Left for dead: 72 2wd blazer build

[my67chevytruck]

looking really good. I wish i would have known you were in town... I live 3 streets over from Chad (14u2nv) always nice to meet board members.
keep up the great work.

[72BlckButy]

Great progress on the project!

[lks dcvn]

progress is progress - I got some welding done on mine, but trying to rebuild that outer floor area where the step up is located is taking me forever -

Nice Work!

[1sik52]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

Critter, Thanks! I wanted to let you know that the parts cab most likely has solid inner cowls so when I get done cutting it up I will get with you on what you need.




Alright I have a question for all of the blazer experts out there. For some reason I always thought that the lower chrome on the blazers were with the black inserts only, and not the woodgrain. Then when I got this blazer it had the woodgrain inserts on the lower chrome. I didn't think much of it and assumed that someone added it. Then I have seen some suppossedly "unrestored original" blazers on the internet with the woodgrain inserts as well. So my question is did the blazers come with black inserts only, or black and woodgrain inserts from the factory? Below is a picture of some of my blazers chrome.

Yes, they came with the woodgrain also.

[Critter]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

Critter, Thanks! I wanted to let you know that the parts cab most likely has solid inner cowls so when I get done cutting it up I will get with you on what you need.


Alright I have a question for all of the blazer experts out there. For some reason I always thought that the lower chrome on the blazers were with the black inserts only, and not the woodgrain. Then when I got this blazer it had the woodgrain inserts on the lower chrome. I didn't think much of it and assumed that someone added it. Then I have seen some suppossedly "unrestored original" blazers on the internet with the woodgrain inserts as well. So my question is did the blazers come with black inserts only, or black and woodgrain inserts from the factory? Below is a picture of some of my blazers chrome.

THANKS! I would love to have it if possible. As far as the woodgrain goes, I agree with 1sik52. My blazer came factory with the wood grain (99% positive). You can see my spid on the lower left says "custom trim combina", "Cheyenne equipment", and "Special Promotional" (meaning Highlander), I guess one of these denotes wood grain on a Blazer.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by Critter

THANKS! I would love to have it if possible.

It's possible,,,,it's all reproduced if you don't mind caughing up close to $800 for the whole kit.

[jaros44sr]

[QUOTE=Critter;3758427]THANKS! I would love to have it if possible. As far as the woodgrain goes, I agree with 1sik52. My blazer came factory with the wood grain (99% positive). You can see my spid on the lower left says "custom trim combina", I guess one of these denotes wood grain on a Blazer

My woodgrain came on a '72 GMC Custom, but my guess is that the SPID lists it as "Com'bina", it is a rare and exotic wood only found in the darkest jungles of South Central Brazil, dunno just a guess!

Nice work on saving this ol' 2 WD, some of you guys have really stepped it up. Nice to see someone doing quality work to bring it back from dead

Always enjoy reading your progress, keep it up with the nice pics. as well! If you need any wood trim LMK, as I'm not using it

[ClifBlazer]

mine has the wood grain and I know that its original. how much is a full set from a blazer worth?

[72 DIRTY RAT]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

After playing around with the seats I got started on doing some actual work. Since all of the cowl patching was done it was time to put the dash back in. I put my guide pins (drill bits) into place, and the side bolts to get it lined back into place. All of the bolt holes and drilled out spot welds fit back up beautifully. Here is a shot of it clamped down ready to be welded in.




About an hour later everything was back into place exactly as it had been before.



Another shot of the welded in dash.



After wrapping up on the firewall area I debated whether or not the next area I needed to work on; the upper windshield area or the floor. Since I didn't want to take the top off I decide to start working on the floor section. The majority of the floor is riddled with small rust spots or gouges and dents. I am not sure what someone did to beat the floor up so bad but it is rough. I don't know if I should repair the floor as a whole unit or in sections since the middle section is still in good shape.




The rust issues facing the passenger side rocker panel area.




Just like the cowl panels, the rocker area on the drivers side is in much worse shape than the passenger side.

Did you say you could get patch panels for the rocker areas? I might need a set of those! Its great looking at your pictures, it gives you an idea of what it looks like under the metal! Thank you!

[1956cameo]

Jtrux, 72BlckButy, and lks dcvn, Thanks for the compliments and words of encouragement. They really help to keep me motivated!

my67chevytruck, It's a shame I missed you. I didn't even know you two lived so close together. Maybe I will run into you at Pate this spring.

1sik52, Critter, Jaros44sr, and Clifblazer, Thanks for the valuable information. I am not sure why I thought they didn't have it, other than I just never saw it on any original sales literature. Thanks!

Firebirdjones, I wish one of the previous owners of my truck wouldn't have put screw holes into all of my trim. I think most of it would have been able to be restored. Oh well looks like I need to shell out the $800 or so it will take for repro trim.

72DIRTY RAT, Yes; most aftermarket companies here in the states sell reproduction rocker panels, rocker boxes, and inner floor sections that have the back part of the rocker panels as well.

[Nobby]

Blazer is looking good.When you use that truck floor don't forget your bucket seat bracket supports.I did and it was a pain to go back and redo.Don't give up it will be worth it.

[1956cameo]

Nobby, Thanks for pointing that out. How hard of a job was it to replace the entire floor section?

[Nobby]

It wasn't that bad.The yellow part was cut out of a parts cab and the floor pans are new.I drilled out the spot welds holding the floor to the braces on the truck and they lined up good on the blazer braces.I'm glad I did it because I was able to sand blast inside the rocker boxes and under the floor,and that will make me feel better in the long run

[1956cameo]

That's good to hear that it wasn't a really hard task. So far my biggest problem is seeing where al the spot welds were on the floor of the donor cab. Theres nothing I hate more than drilling holes where you think there is a spot weld only to find you drilled a hole over nothing!

[Arizonak5]

nice work man thank you for saving this gem, og 2wd cst man ur lucky!!!!!!!

[Muleman100]

Notice how Nobby put supports in the cab to help keep things lined up. Minor movements can be problems for fit later on.

[1956cameo]

Arizonak5, Thanks!

Muleman100, Braces will be put into place before the floor is removed.


Below is a picture of my SPID for the blazer. I was wondering if anyone could tell me what the California Assembly and California Processing options meant. I assume it has something to do with emissions, but was wondering if anyone knew exactly what it meant. Thanks!

[1956cameo]

Here's the latest progress report on the blazer. I went out to my dad's on monday and worked on getting the floor out of the donor cab. That job pretty much took the whole day to acomplish. Here is a picture of the donor cab once the floor had been removed.




A picture of the donor floor once it was removed from the cab. It is by no means in great shape, but the majority of the back half is in ALOT better shape than the blazers floor.




Before I removed any of the flooring on the blazer I braced the front cab area up with square tubing. I figured that since the floor is in poor contition along with one rocker box bieng almost completely gone it was cheap insurance.




The next day I went back out and was finally ready to start replacing some rusty metal. I decided that instead of replacing the entire floor section like I had originally planned to do I really just needed to replace the rear section. I came to this conclusion because the front half of the floorboard was in really good shape. Instead of replacing the rear floor as one piece I replaced it in two pieces. I primarily did this to reduce the amount of good original sheetmetal from bieng replaced. Below is a picture of the tape outlining the rusty area that is to be removed.




The taped of section of donor flooring before cutting it out as a patch panel. (Sorry for the poor quality. The camera got put onto a different setting and I didn't notice it until later)

[my67chevytruck]

great progress....

[1956cameo]

After a little bit of cutting, grinding, and air chiseling I got the bad panel out.




It took alot of lining up and minor trimming, but I got the donor floor tacked into place. I will be going back later and welding it completely in. I also had to drill holes in the donor panel for the blazer bucket seat bolt brackets (Since there are more brackets than with a truck; and since they are in a different location). Fortunately the front inner seat bolt bracket is attatched to the cab floor support, so that gave me a reference point to base everything else off of. I had to take the drivers side bucket seat in and out of the blazer about 6 or 8 times in order to get all of the seat bolt brackets lined up exactly.





After finishing up on the drivers side I started up fresh today on the passenger side floor board. This side was a little bit more stubborn than the drivers side; of course this side was in better shape and it had more supports attatched underneath.




The bolts that hold the passenger seat rear hold down bracket were both broken off in the floor bolt brackets. I soaked the bolts with penetrating oil for a couple of hours and used vice grips on them, but was unsuccessful in removing them. Since I didn't have time to keep playing around with them I simply drilled them out. I will try to re thread them at a later date.




I am not sure why but this patch panel went in much smoother and tighter than the drivers side patch. Once again it was just tacked in and will be completely welded in before bieng called done. I guess I just had better measurements this time around. As you can see I got all of the passenger seat brackets attatched and in place. This was not an easy task; not sure how Nobby was able to do it after the fact because even with bieng able to remove the floor during this job it was a PAIN. I put the passenger side seat in and fortunately the seat brackets and the floor brackets line up as they should. The seat locks down in the back very easily and releases easily.

[1956cameo]

Heres a shot of what was left of the donor floor after I removed the patches that I used. Of course this shows a reference of how much original blazer floor was still good and saved.




Tuesday when I got home from working on the blazer I had a package waiting on me. As you can see below it was my tilt auto column that I got off of the parts board. I don't think I am going to load the blazer up with options that it didn't originally come with, but I thought for comforts sake a tilt column would be nice.




I know it doesn't look like it in the pictures but that was three solid days worth of work. Next I will be starting on restoring the rocker areas. This will primarily be done with reproduction sheetmetal. Unfortunately since my dads shop is stuffed with other parts and projects we pushed the blazer back out into the freezing, pouring rain when we got thru today. Hopefully I will have more updates soon.

[1956cameo]

my67chevytruck, Thanks! I know it doesn't look like much but this week was alot of work!

[shaneschevys]

Yall are doing a great job on the blazer. I would be scared to death replacing what you have done.

[lks dcvn]

Having spent numerous hours in the cold garage working on my stuff - I can see that there is a LOT of time there...it isn't until you do one yourself do you have an appreciation for the amount of time that goes into this stuff.

I was out there last night just trimming a floor patch and that took me more time than I thought it would...

Keep up the good work!

[my67chevytruck]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

my67chevytruck, Thanks! I know it doesn't look like much but this week was alot of work!

I understand, i did the rust repair on my son's trucks. it takes time and patience. you all are doing a stand up job!

Originally Posted by lks dcvn

Having spent numerous hours in the cold garage working on my stuff - I can see that there is a LOT of time there...it isn't until you do one yourself do you have an appreciation for the amount of time that goes into this stuff.
I agree 100%I was out there last night just trimming a floor patch and that took me more time than I thought it would...

Been down this road too...

Keep up the good work!