1972 K5 4x4 modified build

[67Steven]

I have had this blazer for a few years now, and I have posted some pics and questions, but I thought I would start an 'official' build thread to track work I have done and work I will be doing.

Started out as a 1972 CST, single wall top, AC, tilt, tach and so on. I had been looking for a plain jane for a while since I had planned on modifying it, but the price on this was too good to pass up. It literally came in pieces with boxes of unlabeled bolts, wires and parts.

This is not a purest build, I modified the truck to suit me, I am sure I will upset some members by desecrating this vehicle, but I like it.

This will be a camping, exploring, snow playing, ice cream getting truck. I want it to be strong and simple-ish, but fun.

I have a few pics, so here goes!

What I am ruining:


First time in the shop with my son helping:


PO had an aftermarket tank in addition to the stock unit. I will be removing it and putting one in the original spot


Filler hole on body


Fairly straight body


Supposedly rebuilt 350/350/205 combo. At this point I was thinking a fuel injection setup on this engine, punching it out to a 383 and going to a 700R4


Super awesome coil-over setup on all four corners:

[67Steven]

It looked like a decent minimal rust body:


But, digging deeper:






Both rockers had rust and were paper thin in spots. So, I figured I would hang the doors and the front sheetmetal then install an Energy Suspension body mount kit that came with the project so I could start ripping out the bad spots.

[67Steven]

More rust removal and repair pics:



I started on the passenger side rocker. The A pillar and part of the lower kick were toast, as was part of the floor support:






I realize the floor isn't perfect, but it is sound for welding, and I plan to bed lie the tub, so it will hide any small imperfections

Cleaned up a bit:


Test fit the inner:



Slight depression


Raised it up to match repair panel:


No pictures, but I prep washed the rocker box and any exposed surface to get rid of surface rust and painted it before assembly.

Crappy alignment of panel:



So I cut and moved the slice up to match the floor.

[67Steven]

More passenger rocker repairs:

I lied; I did have a picture of the painted area:



I had to really massage the patch panel to get it to somewhat jive with the original steel:






Welded for outer rocker


Pillar repair




I bent and welded a repair panel for the lower B piller


The new outer rocker radius was atrocious, no where near the original


So I cut the end to get it tighter

[67Steven]

I cut the old rocker end off and welded it to the end of the new one:






I also had to cut and massage the rocker/pillar intersections:






Rear of rocker:


And that will finish passenger rocker:

[67Steven]

Driver’s rocker was a little farther gone:


Cut line for removal:




Floor support was shot:


I think the only picture of me working:


Removed the support:


Pretty bad but not as worse as some I’ve seen on the boards here:


I built a new outer piece and welded it on:




The rest was a copy of the passenger side, with the same amount of work:

[67Steven]

During this time frame, my power plant wishes changed, so I bought a Duramax/Allison combo, but it was a super tight fit, and I did not want a body lift. I sold it and found a L92/6l80E combo out of a Hummer H2 with 13K miles on it:



I had purchased the DIY4X engine cross member for the small block I had, but it was not going to work with the LS engine:




So a quick slice and the engine settled into place:






Tight fit:


As far back to the firewall as I wanted it:


I bought a 1990 NP241 passenger drop transfer case and changed the input shaft to a 32 spline to match the 6L80 and installed a slip yoke eliminator kit (no pics for some reason)



Transmission/transfer in location for cross member:

[67Steven]

Tunnel space looks great:




I will need to build some protection for the 241:


I also changed over to a hydroboost system. I cleaned and painted the brake pedal assembly:


I built a plate to adapt the hyroboost unit to the firewall. Unit is from an 86 Chevy diesel:

[67Steven]

I modified the brake actuating rod for adjustment:


Cut off end:


Turned a chunk of steel down and threaded on end for a rod end:






Cut two flats for a wrench:


Installed on rod:


Steel spacer for lock nut clearance:


In place:

[67Steven]

Next I built a mount for the truck throttle pedal assembly:




This put the pedal in nearly the same area and angle as the original:


I also built the cross members for the transmission/transfer case:


Disregard the disc, I am building a better one for the parking brake:




I purchased a Painless wiring harness so I needed to fill in the firewall to cut a new hole for the bulkhead. I am also deleting the foot activated parking brake, so those holes can be filled also:





I also deleted the AC and planned on using an after-market heater, so I filled in the passenger side of the dash:

[mud.man.rj]

Wow, what a lot of work, nice though seems to be going fine, better choice for the engine, good time to switch to what you want. Will be a very nice truck when done, keep us posted.
Rick/ Mudman.

[67Steven]

Originally Posted by mud.man.rj

Wow, what a lot of work, nice though seems to be going fine, better choice for the engine, good time to switch to what you want. Will be a very nice truck when done, keep us posted.
Rick/ Mudman.

Thanks, it is going well. And I still have a bunch of pictures to go!

[67Steven]

Somehow, I lost all of my in progress roll cage and axle swap pictures, however you can see them in the pictures from now on. I followed a member on here, Sand King’s cage as a guide, with a few modifications so it could be removable if required. I also acquired a 1991 Dana 60 front axle and a 1973 Corporate 14 bolt out of a van (to match track width) I went through both axles, re-geared to 5.13, Auburn up front and a Detroit in back. Also went to rear disc and cross-over steering.

I used DIY4X’s B52 kit to run 52” front springs, and also their shackle flip in the rear. These were pretty much bolt on swaps. I am running 4” lift springs with a zero rate block in back to push the rear axle back to it’s original spot.

Here is a few shots of my console under construction:


I am using a Winters cable shifter for the transmission, and I built my own cable shifter for the transfer case.



I finally received my Doug Thorley Headers after waiting three months. Only to find they hit the frame rails. So I made a small slice on each side by the motor mounts and reinforced it:



I picked up a rear roll pan at the Portland Swap Meet. I am going to run a tube rear bumper, and wanted to have it clean looking behind it. This worked great.


I mounted my tires onto the rims, and rolled it outside for a picture. Tires are 38x14.5x17 BFG KM2 and the rims are Trailready beadlocks:

[67Steven]

Back inside to star on the bumpers. I cut the fangs on the front fenders and rolled them to match the grill surround. I actually got the idea from a member on here, I just can’t seem to remember his name.


I wasn’t sure how I was going to have the front lay out, so I decided to build the rear:




Then I started the front. I tied the bumper to the frame and the B52 front spring perch so I could use it as a pull point::




I wanted to incorporate the front bumper/engine cage/roll cage so I needed to install the steering column and shaft. Since the truck did not come with a column, I grabbed an aftermarket tilt and used it:



I milled an existing steering column shaft to a double D adapter for the column:


I installed my Entropy radiator:


This allowed me to bend up a simple cage for the engine:

[mud.man.rj]

Really coming together nice, well thought out too. The shifter setup on both is a nice touch, looks handy. The Dana 60 front being a 91 does that make it a ball joint diff, just wondering, mine is a dana 60 Currie front and has kingpins and was told a 77-86 setup with kingpin. Sure sits nice in the outdoor pic looks..mean.

[67Steven]

Originally Posted by mud.man.rj

Really coming together nice, well thought out too. The shifter setup on both is a nice touch, looks handy. The Dana 60 front being a 91 does that make it a ball joint diff, just wondering, mine is a dana 60 Currie front and has kingpins and was told a 77-86 setup with kingpin. Sure sits nice in the outdoor pic looks..mean.

No, not a ball joint. I believe Chevy only used king pin 60's. 1991 was the last year of the solid axle crew cabs, which this is out of. I think Ford used/uses the ball joint front on their trucks, as well as some Dodges.

[67Steven]

I bent up a couple of tubes to layout the connection from bumper to cage:



I built an attachment point for the connector tubes. You can also see the cage tied to the frame in this picture:




I used tube clamps to the bumper to allow me to disassemble everything:


And what it looks like done:




I built my front shock mounts while I was there:

[67Steven]

I took my rear spring shackles apart, cleaned them up and tied them together:



I bought a TIG welder so I am teaching myself how to use it:


I had purchased a NWMF 37gallon fuel tank early in the build, but when I decided to go EFI, it made the tank not worth the hassle to modify. Besides, it hung VERY low. So, I decided to fab my own tank. I drew it out in a CAD program and had a local guy cut the pieces out of 16g cold rolled sheet on his plasma table.

Here I drilled and threaded the adapter for the fuel level sender:




And the fuel pump opening:


Everything was tabbed and slotted, so it went together easily:


I dimpled the baffles for rigidity:



I started to bend up and tack everything together:



Keeping it square:

[jjzepplin]

WOW! I wanna see this thing on a trail crawling over something big... Nice work!

[67Steven]

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

WOW! I wanna see this thing on a trail crawling over something big... Nice work!

I hope to soon, thanks for the compliments!

[67Steven]

I welded the lid on and checking for leaks. I pressurized the tank and sprayed soapy water to help locate the spots I missed:




I then stuck it up in the truck to check fitment:


Nice and clean. This allowed me to make the stops for the tank:



Here you can see the shackle reversal:


Good clearance which is what I wanted, and still should net 36~ gallons:


Shot from the back:


I also had the liberty of moving the filler neck and vent to the rear of the tank, this made a straight shot over to the tank instead of forward like the original:



I built the blurry rear axle shock mounts and welded them on. They look clearer in real life:

[67Steven]

I didn’t have a glove box interior, and since I used an aftermarket heater, I built my own out of 18g sheet:



At this point, I started to break it down for paint. I pulled the cage and finshed welding it:


Here’s a shot of the dash I modified for the Carling switches:


My tailgate hinges looked horrid, so I decided to rebuild them. I first cut off the original hinge mount wheel thing:


I then turned a couple of axle shafts out of steel:


I cut two new wheel hinge mount bearing things out of some HMW plastic that fit over the axles:


Welded the axles in from the back and bolted the bearing mount hinged wheel things to that:

And installed. They work great. No slop and easily rebuildable if the HMW plastic ever wears out:

[67Steven]

Body has been detached, on the rotisserie and is heading for the sandblasters. It has been about 2 years to this point since we started:



My frame looks so alone. You can see here the rear crossmember I had to fab to fit the fuel tank:


Body back from the blasters and has been sprayed with epoxy primer:



My son helping with the sanding:


When I started this project, I wanted to do most if not all of the work, fabricating what I needed instead of buying, building instead of farming it out and that included painting. I am by no means a body /paint guy, so this is not a high zoot job, but it’s great for our use.

It is primed and ready for paint. I guess:

[67Steven]

Paint is on. It turned out okay. I reshot the tub and tailgate twice as I had a couple of runs:


I sanded the tub down to spray Monsta-liner bed liner. I used a Shutz gun and it came out awesome!


I didn’t want black liner. I really wanted to keep the black to a minimum, and I thing the dark grey next to the orange looks good:

[67Steven]

I sprayed liner on the entry points of the cage also:


And a couple more of the tub:


I painted the frame a charcoal grey and started to assemble it:


Fuel tank in and plumbed:


Started the exhaust. 2-1/2” mandrel bent tubing with Summit Magnaflow copy mufflers:


Plenty of clearance for the driveline:



I built a steering box brace: