We are calling it K5-Rex

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First I will give you the back story of first K5. Bought this 71 K5 just over a year ago for my oldest sons first truck. He was 14 at the time. We found it on Craigslist about 2 hrs from home, looked it over, made the deal and loaded on the trailer. It has a running late 70s 350 with three on tree. It ran but the brakes were in terrible shape. Previous repairs had the rear brake guts removed, all that was left were the shoes and wheel cylinders. After finding the missing parts, we fixed the rear brakes, replaced the booster and master cylinder, new rotors and calipers for the front and were able to make it stop. Then we turned our attention to making it run better. We replaced the carb and intake with parts I had on the shelf. We drove it on occasion last winter, until March my son got his driving permit, then we had to take it everywhere we went. We were heading to a coffee and cars event in early spring when a valve stuck open. My son and I took the heads off and replaced the valve and seals. Put it all back together and have been enjoying it all summer. Now to present day. He wants to fix the rust and repaint it before he gets his licensed. Only 6 months, sure we can do it! I knew there were a few issues that needed attention but wasn't ready for what we have found. After digging through the layers of bondo, fiberglass and bed liner we got down to the bones of the Blazer only to find a mess of patches that had been placed overtop of the existing bed sides and floors. Some patches look pretty good while others used roofing tin, pop rivets and a half inch of fiberglass. So after our archeology dig through the previous repairs we have finally came up with the name for our project, K5-Rex.

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Pictures from this summer.

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We began stripping it down on Sunday. The black lines are where previous patches were made.

[IronCanine]

Looks like it's going to be fun. Looking forward to the progress.

[tristan]

Great shot of the Blazer up on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It looks just right there!

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It's been busy around here and not much time for working on Rex. We did get a little work done over the weekend. We finished stripping the front sheet metal off, braced the firewall, and started cutting the patches off the floor and rockers. Still looking for a short bed to replace the bedsides with. Made a trip to the salvage yard and came home with a good windshield frame. Has a little rust on the A pillar under the weatherstripping but the top section is in great shape.

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by chevypoint

Still looking for a short bed to replace the bedsides with. Made a trip to the salvage yard and came home with a good windshield frame. Has a little rust on the A pillar under the weatherstripping but the top section is in great shape.

The short bed pick-up 1/4 panels are different than the Blazer 1/4 panels. IMO you would be further ahead to just purchase aftermarket Blazer panels. The time it will save you is worth the expense.

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Originally Posted by hemi43

The short bed pick-up 1/4 panels are different than the Blazer 1/4 panels. IMO you would be further ahead to just purchase aftermarket Blazer panels. The time it will save you is worth the expense.

I have been looking at both the Blazer sides and pickup sides. What I have read, here and other places, is that new panels just dont fit real well and are not as strong (thick) as an original bedside. My budget is very thin and I dont mind a little fabrication. I also need a few patches for the bed floor thus thinking I could kill two birds...

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Have not gotten much done lately but have made a little progress. I guess that better than no progress. Started teaching the boy how to weld and fabricate some patch panels on the inner cowling and front fenders.

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Sold one of my projects, a 1925 Chevy Touring, to raise funds for this build. Found a SWB on the Board and went to Tennessee to pick it up. Got it home and disassemble it. Bedsides are in good shape but the floor is shot. Good for a few patches and the cross members are almost perfect. On a good note, I am picking up a 66 long bed in the deal for the touring.

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Had a busy weekend. On Saturday I spent the day teaching some Boy Scouts Leaders how to cook in a Dutch oven. On Sunday we got a little work done on the bed by pulling out the inner fenders and removing the roll bar. What we found is now typical for this blazer, RUST and a previous attempt to patch the holes with fiberglass and body filler. Looking more like its going to be a frame off restoration than a freshening up.

[scorn908]

here are some more pictures from this summer (i'm the son) i have some more, now to get them on my computer.

['68OrangeSunshine]

Cool looking Rabbit Ears on the Step Bumper. Looks like an active CBer's rig.
Also it appears there's a 2-Way rig bolted to the center console?
I've been thinking of adding a pair of Rabbit Ears [Twin Trucker whips] downline from a Realistic SSR rig I bought 20 years ago to put on the Jimmy and never used. I could mount 'em on my side-view mirrors.

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Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

Cool looking Rabbit Ears on the Step Bumper. Looks like an active CBer's rig.
Also it appears there's a 2-Way rig bolted to the center console?
I've been thinking of adding a pair of Rabbit Ears [Twin Trucker whips] downline from a Realistic SSR rig I bought 20 years ago to put on the Jimmy and never used. I could mount 'em on my side-view mirrors.

Thanks. I don't know much about the CB's, thats my sons doings. He has been all over the internet learning about them. He wants to build a 70's period Blazer and thought they looked cool. Granddad gave him the vintage setup and it has come in handy a few times traveling here in the mountains.

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Haven't had a lot of time for to work on the blazer in the past few weeks. But with this and next week off for the Holidays we are hoping for major progress to be made. Since the last update we have taken the bedsides off and started to repair the floor and sides. Today we picked up a hatch that was advertised on a local hotrod page. It has a few stress cracks but very fixable. You just don't find them around here.

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Had a couple weeks off at Christmas and hoped to get more accomplished then I did. But we did make some progress and that's all I can ask for. I cut out and patched the rusted areas in the bed floor, patched the front fenders, and started working on the bedsides. I have the next couple days off, so we will see how much I can get done.

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How do you like the custom bed side brace the previous owner fabricated?

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A couple more progress pics.

[tjsblazer]

That is some serious fabrication and repair you have going on but it will be miles ahead of where it was originally. Is that a license plate brace ? Amazing what some people do !

[Lieferson]

Nice work, too bad you are on the other side of the country, i will have a whole blazer tub with solid bed sides and windshield frame i wont be needing soon. Its fun finding all the little "fixes" PO's make eh? keep up the good work!

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Feeling a little down looking at my build. Its been a year since my last post and haven't really made any progress. We had a busy year. My oldest son Seth, whom we are building the Blazer for, earned his Eagle Scout badge. He and I took a 3 week adventure, driving cross country with his scout troop, to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. Both my boys played in the marching band which took up most of August thru October. I got 2nd degree burns from a propane cooker fire. We bought 2 other trucks. Cleaned and redone my shop/basement and organized all the parts that i have been collecting. With that being said we finally getting motivated to finish this project for my sons senior year. We have removed the bed floor to finish up a few brace repairs, pressure washed the frame and starting to work on the cab floor. Hope to keep the motivation going as baseball season is upon us. Last Picture is of the C20 that we picked up in a 2 for 1 deal. Seth took it over until the Blazer is done

[harrisoncole4]

Wow that is a lot of rust. Mine looks just about the same as yours did at the start. Great work!

['68OrangeSunshine]

I went to Philmont in 1964. Learned a lot about boots and blisters. It should've been called ''Philmont Infantry Training Center''. At least we didn't have to lug rifles up and down the mountains. Packed a milsurp bent-plywood [ww ii] packframe, tying on tent with gear inside, lashed with ''diamond hitch''. Slept on the empty packframe webbing in camp. Ultralight in those days meant taking one-half of a BSA mess kit. The dutch oven in Aluminum was considered the ultimate ultralight accessory. Dehydrated chow was brand new then. 'Cook' ate all the tiny ham bits once [from an omelet kit], thinking they were a crunchy snack.
Beautiful mountains.
Good times.

Nice looking fleetside.

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Originally Posted by '68OrangeSunshine

I went to Philmont in 1964. Learned a lot about boots and blisters. It should've been called ''Philmont Infantry Training Center''. At least we didn't have to lug rifles up and down the mountains. Packed a milsurp bent-plywood [ww ii] packframe, tying on tent with gear inside, lashed with ''diamond hitch''. Slept on the empty packframe webbing in camp. Ultralight in those days meant taking one-half of a BSA mess kit. The dutch oven in Aluminum was considered the ultimate ultralight accessory. Dehydrated chow was brand new then. 'Cook' ate all the tiny ham bits once [from an omelet kit], thinking they were a crunchy snack.
Beautiful mountains.
Good times.

Nice looking fleetside.

This was my first trip to Philmont. My first scouting experience was when we signed my son up 10 years ago. I will get to go back in a few years when my youngest gets to go. As one of our scoutmasters put it, we had "50 lbs of the lightest gear money could buy". That being said, I will not pack half the stuff that I thought I needed on the next trip. Jerky or meat sticks is the name of the game now. Its been 6 months and I still havent had any jerky. I enjoyed every minute and spending time with my son and his scout friends was priceless.

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Originally Posted by harrisoncole4

Wow that is a lot of rust. Mine looks just about the same as yours did at the start. Great work!

Yes it is rusty. I let the emotions of buying my Sons first truck get the better of me. He wanted a Blazer and i wanted to get him what he wanted. We searched craigslist and swap meets for 6 months and didn't really find anything. This one popped up on craigslist a couple hours from the house and we went to look at it. He wanted it as soon as we got there, I probably shouldn't have taken him with me. I didn't inspect it as well as I should have and his excitement got to me and we loaded it up. Its all fixable and he is learning some valuable skills and lessons.