1972 Blazer - 'Bullet' Project

[lks dcvn]

Slight hiccup in the plan to be done by tomorrow -

I tacked in the outer rocker and hung the door - lined up great - opened the door and there was some sag so it hit on the outer rocker a bit...

I looked and there was some slight scuffing on the door/outer rocker so I checked the play in the door and it was pretty bad - so I started to look at the normal suspects [hinges were OK] - door had a crack in the metal where the door meets the top hinge - damn.

I might have a lead on some 'new' doors that I am checking out this weekend - so there goes that plan...how big of a pain is it swapping door internals to another door?

At least the major welding parts are done now - just getting a decent door lined up now is the priority.

Another thing - I noticed when I hung the front fender on the driver side is that it hits on the A pillar patch - just like the post here:

Fender Hitting A Pillar Patch Panel with Pix

I will need to cut that back tonight and see how it lines up. I might just bend the bottom of the fender out a smidge in that one spot and that might allow me to seat it properly...I will check tonight.

I will also start working on the front of the rear quarter this week as well - that way I can keep the momentum moving in the right direction.

I know there are a few spots in the bed that will need to be cut out/replaced so I will likely do those when I get the larger stuff done.

I am happy to have gotten this far in this time frame - w/out the door issue - it would have been done last night -

Pix from last night will be posted up later tonight or tomorrow with the work from later today.

[BLUE THUNDER]

Looks fantastic dude. I have the same problem with my door. I think I'm gonna try an fix the door first. If that doesn't work i'll replace the door. You gotta drive down here and we'll ck out some local junkyards and score you some doors. Keep up the good work. Later.

[lks dcvn]

Mario - I would get in trouble quick looking in those yards down there.

I think I resolved the driver door issue tonight though...pix will be coming in the next few posts. First pic is from the test fender and door hang that led me to find the cracked hinge area.

I got a few pix of the door hinge area that is prone to cracking on these - weak metal from rust, junk in the door, 'hanging' on the door to get in/out - all lead to this very issue.

After test hanging the door - and seeing/feeling the cracked metal near the hinge a day or so ago...I was pretty bummed. I went to bed that night wondering about the doors that I will be checking out this weekend - and if they would be in good shape or not.

Then I took a look at the rest of the door tonight and it 'isn't in bad shape for Ohio crossed my mind' so I figured I would just fix it and move on - Sadly, this theory has backfired many times for me in my life so here we go...

[lks dcvn]

Since the door was going to be a major project - I wanted to finish up the outer rocker since I was going to be fixing the door and it was already test hung and lined up good.

I pulled the outer rocker and drilled my plug weld holes and cleaned up the metal on the inner rocker to weld to...

After welding the outer rocker on - I went back with a flap disk and cleaned up the welds and went after fixing the door.

I only have one 3M strip disk left so I figured I would get a few pix of it in action on the door project. [last pic]

[lks dcvn]

After deciding that I was going to use this door after all I cleaned up the bad spots with the 3M disk and saw that most of the door was solid - no dents, just a hole in the front, back and the crappy hinge.

3 small projects - that after doing the rest of this Blazer were a welcome challenge.

I stripped the door to bare metal to see what I was working with - went at least 2" past the last hole/issue and cut it out.

[lks dcvn]

More door pix...

Using the spare pieces from the floor patch panel - I made patch panels for both issues with the door.

A few pix of during the process and then the blurry final mock up piece.

I then flipped the door over and checked out the other issue - that was when a huge pile of dirt/rust/screws/pine needles/etc. came tumbling out the hole that I made to fit the patch panel...no wonder why this thing rusted out.

I won't be running trim on this truck - so those holes will be filled along the way as well.

[lks dcvn]

Even more door repair pix...

Once seeing the pile of debris - I figured I should shake, jostle, bang, etc. on the door to see what comes out...pic one was the result - wow.

Same process on the other patch that I made, grind, cut, grind cut, etc.

Final mock up in the last pic - need to figure out what to do around the edges though. I wanted to keep the integrity of the door intact, but there are some spots that might be too weak to weld to - I will find out when I get to welding this patch.

[lks dcvn]

getting to the hinge now...

After making the patch panels and setting them aside to do later - I got a really good look at the hinge area causing me concern and figured it wasn't bad enough to junk the door. If it was dented up - then maybe - but rust is rust in the MidWest - since few people around here fix the rust on these blazers - that would explain why I never see them - so I was determined to save the doors as well.

I stood the door on end and then examined if I could weld it up with the hinge on - not going to happen so I drilled two small holes with a drill bit to be sure I could line it up correctly when I put it back on.

You will see in the later pix that only the one on the left went far enough down to go through the door also - glad I drilled that second one or I would have been SOL when it came to aligning the hinge.

Now that the hinge was off I could see what was really going on. The metal was damaged in this area and if it wasn't repaired now - it would have only gotten worse and likely rubbed the paint off the door and new outer rocker leading to rust - just what I need...

I ground it all down to bare metal [where I could - 4 1/2" angle grinder is only so small] for good weld penetration and then made several tack welds in the areas that were flat first. Then using a sturdy screw driver I leveraged the damaged area 'up' to meet the seperated metal and rejoin it.

Once the metal was 'rejoined' I went back over the flat areas to make sure that they were welded in solid.

[lks dcvn]

Once that was done I ground down the welds where the hinge would sit and left the others since I couldn't get to them to clean them up.

Once that was done I went back to the floor and put a coat of protective paint on it - and hit the new hinge repair while I had the paint out.

Strange how much work goes into stuff you will never see once you put carpet over it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I am off to bed...whooped.

[1949gmc]

Holy crap! You are kicking some serious a-s-s on this thing. Nice job, Tom. I would make a bet with you on who was going to be 'done' and driving their truck first... you or me, but you are WAAAY ahead of me. You should be driving this thing next week. Excellent job!

I know this 'whooped' feeling you speak of.

[addicted2dunes]

How do those 3M strip discs work for ya? Are they actually made for stripping paint and crap without gouging the metal? Can you use them to strip an entire car? Just curious.

[BLUE THUNDER]

Dude, calm down!!!! You are putting the beat down on that truck. I'm digging it. If you can do it that fast I know that "we" can knock my truck out in no time when you come down here. Lol.

[lks dcvn]

addicted - yes - when I doing the body work on another truck I wanted to strip the paint down to bare metal to see what I was working with and did a search on this forum for the easiest way to do it.

I didn't want to use chemicals, didn't have access to a media blaster at the time and I found somebody who recommended them...

I picked some up locally and tried them. They are coarse enough to strip paint, rust, etc. but not enough to grind metal. They do a great job and recommend them if you have 4 1/2" angle grinder already.

I didn't do much yesterday [I was off of work] and took a day to relax. I will be back at it tonight and this weekend I am going to check out a parts blazer near me [finally found one] - to see if there is anything worth buying from it.

[Blizz]

great work man. i'm still ramping up the courage to start doing that to mine. i'll get there some day. question...did you do all this with the top on or off? before i start cutting, i want to make sure that i brace it if i need to cuz the top is off.

[lks dcvn]

There are a few things I have learned from others who have gone this route before me...

A few steps to make this process easier:

1. Put the top on and secure it to both the w/s frame and the rear bedsides
2. Replace body mounts so that the truck has a solid platform to work from
3. Shim the body appropriately so that the doors open/close as they should
4. Install structural supports to maintain the body flex when removing doors/bad metal if the floors/pillars are that weak.
4a. Do not install supports that will inhibit your ability to hang the doors and adjust the body accordingly.
5. Take measurements before rust repair if doors open/close like they should to be sure that the doors/fender will go back in the same spots when you are trying to align them.

I just got done with a double-header indoor soccer game so I am wide awake - I will be heading out to the garage for a few hours to see what I can get done tonight.

I welded up the door patches when I got home from work so those are in, but no pix yet...

I will likely hang the door, align and then put the latch back in.

I am itching to take the top off and do some cruising [with no fenders/hood or bumpers] -

[1956cameo]

You are making some serious progress on this truck! I haven't updated my build yet but I got my D/S rocker hung and like your blazer the door and rocker line up fine when the door is shut but when the door opens it rubs on the side of the rocker panel. Since I am using the blazers junk original doors I don't think I wan't to modify anything to fit until I get the doors I plan to use hung. Keep up the good work!

[lks dcvn]

Went out there last night - turned the lights on - looked at it for about 5 mins and realized that was physically exhausted and that any work done on the truck would likely lead to more work for today - so I went back in the house, showered and then watched a movie on TV for awhile.

Tonight - got home and went right out to the garage.

Now that the driver door is patched up - I wanted to do something different for once.

Since I got this Blazer the Passenger side headlight didn't work...so I figured I would check the wiring tonight - wow - fire waiting to happen.

Late last Summer I picked up a few M&H wiring harnesses on Ebay for a decent price so I swapped in the front wiring harness and everything works as it should now - amazing how unplugging the old, plugging in the new harness can feel like you got a lot accomplished.

I then hung the driver door and starting working on the latch in the b pillar. I will need to adjust it a bit and add a shim or two, but it is pretty much where it needs to be.

I quit early for the day - little sleep last night and I am going to check out a parts blazer tomorrow - maybe I can find something worth buying for once.

[lks dcvn]

Pix from last night...

You can see in the bottom [closest to b pillar] patch I spent too much time with the flap disk in one spot so I have a small groove there [] - but then again I am not building a show truck - just something solid that I wouldn't mind using year round in snow if I had to. I hope a skim coat of filler will reduce/remove that groove.

I am heading out in a few to check out a parts blazer - hoping to score some new doors, fenders, tailgate and some 71/72 bucket seats

I will post some pix later when I get back of that other Blazer.

[my67chevytruck]

great progress.....

[lks dcvn]

Blazer trip was a bust - I got out there and then the guy wouldn't sell me anything - he just showed me all the stuff he had

Wasted trip...

[BLUE THUNDER]

What a clown! That was time wasted that could have been used on the Blazer. Not to mention gas.

[lks dcvn]

I spent several hours out there again today...

I have come to the conclusion that my lower door/close to the b pillar patch sux...

I kept looking at it all day and will probably do it over again before paint - maybe I can find a solid patch from another door somewhere.

I got the door latch on the driver side done today - that was a PITA - took me about 1 hour to dial it in where I wanted it.

I got tired of doing the body work on the doors again so I decided to do some work on the fenders today.

Filled all the trim holes and ground them down. The pitting behind the trim was pretty bad, but ground it down, treated it and will see how it looks after a skim coat of filler.

Here are the pix.

[lks dcvn]

More fender pix...

When I got done I moved them out to the driveway to see how they looked.

I am considering dragging them down to Maaco to have them spray them with epoxy for the time being [my 220 isn't hooked up in my garage yet AND it isn't going to be warm enough for awhile still].

I got the B pillar to Torsion Box patch done and then started working on the front of the rear quarter patch - it is now ready to be welded in. Hoping to do that tomorrow night.

I coated everything with another layer of the paint and then bolted the seat in and tried the door and then cleaned up the dash from all the grinding dust.

One day I will get the correct blazer seats/brackets...

[lks dcvn]

I only got an hour last night to work on the blazer...no pix to post yet - left my camera at home with the pix on it.

I got the front of the rear quarter welded in and I will be going home tonight to grind down the welds and see how it looks - I will not be using 24 grit flap disk this time to grind the welds down [like I did on the door - hence the groove I put in it].

If it is good enough [only a skim coat needed] - I will continue to work my way down the body to fill trim holes, etc. to get it ready for body work in the month or so. Now that I have a 2 stage 60 gallon compressor I can do some of this work instead of waiting on my neighbor to help me [and he only had a 1.5 HP 20 gallon].

There is some filler/body damage in the rear quarter near the rear lights - and I haven't really looked to see how bad it is, but I will this week.

I thought about a color change to orange [actually my fiance did - since I am giving her this truck when it is done], but figured the stock blue would be a lot easier to stick with and have it up and driving this summer - She didn't complain about the blue...

Pix will be posted tonight after I get some more done.

In roughly 30 days the other vehicles will be back from storage and the garage will be booked up for the most part with them. I might actually move some of the parts down to the basement in the house to free up some real estate out there.

I did find another stash of 67-72 parts that I am looking into this weekend. Not sure where these have been hiding all this time - maybe this guy will actually sell me some stuff.

[lks dcvn]

OK - I suck - no pix yet.

I did get some time out there last night.

Rear Front Quarter patch is now welded in and solid - needs a skim coat to be perfect - I will also need to bump the metal up a bit in the patch to level it off a bit and do some 120 grit flap disk time to get it even closer - ran out of time.

I have a new PITA part of this project though...getting the torsion box off the underside of the truck.

Now that the metal is solid enough - I decided to cut out the old torsion box and weld in the replacement one - for those who had theirs rusted away - you got lucky - these are a pain to get cut out.

I first cut all the spot welds where the 'holes' are that mate it to the floor [if you have ever been under these trucks you know what I am talking about] and thought that might be enough to 'pry it off' - not gonna happen since 'enough' of the torsion box was solid enough.

I then sectioned the box into pieces and cut it out that way - I still have a section where the front fender is [where it slopes up to the floor [I loosened the front inner fender to get to it].

I will also need to grind the remnants of the spot welds that run along the floor that held on the torsion box [preparing for the replacement piece to bolt on.

I cleaned up to go in the house and tested opening/closing the door with most of the torsion box cut out - door opened and closed like it should - no sticking at all -

I should be able to post pix tonight - just got in too late and then up too late this am to do it.