Building My Future Daily Driver

That's my P.O.S. !
It is a 72 K/5 Blazer, I'm the 2nd owner, bought in 88' very highly optioned when new. CST, 4 bolt 350, 4 speed, factory posi, a/c, tach, one piece hardtop and very minimal factory rust when I got it. I don't know your familiarity with 1st gen blazers but they are great 4 wheelers, almost perfect balance 55/45, this thing would plow snow with the front bumper while every other 4 by in the Denver metro area would be chained up. Then...
The built small block wasn't enough so in went a built 454, which really overpowered the 30" general a/t's. So...
4" all spring lift and 35" bfg's and an auburn sure grip, And then...
It couldn't get out of it's own way in the snow! but with a dual feed 750 Holley it would pass everything on the road but a gas station. 5 mpg average, 7 if I took it easy.
Then contrary to what you might have heard a girl I lived with in about 94' broke the sm 465! and I put in the first of 6 automatics it's had since then.
Next I put a 4 wheel pop-up camper on it and I lived in it in the Arizona desert for 2 years.
Now it's just my rock crawler: Same 454, disc brake 14 bolt w/spool, king pin dana 60 w/Detroit and 5.13's. T-350, 203/205 ORD doubler, H-1 double bead locks and with leaf springs
I put together out of junk parts it will lift each tire at least 50" I don't know the exact amount because I ran out of timbers to build a ramp at 50".

To help justify this long tale on a Jeep site, in about 01' I welded the doors shut and cut cj-5 style openings in it.
I put a new main shaft in the once broken sm 465 with a novak adapter to a terra low 20 for my 63' 3B and the 4 bolt 350 is now a 388 for my 55' wagon.
Sorry you asked about it now aren't you?

 

Man I love first gen blazers, I have only talked to a couple people that even know about pop-ups on them. I bought a very nice 71' CST just for the pop-up sold the blazer to my friend and then had to find him a camper because he liked mine so well.


Oh well how about a project update?

I've had the mock-up motor in for awhile to build the mounts, now I put in the rest of the drive train to get everything else done.
Here is an empty SM-465 case w NP-205 tc for test fitting.




You can see I've already cut out a generous portion of floor but it wasn't enough so I have to wrestle this thing out again.
I cut the wall out of the tool box all the floor from fire wall to step and then took out the step.



Here is what a tool box looks like with no side.



and you can see how far above the floor the trans sits, it actually hit the bottom of the gas tank so I have to raise the tank up 1/2 " its always something.

 

Since the step is a main body x-member\support and because the body was already in such tough shape I added a piece of 2" x 1/4" angle welded to the 2 pieces of rectangle tube that are the new body mounts and to the floor.

 

Then I dug thru a pile of cross members and took the stock chevy one from my blazer and altered it for the Jeep.
I cut a couple old shackles in half for hangers, then 4" pieces of tube I had laying around for spreaders to be welded on each end of the new cross member.
Then I cut 1/4" ears to weld on the outside of the frame. Here's every thing bolted together for tack welding.



Here are the ears welded in place.




This is the notch cut out to clear the front drive line.




Then welded it up with some 1/4" plate.



Once the drive shaft cleared I plated the ends and frame ears with 1/4".




Pass. side where trans. mount is built around the body mount.

 

Decided to finish the spare tire rack today.
Blew holes thru mount to weld studs on for spare tire then changed my mind and built this instead.



I cut off the the plate as marked and welded a 3" piece of 4" square tube in place, inside the square is the u-joint and ear end of the stub shaft of a dana 30,
then I assembled the rest of the mount as if it were on the front of the Jeep, spare hub, packed wheel bearings and a Warn hub. The hub and wheel/tire assembly
just spins on the shaft unless I lock the Warn hub.



and the finished product.

 

Wow you have ......toys/projects coming out your butt

one for each foot I GUESS!!

And all are nice to have have , grats on you lil collection of history you have man

Bow/ salute to you.....

 

Wow!, that is a sweet way to mount a wheel with the hub like that.
I may use that someday...

 

Yeah I do have a long list o' projects !
I saw someone's sig line on this very site that said something to the effect that you can never have too many.
Either that or it's an example of what happens with no wife around to put a stop to it.

I didn't include the 1948 panel delivery w/ planar front end that's getting a BBC and the M-100 trailer to pull behind all of them.

 

Thank you, It really was an easy way to mount the spare and carry some extra parts.

Obviously I'm never going to break down and need them, but I may see one of you on the trail/highway and I'll have them for you.


Seriously, if I didn't build it out of scrap steel I have laying around, I would use something a little easier to mount the spindle to,
the 4" square tube isn't big enough for the spindle flange to go inside and it made it difficult to come up with a decent way to
bolt it together. But it all worked out and it hasn't fallen off yet.

 

Time to bolt the drive train in for the last time, and the last chance to repair the fire wall without anything in the way.
The p o started to install an intermediate heater, here's the hole for the hoses and if you look at the upper right you
can see the piece of beer can screwed in place to patch a 2" hole, right by the triangle spot where the upper battery
tray bolt goes 4 holes drilled for the 1 bolt on the heater assembly.



I cut a piece of the same steel I've used on everything else and welded it in. This strengthened the fire wall and took care of all the holes.



The heater is mounted here and this shows a removable panel for heater core access.

Since the factory heater leaves a lot of holes to fill I did the same thing on the driver side.



Here's the finished fire wall, even though the heater plan got changed I left the access panel because it was to
depressing to weld it closed.



Since cold weather is here I didn't want to mix up 1 pot of paint so I just rattled it this awful color.

My grossly overcrowded and filthy one car garage wont allow me to move the engine stand

around along with the cherry picker so I had to pull the set-up motor, put some wheels on and shove the Jeep outside.

Find somewhere to put the set-up motor, move the hoist, pull the real engine and stand out of the corner behind the work bench,

raise it up on the hoist and shove the Jeep back under the swinging motor with no way to steer it or stop it, hoping it didn't smash

into the firewall or windshield and that the tires cleared the legs of the hoist.

All went as planned and here's the engine safely bolted on the mounts.



Some info about the motor it was originally in a 1976 camaro that we put in my dads 68 1/2 ton in 1978.
It probably has 50,000 miles on it total.
I freshened up the bottom end and put on a fluid damper, new cam and timing set, then did the heads.
Flow cooler water pump, edelbrock performer and a new quad-ra-jet.

For anyone curious about the condition of the motor, It really did look good at one time. I put it together for another Jeep, when I found this 6, I stopped the other project
and left this on the stand behind my work bench where it has sat happily for two years. It was covered with a plastic bag and wrapped in a sheet.
Somehow I started storing rolls of paper towels below the engine, still all was well.
Then...

when I was cutting the DOM pieces to tie the cage to the frame I got tired of bending down to use the chop saw.
So I put the saw on the bench, cut a piece and crawled back underneath to test fit when I saw a strange glow.
By the time I got out, the rolls of paper towels, covering sheet and plastic bag were fully involved, the flames were running up
the wooden shelving behind the motor and up to the half finished ceiling, burning the vapor barrier and insulation.
I almost walked outside, got on the Harley and just rode away letting the whole thing burn to the ground,
but In the end I drug a hose over and saved it.
So I'm leaving the engine in this condition( scorch marks and soot) to remind me not to be so incredibly stoooopid and lazy.

And here's one of the actual trans/transfer case installed.




Has any one noticed photobucket is different?
and what happened to the Halloween setting on this site?
Man anything that is different on a computer really throws me.

 

I like the alignment pins for the crossmember, will have to make some of those up.

"when I was cutting the DOM pieces to tie the cage to the frame I got tired of bending down to use the chop saw.
So I put the saw on the bench, cut a piece and crawled back underneath to test fit when I saw a strange glow.
By the time I got out, the rolls of paper towels, covering sheet and plastic bag were fully involved, the flames were running up
the wooden shelving behind the motor and up to the half finished ceiling, burning the vapor barrier and insulation."

This should be added to the shop safety tips. Reminds me of working in my garage with black plastic trash bags stapled over the windows so "suspects" couldn't see in, and the light wouldn't shine into the neighbors bedroom window when working after dark. Cutting with the torch with the door up and quickly noticed flaming globs of plastic raining down on the back of my head. Not quite as exciting as yours, but can still see a scar in the mirror 15 years later.

 

I never thought about the shop safety tip forum. You are right it would probably help somebody, I'll tell you one thing roll's of paper towel burn really hot and they are almost impossible to put out.

Those pins helped me a lot setting the location of the cross member, and they give a little more to work with than a bolt for driving in and out and alignment.


Since the motor is in I built the exhaust, Started with a pair of block huggers.




All 2.5" from the collectors to the rear, this is a new 45* and a small piece of scrap from my POS for the cross-over.




Section welded in.




Then a couple of the completed cross over tube.








Straight back to the step in the floor and an 18" turbo tucked up in the opening.







Then to the wheel arch in front of the fuel tank, under the frame and as much as I hate it straight out the back.
There just isn't a lot of room to run 2.5" pipe out the side behind the tire so this will have to do.




Just have to pick up a couple hangers and a tip of some kind and another phase of the project is done.

 

Wow I had a little trouble with photobucket and deleted my entire album. I really don't know much about computers or if anyone cares about the deleted photos, but I found them
all and am going to try to put the rest of them back as time allows.

Anyway here is this weekends fun
When I took possession it had 1/4" tread plate damage hiders on the corners. I carried one around in my truck for months showing it to all who cared to see it.
As near as I can tell the p o cut the holes for the marker and tail lights and wires with heat and a chisel ! While they were mounted, right thru the sheetmetal .
As I said earlier I changed the fuel tank and fill location I also am upgrading the lights to LED so I cut the new holes (w/plasma cutter) and fit one of the circular
pieces into the lower fill hole and patched it up.Here is one cut and one marked for cutting.



If you look at the soap mark on the passenger side you can still see the chiseled hole for the marker light.


Here's the lights



And the filler hole



Here they are, I welded the patch in from the back, then since I'm trying to teach myself TIG welded I dressed the patch from the front.


]

 

Nice! It's coming together!

 

Thank you,
It seems I may actually drive it someday, but no matter what every thing is a fight. It is like I have to make every piece no matter what it is.
I'm going to use the hydro-boost brake system off the chevy 1 ton I got my d-60 from, but the pump mount is from the big block
so I had to build a mount today.

I started with a piece of angle, cut down and drilled.



Then a piece of 3" rectangle tube cut and notched for the pump.





Here is the belt tension bracket and the ear welded on for the upper head bolt.

 

Here is the hydro master for the brakes and a mid-60's gm master for the hydraulic clutch.
On the passenger side you can see the heater hoses, I sealed the opening with spray foam insulation, when it's fully expanded and dry I'll clean it up.




and I rattled another coat on the fire wall in a much better color.

 

If you are not familiar with the hydro-boost system it works thru the power steering pump, so the pump has an additional hose.
That's why I didn't have a stock small block mount for it. It also has a remote reservoir. The stock tank is vertical and obviously
has to be mounted above the pump, and there isn't a lot of room under the hood of a Jeep for this set-up.
To gain some more room I actually cut 2" out of the new mount to lower the pump and gain as much room as possible, then I built a new tank.

This is a piece of scrap exhaust tube from another project, the 2 remaining pieces I cut out of the corner guards and the top of a fuel fill hose w/cap.



I cut a hole in the tube and notched the filler neck, then used the diamond plate to cap the ends and welded it all up.





This is the new tank beside the stock one.
This is where I plan on mounting it, but I didn't have anything to use as a nipple so I didn't make any mounts.

 

Started on the grill and radiator mount, removed 6" from the tunnel then welded the sides back on
along with replacing the bulged panels for the headlight buckets. I'm obviously trying to eliminate as
much chance for overheating and keep from being "THAT" guy on the trail if I can prevent it.
I also want to try to make the small block look a little closer to a factory installation than some
I've done in the past.







Here's a couple shots of the finished bottom with the body mount installed, that show how much material was
removed and the lip welded back on.

 

Since I had the grill and welder out I took the time to remove the factory turn signals/driving lights and put some new? ones in.






Here's a shot of the patch clamped in place and ready for welding.




And all welded up and the holes burned in for the new lights.
Below this light you can see one of the cracks running up the grill about 4" long, it also ran along the bottom
about 6" in either direction like an inverted T.



I got a couple lights from Omix/Ada for a build I did for my dad on his A model, I think they look so much
better than the 70 and later lights so I used them.




Then I welded up all the cracks in the grill.
If you look close you can barely see some of the really long one in this picture, it runs along the bottom
from the second bar in the grill opening all the way to this corner. Long, but a very easy repair right on the bend
all the way across

.


The top of the inverted T clamped, pulled back into shape and welded.