Left for dead: 72 2wd blazer build

[CORSAIR]

Glad to hear your eye sight will be ok. I had the same thing metal stuck in the eye dug it out at the ER and two days later better than new. The human eye is the fastest healing organ in the human body. You remember your
wood/metal shop teacher (Mr Stubs) always saying SAFETY FIRST while looking at you with one Eye and 8 Fingers.

GET WELL MY FRIEND you have a Blazer we are all waiting to see completed!!

CORSAIR

[hgs_notes]

I know I've said it before, but I've tossed out better metal than what you're repairing there. Yikes! You had rust I never even thought to look at. (firewall wire run, in the cowl) Best of luck on the repair.

I gotta say though, I like seeing the pictures with grass in the background. We are months away from seeing our yards again. It was about -20 F this morning here, but thay are predicting +9 today and up into the 20's this week. How sad is it that we think of 20's as pretty warm.

[1956cameo]

hgs_notes, I think most people would have tossed this old tub too. Thats the good part of working on a completely stripped body, you can find, and repair rust that usually gets overlooked. We never completely go into winter mode down here. There is always some grass and trees with leaves at all times. Right now the clover is so bad in my front yard I will have to mow before February. I feel for you up there. I was watching the games this weekend and they said during the Steelers/Jets game the temp was 8 with a wind chill of -4!

[Critter]

You've definitely got your work cut out for you, literally! But you've done a great job so far and I sure you will continue. When you mention that you are replacing the "whole panel" do you mean the entire bedside?

[1956cameo]

Hey Critter! No not the whole bedside (although that is propably what I should have done). The panel I am referring to is the inner support panel that is in the back corner of the bed. I should have taken a picture of it half removed before I left for the day. Anyways it goes behind the inner bed panel on the front and wraps down to the tailgate hinge on the back. It will be fun to replace!

[Critter]

Ahh, that's kinda what I was guessing just wasn't sure. From what I can see and hear from your posts I have a feeling your/your dads parts truck collection is pretty impressive! It sounds like if you need a part you just go out, find the best one, and pull it off the parts truck. I'M JEALOUS!

[1956cameo]

Critter, If it werent for the parts trucks I would definately be SCREWED!! Right now we only have about 5 67-72 style parts trucks, but hopefully I will get some more. As it stands I have enough donor panels left on our current parts trucks that I can finish the blazer, my suburban, and my 69 shortbed truck. If I end up getting another project vehicle that needs panels I will need to start finding more parts trucks with good panels. I guess sane people would restore the trucks with good panels and not cut them up to fix up rusty trucks but I guess that is what makes me special!

[Jeffs70]

wow you surely have alot of hard work going into this project, Much respect to you and digging so far into this project to find all the spots to be repaired. not many others would go through what you are. Great job for sure.

[Muleman100]

I am proud of the work and progress. I think this one will probably get finished.

[1956cameo]

Jeffs70, Thanks!

Muleman100, Thanks! There is a first time for everything!!

[wholio]

1956cameo you wouldnt have a spare cab layin around would u?

[1956cameo]

Wholio, Unfortunately I don't. All the cabs to my parts trucks are either already planned to be cut up for future projects or or are junk. What are you needing?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by wholio

1956cameo you wouldnt have a spare cab layin around would u?

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

Wholio, Unfortunately I don't. All the cabs to my parts trucks are either already planned to be cut up for future projects or or are junk. What are you needing?

I wouldn't buy a body part from him, it would probably be delivered a few square inches at a time with pictures of how to weld it back together...

[1956cameo]

Think of it as a really cool 3-D puzzle!

[wholio]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

Wholio, Unfortunately I don't. All the cabs to my parts trucks are either already planned to be cut up for future projects or or are junk. What are you needing?

basiclly everything in red in one piece, not to much worried about the floor nor the roof or back wall, im going to cut my blazer in half again n do it myself this time

[1956cameo]

Thats what I was thinking you would need. I was hoping it would be smaller pieces. The only parts cab I have that is complete enough to give you everything in red is completely rotted out in the cowl area. I was really hoping I would be able to help you but at this time it doesn't look like I will be able to do much for you. I will let you know if something changes though.

[PD1292]

Wow, This is one of the projects I was talking about that made me feel better about my rust problems.... Doing a great job on this, amazing work..
Mabe if we ever get back in the area of Houston Ill have to come by and see it in person. We lived in Katy about 10 years ago before we moved back to West Texas.. Keep up the good work..

[wholio]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

Thats what I was thinking you would need. I was hoping it would be smaller pieces. The only parts cab I have that is complete enough to give you everything in red is completely rotted out in the cowl area. I was really hoping I would be able to help you but at this time it doesn't look like I will be able to do much for you. I will let you know if something changes though.

thanks bro

[VA72C10]

That looks good!!! Nice job!

[hgs_notes]

With all of the other rust on that pillar, I'm amazed the floor under it and the area under the tail lights wasn't just as bad. The fact you think of it as easier than expected is partly from doing some nasty rust repairs already. Looking good, but if I were you, I'd just stop looking for rust, because you seem to find it everywhere you look.

[1956cameo]

VA72C10, Thanks! I appreciate the encouragement.

hgs_notes, It is amazing because all the surrounding metal didn't even have a single rust pit or bubble. I was thinking about all the hidden rust that I have found and replaced and was wondering; "Is my truck really that much worse than everyone elses or are everyone elses rides still hiding that much rust?". If I had to guess I would think a combination of both.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by 1956cameo

"Is my truck really that much worse than everyone elses or are everyone elses rides still hiding that much rust?"

I'm pretty sure that yours is worse than average of what's still being driven on the road or in a rebuild process. Of those that are as bad or worse than yours, they are mostly made into razor blades or toyotas by now.

But you are doing a heck of a job on this. In the end, you'll either decide that it wasn't so bad and be willing to take on a very rough project, or you'll say, that's enough of that, I'll never do that again.

I tend to be a bit lazy and look for short cuts. It's my nature. It's why I swapped bodies on my Jimmy and swapped cabs on my truck. It didn't eliminate all of the work, but it definitely made it more manageable. Too many people get into a project and find themselves overwhelmed by how much work it really takes. They don't realize that it can be broken down into a lot of little jobs, like you have done here, and give up in frustration.

Your doing great though. Time for me to get my lazy butt out to the garage and sand some more.

[1956cameo]

hgs_notes, You are propably right, but I hope it will be better than average when I am done. As far as future rough projects, I am ready for them! I love a good challenge.

[1956cameo]

The wife gave me a "Hall Pass" to do whatever I wanted for the afternoon yesterday; so naturally I worked on the blazer. The good news is I made more progress, the bad news is I found even MORE rust!!

As alway we pick up where I last left off. I got the replacement bed pillar trimmed up and tacked in. I had to make a simple home made patch to fill in the stake pocket since the rear pillar/bed patch was from a truck and blazers don't have stake pockets.



I don't know why but I could get the donor top bed panel to fit up to the original outer bed panel except on the rear curve. I thought that I had just cut the donor piece out too short, but when I put the original blazer top bed piece on it fit even worse. So I slit both panels and made them line up to each other.



So while my Muleman100 was welding in the donor bed pillar I was grabbing the top of the drivers side bed panel right behind the door. I felt something very familiar under there; MORE RUST! I looked solid from the top.



However from the bottom you can see a different story. I checked the complete underside of both the drivers and passengers side bed rails after this discovery and this is the last of the crusty rust hiding under the top bed rails.

[hgs_notes]

I told you to quit looking for rust or it'll never end. Make sure you check the rear body mounts under the very rear of the bed floor. My frame was rotted out in this area also.