My "New" '76 2wd TOY...currently un-named

[nlped]

Well here are some pics of my new project. It is a '76 2wd Blazer. It has some rust issues, but nothing a lot of time and patients can't remedy. It has a GM crate 350 in it w/ a freshly rebuilt TH400 and a 12 Bolt rearend. It's got like new 15x8" American Racing aluminum Mod. wheels w/ 31x10.50r15 BFG All Terrains on it. It's got lots of other new parts on it, and came with a lot of other new parts as well.

I'm pretty excited about this aquisition, as I have wanted one of these since I was 16. My plans are still in the preliminary stage, but I happen to have a 2004 5.3 swap that I was going to put into my '87 SWB that may just find its way into the Blazer. First, though, is getting all the cancer replaced. It needs both doors, the rear "door" skin, both front floor pans and the rocker panels. The rest of the rust looks like it will be repairable. I won't know until I get the body off the frame and have it media blasted. Once I get to that point I will have a much better idea.

Here's some pics. Let me know what you think!

[lolife99]

Subscribing!
I say use the 5.3 in the blazer.

What are your suspension plans?

[SBTork]

Nice buy, even with the cancer it's not far from being real nice. I hope your going to put this in the weeds, im not too big on a 4wd looking 2wd, but either way, nice buy.

[tvblazer78]

Ya I will be keeping up with this one too, it looks to be a good truck to start with. What are your plans for it? Colors or mods?

[68Timber]

Love it. What's your vision for it?

[menace121978]

i love it also! cant wait to see you tear into it in the new "shop"!

cute doggies btw!

[nlped]

Originally Posted by menace121978

i love it also! cant wait to see you tear into it in the new "shop"!

cute doggies btw!

Yeah the 2 big ones are mine. The puppy was just being babysat for the neighbors. The big ones are Beavis & Butthead

The "shop" should start taking shape in the next couple of weeks. The concrete retaining wall and the 2 back walls and footings will be poured the week after Thanksgiving as long as the weather holds.

It is going to definitely be lowered. I would really like to bag it, but that may be down the road a bit. I will certainly get the spindles and drop springs on the front and probably just a shackle and hanger for the rear, until I take the body off the frame. Then I will build the notch for a flip

[bluex]

I had the same thoughts to lower the rear of mine after the swap. Thats when I read in here that if you use a shackle it will hit the filler neck and the truck hangers are different from the blazer ones (too tall) so they dont work either.

About the only straight forward options are leaf removal or a flip kit.

[lolife99]

Flip kits for these factory 2wd blazers (73-82) makes them set really low and look great. But they are different than putting a flip kit on a pickup. The c-notch is a must! Then the other issue is the center section of the rearend is really close to the floor.

I have owned a '79 2wd and an '82 2wd blazer.
The '79 had longer rear shackles and some pulled leafs out of the spring pack. Some creative fuel fill routing is necesssary to clear the shackle.
The '82 had a homemade flip kit and air shocks, when I bought it. Looked cool but rode like crap. I un-flipped it and installed 4" lowered leaf springs, and longer shackles to fix it. (an another round of creative fuel fill work)

Since then I found out that a cheap fix is to install new rear "shackle frame mounts" from a 4x4 blazer.
(they are longer than the 2wd frame mounts, essentially raising the flip a little)
Then add the economical flip kit.
This allows a little more suspension travel after the flip kit is installed.

The down side to this mod,... is that the gas tank needs to be removed to grind rivets and bolt in the new 4x4 brackets.

The only other choice would be to install the flip kit by itself with a big notch and cut the floor for the rearend center section clearance.

Love any 2wd blazer or Tahoe builds,... so I'll be watching for updates!

Here's an old pic of my '82 2wd.

[82swampthing]

nice blazer, why does it seem like eveyone has a 5.3l lying around that they want to swap in.i'd keep the 350 if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[bluex]

lolife99 -

Thanks for posting that. I'll keep my 4x4 shackle hangers in place on my swap then. Just wish you would have posted that before I spent 2.5 hrs getting the 2wd ones off my doner frame. What does the drop wind up being? 3-3.5"? That would be perfect with at 2.5" spindle...

Would the 4x4 hangers give you the room at the filler neck to run a drop shackle? That could get back whats lost in the flip by using the 4x4 hanger.

The stance on the red truck is perfect. What was used up front?

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by bluex

lolife99 -

Thanks for posting that. I'll keep my 4x4 shackle hangers in place on my swap then. Just wish you would have posted that before I spent 2.5 hrs getting the 2wd ones off my doner frame. What does the drop wind up being? 3-3.5"? That would be perfect with at 2.5" spindle...

Would the 4x4 hangers give you the room at the filler neck to run a drop shackle? That could get back whats lost in the flip by using the 4x4 hanger.

The stance on the red truck is perfect. What was used up front?

I haven't personally done this.
I found out about it after I went to all the trouble to switch my junk around.

It was done buy a guy doing a 4x4 conversion. He used 2wd rear frame shackle mounts also,... and ended up re-installing the original 4x4 mounts to raise it back up a little after he installed the flip kit.
I think you will end up with a 4"-5" drop. I don't think you will need the "lowering shackle" with this set up.
My red truck had 3" drop spindles and a cut set of stock springs up front. (done by the previous owner)
Sorry for the late post.

[nlped]

^^^Good info about the shackle hangers. I'll have to check into that.

[68Timber]

A friend cut my filler tube and put a turn in it to clear the shackle, welded it up and painted it. It turned out great and looks good too.

[tvblazer78]

That is good info! I will have to save all info for some things down the road..

[bluex]

Originally Posted by lolife99

I haven't personally done this.
I found out about it after I went to all the trouble to switch my junk around.

It was done buy a guy doing a 4x4 conversion. He used 2wd rear frame shackle mounts also,... and ended up re-installing the original 4x4 mounts to raise it back up a little after he installed the flip kit.
I think you will end up with a 4"-5" drop. I don't think you will need the "lowering shackle" with this set up.
My red truck had 3" drop spindles and a cut set of stock springs up front. (done by the previous owner)
Sorry for the late post.

I was thinking of using the drop shackle if you wanted it lower after the flip. I guess I wasnt too clear, but I meant it to get back the 1-2" you will lose by using the 4x4 hanger. I'm not exactly sure the difference between the two, but I could measure it later.

Either way a flip kit on the blazer with a 4x4 hanger will be higher than one on a 2wd truck. I was thinking you might have room to run the drop shackle then if you wanted, without hitting the filler neck? I'm going to try it regardless, the flip kit brackets are only $30 on ebay.....

Thanks again for the info and saving me the work of cutting out 12 or so rivits


nlped, sorry for the thread jack, truck looks like a good starting point and I like the colors. Your ahead of me, yours runs and is already 2wd....

[nlped]

^^^Lol!!! I'm actually winnin'

[nlped]

Well, I finally have an update for the "Bull". But first, just in case anyone cares, I sold my '87 GMC named "Bob". Now you know why I finally have started doing a little work on this one.

It isn't much, but I drove it this morning and noticed the power steering was making a little noise, so checked and topped of the PS fluid. While doing this I noticed that the PS sector/gear was leaking from the input shaft, and since I already knew it needed the rag joint replaced so this was a perfect time to dive right in. I didn't buy the entire rag joint assembly, but a rebuild kit instead. What a chore! It's done though and the seal isn't leaking anymore, the steering is considerably firmer, and no groans from the PS.

I plan on doing some work on the ole truck now. Just small stuff first, but eventually the body work and lowering

I added a pic of the new & old rag joint "bushing" to show how bad it was

[nlped]

Another quick update. I finally got around to figuring out how I am going to drop the old Blazer.

I am going to put a 2 1/2" drop spindle and cut half a coil off of new stock springs for another inch. In the front now it looks to have freight train coil springs (the coil itself is about an inch in diameter...huge) in the front to accomplish the 3 + inches of lift it has now, so I need new front coil springs anyway and I can get the stock ones for $60 vs. $140 for a 1" drop coil from the aftermarket.

In the rear, I am going to take the stock leaf springs and the 3" lift block off and replace the leafs with ones off of a '95 4x4 2 door Tahoe (Thanks for the info TVBlazer) that I scored from a local salvage yard today, and do a flip kit. Should work out to about 4-5" in the rear. So I can "adjust" the front coil springs if needed later on .

Now I just have to wait on the drop spindles.

[nlped]

I got the drop spindles, new Moog front coils, and the rear leaf springs. Now I have to come up with some tires to put on these aluminum mods to accomodate the impending drop .

I also picked up a Miller 172 Mig Welder yesterday for a song, so I will be trying my hand at replacing the floor pans and lower rocker panels

[68Timber]

The next update pics should be sweet...

[tvblazer78]

Thats right, pics always makes it better..

[nlped]

Well, I have finally gotten a few parts and new tools rounded up for "The Bull". I also have the '95 4WD Tahoe rear leaf springs, but I still need to take them apart, clean them up, and spray some paint on them, so I didn't shoot a pic of them yet. And the flip kit saddle I made myself. I am working on building a batch of c-notches as well (to sell once I confirm there fit and finish )

[Damien]

What do the tahoe springs do? Are they shorter?

[nlped]

No, actually they are a bit taller. A flip kit on a Blazer lowers it so much that the rearend ends up touching the frame (like 6-7"). With the 4WD springs and the flip kit I should end up with abut 4" of drop in the rear. Then, if I need more, I can add shackles. I don't want it to low right out of the box, because of the terrible roads around my area.