1971 K5 Blazer - down under

[68ls1]

So as I continue to peel back the layers of this truck, i got stuck in to the tailgate. It had a rubber matting covering the inner.

From a previous question we had found that there was no original weatherstripping and brackets had been removed

So I pulled off the rubber matting, held by so much glue and so many screws, to find a piece of styrene board attached to tailgate, by again so many screws. I attempted to remove the screws using a rust penetrant, but was mostly unsuccessful. So i did next best thing and started breaking pieces of it off only to find spray foam on tailgate.

I swear a previous owner must have owned a hardware store.

I am planning to take truck to body shop later this week for work on drivers side outer rocker and A pillar for door hinge issue. Will discuss if tailgate is salvageable, as there are so many screw holes to fill

[68ls1]

A follow up on a previous question on bolt sizes to hold rear seat, thanks member richard2717 for the answer. Not sure again why the rear selt is not held down, can only guess previous owner was using as a 2 seater.

So this is how seat belts are attached, which seems to align with assembly manual. Appears an extra set has been added for a middle passenger

Can someone please confirm if this correct or not

[68ls1]

So yesterday I removed a coolant overflow set up which went no where? Started looking for horns as nothing was happening when pressing horn button. It finally rained, so I know wipers now work, and washer seems to be aftermarket, no spray yet, so need to check if it hose or power.

Today we (help from son) removed what I can only assume was not a factory optioned auxiliary battery (non working) . This uncovered the horns, 1 bolted in no wiring connected, 2nd horn found loose in front of wheel well.

Bolted horn to rad support, connected wires and now have horn. Not a great sound, so one may not be working. Have electrician coming this week to hopefully diagnose wiring and remove any surplus.

When removing auxiliary battery, we found a positive terminal, a ground terminal and a yellow terminal with two black wires that ran through firewall, but stop under door sill plate. There are multiple circuit breakers and relays that appear to have no purpose. I think we will have removed a couple of hundred pounds of non functioning upgrades by the time i have finished. I have included pics of what i believe to be a non genuine auxiliary battery bracket

[notsolo]

Super rare left handed spanner.😎 Blazer is looking good, hatch repair looks solid. If the Tailgate is as straight as it looks, definitely worth saving.

[68ls1]

Had auto electrician come over and clean up wiring, removing any redundant pieces. Also checked all of lighting operation, and with a cleaning of a few sockets, a few new globes everything works. Replaced the current faulty aftermarket water temp gauge with new aftermarket gauge, this is a temporary remedy as I wait for new dash I purchased from member anew4961 to make it's way down here.

Engine bay previously



After wiring tidy up





Still not very pretty, will look better with ram horn manifolds and spark plug leads run as factory. The goal right now is to make it a fully equipped and functioning vehicle that I can take out for a drive. The cosmetic restoration will be undertaken further down the track.

[68ls1]

Big moment today, we completed the 140 mile trip to the body shop
Blazer ran pretty well, no issues, temp solid, used around half a tank. Got up to around 70 mph at times.
Body shop to peel back the horrors of driver's rocker and A Pillar. Bit of rust on top of passenger rocker, see how deep this goes. Tailgate to be asessed, repair or replace.
Good news looks like we can use original seat belt arrangement.
Is there a way to confirm build date? VIN KE181S6004xx