Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint

[smbrouss70]

My old eyes were having trouble seeing down in that dark hole, so my Nephew-In-Law who works for Kimball Midwest loaned me his demo underhood light that he has been trying to get me to buy for a year or so... I guess I'm going to have to cough up the money now. That light is amazing!

[smbrouss70]

Thanks in part to the light and being able to see, I have finally finished up my hydroboost hoses. I really could use 2 45* fittings for both of the returns on the pump, but all I had were straights and 90's. I can always change them out later if it bugs me after the 30 day rule sets in. I'm much happier now that the spit tube bend is lower on the hydroboost though.

And, YES, I still need to un-ugly my alternator wiring...

[smbrouss70]

Who can guess what is happening here?

[Palf70Step]

Looks good Steven

[gringoloco]

Chuggin’ right along. Waxahachie crunch

[gringoloco]

Congrats on the Top 50 nod at C10s in the Park, well deserved. She is a sexy beast (the Blazer, not the weird chick viewable through your window )

[Palf70Step]

[YBNORML]

Nice work!! i love it!

[Bennett68C10]

Congrats!!! Well deserved

[smbrouss70]

Thanks guys! I'm still on a high from this weekend and still cant believe I was able to put something together that looks this cool! Tonight, I'll get the story caught up since I haven't been posting because of the Waxahachie crunch.

[smbrouss70]

OK, The last thing I showed was finishing up my hydroboost lines and bleeding the brakes. I got my alternator wiring cleaned up since I had 2 different adapters in there to convert from the original to a 12SI, and finally to a CS130 for the serpentine system. I am extremely pleased with how it turned out.

I made an appt. for Thursday of last week to get it aligned, so when I got back from working in TX Wed. night, I went straight into the shop to set the toe close enough to drive it and adjust the rod between the pedal and hydroboost. All of this time, my buddies in the truck club are saying to just get it close and trailer it to C10's In The Park, to which I replied that trailers are for boats, show queens, and broken trucks... Let's just say that karma is a fickle b!tch...

I got all of that done, and I backed out of the shop at 1:30 AM to take it for a test drive down the road since I had to leave in 6 hours to make my appt. I made it about 2 feet off of the concrete and proceeded to immediately get stuck, since it has been raining for almost 4 weeks straight at my house. I tried for 2 hours to get it out and finally collapsed in my recliner knowing that I had to wait for people to wake up to borrow a tractor or something to pull it out. Needless to say, I missed my appt.... Again.

After 3 hours of sleep, I go and get my Brother-In-Law's tractor and pull the Blazer out to the road, and I finally get to see it laid out with the new wheels from more than a couple of feet away... I'm loving it, even with the muddy tires. I also pulled the S-10 Blazer (next project) out of the 1 car garage on the house and into the shop, so that the Blazer can go in the garage and not have to get stuck in the mud again when I get back on Sunday.

Now I washed it to get the mud off of the tires and the year and half's worth of dust off of the body. By this time it is getting dark and the mosquitoes are eating me alive, not to mention that I am getting phone calls left and right, which caused me to forget to dry the wheels off. I got the Blazer loaded onto the trailer, strapped it down, and went to bed to get 5 hours of sleep before driving to Waxahachie the next day.

While getting ready to leave, I open up the Blazer to put some stuff in it before I leave and I notice water spots on all of the wheels. I grab an unused Power-cone that was in the shop and some aluminum polish and tell myself that I will polish them at the hotel that night.

[smbrouss70]

When I meet up with my buddies with the Blazer on a trailer, they start calling the Blazer a show queen, trailer queen, prom queen, .... anything with a queen on the end of it. I figure I deserve it for opening my big mouth and suck it up.

Once we get to the hotel I unload it and we rush to get to the cruise-in at the Hobby Lobby, which is the first time I really drive the Blazer. Guess what? The back tires rub on the inside of the wheel tubs pretty badly when the rear axle articulates coming out of the hotel parking lot. Oh well, a little rubbing won't hurt for a weekend. And since I kept adjusting the brake rod longer to get rid of all of the slack in the clevis pin before the hydroboost had completely bled itself, I now have brakes that will put you through the windshield with you only pushing the brake pedal about a half inch.

The employees at Hobby Lobby called the police because customers couldn't park in the parking lot, so we decided to go back to the hotel and have a party of our own there. Needless to say, the libations were flowing too good and I didn't get around to polishing the wheels...

The next morning, we head to the show and I am just tired. I walked around and looked at as many trucks as I could before it got too hot and my feet were hurting. About the time that I finally set up my chair and start relaxing, the American Racing guys show up and start looking at the Blazer. Keep in mind that it has water spots on the wheels, I never did clean the dust off of the engine, and there are still cobwebs in the interior in places... My friends tell me that I'm about to get picked for the Top 50 and I joked that they were just amazed at how bad their wheels can look. He comes over and gives me a badge to get in the VIP parking for the Party on the Square that night. I'm completely shocked, and joke that now I have to polish the wheels to which he replies, "YES!" Apparently, I was the first one that they picked, because I got badge #1!

The power-cone that I brought is completely dry-rotted from being so old that it immediately comes apart, so I start polishing by hand, while my "friends" point and laugh and take pictures of me. Yep, I deserve that one too.

After sending a buddy to the store to buy another power-cone and some more polish, and getting some help from a few friends and gringo's son, the wheels are looking much better but the water spots aren't completely gone. It really sucks polishing wheels on a vehicle that it is sitting in the dirt.

[smbrouss70]

Finally, Chris drives me to the VIP section downtown so that I can really start to relax and enjoy myself. Wynne (HuggerCST) was also picked as a Top 50! It was a huge honor being picked, and being able to park with cover trucks in front of the stage. I still don't think I deserved to be there, but hey, I'll take it!

After a LONG few days, I loaded up Sunday morning and drove home. It is parked in the garage so that I can back out onto concrete without having to worry about getting stuck. But now I need to polish the wheels more to get rid of the water spots and I believe I am going to make some temporary spacers to space the wheel tubs in about a half inch to try and stop the tire rubbing. I'll attack those things this weekend, since I am back in TX working again.

After talking with Ken (N2TRUX) downtown, I ordered some Adam's Metal Polish to try this weekend. He claims that stuff is the best thing on the planet for polishing wheels and getting water spots off. I'll let y'all know how it turns out.

[Chulisohombre]

That’s awesome. Cool a. R. Picked you out of a bunch of people to represent. Blazers are crowd pleasers. Even if I’m not in a show and just parked somewhere people circle my blazer to check it out. Lol

[Palf70Step]

Congrats again Steven.

[IronCanine]

Congrats! This truck just keeps getting cooler all the time.

[aggie91]

Congrats on the Top 50! Blazer sure looks great. Now, go get some rest...lol

[smbrouss70]

Originally Posted by Chulisohombre

That’s awesome. Cool a. R. Picked you out of a bunch of people to represent. Blazers are crowd pleasers. Even if I’m not in a show and just parked somewhere people circle my blazer to check it out. Lol

Thanks! Yeah, everybody loves Blazers. There were at least 4 2wd Blazers/Jimmys in the Top 50. There had to be at least 30 2wd Blazers at the show!

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Congrats again Steven.

Thanks Bill!

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Congrats! This truck just keeps getting cooler all the time.

Thanks! That means a lot coming from the guy who beat me in TOTM!

Originally Posted by aggie91

Congrats on the Top 50! Blazer sure looks great. Now, go get some rest...lol

Thanks! It's a shame that I have to come back to work 500 miles from my house to get some rest.

[smbrouss70]

Just a few more pics from before I locked it up in the garage for the week.

[lks dcvn]

Your Blazer looks awesome! Is the color code 508 dark blue on this blazer? I have a 1970 GMC Jimmy twin (converted 4x4) of this truck. I just got done wet sanding off the top coat of black paint to get back down to original paint/patina. Still very much a work in progress.

[smbrouss70]

Thanks!

Yes, it is 508 Dark Blue, which is a one year only color. They used the same code before and after 1970, but the colors were a little different and 1970 only had a little metallic in it. When we replaced the driver's rocker my painter buddy shot it with their camera after polishing the Blazer and it came up as a match for a Navistar Fleet color.

[smbrouss70]

American Racing gave Ratchet's Blazer some love on instagram today!!! I like that they threw in a little jab, just makes that weekend complete!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BoKOfjNg...on_share_sheet

[Palf70Step]

[lks dcvn]

That's good to see some recognition for your truck. Thanks for the paint code - that will help me down the road.

What did you end up doing with your old slot wheels?

[smbrouss70]

The slots are still hanging out in the shop. I might put them on my S-10 Blazer since they are a car bolt pattern (5x4.75). Hadn't decided what to do with them yet.