Blazed and Confused: 55 Series 1 on 02 Blazer Frame

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Having done a 54/S10 frame swap in the past, but not being able to keep it, I decided to attempt it again. On the last truck, I used the Code 504 frame swap kit, but I want to keep this one on a tight budget, so I am going a different route.

I will upload some pictures when I get home, but here is what I have, and my plan.

1955 Chevy 3100 Short Bed - $1800
2002 Chevy Blazer 4 Door Rolling Chassis - $150
Blazer front end rebuild kit - $95
40' of 2"x1" 11 gauge steel tube- $67
15' of 2"x2" .125" steel tube - $36
10' of 4"x4" .125" steel tube - $48
3'x3' 3/16" steel plate - $15
5.3 LM7 w/ 4L60e - $500
18" wheels and tires - $300

Total - $3,011

My plan is to swap the body onto the blazer frame (107" wheelbase) remove 9" from the front bedsides, install the 5.3/4L60, lower it a few inches, redo the entire interior and drive it. I want to stay below $7500 all said and done.

So far I have removed almost everything from the Blazer frame except the suspension/wheels tires and steering components. I then covered the frame in muriatic acid and pressured washed the frame to strip to bare metal, followed by a coat of gloss black paint. The front 6 body mounts have been removed, I have kept the back 4 because I think I can either use them as bed cross sill mounts, or they wont be in the way.

I have fabbed up the body mounts using Hussey's design, and I plan on bolting those on to the frame instead of welding them.

I will order the Code 504 LS engine mounts, and fab up my own trans cross member.

The 1955 Series 1 got dropped of at my house last night, and the truck is very clean, just needs the typical AD stuff like cab corners.

I will add some pictures soon, but I am hoping to get this up and running quickly, then work on a major part of it every year, with next years project being paint and body work.

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

[Russell Ashley]

Looks like you got a nice truck to start with so you are ahead of the game there. I like your build plan except for shortening the bed to make it fit the frame. Those trucks have a good profile look when stock, but shortening them somehow throws the balance off. I would rather see you lengthen the frame to fit the truck like some of the other guys on the forum have done when using a short bed frame. It's your truck and this is just my opinion, but that's what this forum is all about. I'll tag along either way.

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Originally Posted by Russell Ashley

Looks like you got a nice truck to start with so you are ahead of the game there. I like your build plan except for shortening the bed to make it fit the frame. Those trucks have a good profile look when stock, but shortening them somehow throws the balance off. I would rather see you lengthen the frame to fit the truck like some of the other guys on the forum have done when using a short bed frame. It's your truck and this is just my opinion, but that's what this forum is all about. I'll tag along either way.

Hey thanks for checking out the thread. I appreciate your feedback, my big concern is welding the frame. I don't think my little 90 Amp 110 welder could handle it, so in an effort to get on the road quicker, I was going to cut down the bedsides. But I don't think that the bed is proportional, both in height and length, so I would like to even it out then add a few inches to the bedside height as well. A lot of the newer trucks I see on the road are either equal length on both sides of the fenders or longer behind. I am going to mock it up first with some plywood cut to act as the bed side, bolt the fenders on and see what it looks like. The cab has the nice body line about halfway up the cab, and I think that is where the bed rails should line up. So we will see.

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Now that the 55 is in the garage, it is time to start taking it apart. I started with the front clip and not a single bolt was rusted solid, and it only took about 20 mins to tear it apart.





Only a little bit of rust encountered so far...looks like the truck was originally a dark green, so when I paint it, it will be a dark green.



Next I moved into the interior, and started by removing the pedals and all wiring and cables, then I went under the truck and took out the cab mounting bolts, and found a little rust on the lower firewall/floor section. Under the seat and the gas tank though was solid as a rock.









Only spent about an hour in the garage tonight, but I got a lot done.

Question for anybody, the truck came with the original seat frame and springs, has anyone recovered their seat? And if so, did you use the springs or make foam inserts? I have found the seat covers, but I don't know what to fill them with.

Tomorrows goal is to get the body off of the frame.

[joedoh]

looks like a good start, I like the plan too. $7500 is a lofty goal, hope you get there.


put me in the "lengthen the frame" camp too, at 107 you are 11 inches shorter than a longbed frame at 118" or 10" really if you lower it, the s10 front suspension moves back as you lower it. the space between the stake pocket on the front of the bed and the front edge of the rear fender is 10". so taking that out will put your fender right on the stake pocket.



unless you have a different plan, viva la difference!

there is a simple way to make the frame a little longer without cutting at the splice, by cutting off the rear of the frame where the shackle bushing is and flipping it, then moving the front leaf perch back. I cant give you measurements for a blazer frame, I have done it on a reg cab s10 truck frame and it works perfectly on those. also I dont know what impact it would have on your gas tank, if I remember the blazer tank goes up and over the axle.

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Originally Posted by joedoh

looks like a good start, I like the plan too. $7500 is a lofty goal, hope you get there.


put me in the "lengthen the frame" camp too, at 107 you are 11 inches shorter than a longbed frame at 118" or 10" really if you lower it, the s10 front suspension moves back as you lower it. the space between the stake pocket on the front of the bed and the front edge of the rear fender is 10". so taking that out will put your fender right on the stake pocket.



unless you have a different plan, viva la difference!

there is a simple way to make the frame a little longer without cutting at the splice, by cutting off the rear of the frame where the shackle bushing is and flipping it, then moving the front leaf perch back. I cant give you measurements for a blazer frame, I have done it on a reg cab s10 truck frame and it works perfectly on those. also I dont know what impact it would have on your gas tank, if I remember the blazer tank goes up and over the axle.

Joedoh, thanks for the photo shop job, gives me a good perspective. My plan was to have an even space in front and behind the fender, I think I had 9 inches to play with, then I was gonna slide the bed flush to the cab. On my blazer frame, the tank is mounted very similar to the S10, maybe because my frame is newer. I will look at the flipping the perch’s, I saw that over on HAMB, and it looked pretty easy.

So far, I haven’t done anything drastic that keeps me from keeping the stock wheelbase. Worse case I buy new bedsides if it looks out of whack. Progress has slowed a bit, currently adding 110/20 and 220/50 outlets to the garage and I am trying to not fry myself in the process. Picked up a plasma cutter, so that will be nice.

[Purcell69]

I am another one in the "keep the stock length" camp. Aesthetically, it will look "right", but that is just my opinion. With the 220/50 outlet, you could pick up a good used stick welder for around $100 on C/L or Marketplace and have all the welding capability you would ever need.

When I swapped my '57 over to the Dodge frame, I ended up having to shorten the wheelbase, then add length in at the back to support the rear of the bed. The beauty of working with steel is making the changes you need isn't that difficult.

Either way, the truck is yours to build and enjoy. I'm following along to see your final outcome.

-Joe

[Dan in Pasadena]

I'm another vote for lengthening the frame and not shortening it. I especially don't like the idea of adding height to the bedsides. I think that will make it look like the 1970's Ford steps dies which I always thought looked weird. Isn't the entire point of owning a 60 year old truck that it LOOKS LIKE a 60 year old truck?

It's your truck and you should do what you want of course, but we're here to discuss ideas, so just throwing in my $.02. Take into account the value of my opinion and use it accordingly, ha ha.

PS: If you've got a plasma cutter (probably 90% of us don't) and you're putting in 220v, why NOT search for a larger welder to buy or rent to do the frame welding necessary? You've obviously got the skills.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Rabid Anti-Dentite

Joedoh, thanks for the photo shop job, gives me a good perspective. My plan was to have an even space in front and behind the fender, I think I had 9 inches to play with, then I was gonna slide the bed flush to the cab.

well no matter how you look at it, 107 is 8% shorter than 116, and I took out almost 7.5 percent of the wheelbase out of the middle of your picture. and a word on sliding the bed forward, remember that the back of the cab is curved, so a two inch gap at the bedside is really only a 3/4-1" gap at the center of the cab. this porked me pretty good on the first 41 I did, I didnt think having the bed back an extra inch was a bad idea, and everyone called it out "why is the bed so far away from the cab?" to be fair, the back of the 41-46 cab is even more curved so it accentuated the gap.

Originally Posted by Rabid Anti-Dentite

On my blazer frame, the tank is mounted very similar to the S10, maybe because my frame is newer.

I looked up the pictures of the 4 door blazer I took apart and you are right, the filler is what goes over the axle. I think I still have that stupid tank in the shed. too big to throw away and no one wants it haha

Originally Posted by Rabid Anti-Dentite

Picked up a plasma cutter, so that will be nice.

I hope you bought a good one. the cheap ones fly through tips. I have had a hypertherm for about 12 years and it still works like new. get a motorguard filter for it too, easiest way to keep water out, which will ruin any plasma cutter.

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Thanks for all the info, I will post some pics soon, had some ER issues come up with the family, so the truck had to be put on hold for the past few days, but I should be on it today.

I really like the 56 F100 that Foose had done, and to me, the changes with the bed make it look really nice, it just flows.

For the plasma cutter, i bought a cheap one with a bunch of extra tips, if it ends up not working well, I will just unload it.

I am going to get the cab forward put on then work on either lengthening the chassis a few inches and/or shortening the bed. The last AD I built, I dint like the way the bed looked, I don't like the spare tire mount and the divot in the fender, so that is all going away. I got a new fender off craigslist.

I bought the old truck because I do like the way it looks, but just like most everyone else, there are changes we make to personalize the truck to our liking. I respect everyone's opinion on here, and hopefully I can keep making progress on the truck and keep posting on the forum along the way.

Thanks everyone.

[vintovka]

I really considered doing what you plan to do. Had a 83 Blazer that was available but went with a k10 as i had neither your skill or tools. Keep it up looks great!!

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Well I have made a little progress. I got the cab off of the old frame, used a modified version of the cab lift often seen around here, worked really well compared to the way I had done it in the past.



I set it on the Blazer frame just using some 2"x4" blocks, only because I have a guy coming to pick up the old frame. He has a 54 that he bought that is on K10 frame and he wants to go back to the original frame. So that is nice that the frame is going to be put to good use. I ended up just cutting the steering column vs unbolting the steering box or trying to slide the cab over the column.





May or may not have hit the garage door with the roof of the cab...

So I live near Texas Motor Speedway (about 7 miles away), and they do Friday Night Drags for 6 weeks in the summer, so now I am think of getting the truck capable of running around the race track, so my budget has now gone up quite a bit. My new plan is an L86 with a 6L80E, which are surprisingly cheap around here, but the standalone harnesses and PCM flashes cost more than the drivetrain.

But in the time being, I got the frame moved under the cab, which took some maneuvering due to this being in a 2 car garage that has 2 truck frames in it!



The height is high, because I used 4.5" of blocks sitting on top of the frame, but it will work for now.



Tomorrow I am going to weld the cab mounts together, run to the hardware store and get some bolts, and get this thing mocked up. Then I am going to start rebuilding the front end of the Blazer. I got pretty much everything new from hub to hub, and ordered a spring compressor and tie rod fork from Amazon that will arrive Monday.

[Purcell69]

Nice progress!

-Joe

[Rabid Anti-Dentite]

Just an update, I will add some pictures later on today. A lot of learning curves using the Blazer frame vs the S-10.

I have rebuilt the entire front end with new ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, brake rotors, pads and then cleaned and painted the rest of the parts. I went with cross drilled and slotted rotors, with ceramic pads on all four corners. The rear end turns fine, so I did the pads and rotors, and I will change out the diff fluid and replace the rear end seals.

I ordered a 2"/3" lowering kit, but I did not go with spindles, just the lowering springs and blocks. I also ordered the 22"x19" radiator, with the inlet and outlet on the passenger side for the LM7.

I got the body mounts welded on, and much to advice of this forum, and some discussions with others, I extended the frame 10" using 24" of 2"x6" 3/16" rectangle tubing that is slide into the frame, fully welded, and has about 7 inches going into the frame on each end, with spot welds throughout those 7 inches.

I have Mustang wheels on there now, but the backspacing isn't even close to enough, so I am going to swap them out for some U.S Wheels here soon.

Next step is to cut the cab corners out and replace them due to rust, and due to the Blazer frame being wider than the S-10 frame, I need to trim 1/2" off each inside edge of the cab corner to allow the body to sit down over the frame.

Once I get the cab corners done, I am going to replace the floor boards with some aftermarket pieces. Hopefully that should all be done by the end of this week.