Re: Crossbreed
 

Looking good!

Re: Crossbreed
 

I call this shot the "illusion of progress" because it will all come back apart. Just needed to mock up the doors and fenders so I could line up and weld the rocker panels on.

Pay no attention to the door being tucked in too far, no latch or striker plate to hold it out at the moment. I will have to put shims under the hinges, both doors lack about 1/16" from lining up with the fenders.

I'm also contemplating re skinning the doors. I fixed the rust in the corners but lost a little bit of that subtle contour below the lower body line. I got some warpage when I welded the patches so i hit it with a shrinking disc to straighten it out... Got it a bit too straight as it appears I took out some of the curve. Wouldn't​ take that much filler to get it right so I'm undecided. The advantage to putting a new skin on is I'd be able to spray the inside of the door. There's also a few dents in the middle of the door that a new skin would eliminate.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Nice work, I think I have put on and taken the doors off of my jimmy 10 times each. I'm getting pretty good at it!

Good luck, Rg

Re: Crossbreed
 

Nice build. Frame and underside look great. Subscribed. What size tip does the spray gun have that you sprayed the liner with and how much air pressure did you use?

Re: Crossbreed
 

I used one of the cheap $30 guns with a 2.5 tip. I believe I had the pressure set at 40psi

Re: Crossbreed
 

As the title of this thread indicates this blazer has a bit of parts from a blazer, Jimmy, and 67-68 C10. It's got the 67-78 front clip but the PO kept the Jimmy bumper for some reason. Nothin a hammer won't fix.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Spent almost a full day turning large round holes into smaller square holes... A small detail that will be lost to everyone but me.

Re: Crossbreed
 

I've been neglecting my thread, but still working on the blazer.

I put the top back on and started making some fiberglass repairs. Still more to do and I have a plan to fix the saggy spots on top but I'll wait till after I'm done to share.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Stuck the engine back in, installed hydroboost with a wilwood master cylinder and adjustable proportioning valve.

Also installed a set of HMMWV wheels and 37" tires. With just the 4" lift the rear tire looked too close to the front of the wheel opening and the driveshaft was already too short. So I moved the axle back about an inch and got a new driveshaft. While I was at it I decided I'd just go with a double cardan driveshaft. I rotated the axle where it needed to be welded on the spring perches and disc brake brackets.

I also swapped out the stiff ass 4 inch lift springs (unknown manufacturer) in the front for some Skyjacker softrides to match the rear. They seem much better... With the old springs I could jump on the front of the truck and not get them to budge at all.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Headed out now to weld on the rear shock mounts. Afterwards I'll pull the axle out again and give it and the new driveshaft a fresh coat of paint. Underneath the truck is looking really good... Now just need to get the outside to match.

Re: Crossbreed
 

And almost forgot......

Got the next project already. Unfortunately whoever "restored" it last time was a little to fond of Bondo lol.

Re: Crossbreed
 

And this one is another in my backlog.

Re: Crossbreed
 

How did you make the Jig for the body? I am about to pull the body off mine soon and that looks like a good idea.

Did four years at Eustis, did not care for all the I-64 mess....

Smitty

Re: Crossbreed
 

Jig was pretty simple. Just 2 2x6s some leftover plywood and a hand full of carriage bolts.

Discussed it a little more in the link below but I pretty much just threw it together using leftovers stuff I had laying around.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...&postcount=449

I live about 15 minutes from eustis and work at the shipyard.... Don't care much for the area myself. Would like to head out west to get away from this horrible humidity.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Out west is where it is at...I love Sierra Vista, not oven hot like Tucson or Phoenix, just got to drive a little to get what I need.

Im going to shoot some skin or raptor on my under carriage.

That jig is just the ticket I needed...

Smitty

Re: Crossbreed
 

I like the raptor liner for the undercarriage. Easy to get different textures with it so you can dial it in to fit your preference. I don't think I'd ever use it for it's intended purpose as a bed liner though. Seems to hard and slick for that.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Awesome info.

Smitty

Re: Crossbreed
 

What kind of paint did you use on the front axle, shafts, etc? Looks great and nice build.

Re: Crossbreed
 

The axles and shafts never actually got "paint". I liked the flat black look of the epoxy primer so I stopped right there.

Re: Crossbreed
 

I attempted to move the truck under its own power for the first time in over a year. Didnt move far as the HMMWV wheels are rubbing on the tie rod ends. Not sure what I'm going to do about it yet. Wheel spacers are the easy fix.

The stock rod ends we're replaced with some 7/8" heim joints before I got it so the taper in the knuckles has already been drilled out for a 3/4" bolt. The 7/8" rod ends are 2" in diameter. I could step down to 3/4" heims (1.75" diameter) and gain 1/8" of clearance but I don't think it would be enough. 5/8 heims are only 1.5" which would probably do it but I think they are a little too small. If I run spacers I'll have to get some longer wheel studs because they are barely flush with the lug nuts as is.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Got the steering issues worked out, pretty much had to redo all the po's work..

Decided to run wheel spacers for now. Ended up using a set of the adapter type, 1.5" up front and 2" in the rear.

Since I got the clearance I needed I drilled the knuckles out using a 7/8 step bit and used some tapered bushings from barnes to convert back to tie rod ends instead of heim joints. The heims we're 7/8-14 tpi vs the tie rod ends 7/8-18 tpi so I had to cut off the tie rod tube ends and weld on new ones with the correct thread.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Stripped the quarter panels and took out the inner bed sides to get to the back side..... Shot epoxy primer on everything and hit the back side of the quarters with bed liner... Didn't want to risk painting just to have a rust hole bust through a year or two down the road. Glad I took the extra step because as I was wire bushing the rust off the back side a couple pitted areas busted through even though there was nothing noticable after stripping the outside.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Fixed the double wall top.... Cut out each of the 6 sagging sections on top, glued in some rigid foam insulation and glasses over it all... It also got a coat of epoxy primer followed by raptor liner. As much of this stuff that I've used they should be sponsoring this build lol.

Re: Crossbreed
 

More primer and raptor liner. Funny how priming over that last little bit of yellow makes it seem like I'm starting to get somewhere.

Re: Crossbreed
 

This thing is slick!

Re: Crossbreed
 

Finally got a warm enough weekend to shoot some liner on the inside of the top. Came out pretty nice.

Tried to upload a few pics but getting an error message.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Nice work on the top. You said you shot raptor through HVLP. What was the needle size?

Smitty

Re: Crossbreed
 

Finally able to upload pictures... Deleted browsing history and cookies and it started working again.....

I only used the hvlp to shoot the raptor liner on the frame using a 2.5 tip. Everything else I've done using the schutz gun.

Re: Crossbreed
 

This is an awesome build! More please.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Started mounting the winch. I plan on clocking the clutch 180 so it sicks out the top of the mounting plate. With the 67-78 front clip I should be able to just reach into the bottom slot of the grill to access it.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Nice build & a testament to talent & perseverance !

Re: Crossbreed
 

What was the "4x4 Challenge" between you and your friends you mentioned awhile back?

Re: Crossbreed
 

The original challenge was who could build the best rig with a $4k limit but it evolved as time went on... By the time I jumped in on it everyone was a year into the challenge and all had pretty much blown the budget so I didn't feel bad about starting off spending over 5k.

As time went on all but two of us lost interest in actually building anything so the challenge kinda lost it's way. The others ended up with pretty much stock Jeep's (wranglers and a Cherokee). The one guy that did some building has a first gen 4 runner that we did a solid axle swap on.

In the end the challenge turned into a camping trip with a tiny bit of mild trail riding but my rig with the full blow resto wasn't drivable at the time.... My buddy with the 4runner likes to joke that I'm building a show truck...

Re: Crossbreed
 

If a quality build = show truck i think a lot of us are guilty ;)

Re: Crossbreed
 

Problem is when you start you want to keep it simple and cheap but with every turn you always want to try to go the extra step and you spend a little more than expected!!!! But when your done you will be more satisfied with the extra steps!!!!! I will be watching!!!!

Re: Crossbreed
 

The concept of cheap went out the window a long time ago. I don't have to pay someone else for labor so I don't mind dropping as much money on parts as it takes to get it how I want. I feel better about spending a couple hundred a month toward this project as apposed to a car payment on a newer vehicle that continuously depreciates. That's what I tell myself anyway lol.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Little more progress on the mount... Was trying to get it painted this evening but the significant other felt she needed more attention than the blazer.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Drivers side door repair around the upper hinge bracket... Going to spray the inside with raptor liner before the new skin goes on.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Passenger side will need fixed too but isn't quite as bad. As you can see, the internal metal support was cracked almost all the way around the j bracket.

Re: Crossbreed
 

Sweet project! Look forward to progress