Just what I needed
 

Is another Blazer project. But this one I have been trying to obtain for the last 15 years. It has nt been tagged since 98' and not moved out of the barn since 99' It has been within 1200' of my house the whole time & I could not get him to sell. I finally got the call today he was ready to sell. We agreed on a price & I hope to bring her home tomorrow.

Stopped over today and pumped up the tires, all but one hold air so will have to take one with me tomorrow. Thankfully engine is not stuck I was able to turn over by hand. I want to pull the plugs and shoot some lube in before I go any further with trying to start it. I will tow it home. Hopefully brakes are not froze up.
This truck was originally purchased by the military and sent to one of the airport bases as a disaster response unit. I cant remember if they said it went to Greenland or Iceland but it was one of the two. Apprently the last call it responded to it became part of. When my buddy bought it at the military auction back in the 80;s down in Norfolk VA it only had 46K miles on it. It now has just shy of 90K on it.
When he bought it the front end was wrecked, not bad but the grill and hood were toast. I had an old 69 grill and hood laying around so we thru that on it. It originally had a 250 with a 3ott. when we put gas in the tank the 1st time to start it it ran out on the ground just as quick as we poured it in. After removing the skid plate we realized the gubament poked a hole thru the corner of the tank for an unknown reason. I practiced my mig welding and almost learned the hard way that water is not a complete cure for welding a tank.

The one good thing about this blazer is the govt. paid extra to have the entire rig zinc chromate primed before laying the paint on it. When he bought it there was zero rust anywhere. Even today when I checked it over there is NO rust in the torsion boxes that I can see. In fact, the only rust thru I have found anywhere is in the driver floorboard there is a hole the size of a tea cup saucer and it is more from him driving with no kind of floor mat then it is from rust. Here are some pictures to get us started. I will basically just putting it in the back of hte garage now after cleaning it up until I get finished with the other 72'

Re: Just what I needed
 

Cool. Looks good. Love the tow hooks.

Re: Just what I needed
 

Congrats Richard!

Re: Just what I needed
 

Zero rust! We should all be that lucky, congrats

Re: Just what I needed
 

Thule is in Greenland.

Re: Just what I needed
 

Thanks for the clarification on that. I remembered it to be one or the other but had not had a chance to research it.

Richard

Re: Just what I needed
 

I just hope it still looks that good when I get it out and get it in my garage. Even if I turn up some rust it cant be as bad as the black 71' I have. I may go ahead and part that one out at this point, I just don't know

Richard

Re: Just what I needed
 

Thanks guys

Re: Just what I needed
 

Yea, you definatly got the blazer bug. I'm gonna stop counting now. good luck with her. Tell us your plans.

Re: Just what I needed
 

Well its not as bad as it seems ( I don't think so anyway) unless you ask the wife. :haha:

The black 71' blazer still sits in undecided mode. Thought about slaming it down to 2wd or may still part it out.

The Green 72' I have in the shop now trying to get it back to original, not a concourse build but as close as the money will allow. I have no timeframe for completion.

The blue 72' Blazer I completely parted out and tagged the good parts for later use.

This 72' I believe will become a daily driver type deal. I have enough parts that i can put it back together pretty quickly and drive it like it is. I am just hoping the motor is ok since it has not been started in about 10 years. It's not stuck so thats a plus. We took the original 250/6 and 3OTT and dinky transfercase out years back. I had a 350 4 bolt sitting in an old 76' 3/4 ton that we dropped in. I also has a SMS465 and fresh 205 transfer out of my 69' mud truck that we put in. Other than getting the motor running, she needs four tires ( they were new but from sitting on the concrete for ten years dryrotted all to pcs 3 still hold air but barely) and will go thru the brakes to make sure nothing is out of whack. I can't wait to get her fired up and see if the exhaust is still good. I had to modify a set of headers to get around the clutch linkage and he had a local shop run 2.25" duals straight out the back.
She has a set of old school Thrush mufflers on her. Not the red cherry bomb ones but the blue and white ones that really clacked.

Richard

Re: Just what I needed
 

Wow, you finally got it, that's awesome. looks like it time for another road trip to your house.

Re: Just what I needed
 

Cool story. Heres what wikipedeia says about Thule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ae...e_Air_Base.jpg

Re: Just what I needed
 

Yeah, road trip to Richards house, he has to many Blazers:lol:

Re: Just what I needed
 

Nice find Richard look forward to more pics

Re: Just what I needed
 

Very cool! It's always nice to see another one saved from long term storage:)

Re: Just what I needed
 

Well got a space cleaned out for it tonight in my shop but it was to late to go to his and clean out a path to get it out. I am going to try to get it done tomorrow night after work but it may be thursday at this point. As soon as I get it in place at the house I will get lots of pictures. Still got my fingers crossed

Richard

Re: Just what I needed
 

WAY 2 GO RICHARD ...Great score hope you got it in your shop...good solid blazer with a cool ...(VERY COOL) history. How about some ice graphics on it...Looking forward to some more photos....

Re: Just what I needed
 

Well got a chance to go up and get the blazer tonight. Took me longer to clean a path thru his garage to get to it then it took me to clean a spot up in mine. :lol: All the tires were flat again as expected so i had to pump them up and change the from pass. tire. I fully expected the brakes to be froze up on it but I put a little ass into it and it rolled freely. Hooked bobcat and chain to it and pulled it out into the sunlight for the 1st time in 14 years. Man she needs a bath pretty bad but that will have to wait for a little bit. Doors were almost froze shut but sprayed some pb blaster on the hinges and they are almost good to go know.

Attachment 938132

Attachment 938133

There is a little more rust on it now then I couls see in the barn but still in beautiful shape for the north east. I found a spot of rust on the d/s outer rocker about the size of half a dollar bill, Rust holes in the p/s rear wheel tub ( no rot in floor) rub thru in the d/s floor that has started to spread in rust a little but not bad. Everything else is wreck damage on the front end. I have a really nice 72' correct grill, hood and a decent pair of fenders.



Attachment 938134

Attachment 938135

here is what is left of the disaster response force logo


Attachment 938140

Re: Just what I needed
 

All of the lower sheet metal and floor is in top notch condition other than the outer rockers and d/s floor area mentioned above. Here is a few pics of the torsion boxes.

Attachment 938150

Attachment 938151

Attachment 938153


There is damage to the pass side upper quarter that was there when the truck was purchased. We were told at the auction one of the guys got too close with the forklift. I forgot how deep I slapped the mud on all those years ago. I will fix it right now. :lol:


Attachment 938156



The tailgate and rear bumper are toast as well. My buddy was mad and backed up in the rain real fast and did not see the telephone pole.


Like his grill and bumper support :haha:


Attachment 938157

Re: Just what I needed
 

IT'S ALIVE !!!:bann::bann::bann::ennyd:

Only thing I did was pull plugs to make sure nothing was in cylinders, a small shot of wd-40 in each one, fresh battery and cut the fuel line loose from the tank side of the fuel pump and put it in a can of fresh gas. Cranked about 15 seconds and she fired right up. 40 lbs oil pressure at 800 rpm but she wont stay idling. Went and bought new plugs cap & rotor and will put that on tonight. She even moves under her own power. I B A HAPPY CAMPER I have one now that does not require pushing :haha:

Re: Just what I needed
 

Engine running

Attachment 941485

Cut fuel line going to take put a temp inline filter in


Attachment 941486

New gas tank ( i spare no expense when testing)


Attachment 941487

Coupl pics of interior gutted


Attachment 941490

Attachment 941491

Re: Just what I needed
 

Man, I have to get me one of those dual tank setups! How much do would you sell the kit for?

Re: Just what I needed
 

I only ran it for a total of about ten minutes and up and down the lane a few times and almost ran out of gas. I would suggest going with the fullsize models. :haha:

Re: Just what I needed
 

I like the rallies better than the chuck wagon wheels but I may put one of my other sets of rims on it later

Attachment 941502


The teardown begins. I am figuring to do a tub on rebuild. There is no metal work to do other than outer rockers an a small amount of front floor work


Attachment 941503

Attachment 941504

Attachment 941505


Just look how clean the cowl area is aflter removing front fenders. Hard to believe this thing spent the 1st part of its life in Greenland and the last 20 plus years in MD



Attachment 941506

Re: Just what I needed
 

Blazer was originally manual steering. Years back I came across a power steering gear box and the motor already had the pump we just left the belt off to start. My buddy found the correct pitman arm at the local salvage company. Judging by the picture we have a leak somewhere. WIll have to get everything cleaned up and go from there

Attachment 941512



Driverside wheel tub in great shape but I forgot we cut out for the one ps hose that was wrong. Highschool kids with no money

Attachment 941513

Attachment 941514


I thought I had some rust on the pass side cowl but it was mainly stains. The bottom side of the vent box has some minor surface rust but nothing is thin or busted thru


Attachment 941515

Attachment 941516