Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint

[gringoloco]

Solid plan.

[gringoloco]

What did you end up doing with your air tank(s)?

[smbrouss70]

I have one of the old style Accuair 5 gal. tanks with the Exo Mount system and I was able to make it fit between that last crossmember and the bumper. I got the ECU, valves and all mounted on that back crossmember with the compressors mounted out side the frame rails. It's tight in there and everything has to go on in a certain order, but it fits. I like to say that I fit 27 lbs. of sh!t in a 1/2 lb bag.

Why? Is the new Blazer getting air?

[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

Why? Is the new Blazer getting air?

Thinking about it. That was pretty much the mounting method that I had in mind, IF I were to bag a Blazer...

[smbrouss70]

With the new Accuair Endo-CVT, you could just put a 3 Gal. on each side of the frame with only one having to have a compressor. Then all you have to mount is the ECU and sensors. Of course, that is IF you are going with an Accuair control system.

[smbrouss70]

This past weekend wasn't a great weekend for the Blazer. I wanted to at least get the offending metal out of the way for the "Lucy" mod so that I could get an accurate measurement for narrowing the rear axle, but the spinning carriage bolts holding the wheel tubs in fought me the whole way. After I left for TX again Monday morning a friend suggested that instead of trying to loosen them, I should have just tightened till they broke. DOH! (said in my best Homer Simpson impression)

After drilling out most of those bolts, my wife wanted to get in the back and vacuum up all the metal shavings to save me some time. With the blazer up in the air, she was coming out backwards on the passenger side and lost her grip and fell out of the Blazer. She banged herself up pretty good and had the knob on the passenger seat release handle hit her in the eye. After I made sure she was OK, she still didn't think it was funny when I told her that her friends were going to be jealous of the black eye she got for Valentine's Day. On her way out of the Blazer she fell against the passenger door and tweaked it a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that fact until after I heard the pop of the door skin coming out from under the back lip of the front fender when I went to close the door. Yep, it chipped some of that 48 year old paint on the front of the door.

My wife was more concerned about the door than herself. I told her that I can fix the alignment of the door, but I'm not going to fix the paint, it'll be one more part of the story of this Blazer to go along with all of the other bumps, bruises, scrapes, and scratches that it has from living on a ranch in TX most of its life. I told her that the next owner will make up stories about all of the damage just like I did. I pointed out a dent above the passenger reverse light and told her an elaborate story about a prize winning bull named Armando Montenegro III that kicked it because he was jealous of all the attention that its owner was giving the Blazer. She did laugh and feel better about it after that story.

I did get a jig built to properly locate the trailing arm perches, so I have those welded on in the correct place and went ahead and welded the axle tubes to the center section. I also made some cribbing blocks to hold the tires up in place for measuring.

Needless to say, after her accident I turned off the lights, locked the shop up, and left it alone. Hopefully, this weekend will be better and I can get the housing dropped off to get narrowed, and the calipers dropped off for powder.

[Chulisohombre]

Originally Posted by smbrouss70

This past weekend wasn't a great weekend for the Blazer. I wanted to at least get the offending metal out of the way for the "Lucy" mod so that I could get an accurate measurement for narrowing the rear axle, but the spinning carriage bolts holding the wheel tubs in fought me the whole way. After I left for TX again Monday morning a friend suggested that instead of trying to loosen them, I should have just tightened till they broke. DOH! (said in my best Homer Simpson impression)

After drilling out most of those bolts, my wife wanted to get in the back and vacuum up all the metal shavings to save me some time. With the blazer up in the air, she was coming out backwards on the passenger side and lost her grip and fell out of the Blazer. She banged herself up pretty good and had the knob on the passenger seat release handle hit her in the eye. After I made sure she was OK, she still didn't think it was funny when I told her that her friends were going to be jealous of the black eye she got for Valentine's Day. On her way out of the Blazer she fell against the passenger door and tweaked it a bit. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that fact until after I heard the pop of the door skin coming out from under the back lip of the front fender when I went to close the door. Yep, it chipped some of that 48 year old paint on the front of the door.

My wife was more concerned about the door than herself. I told her that I can fix the alignment of the door, but I'm not going to fix the paint, it'll be one more part of the story of this Blazer to go along with all of the other bumps, bruises, scrapes, and scratches that it has from living on a ranch in TX most of its life. I told her that the next owner will make up stories about all of the damage just like I did. I pointed out a dent above the passenger reverse light and told her an elaborate story about a prize winning bull named Armando Montenegro III that kicked it because he was jealous of all the attention that its owner was giving the Blazer. She did laugh and feel better about it after that story.

I did get a jig built to properly locate the trailing arm perches, so I have those welded on in the correct place and went ahead and welded the axle tubes to the center section. I also made some cribbing blocks to hold the tires up in place for measuring.

Needless to say, after her accident I turned off the lights, locked the shop up, and left it alone. Hopefully, this weekend will be better and I can get the housing dropped off to get narrowed, and the calipers dropped off for powder.

That sucks but at least she’s mostly ok. And the wife as well. Lol. One more story to tell doesn’t hurt.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Palf70Step]

Glad Brandi is alright.

[gringoloco]

Rough weekend, buddy!

What’s your jig look like? Been pondering this myself for the conversion...

[smbrouss70]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

What’s your jig look like? Been pondering this myself for the conversion...

I just screwed a couple of 6x6 blocks that I had to a half sheet of 1/2" plywood and traced the outside and holes of the perches from a stock axle housing. I used a plumb bob to mark the center of the pinion on the plywood and used a digital angle finder to get the angle of the pinion as it sat on the wood blocks. Once I had the perches off of another axle, I screwed them to the wood blocks where they matched up with my marks, set the axle housing in the perches, centered the pinion with the plumb bob and raised the pinion til my angle finder matched what I had before. Then I tacked the perches to the axle tubes and rechecked eveything before I fully burned them in. Not overly technical, but it works. I believe 4x4 blocks would work or even stacked 2x4's, but I didn't try them, it just has to have enough height to keep the center housing off of the plywood. This is the only picture that I have that shows my redneck jig.

[GAc10boy]

God Bless America is right! Those wheels look so good tucked!

[smbrouss70]

As if I didn't already have enough to do before Power Tour, I just ordered a set of the Dakota Digital VHX Gauges in the Classic style from Pro Performance.

[gringoloco]

Thanks a lot for that! Way simpler than what I was planning in my head

[Advanced Design]

Wow, glad your wife is OK!

I like that process for the differential too...simple and effective. Oh those gauges are nice....!

[smbrouss70]

I wish I could get them to stop sending me all this junk mail!

[gringoloco]

My favorite gauges

[lks dcvn]

Looking great! Still haven't decided on which Dakota gauges to get for my Blazer project - those look sharp. Can't wait to see them installed.

[smbrouss70]

I just can't stop myself... I bought another 1970 original paint Blazer last night in TX...



































I had to buy it, it's an exact match! Plus, it was only $11.00 shipped!

[Advanced Design]

Good score!

[Palf70Step]

[gringoloco]

Nice! Needs more low and wheels

[smbrouss70]

Originally Posted by gringoloco

Nice! Needs more low and wheels

I haven't found any 1:64 scale American Racing Gassers yet.

[smbrouss70]

Well, the mini-Blazer came in and the color isn't quite what it looked like in the pics. It is actually teal and nowhere near the color of my Blazer, oh well.

I finally got the metal between the inner and outer bedsides cut out and was able to give myself 3/4" between the inside of the tires and the edge of the floor where the tubs bolt in. I need to pick up some 18 Ga. sheetmetal to make the replacement inserts, I have 12 Ga., but it is way too thick to bend into shape.

My measurement from wheel mounting surface to wheel mounting surface is 59-3/8" and that is very close to the lip of the outer bedside. Since this is my first narrowed rear end (I'm second-guessing myself a lot) and the fact that I already have a set of quality 1/4" wheel spacers, I decided to give the guy narrowing the rear end a 58-7/8" measurement, just in case I am too close to the outer lip. I dropped the housing off last night and should have it back by next weekend. Once I have the housing back and double-check everything, I will order the axles.

I also dropped off the calipers and the Kingsport Grey powder, I should have those back by next weekend also.

No pics due to the fact that I was rushing to get everything done before coming back to work in TX today, not to mention having a double root canal done on Tuesday...

[Chulisohombre]

Crazy how far off the mini blazer was. It looks almost dark blue in the pics you posted.
Posted via Mobile Device

[smbrouss70]

Yeah, the whole reason I bought it on ebay is because those pics looked like an almost perfect match to the factory paint. My wife told me that I could paint it to match, but I told her that my old eyes have enough trouble seeing the full-size parts, I'm not even going to try to detail the 1:64 scale stuff.