I finally bought a Blazer

[dewdude007]

I've been looking for a good K5 for several years. After buying a 74 stepside and rebuilding it, I found the K5 I wanted. I have a lot of work to do but there is already quite a bit done. Now that I bought it, it does seem quite tall.... Especially because at 5'7 I'm staring at the hood Here are a couple pictures that the seller had up. It is little dark out now to take any good ones here. The truck has 11inches of lift and 39.5 inch swampers.

[DustinU]

Congrats! And welcome, post up some more pics of the BEAST!!!

[fxdxharley]

cool blazer. I like the all black look and the height.

[rjsdad]

Awesome!!
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[YBNORML]

to the best site on the board for these trucks.

That is one crazy Blazer, looks mean!! I'm pretty sure you could drive right over mine

[dewdude007]

Well I spent the day running around for insurance items (appraisal, pictures, etc) and getting all the lights working properly. Here are the pics I sent to my insurance; my agent saw the one with me in it but the underwriter didn't. She thought it was cool but I didn't need the guy who already wrote in a lift kit to know exactly how huge it is lol. Downside is that I'm in MN so one of my immediate projects is to fab up some custom bumper extensions to get within the bumper height limit. It has 11inches of lift and 39.5 inch swampers on it right now. Darn near everything mechanical has been replaced or rebuilt; crate motor, rebuilt tranny, Dana 44s, 4 wheel disc brakes, custom made grill, custom cowl hood, and a ton more. The previous owner needed a new roof for his house so I got a great deal at 6k. Its virtually rust free. Currently its sitting in black primer but a paintjob is on the project list for this beast plus many other additions. Thank you for all the warm welcomes!
PS-All that stuff in the back is a ton of extra parts that he sent me! I have yet to sort through all of it as I'm still trying to make space to store the stuff until I get to where I can use it.

[fun in dirt]

I like the stance! Tell more about the "custom grill" ...is it aluminum or something instead of the plastic?

[tubbedII]

Welcome! In your 1st post you already have one of the meanest looking blazers on the board...great score! I think it'd be better without the cowl hood, but that's just my personal opinion.

I wanna see a video of it taking a jump now!

[SeventyOne]

Originally Posted by fun in dirt

I like the stance! Tell more about the "custom grill" ...is it aluminum or something instead of the plastic?

I remember reading somewhere (CK5 or here maybe) where a guy had a grill cut out of stainless on a waterjet, or something like that, and then tack welded all the vertical and horizontal bars together to make it 1 piece. It looked great. I don't remember him selling any but this one looks similar....

[VA72C10]

Welcome! Love how tough that blazer looks!

[dewdude007]

The previous owner made it out of aluminium and it appears that all the sections are welded together. It is very well made. It could be the same grille mentioned above since this appears to be made with a high degree of precision. I can try to get some more pictures up of the grille later. He also included the original plus a massive pile of other parts in the back that I'm still waiting to sort out. Hopefully a paintjob will be in the near future. A friend of mine mentioned a hobbyist restoration class at the local tech school that offers painting and body work under the supervision of a professional. I've done some painting before but I don't always have the patience that I should lol. My friend wants me to take it with him so we can paint the Blazer and his Camaro. I'm probably going to take him up on the offer since I don't have access to a garage with a tall enough door to get the K5 through.

[dewdude007]

Driving around with this much lift is a blast. Although I dislike the fact that newer trucks have become too tall to use for day to day work for short guys like me, its funny to drive by them and see their roofs.

[mcmlxix]

I know that grill... it was CNC cut (waterjet or plasma) out of steel first, then recreated in aluminum... I think it was on ColoradoK5.com

[SeventyOne]

Was that truck from Oregon? Now that I think about it the same guy made a custom cowl hood too...I bet that's his truck.

[dewdude007]

Yep it was from Oregon. The seller needed a new roof so he had to sell his truck. I saw it on Craigslist and ended up having it shipped to MN.

[madkmart]

Awesome find
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[dewdude007]

So I've talked to the local body shop about painting the beast. I know these guys do good work as they fixed my celica's bumper after I decided to try to hook my boat up to the car (it was a case of overzealous backing and not paying attention). I was quoted around 3,000 if I do the prep. Just curious as to what you guys thought of the quote? I plan on checking up a couple other shops as well.

[BOHICA]

Originally Posted by dewdude007

I was quoted around 3,000 if I do the prep. Just curious as to what you guys thought of the quote? I plan on checking up a couple other shops as well.

I started to say they're full of it, but then I remembered how tall your truck is. On a standard-height vehicle, $1000-$2000 would be reasonable for a decent paint job, but but they may be charging more since yours will be a headache to paint as is. I would ask them if that's the case and if you can get it down low for them to make the job easier. If they still say $3000, then I'd tell them to pound sand.

[dewdude007]

Well I've made some progress. With some help of a millwright friend, we built drop bumpers in order to conform with MN bumper height laws. They turned out pretty well in my opinion. Next up I'm going to redo the rocker panels and boxes. Both panels and boxes seem to have been replaced in the past but I'm not very enthused with the screws and pop rivets holding the panels on nor the lack of apparent bolts and welds attaching the boxes. So I decided that before I start the Por15 and liner process, I'm going to replace the one bad section of floor panel, the rockers boxes, and rocker panels. Hopefully it won't be too bad of a job as everything appears to be intact. I told myself before I started this project that I wasn't going to cut corners, so now I'm replacing things before they get a chance to become worse. Also, I've gotten a few more paint quotes that seem to be more reasonable ranging from 1500-2500 assuming I do the prep work.

[mcmlxix]

Any updates? I was just over on CK5 looking into the original owner and the aluminum grille...

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242338

[Chulisohombre]

That truck is awesome for sure. I also remember the ck5 post of this truck and build. Guy did a lot of stuff to it. You got a great deal on it. If the rockers and floor are solid I'd leave it. But if the show signs of rust already then definitely take care of it. Unless you are getting a maaco paint job, it isn't going to be cheap. 3 grand is decent depending on how far the go with the paint and what grade of paint they are using. Not all are created equal. Some will last longer than others. Depends on base coat and how many clear coats they use as well. Ill be watching to see what you end up with. The flat black looks pretty nice as is. Could just do that with a clear coat and be done. Lol.