My K5 Blazer Story.

[Greenlee]

I feel the same way. Every time I see the camping pics you and Larry post I wish I was there!

The Blazer is looking good!

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by Greenlee

I feel the same way. Every time I see the camping pics you and Larry post I wish I was there!

The Blazer is looking good!

Well it's hunting season, just follow the endless stream of Texas plates coming up here to take a shot at our deer and elk! I joke..


Thanks for looking! Getting close for sure!

[chilliwak]

Ya I got to get myself stateside and see you guys. Need to make my 94 reliable...

[ryanroo]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

Well it's hunting season, just follow the endless stream of Texas plates coming up here to take a shot at our deer and elk! I joke..

Thanks for looking! Getting close for sure!

you have that too, huh? haha

[Zoomad75]

We do!

I stuck around late at work today to get some work done on the front driveshaft. As Larry found out on the desert trip last year, these late style flanged front shafts are easier to install/remove than the early style but GM left some extra material on the yokes. On a stock height truck it isn't much of a problem, but 4" of lift and some flexing will cause the yokes on the cv end of the shaft to hit each other and want to tear itself up. See Larry's post on the subject in the desert trip from last year.

Following his recipe I got busy with an angle grinder with a cut off wheel.
The lines show where I'm knocking the corners off.


After the cuts.


Both ends done. On the right you can see the appendage about an inch long sticking up on the end of the shaft. That needs removed too.


Cut off the appendage and switched to a grinder wheel from the cut-off wheel. Started shaping the ends of the yokes and smoothed things out.


Midway through the process on the yokes.



Final result. The CV turns tight without anything touching. It will get shipped off to the local driveline shop monday to get balanced and a little length added.


Got home and went right back to work cleaning up the rear shaft and the brake calipers. Still need to install the conversion u-joint for the 1/2ton shaft to the 14b yoke. Back to wire wheeling, cleanup and shooting some primer.


A few light coats of tractor black later...


Gave the Winch a scuff and laid down a final coat on it today too. Looks good.

[beamn7]

Lookin' Good guys!

[Zoomad75]

Thanks Jesse! Getting there for sure!

[justcuz]

Glad to see you found a solution to the air intake. Looks like a nice upgrade if anyone wanted to change their factory intake with the bulky silencer on it to something simpler with less restriction.
Nice progress on the Blazer, did you grind the bottom of the 14 bolt or leave it stock?
The 8 lug stuff is hard to get used to at first, but the long term running gear reliability will make up for the inconvenience of the extra 2 lug nuts per wheel.

[Zoomad75]

The 14bolt is not getting cut. I'm not hitting extreme rock crawling trails with it.

[DirtyLarry]

I’ve been crazy busy with work and life lately and falling behind with posting progress pictures…… Without further ado…..here are a few new pics of Zoo5

Cutting off the old spring hangers and exhaust hanger bracket


Cleaned up and ready for some ORD goodies. I still need to snap some pics of the after shackle swap


We’re still working on giving this ole K5 some class but at least now it’s got glass!




The chassis and suspension is pretty much done outside of some small things like front brake lines and drive shafts. Rob dropped off a set of nice meat for it last night!




Passenger door after fresh paint and new weather stripping & window channels and lot of adjustments


Purdy! That door shuts better than a brand new truck now….hope I have the same luck with the driver’s door.


This door has a long ways to go but at least it has fresh paint and fresh weather stripping. It is also so far out of whack I’ll probably have to pull the front fender off to get to the door hinges for front to back adjustment.




That’s it for now….the goal is to have it started and be able to drive it in and out of the garage by Thanksgiving. We’ll see!

[Zoomad75]

We are moving right along. The fresh meat is killer. Glad I listened to you on the choice. The passenger side door shuts so nice now. The 75 was getting so bad you would have to mule kick it to shut and all it would do was bend the jamb where the striker pin was. I know you'll get the drivers side just as nice. Just remember to zap the bracket inside before you close it up!!

[MTCK]

Looking good fellas! I think your goal is reasonable.

[DirtyLarry]

The driver’s door turned out really nice! Of course, it needed pins and bushings as with most old square bodies, but it was worth it. Since it was so far apart removing the fender made easy work of adjusting the door and removing the hinges to replace the bushings. I wish the driver’s door operation on my K10 and Polar Bear Suburban turned out this nice.


Sealed the door before installing the door panel. Sure cuts down on dust and gives the door a more solid sound when you shut it.


Rob still needs arm rests for the old girl someday.


I had some neat 3M material that is used on the back of UPS trucks to protect the bodies from contact with shipping docks that I used on the rockers. It is really durable stuff almost like a bed liner but in stick-on form.


Next up….pull the full floater apart to replace the brake shoes, hardware kit and wheel cylinders.

[DirtyLarry]

Brakes are done outside of fabricating the new parking brake cable brackets. On to other things……….like tearing back into the trans to figure out how we lost the Parking pawl when Rob tore it down to install the Bowtie Overdrive kit. Or…..sometangwong with our junkyard 241 score.

[bmchevy1979]

I like the build so far keep up the good work. Out of curiosity what was your reason for sticking with drums in the rear is it for the parking brake or is it just a preference I plan to run a driveline break on my 74 k5 when i get to that point but I haven't fully decided to run disc yet and I'm not sure If it will require more or less trimming than the front to clear my 15x10 rims

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by bmchevy1979

I like the build so far keep up the good work. Out of curiosity what was your reason for sticking with drums in the rear is it for the parking brake or is it just a preference I plan to run a driveline break on my 74 k5 when i get to that point but I haven't fully decided to run disc yet and I'm not sure If it will require more or less trimming than the front to clear my 15x10 rims

Rob’s reasons for keeping drums might be different than mine. Rob knows if he showed up at my place with a box full of disk brake swap parts I would take a ballpeen hammer to each one of his finger nails. My reason for not partaking in any rear disk swaps is because I feel they are lame. I don’t buy into the fad where sheaple toss drums to install aftermarket paper thin brackets to mount junk El Dorado/Tornado calipers on the rear of a full size truck. Those calipers weren’t worth the poop on the cars they originally came on. Even the kits that use front ¾ ton calipers on the rear I don’t feel are sufficient. The only rear disk brake swap I would ever consider would be to swap in a complete rear disk brake axle from a late model GM HD truck that was properly engineered for disk brakes. I find it almost hilarious most built threads by non-techical people by trade almost always include rear disk swaps and crossover steering. You will find neither on anything I build for what we use our 4x4's for. Our builds are for durability, not to buy every possible aftermarket bolt on thing available.

Now, if you really want to upgrade the brakes on an older GM truck my suggestion is to start by replacing the vacuum booster with hydroboost. That is an upgrade…..aftermarket rear disks is not an upgrade in my opinion.

My idea of upgrading rear drum brakes is by removing 11" drums to install BIGGER 13" drums . My ’78 K10 that has a camper and weighs 8,000 lbs has 13” rear drums and hydroboost and feels much more confident in stopping power than my Silverado with disks.



I run 13” drums on my Suburban too…..they STOP!!


Pee on aftermarket rear disk kits

[Zoomad75]

There are multiple reasons we are sticking with drums. The size of the 3/4 ton drum brakes dwarfs the 1/2 ton stuff. This truck won't be "light" but compared to an actual 3/4 ton truck the drum brakes are still overkill. Plus we already have it. A few bucks spent to put fresh shoes, hardware and wheel cylinders and we will have good solid brakes.

Don't get me wrong I know disc brakes are great, but for this application it's just not needed. I'm not planning on mudding this rig so dealing with mud in the drums isn't a problem. Nor do I want extra complexity with an added driveline brake or dealing with finding the right prop valve to run on a 4 wheel disc setup. Besides, the future upgrade in my case is going to swap over to hydroboost for more braking power.

[MTCK]

I was thinking to myself Larry disc break rant in 3... 2... 1...

The master cylinder and booster on my V3500 were junk when I bought it. I replaced them earlier this year and that thing stops great. Even with a heavy trailer in tow.

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

There are multiple reasons we are sticking with drums.

.....and the ballpeen hammer to the fingers is one of them

Originally Posted by MTCK

I was thinking to myself Larry disc break rant in 3... 2... 1...

You know me too well.... at least I am consistent!

[bmchevy1979]

Well thank you for the input I'm in the process of rebuilding my axle now so I'll keep the drums for now. Put the Hammer back on the shelf Larry

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by bmchevy1979

Well thank you for the input I'm in the process of rebuilding my axle now so I'll keep the drums for now. Put the Hammer back on the shelf Larry

Got a nuisance thing out of the way tonight. Apparently Gen III engines like to rub the OEM engine crossmember. I wish I would have noticed this much sooner because the only way to deal with it at this point was to raise the engine with a floor jack and use a hand file to knock off the corner of the engine block. Damn, my arm is tired!


Still pretty close but this is as much clearance as I could make with a hand file.

[Zoomad75]

Looks good dude.. I think all the hand file practice you got filing the nubs off your front driveshaft in the desert paid off!!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

Looks good dude.. I think all the hand file practice you got filing the nubs off your front driveshaft in the desert paid off!!

Ya! Exactly the flashbacks I was having while machining your engine block with a precision cutting devise exactly like the 2 hours we spent filling my front CV in Canyonlands last year. Funny how a simple file can make such a huge difference. I bet even El Chapo agrees hand files are handy tools to have around.

[Zoomad75]

Originally Posted by DirtyLarry

.....and the ballpeen hammer to the fingers is one of them

You can keep the hammer in the tool box! The budget just can't go for a disc brake swap of any type. I've still got to pay for the exhaust install, fluids and who knows what else will turn up!

[DirtyLarry]

Originally Posted by Zoomad75

You can keep the hammer in the tool box! The budget just can't go for a disc brake swap of any type. I've still got to pay for the exhaust install, fluids and who knows what else will turn up!

If you would have bought a rear disk swap kit and still not bought the ORD HD engine crossmember I really would have come uncorked. I was muttering some nasty words as I was filing…. “why didn’t he just get a G.D. ORD Xmember and I wouldn't be doing this caca!”