The "In over my head" build thread

[Harold Holbrook]

Thanks, For the pictures. I need all the help I could get.

[SeventyOne]

1/26/18

I'm in genuine awe. Even though I've thought about this moment for 8+ years I can't believe it's happened, and I can't believe how close to the finish line I am.

[Spf79]

Awesome! The color looks great!
I'm so envious!!!

[SeventyOne]

1/30/2018 - A long time coming

I had to go back and look to the very first post I made in this thread. 2/4/2010 me and a small army took the body off the frame.

It took nearly 8 years - but holy crap does THIS make me excited!

[Lieferson]

Damn that looks good!!!

[raggedjim]

That's gotta be a great feeling!

Nice work, Rg

[swamp rat]

Sweet!

[YoungPup1977]

Nice truck, I have three blazers 2 4x4's and one 2wd....the 2wd is going to be painted red and white like a c10....love the red.... enjoy !!!!!!

[simicrintz]

Very nice-congrats!!!

[Nestevec]

Wow

[lks dcvn]

looks great! 8 years to finish is way better than not finishing at all... Congrats.

[SeventyOne]

Can a mod please move this to the builds section?

[jav418]

I'd love to get the contact info of the shop in the bay area...Looks amazing

[SeventyOne]

Talk to Manuel at BFS
https://www.bodyandframespecialists.com/

They also did Mike's dark olive K5 that looks flawless.

[SeventyOne]

can't argue with their quality

[SeventyOne]

3/17/19: Almost Home

Another semi update

Alright so got the Blazer painted last Spring but the body shop I have it at also outsources some mechanical work. So i ask if they could help with some things liiiike:

-Custom Trans cooler lines for my 700r4 swap
-Cut down and reflare my stainless rear diff brake hardline to accept the disc hoses
-Set rear diff pinion angle and weld on the spring perches for my 14 bolt swap
-Start my engine (my buddy Mike had trouble with his West Coast Engines 350 and since i got my 383 from the same place I just wanted the shop to start it) up and ensure it at least would run
-Reinstall my NP205 i pulled to fix a leak, I bought a tcase ebrake so he needed to machine it down .25" to fit under the floor pan, and then measure for driveshafts
-Change my front axle gear ratio to 4.56 to match the rear
-theres probably more but this is the big stuff

At the same time the body shop freshened up my top and hatch, welded up a hickey roll bar kit i bought on ebay a while back, replaced my windshield...

Anyways. I told them i want it back mid April. and they're making it happen. Top got mounted. They're going to drill holes for the mirrors and install the strikers and do final panel adjustments.

Here's pics:










Also does anyone know why my pics post sideways?

[BIG BLOCK JIMMY]

Beautiful!

[rsavage]

Looking great!

[SeventyOne]

8/13/19: Are we there yet?

Well April came and went but the plan is to have her come home Saturday and I can begin final assembly!



Also I was going through some old hardware in bags and came up with these gems. 10 years ago my (then 17 year old) brother helped me disassemble the K5 and this are what he wrote on some of the bags

[SeventyOne]

Also about 11-12 years ago I owned my first K5 and I took this dumb hi-beam "foot"swtich off it before selling it. It's been sitting in a bag for at least a decade waiting for this moment:

[SeventyOne]

8/17-18 "An overwhelming Weekend"

The Blazer is home. it's very surreal to me to see it in my driveway. I'm not an anxious or nervous person in general but I felt very...off...on saturday. Like I didn't know what to do, where to start, how to approach anything - I was scatterbrained and just had weird energy. It didn't help matters that after moving the K5 from the street into the driveway (albeit with a super loud, open header'd, lumpy cam'd, 383) I got a visit from my neighbor...

Now let me preface that I've been living here for a whole year and I've never even seen her before. The engine probably ran for 30 seconds before it was in the driveway and shut off and i hear over my shoulder "Puhhhleasssse tell me that thing is not going to be that loud?" I explained to her it's unfinished, it has no exhaust but it will in the future etc etc. She went on to cite some city noice ordinances, saying when she get's home "she just wants some damn peace and quiet" and then complains about my other truck ('65 F100 with cherry bomb glasspacks). At this point I've said all I can, she just wants to be upset/complain...like alright lady, sorry you heard a loud noise at 5pm for 30 seconds on a Saturday.

After her rant I calmly said, "And...who are you?" then "Nice to meet you" about as sarcastically as possible as she walked away.

For what it's worth I am a courteous neighbor. I'm not burning out, racing or revving the engines, etc. When I drive the F100 I just let it warm up for a minute then leave.

But that bullsh*t aside here's some pics!

[SeventyOne]

Sunday I wanted to install some simple parts, calm my nerves, and get some small wins under my belt.

Got some good progress on the fuel system/vapor lines. Still need some hose clamps and the vent hose line I have is for a different year as it's way too short so I need to get a new longer one to install and finish up the install.

If anyone knows where to get nice hose clamps let me know - looking for something better than generic worm-gear clamps.







Then I wanted to get the bumper brackets installed and I ran into an issue with the rear bumper brackets. Since I installed a shackle flip the bracket on the outside of the frame rail blocks the rear-most bolt hole that should hold the bracket in place.

So I notice on my bracket theres an undrilled hole that would allow a second locating bolt to go through the bracket and frame. I got them drilled out and once I mount the rear bumper and make sure the angle is correct, I'll mark the frame and drill it as well.

You can see the 2nd hole is drilled on the top bracket in the pic below:

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

[QUOTE=SeventyOne;8578745]8/17-18 "An overwhelming Weekend"

The Blazer is home. it's very surreal to me to see it in my driveway. I'm not an anxious or nervous person in general but I felt very...off...on saturday. Like I didn't know what to do, where to start, how to approach anything - I was scatterbrained and just had weird energy. It didn't help matters that after moving the K5 from the street into the driveway (albeit with a super loud, open header'd, lumpy cam'd, 383) I got a visit from my neighbor...

Now let me preface that I've been living here for a whole year and I've never even seen her before. The engine probably ran for 30 seconds before it was in the driveway and shut off and i hear over my shoulder "Puhhhleasssse tell me that thing is not going to be that loud?" I explained to her it's unfinished, it has no exhaust but it will in the future etc etc. She went on to cite some city noice ordinances, saying when she get's home "she just wants some damn peace and quiet" and then complains about my other truck ('65 F100 with cherry bomb glasspacks). At this point I've said all I can, she just wants to be upset/complain...like alright lady, sorry you heard a loud noise at 5pm for 30 seconds on a Saturday.

After her rant I calmly said, "And...who are you?" then "Nice to meet you" about as sarcastically as possible as she walked away.

For what it's worth I am a courteous neighbor. I'm not burning out, racing or revving the engines, etc. When I drive the F100 I just let it warm up for a minute then leave.

But that bullsh*t aside here's some pics!

You should've fired it right back up

[underliner6]

My god, the hugger orange on your blazer looks amazing. The decade of work surely paid off!

[SeventyOne]

9/4/19 - 2 steps forward 1 step back

Been keeping busy when I can find time to work on the truck – an hour after work here, couple hours on the weekend there...but i keep running into issues where a simple install that should take 15 minutes, takes 90.

I went to install the MotorCityK5 hydraulic hatch strut kit and as noted in other reviews the lower bracket hits the top to bedside bracket. It was only an issue for me on the driver side, however, as the passenger side fit fine. The real problem I had was a broken screw in the trapped nut where the top strut bracket would go. That took a lot of careful drilling, cussing, and praying that I would get it out. Luckily I did and I gotta say the strut kit is well worth it.



Also been working on the sound deadening with some dynamat. Symmetry is fun!


Plan is to cover 25-50% of panels for sound deadening with the Butyl strips, then I'll use some MLV I bought for a sound barrier basically everywhere I can, as well as some dynaliner on the firewall and foot wells for heat.

Before I get too crazy with the sound deadening I want to get the units that mount to the firewall in place and work around them. So inner heater air plenum box went in, then I took a look the wiper motor mount and found this bent, broke off screw.



I ran out of time yesterday but I'm hoping I can install two nuts to the end of the screw, then use a wrench on the inside nut to twist it out. Wish me luck.

Once I figure that one out I'll finish getting the a couple more dash pieces installed (heater controls, gas pedal) and finish getting the sound deadening stuck on.

Then hopefully onto some wiring, drilling holes for the CST panels and carpet strips.

And maybe jump around to other stuff as I get frustrated.