71' Blazer Rust bucket build

[richard2717]

And finally back in the hole. I was able to source new urethane mounts for the dana as well.


.

[richard2717]

Took yesterday off to work in the garden getting it ready for planting but jumped back on the Blazer this afternoon. Jacked the rear up and put on stands so I could get the rear brakes changed out. Bought everything new including E brake cables. Bought AC Delco hardware kit and what a disappointment it was. Made in China crap that is ...almost..... exact but not quite. the tubular sleeve that goes in the adjuster arm and is held in place with the long pin was just a hair undersized and did not fit snug in the hole. Made reassembly almost impossible by myself but I finally got it. Reminded me of shooting pool with a wet rope. Passenger rear is done including new wheel studs, Drivers rear is pulled apart, small pcs blasted primed & painted waiting to go back on in the morning. Should be able to get that as well as the fronts done tomorrow. Also installing new pinion seals on both axles. Once i change them I can get the driveshafts back in. They have all new joints and I bought all new hardware for them. Also mixed up some red primer to go under the olive on the cowl to match factory layout, although I don't have much hope of it matching too well as faded as everything is. If I don't like it I will end up cleaning up the entire firewall and painting the whole thing.

[richard2717]

Had to take a break from the mechanicals while waiting on a few parts so spent yesterday on rear floor metal work. Got all but 2 spots welded up, may work on it a little more later today.

.

[richard2717]

got the drivers side wheel opening mostly done. Got the long panel that I made a while back welded in and ground down. Still have to make the front section and get it welded in. Once all that is done I will remove all the braces from underneath, sandblast and epoxy prime it all and make sure there are no bad spots in those areas. Once that is done will put all the bracing back in and it will be ready for when the heavy work starts on the floor replacements.

.

[richard2717]

Also got all the brake and fuel lines ran and hooked up except for the 2 that come up to the master cylinder. Figured I would wait on them until I reunite the body and chassis. Plugged the openings so nothing gets inside while still apart.

When I removed all the old lines I took lots of pictures and I pulled the lines out complete and still in the frame clips so that it would make it a lot easier matching up the new lines as well as how they laid out on the frame and in the clips. I had plenty of extra clips here so was able to clean and paint them while leaving the originals for examples. I think it all turned out pretty well.


I am still not liking the rear brake hose. It is way longer than the original and had to drill it out for the mounting bolt. Gonna continue to search for the correct one.


.

[CG]

Looking good, coming along great. Nice to see you repairing stuff instead of bolting on aftermarket. A little more tedious for sure, but way more fulfilling when you can say Yep I did that ... and that, and that and that lol.

Ive never owned a 69-72 Blazer. At the end of this month Ill be going in to full retirement mode, so at the prices even the junkiest Blazers are going for they are out my budget probably forever.

[jaros44sr]

Nice work on the lines, l like the way you painted the clips factory color, it's all about the detail in restorations.
I wasn't able to find that rear junction in OEM, went with a SS aftermarket, but can't remember where, my camera is down at the moment, but when it's working I'll take a picture. The length looks right for travel, BTW mine bolted right up
Keep going every thing looks great, are you using SS hardware?
Thanks for showing the rear-end vent wasn't sure where that bolted to.

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by CG

Looking good, coming along great. Nice to see you repairing stuff instead of bolting on aftermarket. A little more tedious for sure, but way more fulfilling when you can say Yep I did that ... and that, and that and that lol.

Ive never owned a 69-72 Blazer. At the end of this month Ill be going in to full retirement mode, so at the prices even the junkiest Blazers are going for they are out my budget probably forever.

Mark
with the price these things are selling for it would have been money ahead to just replace with aftermarket. Since I have no intention of selling an I already had the rear floor I figured I might as well use it. I did buy the new front pan though just so i did not have to mess with all the front support repairs. I am glad I bought both of my Blazers before the prices skyrocketed. I could sell the extreme bend hooks off the front of one for more than I paid for the whole rig.

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

Nice work on the lines, l like the way you painted the clips factory color, it's all about the detail in restorations.
I wasn't able to find that rear junction in OEM, went with a SS aftermarket, but can't remember where, my camera is down at the moment, but when it's working I'll take a picture. The length looks right for travel, BTW mine bolted right up
Keep going every thing looks great, are you using SS hardware?
Thanks for showing the rear-end vent wasn't sure where that bolted to.

Jim,
I definitely won't be 100% correct on the restore but trying to keep as close to original as possible. The rear hose that is on it now is almost twice as long as the original. I am using stainless hardware on everything I can. Most all of the bracketry got the black phosphate grade 8 hardware


Richard

[richard2717]

Got the front hubs, backing plates and inner fender wells blasted, epoxy primed and in chassis satin black yesterday while it was nice out. Got the new rotors and hubs together with all new studs pressed in today and got the drivers side most of the way back together. Having an issue getting the lockout to work correctly. It is like the spring does not want to keep tension for some reason. Took it back off for tonight. Going to try the passenger side in the morning before I go back to this one to see if it does right or if I am doing something wrong. FedEx has delivered my pinion nuts to someone else so not sure if I am going to go ahead and put the old one back on the 12 bolt or not. I decided against doing anything to the dana since it was not leaking.

Still waiting on the correct fuel line for fuel pump to carb, I ordered the wrong one the 1st time.

I also have a pile of 2.5" stainless pipe and fittings sitting here to get the exhaust going I want to get it at least to the rear axle before getting the body back on the chassis. I know how I want my exit pipes to be but need the body back on to see if feasible to do it. I do know they will not be going straight out the back. That is how the other Blazer I have is and the fumes would kill you driving down the road in it. I like the look of the old Nova's and Chevelle's where it exits behind the rear wheel but is tucked and pointing down kinda like this.


.

[richard2717]

Finished up the front axle this morning. Brakes, hubs and tie rod ends all on. Just need to get fluid in the brake lines after body is back on. Picture of the part number for the rear seal as well.

.

[richard2717]

This afternoon had some time to work on the bed floor again and just about have it all patched. got some old roll bar holes to fill and one more rust spot about the size of a quarter to cut out, then I can flip it over and dress the bottom side. Once that is done, remove the cross sills so I can blast them and make sure no more rot. Get some epoxy on it all and put sills back on.

.

[richard2717]

My FedEx package was in my mailbox this evening when I went down so I guess whoever it was delivered to yesterday was nice enough to drop it by. I was nice enough to let FedEx know that i had it instead of letting them chase a ghost.

[richard2717]

Looks like I may have cost myself some money and more time not knowing what I was getting into on the 12 bolt rear. Having never worked on one I should have read up or asked questions before jumping in on it. Had no idea changing front pinion seal would create issues (physical change was easy) just did not know about it changing the backlash and stuff that i know nothing about. What made me even question it was when I tightened up the nut after putting the yoke back on and nothing would turn. Looks like I may have ruined the crush sleeve which means it all has to come apart to fix it right. I am my own worst enemy sometimes Better to get it back right now vs tearing it up once out on the road. I will find someone local to come over and take care of it.

[richard2717]

Still no progress with the rear pinion. The guy I have coming over, I just found out that his step daughter was killed in an auto accident so I imagine he will be a bit dealing with that. Not even going to bother him for a while. Even being a stepchild I can't even imagine.

With that in limbo I decided to get to work on the floor rust which has turned into doing all the rust since it is all tied together. No need to do it twice. I pulled the new pan out of the box to check it over and it looks pretty decent. Spent pretty much all day today getting the old floor pan out after I got the cowl area supported as best I could while still giving me access without having to climb inside. With the whole body just sitting on 4 jack stands on top of the table I did not want to be inside it shaking it all around.

Now I need to get the front lip cleaned up and do a little hammer dolly work where I sheared some of the spot welds. I was surprised that all the bolts holding the rear floor to the step up came off with no issues. Even the rusted out rocker box end plates and reinforcement plates unbolted. I did have to make a cut on the inside B pillar on both sides to gain access to the 2 top mounting bolts for the rocker reinforcement plates. Either way there is no hope of keeping the inside all in original paint since none of the floor will be original

.

[richard2717]

I did not really need the stepup pc but it was the only floor they had at Carlisle. I am going to disassemble the old floor and will likely sell bits and pcs of it after I make sure my other Blazer does not need any. The Small triangular rear cab supports are included with this new floor as well so I may end up letting the new ones I bought back in 2016 go if the other blazer is still good. I still have to figure out where I want to cut the B pillar inner patch as well. My light went dead so waiting on it to charge up so I can see up in there better. Trying to keep the lower front quarter patch seam behind the lower molding on both sides

.

[richard2717]

Note to self....if another front floor pan is needed for the other project, enlist help to put it in. The panel truck floor went it like a breeze without the rear step up. This one with the step was a pain in the ass but I finally got it in with the help of some loosely applied clamps.

.

[Orange71shorty]

Looking good!
Who manufactured that floor, looks like a great stamping

[richard2717]

Originally Posted by Orange71shorty

Looking good!
Who manufactured that floor, looks like a great stamping

I got it from CPI at spring Carlisle. It is a Dynacorn unit and seems to fit pretty good. Was a bear getting the front potion in by myself but finally got it. Just hoping I don't have to take it out too many times if at all.


.

[Orange71shorty]

Thanks!

[GMC71k20]

Thanks for sharing

[richard2717]

Got a few minutes today to work on it so I tackled the minor rust on the radiator support. I bought a repair section a while back but it did not fit so great so i made my own. My bad spot was not real bad so I did not need that big of a pc anyway. Took 2 attempts but came out pretty nice. Still have to clean up inside the support and spray some encapsulator in there while it is more accessible before I weld the new patch in.


.

[richard2717]

I also have to cut out the inside front cup plates from both front fenders and replace with new metal. That should go pretty easy as well. Pretty much flat metal cut on a radius.


.

[richard2717]

I have had a hydraulic iron worker for years and years. It was the smallest one they make and is 110 volt. 45 ton model that has served me well over the years. I got this one because it was small enough I can actually load it up on the truck and take to jobsite and be able to run off generator if need be. I did not buy a lot of accessories with it when I purchased it. It came with the combo cutter for cutting angle iron, flat bar and round rod then I added a rectangular notcher for the opposite side of the punch for being able to notch angle iron when building my sign frames. I also bought a punch attachment to go with it but only ever had a 1/4" punch and die that employees trashed in no time. Over the last year though I had to buy some replacement parts for the punch end due to abuse so i got looking into the different attachments that are offered for this thing. The punches have actually come way down in price so i ended up buying a pretty complete set from 1/4" all the way to 3/4". Instead of buying actual sizes I ordered them all 1/32" bigger to allow for easier bolting. I also ordered some oval punches that are perfect for a lot of the Blazer/ burb related brackets. I messed up one of them and had to get another which is supposed to ship next week. On a whim I also ordered a 1/2" corner rounding attachment and a 6" press brake that goes in the notching station. I did not have high hopes but I put it on this morning and am impressed with it. Will be great for fabbing up brackets. 1st test was to bend a small lip on the inner fender panels that I need to replace and it worked perfect.

.

[richard2717]

Just tried out the corner rounder. Grinder will do the same thing but if I have a lot of stuff to do I will take the couple minutes to set it up. Luckily all the attachments change out pretty quick.

.

[CG]

Thats a very cool tool. I wonder if you could use some of those fittings on an "armstrong" hyd. press? Obviously you couldn't do the real heavy stuff but small pieces like you show maybe?