Hemi's 70 Blazer build

[hemi43]

9 seconds of fun !
https://youtu.be/RJJc1oGZ-Yc

[IronCanine]

Woohoo!!!#brrrr

[grillzy]

Very exciting!

[tjsblazer]

Cool. Were you sitting on a milk crate.

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by tjsblazer

Cool. Were you sitting on a milk crate.

HAHAHA !! No, I bolted the seat in. I've driven cars in the past sitting on milk crates and I know what can happen. I'm older and wiser now !!

[crappie66]

Very nice

[hemi43]

Today was paint day. I let the high build sit for almost 40 days before blocking it with 500 dry. I put 2 coats of grey sealer, 3 coats of base and 3 coats of clear and will color sand it hopefully this weekend. Turned out pretty good.

[HARDCORECASH]

Nice work Hemi43!!! Looks great!!

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by HARDCORECASH

Nice work Hemi43!!! Looks great!!

Thank you !!

I buffed the 1/4s today, and must say it's a bit nerve racking putting a D/A on a freshly painted panel. It's been a few years since I cut and buffed, but after a few minutes my heart rate went down and was able to finish without a hitch.
Amazing how well it came up considering I'm using old products on this thing. Believe it or not but the date code on the bottom of the high build urethane primer is 1997 and the clear is 2002. If products are kept in a cool dry place and have been unopened, they should last indefinitely. Some base colors like white don't last too long though.

[grillzy]

i need some paint lessons from you!

[IronCanine]

Looks great Dan! You're in the short rows now.

[hemi43]

This is the best part of a build, putting new parts on !
I should be painting the rest of the panels but got carried away installing the bling. Putting the 33"on sure changes the look of the truck. Hopefully I'll get the trims rings soon, because they've been on back order for some time.
I was also able to put the Peel&Seal down on the floor. Not sure how much noise this will get rid of considering I'll be driving a tent on wheels.

[jaros44sr]

Very nice, tires fill up wheel wells nicely, great work so far

[tjsblazer]

Dan, truck is looking great. Would love to see a full side shot of it to see the tires and stance next time your in the shop with your camera.

Did you buy new bumpers or refinish ?

FYI, I have read a few posts from others who have exhaust straight out the back. They reported getting a lot of suction of fumes back in to the passenger compartment with the top down.

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by tjsblazer

Dan, truck is looking great. Would love to see a full side shot of it to see the tires and stance next time your in the shop with your camera.

Did you buy new bumpers or refinish ?

FYI, I have read a few posts from others who have exhaust straight out the back. They reported getting a lot of suction of fumes back in to the passenger compartment with the top down.

The exhaust is a big concern. My thinking is if I drive fast enough, the fumes wont reach me !! To be honest, the top wont be taken down very often. I live in Canada !

I'll get a side shot when I pull it out of the booth, but I still need to raise the back about an inch to match the height of the reworked front springs. I think I'm also going to move the rear axle back about 3/4" so that it's a bit more centered in the wheel well.

[grillzy]

I had a CJ-7 with exhaust out the back and it was a very stinky ride. My 72 has it out the side and is much better. I get more exhaust fumes with the soft top on than off. The tent is noisy! Much nicer with the top off.

[hemi43]

Almost done painting. Still have the hood and tailgate to do.

[shenk10]

Awesome build. I was wondering who you got all your patch panels through and also for the rear bed half, I'm assuming it was meant for a truck so was the only modification making the holes for the gas tube? Thanks

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by shenk10

Awesome build. I was wondering who you got all your patch panels through and also for the rear bed half, I'm assuming it was meant for a truck so was the only modification making the holes for the gas tube? Thanks

I got everything from Bill's trucks. Best part is that he's 10 minutes away and has everything in stock. The bed floor is for a truck and I had to add the holes for the rear seat as well as the gas tube hole.


Truck is coming along great and I can see light at the end of the tunnel.
I had to machine some lift blocks for the rear to level out the truck after getting the front springs done. I lifted it 1.100" and it's now perfect. This was a good time to move the axle back .625 so that it fits the wheel opening a bit better.
It should ride better now with the longer wheelbase !
Now that it's sitting level, I'll check the U-joint angles and will taper the block if need be, then I'll powdercoat them.
Panels fit pretty good, but I wished I had more of a gap on the cowl sides. I think I'll have to live with it.

[IronCanine]

Strong work Dan.

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by IronCanine

Strong work Dan.

Thanks!! I was looking at your build today to see how well your cowl fit and it looks great. Mine is extremely tight side to side and I won't be able to have the same size gap as the hood. My fenders are bolted on with no shims which is probably one of the reasons, but that's where they need to be in order for them to line up with the doors. I'm crossing my fingers that the hood doesn't give me too many fit issues. I'll find out soon enough.

[IronCanine]

Our hood gap is obviously the largest of our gaps and thats as tight as we could get it and still clear the cowl on opening. As it was, we still got in the habit of putting a little traction on the hood on opening to ensure no rub. Our gaps were so jacked to begin with, we were pleased with our outcome. We didn't grind any gaps to make them artificially symmetrical (though we talked about it)...just did the best with could with the shapes we had.

[72K5CSTDarkOlive]

Been following your build from the start. Amazing craftsmenship!

Question - Did you use repro inner fenders? If so, where did you get them?

[lyrikz]

Originally Posted by hemi43

Thanks BigJ;

Here's more boring primer pictures.
All original panels like the doors, hood and body were sprayed with Featherfill after the epoxy cured for 3 days. The fenders and tailgate as well as a few other pieces that needed no major blocking were epoxied then Urethane primed wet on wet.
All the priming is now finished, and now I need to wait a month before blocking. This is crucial because urethane needs time to gas off or else it will sink and show sanding scratches down the road. I will however paint the firewall so that I can put the body back on the chassis.

I love your build. One thing that caught my eye was you said you waited 3 days to paint over the epoxy. Epoxy has a cure time that you cant exceed or the top layer will not stick. HOpe that doesnt come back to bite you.
As for the sand marks, thats not necessarily true either. If you use the correct sanding stages the shrinkage you speak of will not happen(or better yet wont be seen)

Cant wait for more updates.


** I posted this before i had reached the end of your thread. That thing came out amazing. Using a 19 year or urethane seems a bit sketchy, but holy hell it came out perfect. Do you have a paint code for that
tank color you used?****

[hemi43]

Originally Posted by lyrikz

I love your build. One thing that caught my eye was you said you waited 3 days to paint over the epoxy. Epoxy has a cure time that you cant exceed or the top layer will not stick. HOpe that doesnt come back to bite you.
As for the sand marks, thats not necessarily true either. If you use the correct sanding stages the shrinkage you speak of will not happen(or better yet wont be seen)

Cant wait for more updates.


** I posted this before i had reached the end of your thread. That thing came out amazing. Using a 19 year or urethane seems a bit sketchy, but holy hell it came out perfect. Do you have a paint code for that
tank color you used?****

Epoxy primer MUST be cured 72hrs before applying Featherfill which is polyester based. The epoxy was sanded before I applied the Featherfill because it was outside it's recoat window.
As far as urethane primer, it will always shrink regardless of how well the substrate is sanded. I agree fine sanding scratches probably wouldn't show up, but why take a chance. If it was a daily driver I was painting, I would sand it the next day.
The paint code for "Tank" is 2014-2015 NGK(Jeep only). Don't paint a Blazer this color because it's already been done !!