Project 50th C5 Blazer

[Twisted78SS]

Well, after many years in the square body arena, I finally have my First 1st Gen Blazer.

My idea is to build what GM didn't, a 50th Anniversary 2wd Blazer.

Here are the plans I have laid out so far.

Converting my 70 Blazer to 2wd (Big thanks to Livrat who already has the conversion underway)

67 front Clip (yeah I know, but I like the 67 clean fender)

Adding trailing arms with an ECE drop cross member. Air bags all around with a mild c-notch.

Also, I am going with the Gold/White two tone paint scheme, Gold/White interior and body side trim from a 68.

More details as I make decisions, but for now.... Some pictures!





Right after the conversion

[edflores]

how is it 50th? dont you mean 40th?

[nuke1]

I think that idea is great, that will surely turn some heads, laid down low with tiems. me like

[Twisted78SS]

Yeah, the truck may be 40, but the project idea is to celebrate Chevrolet's 50th Anniversary. Good catch

[LuckyHenriksen]

Sounds cool. It would be fun to come check it out and give a helping hand

[67_C-30]

Very cool concept! I have tossed the same idea around with my '70 2WD Blazer. The only difference is I planned on '68 fenders so I wouldn't have to shave the rear side markers. I couldn't bring myself to do anything permanent on the '70 Blazer shell!

[CG]

I was soooo close to stopping by today, I just couldnt squeeze it in. Hopefully some time this week I can check it out.

[Twisted78SS]

Well we made some awesome progress today!! Mark and his buddy got started on Friday removing the front clip, and today we continued from there.

You can see he had already put the 2wd cross member in place temporarily


Here we are after getting the nose in the air and separated from the frame.


Next was to lift the back and roll out the chassis!



And the end result was looking good.






From here we moved it into the bay and began thrashing on the frame. Lots of brackets and bolts to remove. Here is a pile of brackets that will no longer be needed.





It didn't take but a few hours to get the frame down to the bare necessities.


I also had a chance to drill the A-Arms and front Cross member for the air bag plates.

I first clamped the plate where I wanted it, and using a transfer punch I made my marks.



Then I drilled a small pilot hole and followed by 2 more rounds with bigger bits each time.
Then it was on to the A-Arms.


What is cool about the A-Arms, is the two holes for the front sway bar allow you to put in two bolts and align it perfectly!

It was getting a bit late in the afternoon, so we cleaned up and I headed our for today. Stay Tuned!..

[Shock_Me]

Cool project!

Just curious. Would you be interested in selling some of your surplus 4x4 spring hangers and bracketry?

Pete

[edflores]

does the 2wd crossmember just bolt in? my friend has a 71 k5 and wants 2wd but doesnt want to go my route and buy a dropmember.

[jorgensensc]

Looks good! I will be watching this! Just out of curiosity, what is that large flat steel plate on the front of the frame? I'm not too familiar with blazers. Is that a owner add on?
SHawn

[OARNGESI]

Cant wait to sse ot come along great progress

[Twisted78SS]

I am sure you could talk Livrat into selling you some brackets, as those will be staying at his shop. I say shoot him a pm and go for it.

Originally Posted by Shock_Me

Cool project!

Just curious. Would you be interested in selling some of your surplus 4x4 spring hangers and bracketry?

Pete

[Twisted78SS]

So just to inform some who like me may not have known the full extent of the conversion process, let's just say some things are bolt in and some are not.

For the front cross member, yes it bolts in, but only after you drill the proper holes. In all seriousness, there is alot of things to do for a proper conversion.

To complete a full conversion and have your frame setup for either big or small block, you will end up drilling a total of 42 HOLES!.

I think I will sit down and better outline the process with Livrat's help, and add it to the build thread later. Thanks for the questions, keep them coming!

[Twisted78SS]

Oh, and as for the big A** plate on the front, well it looks to me the that the p.o. must have wanted a winch mount, so he cut an opening in the end of each frame horn and slid the plate in so that it would lay between the frame rails. Then they closed the ends with some sloppy welding.. but It's all gone now!

[tvblazer78]

I will be looking back on this one...

[lks dcvn]

Looks pretty good - keep the pix and 'how to' coming.

[my67chevytruck]

watching this one...... looks good .

[Palf70Step]

[gringoloco]

[Twisted78SS]

Well, Since I have been racking up the hours working for the man, No progress on my part. So I thought I would share the parts I have organized for the project.



Today I picked up a few more items.

3/8 DOT Airline
3/8 90*swivel push Loc fittings
Energy Suspension Body Mount kit.


I am heading back up to Livrat's shop tomorrow for another work session.
I also talked to him while he was out looking at yet another Blazer, and he found me a back seat..

Updated pictures tomorrow night when I get home!

Yeah, that is the custom Dana 60 from my ole 78 swb project. Since that one changed directions, I had the axle available for the Blazer. It is narrowed 2 inches and is running 75 Lincoln 11 in. rear discs, 3.73 with a Powe Loc.
Not in the picture are the axle saddles.

Of course I read all the posts about how bad the CPP customer service is AFTER I ordered the Complete Deluxe Trac Bar. It has been on backorder for 2 1/2 weeks!!! I called them today, and they indicated it will ship in 2 or 3 days.

[nuke1]

got to love new parts, ther is something about the smell of them or...... i sure hope that you have the engine to support that diff of yours. lol but i think that a little 235 will be just fine.

[Twisted78SS]

I do, I will be moving the Procharged 350 from my 78 project truck. That project has turned back into a near stock driver more than the pro street theme it was heading in. I figured why not put some real fun into this..

Originally Posted by nuke1

got to love new parts, ther is something about the smell of them or...... i sure hope that you have the engine to support that diff of yours. lol but i think that a little 235 will be just fine.

[Twisted78SS]

More progress on Project50th!
Over the past couple of days, Livrat was able to get the additional holes required for the conversion drilled and the frame was ready for the mockup of the suspension.

We were going begin by assembling the front cross member, but had to make a trip to the fittings store first.. I had bought some non-DOT fittings for use during the Mockup, but decided at least for the bags themselves why not install the correct one’s now. So after forking over some green, I had the fittings I needed to get started.

We installed the cross member bare which went pretty quick. Then we mounted the bag to the upper plate, installed the fitting and a short length of air line (for temp filling) and bolted the plate to the cross member.

After repeating those steps to the other side, it looked like this.



Next it was on to the lower control arms, and the lower bag plates. We took a sharpie and marked the outline around the bag after compressing it in place so we could mark the location of lower bag mounting hole. Then we clamped both lower plates together and drilled them at the same time.

After both plates and bags were installed, it was on to installing the McGaughy’s Classic 2.5 inch Drop Spindles. We continued by installing the steering box, linkage, and rotors. I couldn’t wait to see it sitting on he own two feet again, so on with some wheels and Bam!



Next we put the sway bar in, and thanks to a tip from Brad, we moved the front mounts to the inside of the brackets instead of under like the stock setup.

It was time to get started on the rear. We had not removed the exhaust hanger or emergency brake brackets, but decided to do so as they were in the way after all. Besides, with the trailing arms you have the brake cable mount on the arm already.

We centered the rear axle and placed the drop cross member between the frame rails, then we bolted up the trailing arms. After several measurements, it looked like one hole on each side of the frame could be used to locate the cross member. After several more measurements to find the proper wheelbase, we were satisfied that indeed this one hole should work as a locator.



Final progress for the day was to bolt on the rear bags and asses what we needed to do with the rear brackets. Looks like cutting them down and flipping them over should allow for proper bag alignment. More on that once the install is done.

Here are a couple more shots taken along the way. For the rest, you can visit http://www.2heeldrive.com/zenphoto/project-50th/

[70k52wd]

Great build. I'm watching this one.