Project: 40/Yr old makeover.

[BlazinC5]

Hard to believe one of my babies is 40.. This has been a long over due project I started back in 2004-5. A 4x4 to 2wd convertion. But she is in great need of a makeover still... So I worked my butt off the last 2 years in overtime and bought a few things I wanted for a long time. Like a 52" LCD w/awsome suround sound and as of last May I did Lasik surgury on my eye's, so no more glasses.. All the while knowing I had my Blazer waiting for some love too. I have spent the last 6+ weekends cleaning and organizing the garage to at least get this ole girl's build re-started....


A quick little background of myself: I am a machinist with a Farmboy heart, who learned most stuff on the job. Of which I was 12 the first year I worked wheat harvest. Mom held it off as long as she could... But I wanted to work with the big machines and trucks... First truck I learned to drive was a 67 C-50 with a split shift axle and 4 speed... Grandpa put a H.O 350 engine in it and I loved jammin away at them gears. Glass pack stacks sound so cool. My dad was the person who managed to accualy teach me all my driving skills, and most of my mechanical skills... He had a bunch of old repair manuals that from time to time I accualy would pull off the shelf and just read.. I learned alot there too. Dad was a Trucker so it wasn't often he was home, but he worked my ass off when he was home... Did you all know that there is always a hole to dig on a farm somewhere??? He is the guy on the right with the vest..



Notice the lil pinky held out from his mini wine glass? He always was a joker... This pic was taken not much before he suffered a massive stroke. We still do have my dad. He is as funny and cantankerous as always. But, he has a usless right arm, walks with a cane and isn't able to speek words anyone but him can understand... We manage pretty well though. I mess with him when I go back home every chance I get. I gotta keep him on his toes, So to speek. It just sucks when you know just a few years ago ya could call him up with a question, and he would have an answer for ya.. Even if it wasn't always rite. LOL Boy did he know these old trucks...





Back on track... I have owned this Blazer since 1998. The last two picks are from the fall of 02 and spring of 03. Unfortunatly,, I cant seam to get my older pics before the convertion to scan on this computer. But as you can see. At one point she was at 7 inches of lift with 38" super swampers. The pics accualy show 35"x16" wide Boggers. Dana 60 rear, with HD dana 44 front. I got some old blocks out one time and stacked them up then drove the front wheel up on them. It was 39 inches of flex before one of the rear wheels lifted off the ground. We had a good ole mud and snow flinging time back in the day too... But 4 Wheeling took a back seat after I got married and the ORV park was alot further away due to a new house. Plus, I had time issues and affording to break stuff then getting them fixed.. I knew I didn't want to get rid of her. And I couldn't seem to find a 2wd blazer that was in my price range.. So... my 4x4 needed to be changed to a 2WD...

[BlazinC5]

So.. I decided on making my blazer a 2wd get around rig. The handling with 7 inches of lift sucked and usfull practicality of keeping her a 4x4 was out the window for me. I began the convertion in 2004 ish. (hard to remember). I bought a 71 GMC 2wd longbox with no engine and bad tranny for $200. It had newer wheels and tires, but some of the perks left in the back of the box paid for the truck. Parts and tools for finishing my basment of the new house.. I moved both the dead 2wd GMC and my blazer into my 3 car garage, then started to dismantle both rigs for frame swaps.

I ran into an ufortunate setback once I got the GMC body off. Somehow I didn't notice the frame was bent real bad in the front drivers side and had a nasty crack in it when I boght it. I tried to bend it back with a porta power and chains but no dice. She was just to messed up. So the search was on for another frame. My buddy called me up and said one day. "Hey, we have a 75 camper special at my father inlaws, with a 454 and t-400. He would take $400 for them on the frame." I took a weekend and went over there to get them. Part of the deal was to take the body off the 75 for his father inlaw. I didn't mind it since it was like old times working with a friend who we spent countless hours as teens working on junk. The gears instantly got to turning.. I took some measurments and it turns out a 75 front portion of the frame is VERY similar to a 71. Not perfect, but hey it worked for me. So I hacked the front portions of the frames off.







I decided to go with a 45 degree angle cut as opposed to an L type cut due to the space and difference in frames I had to deal with. So my frame does in fact have a 75 front section and a 71 rear section.

[BlazinC5]

I never really had full clairity on what I was going to do to accomplish making my blazer a full on driver. I just felt this was a step to the rite direction.. So some of you may cringe or think I should have done it different.. Believe me. Some times I think the same things.. But I just am still plugging away at it.
Here is the only pick of the 71 GMC on the blazer frame I managed to get.

But back to the frame works:


I accually accuired the 75 frame in 2006 so it was a long process getting it to this point. I also had come across a 350 that ran for 45 buck. Since the 454 needed some work and i wasn't sure I wanted the bad fuel economy I used the 350 and T-400. Plus the rear axle of the 75 was a camper special (big brake drums) in great shape I also used it. The other one wasn't good at all. So I cut the mounts off rewelded the 71's to the 75's and put an ECE super track bar on her.



Drivline is done so time to put the frame back under the blazer to test fit it all


Everything seemed to work out great with body mount swaps and clearances. Exept the front frame horns, they are very different. So I cut the old ones off and did what I could freezing my butt off just wanting to take it for a drive and get done before the snow came. Yeah I didn't do very good with that portion. So I still have to rework that to this day. I still think I want to keep my front bumper and not go roll pan in the front.

[BlazinC5]

One of the other major setbacks for getting the blazer driving back in 2006 was the pinch at the pumps. I had to make a job change and fuel was killing me. My old motorcycle was an 86 and eventually it was going to die with the milage i was racking up. So my severance pay and the money from the sale of the 71 GMC went to this.

A 2005 Buell XB12R Firebolt. I still love this bike as much as I did when I bought it. I couldn't pass it up for 2/3 the price of new and only had 2750 miles on the clock.

The next 2 pics are the day I pulled the blazer out for it first drive as a 2wd. Late 2006



Now I told ya about the snow thing when finishing up my front frame horns. We had a doozy of a snow year. This pic is late january 2007 after we got a big warmup. we lost most our snow in a day.. so as I always do when I can get it out and on street level. I warmed up the engine of the bike up.

Fast forward a few more years, I didn't get anything accomplished on the Blazer. Yet again I ran into the issue of job hunting. This one took about 5 months and drained any set aside money I had. So the Blazer suffered for it. 2010 rolled around and I accuired some parts, found I had a flat cam in the 350, plus I was really itching to do something more to the blazer than leave her in poor shape. I threw a cheap cam in the engine so it would run just well enough to move her in and out of the garage. My driveway has a pretty good slope so pushing it in and out was out of the question. I set out on a mission to E-mail myself ideas parts and tools i need to do it better this time I put her into the garage. Now that it is later than I anticipated in the year, I won't get much accomplished before it is to cold. But she is in and my plans currently are to make a good looking body worthy of a nice engine and trans.
This pic is 2 weeks ago when I felt the garage was at about 90% organized.

Let the fun Begin,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Umm Again.

[BlazinC5]

Outside of saying my Blazer was needing a 40 yr/old makeover I forgot to say she is in fact a 71. I guess it was the exitment of starting a build thread I forgot. It does have a 70 grill from a PO. But it will be getting a 71-72 grill someday. matter of fact, I have one hanging in the garage...
First order of business was to strip out the interior. I have known she needed floor pans and rockers for a long time. So that was the top of my list.
time for the interior to be stripped.
Gee, I hope you all like pics.. Bwaahhahaha

[BlazinC5]

can you believe how easy it is to strip an interior of these things. 2 hrs later I even had it vacumed out.

[BlazinC5]

Time for some test holes and removal of a outer rocker panel to be more sure of what parts I needed to order. Things got a bit hecktic around here and it took longer than i was hoping for to figure it all out. A wedding I had to attend, my garage fridge died, (warm beer Uggg) and the stepson is causing big problems. I got my parts coming though and even picked up some POR 15 for when I put it all back together.. The garage fridge is still beeing worked out, going to convert a 9 cu./ft chest freezer into a fridge for my kegs. Yup I hombrew... Anyone up for a small beer?



So here are some shots of the test holes/disassembly.



Hey,, I found that loaf of french bread you were missing dear..



Now, I hope this will show ya'll what spray in foam will do for ya. It ain't pretty. Maybe now it won't be so debated round here with this evidence.

[BlazinC5]

Look at the surprise I found under the floorboard on the passenger side..



Yup. It seems that a long time ago a quail made a nest in the rocker box. What a nasty mess.



anyway, another detail here is the rear mounts of the drivers seat. they are cracking out from the years of abuse.





Perhaps this pic shows part of the problem the angle bracket has a captured nut perpendicular to the floor but no bolt.. hmm Not even a hole behind it for a bolt. Anyone know what that is all about?


Welp, All of you are now up to date on my build. It is long term as you see. But I am hoping to get the momentum going a bit better these days. Enjoy the pics.

[jaros44sr]

Good story, I m in
I think those seat brackets were to allow you to use both types of bucket seats, if they are set back about 3inches

Looked good as a 4 WD

[BlazinC5]

Thanks Jaros. Yeah, I figured that the different sets of holes were for different seat configurations. What baffled me is the angled bracket. it is the same set of holes my seats used up top. But shouldn't it have a bolt through the floor support on the side? It just struck me odd that there is a threaded nut there but no hole for a bolt behind it. Maybe I'll try to add a hole..

[jaros44sr]

Are you saying that bracket hole is in your backing plate for the rockerboxes or in the floorboards...gave up trying to figure out why

Sorry to hear about your Dad, my father in law was in a hospital bed for ten years not being able to talk or move

[BlazinC5]

Yup, that angular bracket is also the backing plate for the seat. Nobody seems to take pictures of deep inside the rockerboxes. So I have no idea if that bracket was suposed to be like that or if the factory forgot a hole.

[Secret Squirrel]

Sweet .. keep those pics coming, that old girl needs some love. I remember riding around in that beast!!! Those were the days ...

Good to see her out soaking up rays again.

[BlazinC5]

There will be plenty more to come.. With any luck I will have the sheet metal here this week so next weekend I can get some more accomplished. It's nice that ya came to the site for a visit.

[Secret Squirrel]

Heck yeah .. I still have the 69 ... it's just not within reach. I sent the old man money to get the trans built. Going to have the same guy that built my 442 trans do the work.

[BlazinC5]

Welp, Found out parts won't be in till tues. Guess I will have to entertain myself with the wire wheel and dust mask before I cut much more of the metal out.

It's to bad you are so far apart from your 69, Squirrel.. When you get yourself back out of that swamp and up here. I help you fix those things that arent rite the P.O. did to her.

[BlazinC5]

Welp, almost 2 months later and not much progress. Between vacations, work, and winter coming up. not alot of time for anything else. But I figured I would share some of the updates that I have acomplished.
Parts came in,, Got almost everything....

Mocking up A pillar patch

finally got the floor support out...

Ok, Most of the bad metal on that A pillar is removed now. But, I knew that all the sheetmetal in that area is layered with quite a few pieces, but getting them back in the correct order may be bit more challenging. It's hard to see in those tight spots.

Started removing the bad material on the B pillar.. Not to bad at all till I found the spot where all the mud, sand and gravel you can't see or get with a preasure washer accumulated.

[BlazinC5]

There is the rust holes, and Oh yeah,, I didn't order that patch pannel.. Doh.

most of the bad sheet metal here is now removed

Back to the A pillar. I will need to remove part the lower kick panel it seems, to aid in putting everything back together. It's just to tight to line everthing back up and get it to fit rite.

this was a surprise too. the lower door hinge with 40 years of operation has a bunch of cracks. Well, rather than cut it out and hope my holes are close, I drilled holes at the end of the cracks to stop them and I will weld that up later.

I decided that rather than order up another patch pannel I overlooked, I would give it a go on making my own.

[BlazinC5]

Not shabby if I do say so myself.



And the test fitting. Like a glove.

Guess the new piece will work out. Its the same gauge of sheet metal and fit very well. So I welded it up solid. Before I attach it permanent to the Blazer I need some more cleaning in there and will put in some por 15 behind it. Once I weld it in its final position I won't be able to get behind it again. So I best do it rite.

Remember I mentioned a Vacation I took. Well, It is October, and we have our own lil Bavarian village about 200 miles away in Levenworth Wa.. So it was time for a lil Octoberfest. The beer and Bratworst was great. Not to mention the scenery. I even spotted a couple of storm troopers enjoying the festivities. Fun for all..

It's gotten late in the year now and it's been freezing at night, so not much will be happening on the Blazer for a while. I am still winterizing my place and the garage is a disaster area from everything beeing worked on all at once. Spring will be a welcome sight to get back to the Blazer. I wish I had more room, better lighting and my garage was heated. But I guess you sometime ya can't have it all. Good thing I have a PS3 and 52" TV for them long winter nights. I been car racing a bunch on Burnout, but I will be getting either Battlefield 3 or modern warfare 3 soon. Some times ya just feel like blowin stuff up.

[bigbadchev72]

Not sure if you mentioned it, But do you still have your old front bumper? Do you have any other pics of it?

[BlazinC5]

I sold it on the frame with the green GMC body. I have no idea if the guy who bought the rig still has it.. Kinda funny but I saw that truck this last summer painted white, and it looks like he put a short box on it. Or rather shortend the box for a Blazer frame I assume.. (I didn't get a close enough look.) The bumper however I built myself. Sturdy enough to bump a tree stump and not bend, but not heavy enough I could still put it on myself.. With six inches of lift it's aproch angle looked great. Somewhere I have some video of it on the Blazer before I pulled the body off for the frame swap. I will see if I can figure out how to upload it... No promises lol I ain't to computer savy... BTW, that bumper was a prototype for the bumper I put on my 94 GMC.. I have another better pic somewhere on here but,,,,,. I upgraded a few things.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Looks like you guys get just a little bit of snow...

[Splash4195]

Wow that's allot of snow!

[BlazinC5]

Yeah there was a couple of back to back record breakers about 3 years agoish. Last year I fired up the snowblower only once due to a lack of snow.. This year "they" are predicting big snow again.. Well, I may not even fire that snowblower up.. It seems the kid is in great need of things to do rather than find ways to get into troubble. I may even have him shovel it from one side to the other and then back again a few times if he don't knock off the skipping school crap.

[oldschool18]

Thats a nice build you got going on there....