Left for dead: 72 2wd blazer build

[1956cameo]

I got more work done on the blazer this past weekend. I finished tacking in all of the patch panels on the passenger side of the blazer and got the rocker panel to line up beautifully with the door. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of the finished door jamb area by itself, but here is a picture with the original door in place to help me guide the placement of the rocker panel.



After getting the rocker panel lined up I tossed the original rusted out door to the side, and took the doors off of my factory big block parts truck. Here is a picture of the parts truck door before going under the knife.




I got the doors on the blazer without too much of a problem. However the drivers side door does rub on the rocker panel so I will have to do a little shaving there. Also I still have to convert these doors (70') into 72' doors and I have to put all the blazer hardware onto them. Here is a picture of the former truck doors on the blazer.

[1956cameo]

After getting the doors bolted into place I started the task of taking the top off. I have been eagerly anticipating this so I can see how much rust I need to fix in the windshield frame area. I was pretty nervous since every other part of the blazer has had an above average amount of rust.

For once I was happy to see an unexpected lack of rust! I didn't even find one pinhole on the top of the frame. This part of the project should be a breeze to repair.



I was expecting to find quite a bit of rust hiding out under the top on the bedsides. Again I was happy to find only one problem area. It is a good size rust spot but I will repair it with a donor section from a truck bed.



Thats all I got done this week. Below are some pictures of the blazer with the top off. My dad said taking the top off made it look even shorter.

[Big Block]

Wow, It's start to shape up. I wish the po would have had the doors on before he welded the rockers on my Jimmy. They don't even come close. The front of the rocker sticks in at least an inch in front of the doors. Nice work. Looks good.

[1956cameo]

Big Block, Thanks for the comment! These definately aeren't concours quality gaps, but for as much metal as I had to remove and build back I am extremely happy with the way it all turned out (even though I have a little aligning left to do).

[1956cameo]

I got out and worked on the blazer some more last week on Labor Day. As everyone that has followed this thread knows I have practically replaced all of the metal in the floorboards. Once I got the passenger side rocker panel in I figured I could count everything in that section of the truck done as far as metal work is concerned. As I was sitting back, looking at my achievement I noticed a small quarter sided hole in the bottom of the firewall. I am starting to think the rust is growing faster than my cutting wheel!

The small section cut out of the bottom of the firewall.



The donor piece from a parts suburban trimmed and fit into place waiting for the welder.


As simple as that was it was just the warm up for the most critical challenge in this build. The repair of the dreaded blazer windshield frame! Overall mine wasn't in too bad of shape but it still needs plenty of patching. First step. Go back to the donor cab that I cut the floor out of.



It was a little harder to cut out than I thought because without the floor the cab immediately buckled but I got the needed section out!

[1956cameo]

I feel bad destroying a cab that still had/has so many good panels in it but I know its all for the best. Heres the rest of the rest of the cab parts cast out to the boneyard with the rest of the parts vehicles.


The next thing I did was cut out all the areas of the passenger side windshield frame that had rust holes or any weak metal. My plan is to cut out a donor panel from the truck cab and weld it into the blazer as a single piece.


Heres a shot of the back side of the trimmed down windshield frame.


It took the rest of the day but I got the donor piece cut out. It needs slight trimming to fit into the blazer perfectly but it looks like its going to do a great job of repairing the blazer. Unfortunately by the time I got this far along the day was over. I am very eager to get this piece in so expect another update soon.

[VA72C10]

Keep up the good work!

[PHAT TONY]

It's gotta end some time!

[SOON2BLAZE]

Good job saving your windshield . Thats not a job for the faint of heart. keep up the good work.

[1956cameo]

VA72C10, Thanks! I will definately keep on keeping on!

PHAT TONY, Thats what I keep telling myself! I have seen others on here take on worse and end with show winners. That always helps me to stay motivated.

SOON2BLAZE, Thanks! I will admit this is the part of the project that has been on my mind the most. I think if I can repair this the rest of the metal work will be a snap.

[1956cameo]

UPDATE!!

Well it looks like the plans have changed a little for this build. Instead of making it appear like a "Rare" one off factory original big block blazer I may just be putting a 350/350 combo back in it like it originally came. The reason? It appears that I will be purchasing a factory original short wide bed, BIG BLOCK, auto truck!! It is also a Custom truck with factory air and some other decent options. Best of all it is also factory red with white two tone! My favorite! The catch? It has been even more used and abused than the blazer you see before you and the original 396 is long gone along with alot of other parts. Fortunately I have everything it needs so my factory big block long bed 70 is going to be sacrificed to save a factory 69 short bed big block truck and of course this factory 2wd CST blazer. I guess if the 70 longbed has to die it might as well save two uncommon trucks. So it looks like the blazer will be getting a 350 4 bolt main and standard 350 auto trans. Hopefully it will still remain an interesting build for most of you; and now you have another build thread to look forward to down the road.

I will post pics of the truck after I pick it up on Sunday.

[hgs_notes]

Why not do both as big blocks, they're not that hard to get? Good luck with more rusted abused sheetmetal. You're gonna need it.

[1956cameo]

hgs_notes, I would love to do that but I don't know if I could afford all of the other big block components that would be needed besides the engine itself. That and the more components that I use that I have laying around the less clutter I have to trip over. You and me brother, saving the "parts trucks" one at a time!!

[1956cameo]

Well I didn't get any progress made on the blazer this weekend because I spent the day picking up the 69' short bed, big block truck! Heres some pics of her.

I got the truck from fellow board member 67Mach1. I don't know who owned it before him but they did alot of short cuts. Not only that they took all of the chrome off and painted it fleet white (Originally Red with white contrast). So basically if you didn't give the truck a closer look it would simply come across as an old no frills fleet truck. The cab is rough but fixable, and the passenger side front fender is a little tattered but overall the body isn't bad.


Unfortunately someone took the original engine out and replaced it with a small block. Fortunately I have all the missing components.


The original red interior is gone, or covered in rattle can black paint! When I pulled the seat belts out they were in like new condition. I can't wait to get all of that old nasty house carpeting out of that cab!


Of course the most important part of the truck; the SPID. Since it is in a deteriorated state I took it off the truck as soon as I gave the money over and it is now staying in a display case in my bedroom. I figured it would be better off there in a climate controlled environment away from the heat and sun.




Hopefully I will be able to get back to the blazer in the next week or so. I would like to have it running by new years. We will see if it is anywhere close to that.

[1956cameo]

Well it has been a while since an update but I have made more progress on the old blazer. The part that I was most concerned with tackling (the windshield frame) is now completed. Below are pictures of the patched area on both the passenger side and the drivers side.


The patched passenger side.



The cut open drivers side section of the windshield frame. I don't know if this is common but this side of the windshield frame was much more solid than the passenger side. I thought this was unusual because the rest of the body is much worse on the drivers side than the passenger side.



The welded in drivers side patch.



Overall I guess the windshield frame was in above average condition. At least in above average condition for a blazer that was as rusty as this one. Also I wanted to let everyone know that even though alot of the pictures don't show it, I am treating everything with rust stabilizer and then laying weldable primer and paint down. I don't want anyone thinking I am just slapping metal back over crusty panels.

[1956cameo]

After completing the windshield frame I started working on the drivers side quarter panel. I know it is popular on here for everyone to simply replace the bedsides, but I am on too tight of a budget to do that. As you can see I already cut part of the panel off to work on the door jam/rocker area.



I really didn't need to take this much metal off, but I figured since I paid so much for the patch panel I had better use more than a sliver of it.


It isn't done bieng welded into place but the bottom patch is tacked in.



That is all of the progress I have to show for now. I believe that I am about 75% done with metal work so hopefully we will start to see some paint in the not too distant future! Also I showed my pictures to some non-car enthusiasts the other day. I got alot of funny comments. One guy who had some 67-72 trucks back in the day, and who deemed himself an expert had the best comments of all. He said that no matter what I did this truck was so rusty that it was structurally unsound and was just going to start rusting thru the minute I get done with it. He also told me that my blazer could not be a CST because they stopped making them back in 1970. I asked him if he ever had owned a 1st generation blazer. He answered no. I tried to inform him that the blazers were badged as CST's until 1972 but he wouldn't have any of it. I just thought it was funny how people know more about your stuff than you do; even when they have never owned something like it before!

[hgs_notes]

Once it's all ground down, filled and sanded, it'll look like new. Nice work. I learned long ago not to argue with people about there recollections of days gone by. It's not worth the trouble to educate them because they really just don't care and in the end, it doesn't matter to me what they know or don't know. It could me me down the road a spell when my memory is worse than it is now. Which can be down-right pitiful at times.

[VA72C10]

looking good

[1949gmc]

Hats off to you for getting that bedside patch in there. I started with that patch and no matter what I did, I just couldn't get it lined up right (I don't have a lot of patience though) and I finally said the hell with it and put on the blazer bedsides I had.

Very good job!

[1956cameo]

hgs_notes, Your right. It is not worth arguing with them about. I told him that I would research it. I figured people on this board would get a kick out of that story. I know we have all run into "That Guy".

VA72C10, Thanks!

1949gmc, Thanks! It was alot harder than I thought it would be. It looks normal in person but it looks like it has a slight pitch to it in the pictures. I will have to look at it some more in person to make sure it is where I like it.

[1956cameo]

I got a little more work done this weekend. We finished up on the lower quarter panel replacement and started working on the inner bedside. As you can see, there was some rust on the panel underneath where the inner wheel tub bolts up.



With the rot cut out. I tried brushing as much rust killer in here as I could. I think I am going to get a weed spayer with a long wand to help reach the areas I cant get to with the brush.



A shot of the donor patch from a parts truck welded into place.



The same rust on the rear section of the bedside where the wheel tub bolts into place.



Rear rotten section cut out and the section behind treated with rust killer.



I got a few other minor tasks done this week as well but that is pretty much the majority of this weeks progress.

[hgs_notes]

Looks like way more progress than I made. I'm afraid of what I'll find when I pull the wheel tubs from my bed.

[1956cameo]

hgs_notes, Good luck to you when you pull them; although it propably wont be too bad. Mine was most likely rotten because the D/S side glass on the top was busted out! On the passenger side everything looked alot better and there was no pits or rust thru.

[1956cameo]

I got back to work on the blazer again today. I started off by finishing the patch on the rotten rear inner bedside.


After finishing that I started on getting the rear door pillars repaired.


I repaired it with a home made patch panel. The first one I made was too wide in the perpindicular section, so I got to make this one twice.


This part wasn't rusted out, but I had to cut it open to get to the bolt heads that were hidden beneath. I am not sure who designed it to be like that. At least it opened it up to where we could weld up those pin holes along the bed floor.

[1956cameo]

The finished product. Making one of those patches the second/third time around was much smoother.



The same repair on the passenger side door pillar.



With the last home made patch of the day in place.


After getting all the new metal in the door pillars I started on getting rid of the rotten 1/4 panel behind the passenger side door.


I was able to get the rotten section out and cutting the patch panel trimmed to shape before calling it a day. I am glad that I am in the last stages of the metal work; however I am dreading the 2-3 days of grinding I have ahead of me.