1969 Blazer - 507 Light Blue

[harrisoncole4]

While this project is far from done, i am at least at a stage where i can start sharing some of the work that has been done to this blazer so far.

My interest in the 67-72 chevy/gmc trucks really began with the crew cab builds that were popular around 2014ish. I believe "project penicillin" was a build that i thought was wickedly cool, as was the first crewcab truck that rtech fabrications did. Around the same time, IronCanine started working on his silver 70 k5. After watching that build for a bit, I was hooked and had to get a blazer of my own. After heavily researching for few months i came to the conclusion that i really wanted a 69 for a few reasons. 1.) I was a huge fan of the 69/70 grill. 2.) 69 had the lowest production run. 3.) The 69's had a bunch of weird one year quirks 4.) In Ontario Canada where i am from, 1969 was the 2nd last year blue plates were offered. We have had boring white ones since then, and i thought that it would be a neat addition to the build.

I couldn't really afford a nice one at this point, so i looked all across the eastern United States for one. Here is what i found.

It was located in Columbia Tennessee, and had no drivetrain or top. But it came with a proper ownership, and a few of the hard to find pieces were there. Looking back on it, I would recommend buying one that was in a bit better shape. That being said i was, and still am super pumped about this truck.

[harrisoncole4]

The truck is a 1969 507 light blue with minimal options. It had all the seats, the top, and a few minor options but it was fairly basic. Originally it was a inline 6, 3 speed manual. By the time i got it, the front seats had been replaced, the radio hole and doors hacked, and the driveline gone.

[harrisoncole4]

The goal for this project is to restore it to as close to original as possible on the outside and interior, while making some modern improvements to the driveline. The front crossmember will be replaced with a dirty dingo unit to support an LS3 and 4 or 6 speed automatic transmission mated to an NP205. The idea with all these mods is to make sure that they are all reversible should trends change in 10-20 years. By then, people might be doing electric swaps to these things. My knowledge on these trucks pales in comparison to some people like DeadheadNM and IronCanine, so there may be times where i accidentally use parts that aren't factory correct. If there are things that i am doing that were not done that way originally, please let me know. I have been fortunate enough to have had a large amount of space to store and work on this truck in my parents shop. The conditions to my free rent of this space was that i put a roll bar, 3 point belts, and headrests in the blazer. To do that, i will have to run non factory bucket seats, but the goal is to upholster them to look as original as possible.

[harrisoncole4]

The inspiration for my build is this cover truck from the 70 brochure. While the brochure is not the same year as my truck, it appears to sport the 507 light blue that was only offered until 1969. Additionally, the interior colour of the top almost looks to be body colour as well. Another feature that was discontinued after 1969.

[harrisoncole4]

Here are some photos from the initial disassembly. You can see that basically every panel is junk. Considering what i paid for it, i knew it was going to be really bad but it was almost worse than what i expected. I guess thats what happens when you buy sight unseen.

[harrisoncole4]

[harrisoncole4]

Here are a few major pieces i picked up along the way. The bed was a blazer bed cut down and modified a bit. This seems to be a trend so far, but looking back on it, it was not in as good of shape as i had initially believed. The front dash/cowl/window frame was an excellent piece. Thanks Too Much Stuff for helping me out with that.

[DeadheadNM]

Looks like you’re off to a great start. I’m definitely on board. Color choice is great. 69 model Blazers are fun - good luck with the build.

Have you seen the Pacific Fab/Tilden 4wd X-member? Only mentioning because it looks closer to an oem piece and sleeker than the DD.

[jaros44sr]

I'll watch, seems to be in ruff shape, how are your welding skills and tools.

Mine was ruff, but not as bad as yours, good luck with your build, you've got quite the challenge in front of you

[harrisoncole4]

Originally Posted by DeadheadNM

Looks like you’re off to a great start. I’m definitely on board. Color choice is great. 69 model Blazers are fun - good luck with the build.

Have you seen the Pacific Fab/Tilden 4wd X-member? Only mentioning because it looks closer to an oem piece and sleeker than the DD.

I have seen the Pacific Fab xmember. The reason i had thought the DD unit was the way to go was that most reviews seemed to say the DD will clear the front axle with less of a lift than the PacFab unit. I like the look of the 33's on stock height springs. I have not looked into it enough to see if either xmember can support that.

[harrisoncole4]

Originally Posted by jaros44sr

I'll watch, seems to be in ruff shape, how are your welding skills and tools.

Mine was ruff, but not as bad as yours, good luck with your build, you've got quite the challenge in front of you

Thanks! My welding skills are non existent... but there is a super talented custom metal fab shop a few km down the road from me.

[harrisoncole4]

I am fortunate to have a really good metal fab and restoration shop not too far from me. The place is called Lost Time Hotrods. After securing a few more of the key parts i was ready to begin the build. At this point in time blazer specific floors were not out, so we had to cut down a truck floor like everyone else. The guys at the shop were surprised at how many blazer specific pieces were reproduced these days. They used to make the rocker boxes by hand in the early 2000s.

[harrisoncole4]

I was also able to score a really nice double wall top. Due to the construction of the double wall top, they're prone to a lot more issues that the single walls. If you have a 70-72 i would personally go with a single wall top. With the 69's the interior of them were painted body colour. Because the single walls never came with the interior painted body colour, you are kinda forced to go with the double wall when looking for that factory correct appearance.

[harrisoncole4]

The previous owner of the blazer bed had hacked off the b pillars so he could use the bed for his short bed c10. The piece being held was just removed, but these photos show where exactly the b pillars had been cut at.

[harrisoncole4]

The edge had also been radiused, so there would have to be a patch extending the outer skin as well.

[simicrintz]

It always amazes me what some of you guys start with and then what you end up with. I will be watching this build for sure; rock on

[harrisoncole4]

Utilizing my existing B pillars from my rusty blue body along with some off the shelf patch panels, they were able to fab up some rust free pillars that could then be fit into the opening.

[harrisoncole4]

This piece was made to continue the body line into the b pillar. This is one of my favourite pieces of the project so far.

[harrisoncole4]

The step up plate, the edge of the floor and then b pillars were all attached together first, then the floor was used as a scribe to cut the existing floor on the black bed to the right size. from there, everything seemed to line up really well!

[harrisoncole4]

Upon closer inspection of this bed i realized that it was not quite in the shape i had expected. Lots of bondo tucked in spots that were hard to see or covered up by brackets. Once we got a few of the brackets off we could see the full extent of the damage.

[harrisoncole4]

A jig was made to get the correct ribbed lines in the bed floor. The ends of the braces were taken off the floor of the rusty blue blazer body and then grafted on.

[harrisoncole4]

The tailgate area of the bed floor was also a disaster. The rear most cross sill had been brazed and bondo'd to the bed floor. Fortunately there are lots of available reproduction parts for this area, so all the repairs went in quite easily.

[harrisoncole4]

Unlike the bed that i had picked up, the cowl/firewall/windshield frame assembly was in really good shape. A few minor repairs and it was good to go.

[harrisoncole4]

Few more.

[harrisoncole4]

By this point all the major repairs to the body tub had been made and it was time to assemble all the pieces. The bucket seat floor brace was salvaged from the existing floor of my blue blazer. (I think it was the only thing still intact on that floor)