? Glad to see you get to get it back up and going pretty quick.

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

My guess is they use it to hunt quail or to get on the back of an elephant

Block and water pump are gonna be red. Everything else black.

I don't own the garage...that's just my corner where they let me store it work on it. The Burb is at the shop for some tranny work I think....it's not mine. My guess is that it's used for deer hunting. It's got a feeder on the back, a rack in the front with a manual winch to pull the body onto for hauling and the big rack on top for the shooters.

[AJs72K5]

Not a real update, but here's what I was up to today.

[AJs72K5]

UPDATE 03/29/09: The last of my major part purchases (I hope) for the rebuild showed up yesterday. I picked a DIY4X crossmember from a fellow boardmember that had changed hands a couple of times cuz it wouldn't fit (LSX and a Cummins). It's never been fully installed

So, of course I had to run by the shop this morning to make sure it would fit.



Tons of clearance on the Milodon pan


Now, I just need to repaint it. Stay tuned, next week, we start working on the motor...

[AJs72K5]

UPDATE 04/03/09: Picked up my hood and cowl from the body shop today...no pics of the hood. But, I did get the pics the body guy took of his progress. These will show a bit better how he cleaned up the dish in the firewall for the BBC.

Bringing back a pic of the firewall showing the PO's "work" to get the BBC in. You can clearly see where he beat on, and cut the firewall up.


The patch for the passenger side...he finished this the day the truck showed up


The driver's side took a lot more work. He cut the dish to open it up, and then smoothed out the lines while patching the hole.


Here's a shot of the firewall with both patches.


Filler to smooth and ready for primer.



I'll post up a pic of the hood tomorrow along with any progress I make.

[lks dcvn]

Looks pretty good to me - might be a blessing in disguise type thing...

[Chevyman63]

Originally Posted by lks dcvn

Looks pretty good to me - might be a blessing in disguise type thing...

[jaros44sr]

Man, that guy does some nice work. Are you sure that was a body shop? That is one of the cleanest places I have ever seen, guess it reflects the quality of his work...

Now you will really start to collect the trophies

[AJs72K5]

UPDATE 04/04/09: Made a little more progress today.

But first, as promised, here's a picture of the refinished hood. No more graphics...or big burn mark in the middle


Got the new to me DIY4X crossmember installed. Took a little persuasion to get everything to line up, but it's in. I really need to wipe the frame down...


Finished pulling everything off the engine to prep for the MPFI conversion. I'm also putting a Comp Cams adjustable timing chain. This'll allow me to get the timing on the cam dialed in a close as humanly possible to the grind sheet...which equals MORE HP.


On a side note, the fire may have been a blessing in disguise. The pre-screen on the oil pickup was almost completely clogged with purple paint flakes. They got really sloppy when spraying the purple. Nothing was taped off...there's purple on the crank, the timing chain, inside the heads....

[Yukon Jack]

Wow, that is wild about the pickup screen - all things considered, it does look like this is kind of a good thing that happened - I'm really digging the silver hood, course, I'm a bit partial to silver :-)

[AJs72K5]

Originally Posted by Yukon Jack

Wow, that is wild about the pickup screen - all things considered, it does look like this is kind of a good thing that happened - I'm really digging the silver hood, course, I'm a bit partial to silver :-)

I figured you'd like the color.

[RED72blazer]

Originally Posted by AJs72K5

UPDATE 04/04/09:

On a side note, the fire may have been a blessing in disguise. The pre-screen on the oil pickup was almost completely clogged with purple paint flakes. They got really sloppy when spraying the purple. Nothing was taped off...there's purple on the crank, the timing chain, inside the heads....

Are you going to pull the bearings and check them now? I think it would be good insurance.

BTW things are looking good I would eat off that fire wall.

[AJs72K5]

Originally Posted by RED72blazer

Are you going to pull the bearings and check them now? I think it would be good insurance.

BTW things are looking good I would eat off that fire wall.

I have a friend who build dragsters and engines for a living. He's gonna help me with the engine stuff since I'm at about the limit of my current knowledge. I'll see what he thinks.

[AJs72K5]

UPDATE 04/11/09: Got a little shop time this morning. The goal was start cleaning up the block, put the new timing chain on, and degree the cam. However, when we pulled the cam sprocket for the timing chain off, we found this:



Whoever built the engine, neglected to put the thrust washer on behind the cam sprocket. The sprocket has chewed into the block over 1/8". And because the cam wasn't in snug, the lifters are unevenly worn and a couple of cam lobes in the rear are flattening. Additionally, several of my pushrods are flexing. What does all this really mean? I need to rebuild the engine and get the block machined to fix the damage. Not something I had wanted to do right now, and definaltely something that was not budgeted for this year. It was one of those days, where I wish I had stayed home.

[Critter]

Man that does really suck, but on the bright side, better to find it now rather than after you put it all back together, repainted, fuel injected, etc...then it blows up.

[Jtrux]

Originally Posted by Critter

Man that does really suck, but on the bright side, better to find it now rather than after you put it all back together, repainted, fuel injected, etc...then it blows up.

True.

[Chevyman63]

Originally Posted by Critter

Man that does really suck, but on the bright side, better to find it now rather than after you put it all back together, repainted, fuel injected, etc...then it blows up.

also.

[jaros44sr]

AJ, do all smc's have that thrust washer behind the cam sprocket? I don't clearly remember taking one off when I did my timing chain

[AJs72K5]

Uh, I dunno. This build will be a learning process for me as far as engines go. I've never dug this far into one before. At this point, I'm taking guidance from my engine builder friend.