"Project S" - My boy Sam's '72 2wd Blazer -The Red Sled

[jeffg1010]

A truckbed full of new parts sits in my driveway! Pics to come

[jeffg1010]

Met up with ATP (Adam) on Wednesday and picked up a load of parts for my dads truck and my blazer. Dad got a complete stepside bed and I got a lot of smaller parts.

So, the bounty for the Blazer includes . . .
New Grille hoops


New grille (mine had a dent, ya cant see it in the pictures)



New hood trim



Chrome hood latch



Chrome radiator hold downs



New eyebrow trim



New bumper (yeah, it'll be a bit before I install it, didn't want to take off the plastic)





And Chrome hood hinges



Still no hurry on getting the project ramped up, but the parts collecting continues!

[Graham57a]

Parts are looking good man, glad to see you are making some headway. Whats on the agenda for the summer?

[jondancer]

Jeff , what color paint is that ? Some sort of matte hugger orange ? Looks cool

[jeffg1010]

hmmm... i cannot remember. I call it FREE orange. I was wanting to go red, but a friend gave me a gallon of orange. Paint layed good. But it hasn't seen much road time. Sitting under a cover taking a winter nap right now.

[jondancer]

You wanna sell it? Pm me

[jeffg1010]

Nah... cant do it. Isn't mine to sell. It's my son's. Minus the LS engine, I have the parts to build it. Just gotta find the time and room to build it like we want it. I built a custom golf cart to take camping this past summer. It's done now, so maybe the Blazer will find room on the agenda for 2017.

Sam turns 12 next week. Hard to believe this saga started when he was 7 and it hasn't progressed any faster than it has. Life gets in the way.

After 12 years in the same house, we are listing it in a few weeks. So we are packing to move and I just took a load of "potential" Blazer parts to storage this week. As I organized everything, I was blown away at how much cool s**t I've compiled. Hopefully, the next house will have a better shop. We looked at one yesterday that had a 6 car garage and a 8000 sq ft race shop out back. I could find room there to get 'er built. Although, the house is REALLY far from my work. The search continues for now.

This is the golf cart (AKA: Gravedigger) that tied up the little bit of free time I had in summer 2016.

[jeffg1010]

A while back, I bought a single wall top to swap out with my double wall top (which was saggin') I removed the windows to paint and when I go to re-install the OEM rubber, the stuff is brittle and hard. So hard, in fact that it broke some of the fiberglass off of the original top. Which I am repairing now.

Im thinking about going with new rubber for the windows, so I'm looking for feedback. I had the crap that you buy from LMC. Very cheap from my experience. In fact, I'm worried if it would even keep the window in place.

Who have you guys used for window rubber? Has anyone tried Steele rubber? They are right here locally.

[jeffg1010]

Adding a few new pics, because I believe I am gonna let her go. One kid starting college soon and two more behind her. Anybody interested?

[twp1]

how much?

[jeffg1010]

Originally Posted by twp1

how much?

Im thinking $12k'ish

[twp1]

Any pic's of interior and engine?

[Hart_Rod]

Any rust?

[jeffg1010]

Originally Posted by Hart_Rod

Any rust?

Well, I broke the news today to Sam that I was selling it and he has currently talked me into keeping it.

But yeah Rob, no rust.

[Hart_Rod]

Originally Posted by jeffg1010

Well, I broke the news today to Sam that I was selling it and he has currently talked me into keeping it.

But yeah Rob, no rust.

No worries. Let me know if something changes.

[Graham57a]

DONT SELL IT!! If you do you'll regret it haha

[jeffg1010]

Originally Posted by Graham57a

DONT SELL IT!! If you do you'll regret it haha

Your right. Sam had a meltdown, so it's staying. I believe Im gonna get with your dad in the spring on a couple things. She's gonna see some street time.

HEY, I just messaged your dad on Instagram to ask if he saw that the Hot Rod Power Tour ends in Charlotte again this year. I started a thread.
Im thinking I may try to run the last leg?
http://www.67-72chevytrucks.com/vboa...d.php?t=753995

[jeffg1010]

Attachment 1803834Waking up my thread. Big news on the Blazer!

So, I bought this Blazer six years ago. At the time, I didn't have the money, time OR the garage space for a project. But I REALLY wanted a Blazer. Anybody that has followed along probably knows that when I bought it I had it shipped to my dads house to store until the day came that I could start it. For the past 6 years, it has been roomies with my dads '71 C10 Stepside and his '63 Nova SS (which he sold last year)

What I didn't realize back then was the adversity we'd face in the time since. A layoff, a "near" marriage meltdown, a career change, a new business AND a new house last year. When we got the new house, I was pumped up about my 3 car garage but it's been junked up with all of the stuff from our move and a half dozen golf carts (that I build on the side).

That all changes today. The Blazer just got on the interstate heading this direction. This week, I scheduled a shipper with uship and he just picked it up. I'll add some pics!


EDIT: OK, apparently they loaded it in Australia, because it is upside down. The pics are right on my phone, why are the uploaded upside down?!?!?

[smbrouss70]

Good deal! I'm looking forward to some progress now that it'll be at your house.

[jeffg1010]

Dang! A staggered set of 20” Boss 338’s followed me home!!! Can I keep ‘em?!?

[jeffg1010]

Raised it up about an inch which im not excited about but they’ll do.

[jeffg1010]

SO, I've been going over this thing and trying to determine what its gonna take to get it ready to cruise some this summer. I pulled the v-belts off and while they are intact, they've seen better days. The power steering belt had a lot of slop and was squealing when you put any steering input into it. Since I was loosening it to try to take out the slack, I figured I'd go ahead and replace. They'll make good spares for down the road if I ever break one on the road but they're getting replaced tomorrow. The starter is doing something weird. Sounds very "metallic" when it cranks. Maybe a shim? The radiator hose looks good. The brakes have a major issue. I think I'll need to replace the booster. It feels like I have no power brakes at all.

So, in summary ... issues starting, issues steering and issues stopping. This is why you shouldn't leave a car sitting unused for years. It was good when I parked it.

While I was under there, I crawled all over looking for rust. I am SHOCKED. I've seen these Blazer (and C10) builds from all over and its usually pretty daunting when you see the hidden rust on the floor pans and lower firewall. This thing is unbelievable. Aside from surface rust, there is no through wall rust. There is one crack on the drivers side outer rocker that appears to be cracked with some rust but it looks SO good underneath.

For years, I've been thinking daily driver, but I have actually considered frame off now. I know that would turn this into a five year build but damn. It is about the best old vehicle I've owned.

It was a good night.

[jeffg1010]

So, shimmed the starter and got it running. Also fixed the power steering issue. (Still needs a new belt- on order)

Pulled it out of the garage and swapped the rims tires and it was purring like a kitten. So I couldn’t resist taking it for a spin! -illegally.

We live on a road that makes about a 5 mile loop. Perfect for testing it out. For the first four miles. It was flawless. Aside from a weird wind noise due to the top not having good gaskets, I couldn't have been happier.

But then she started sputtering. I've added fuel a few times over the years but I guess not enough lately. She ran out of gas about a mile from the house. My daughter ran me a can of gas, but I killed the battery trying to restart it. My daughter can now add "tow truck driver" to her college resume.

On the positive side, it sure looked good sitting in the grass broke down. The lady who lived in the house nearby even come out and commented on how "cute" the truck is.

[jeffg1010]

Still trying to get the starter situation figured out but I thought I’d share a pic of Sams dog Fenway. She’s pretty sure she’s a shop dog now. She whines until I let her out and then just comes out and lays on the concrete. Love that dog.

Sams at a week of summer camp so no helper here this week.

[jeffg1010]

SO, as I mentioned in a previous post the Blazer broke down on it's inaugural test drive. I initially assumed it was out of gas. The symptoms would've convinced any seasoned car guy. But there was more to the story.

After I put gas in, it cranked but wouldn't fire. I rapidly killed the battery trying to crank it, so I assumed I had flooded it and killed the battery trying to get it to refire. I was wrong.

So, once I got fuel in it, it wouldn't even crank. Seemed like a ground issue. So I started chasing down battery related wires and sure enough. The four mile drive around our "loop" had heated up the header enough to melt the starter wire. I guess it wasn't properly insulated or protected from the header so she died. After a couple days of cussing it and discovering the issue, I repaired the wire. She was cranking again.

But up next was a firing issue. It would only fire if I manually added fuel to the carb. Once I got her warmed up, she would run good. But I cannot carry a 5 gallon can of gas and manually prime it every time I go to the store.

I started with the easy stuff. Fuel filter. Because, I've heard the horror stories about old fuel breaking down and gumming up the system.

Well, they are true.

I replaced the fuel filter with a clear version and I was SHOCKED at what I saw next. When I cranked it, the fuel that filled the filter looked like Jack Daniels with ground pepper mixed in. Dark liquid filled with black specs. It was a mess.