The Escape Pod - 1970 Blazer 4x4

Ridge Runner

Delta V
I've been wanting to do a cross-country trip since high school, but either couldn't afford it or had commitments. I would like to save the money for getting my future business off the ground, but I figure the older I get the harder this will be to pull off and you only live once. Plus, I'm looking to move away from here, so this will hopefully be a good way to get an idea of where I want to move to. I don't have a set route yet, but I'm mainly interested in exploring the western United States. I want to see some urban stuff like museums, but mostly I'm wanting to explore 4x4 trails. It would be cool to visit a friend or two up in New England, but I don't know if that would be before or after going west. This is one of the few times I'm thankful to be relatively short. At 5'9", the bed is just long enough for me to sleep comfortably. I'm not planning on staying in any motels - my dog and I will be camping out either in the back or a tent.

P4300389.jpg


I picked up this 1970 Blazer over the summer as partial payment for some work I did. Thanks to the local salvage yard and the previous owner throwing in a truck interior and a couple other parts, it's not as incomplete as it looks, but still needs just about everything rebuilt or replaced. I need to order the bolt kit for the dog house and will hopefully have the front end attached by this weekend. That way it doesn't look quite so forlorn.

The plan is to get it on the road by or soon after late spring so I can have a little bit of fun with it. After August, I'll get the rust patched, a top put on it, and a fuel injected, overdrive drive train installed. Maybe have the frame and axles powder coated. It'll be primed, but for the roadtrip I'll use spray paint so I don't ruin the paint with rock chips and trail damage.

If by some chance it's finished by summer 2013, it would still be winter before I had enough gas money saved up. So, despite as anxious as I am to do this, spring/summer 2014 is my projected start date. Right now it's got a 350/350 combo with a Dana 44 front and 12 bolt rear. I want to get a 6.0/6L80E setup for it, but will settle for a 5.3 and 4L60E. The interior will be getting heavily insulated, a heavy duty inverter for charging my electronics, a new A/C system, and some other amenities. An ARB air locker and compressor would be nice. It's got a 4" lift on it with 35s, but unless someone advises me otherwise about trails out west, I'll be going with 33s for better mileage.

I started a build thread on a website for these trucks, but I'm hoping people here who are experienced in expedition vehicles will be better able to spot flaws in my plans and suggest alternative modifications.
 
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Ridge Runner

Delta V
To do list: *=must have

Stage 1: Driver
1)* R&R engine
2)* R&R transmission
3) rebuild axles
4)* rebuild steering components
5)* replace incorrect '73+ front springs for 4" lift
6)* cheap windshield
7) steering wheel
8)* install seat
9)* install old wiring harness
10)* attach doghouse
11)* tires
12)* shocks
13)* battery tray
14)* R&R brakes
15)* fix or buy new gas tank
16)* radiator
17)* fuel filler
18) brake lines
19) fuel lines
20) trans cooler lines


Stage 2: Body Work & Necessities
21)* Remove diamond plate from bed
22)* patch rust - bed floor, rockers, rocker box
23)* repair windshield frame - PO welded plate over where the weatherstrip screws in
24) install power disc brakes
25) Warn hubs
26) top
27)* Vintage Air A/C
28) body mounts
29) rear bumper
30)* weatherstripping
31) door mirrors


Stage 3: Creature Comforts
32) Sound deadener and carpet
33) install/hookup Cadillac power seats
34) build console to house inverter
35) Painless wiring kit
36) restore gauges
37) fix cut dash
38) install radio/GPS
39) slotted wheels
40) powdercoat frame and axles
41) build storage boxes for bed
42)* rollcage
43) folding and removable rear seat
44) side trim
45) nice 69/70 grille
46) 5.3/6.0 & 4L60E/6L80E swap
47) posi/locker
48) fog lights in ’72 bumper
49) paint
50)* spare tire rack
51) decent audio system
52)* HO alternator
53) tilt column


The fiberglass top I'm looking at here is in pretty rough shape. If I can find a boat repair shop who can fix it, and it's not irreparably warped, I've got a lot of stuff planned for it.

Top Modifications:
1) cut away roof to install insulation
2) install modern dome lights and maybe extra wires for future modifications
3) hatch ajar switch for lights/alarm
4) replace missing hatch arms with modern struts
5) 15% tinted windows
6) if possible add handle on inside of hatch for interior operation of latch
7) fabric headliner
8)* fix multiple cracks and likely warpage
 

chilliwak

Expedition Leader
First off, welcome to the site RidgeRunner! I am glad to see that you have already learned the most important unspoken rule, `POST LOTS OF PICS!´It looks like you have a lot of work to do on your vehicle, but if you have some mechanical/fabrication skills, I am sure you will do just fine. Everyone here is super friendly and you will find a gold mine of information from the good people here on the site to help you along. I will personally be following your build as I love the old Chevy vehicles. Have fun and dont hesitate to ask questions if you need any help..:)
 

Ridge Runner

Delta V
Thanks, buddy. Unfortunately, I have dial up and it seems that Photobucket no longer wants to work with it, so I don't know how often new pics will get posted, but you better believe I'll try. :) In the meantime, here are the rest of the pictures I have of it, sitting in the previous owner's field and the day I brought it home.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v328/diehardtrix/1970 Blazer/

I used to be a mechanic and went to school for fabrication, but unfortunately I don't have much of a place to work on it. Thankfully, I've got a friend who has a shop and welder, so we'll be doing the engine swap at his place and hopefully the body work and rear bumper. The roll cage is what worries me the most about this truck. Probably only by the grace of God would you survive a roll over in it without one, but with the short wheelbase and additional body reinforcement, it's going to take some decent engineering to make a proper one that's removable. Of course, if I'm going to all the trouble of fabbing a roll cage, I might as well extend it through the firewall, build some coilover hoops, and get rid of the leaf springs on the front.

lol That's the problem with this build: it keeps snowballing. Cage > coilovers > stouter front axle > stouter rear axle.
 

Ponyracer

Adventurer
If you want some stouter axles, pick up an 8 lug full floater 14 bolt corporate from a wrecking yard for $100 then look for a D44 HD out of a 3/4 ton, since everyone wants 60's 44's are cheap. I know it's a bolt in on the newer bodies and yours should be close but do some reading before dropping any $. If you go that route, do a rear disc swap with parts from diy4x or ruff stuff. Diy4x deals with the early trucks and makes some nice reasonable priced stuff. He also has shackle flips for your rig. As far as the engine/tranny, don't drop a dime on the 350 if your going to swap to a 5.3. Great swap and it will be cheaper in the long run. Take outs can be had for $500 all day long. Just watch the wiring, if you need to buy an aftermarket harness they were about $400 last time I looked. Also, the tranny is where the big $ is. The 4l60/80E series needs a brain box to control it and those area't cheap so if you go full efi you'll need the whole system with the computer to talk to the tranny. If it were me I'd go for dead simple and run 33's with 3.73 gears and an sm465 manual. Best of both worlds with the super low first. Then you'd only have to worry about controlling the engine which is fairly simple.


Concentrate on getting it on the road as fast as you can so you can get the bugs worked out of it before the big trip.

Also, look for used parts, such as axles or wheels, etc, people are always upgrading. Check out hardline crawlers, there in your neck of the woods and there's always good parts for sale on there. That and watch craigslist like a hawk!!

Good job on saving old iron!!
 
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Ridge Runner

Delta V
Thanks for the tips, but I was just kidding about the bigger axles. I don't have any desire to swap them out. As for the 350, I'm not going to put much money in it. I'm going to take the heads off to make sure it's not locked up and clean out the wasp nest, install a few new gaskets, and that's about it. If anything significant needs replaced, I'm taking it straight to my friend's place to start on the engine swap. I'm a big fan of manuals, but I want to keep the floor hump free of shifters and it'll be nice having a vehicle that I don't always have to shift. Plus the 6L80 has a 4:1 first gear. ;)
 

chilliwak

Expedition Leader
Ridge, I think you have the right idea. Get the old Chevy 350 fired up, and off you go. Pull all the spark plugs and shoot a whole lot of WD40 or something like it into the cylinders, and then slowly crank the motor back and forth using a huge ratchet on the vibration dampener/crankshaft bolt, and then you can actually feel if the motor is seized. These old GM iron block really can survive amazing abuse, so I am thinking you will probably have luck getting her running before you know it. Just take your time, as you are in no rush. Keep your costs low budget and then roll it into your buddys place, and you are ready to ROCK!:)
 

Ridge Runner

Delta V
Well, after looking at the mileage figures, even with the new 6L80, I think the 6.0 is out of the picture for this trip. Really wanted to build one up with 6.2 heads, but oh well. I'm reconsidering messing with the 350 for summer driving. Yeah, it's killing me not being able to use it, but if I skip getting the current driveline running, I figure that'll save me several hundred dollars that I can put towards an ARB or something nice. Building a 5.3 is definitely going to save money over the 6.0 as well.


For the type of stuff I'll be doing, should I get crossover steering? It'd definitely be nice, but dang it's expensive. I'm only running 4" of lift and 35" tires (probably 33" on my trip).
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
On a 4" lift, it's not truly needed if you are not getting really extreme. You are right at the limit that I would say you could go either way and it would work well but it really comes down to how you are going to use it. Normal fire roads, easy to meduim trails, you should be fine with stock. More rock crawling, you'll want to change to crossover.
 

Ridge Runner

Delta V
Thanks, Mike. What worries me is I've never been out West and those are the trails I'm wanting to hit. I don't think there are that many rock crawling spots doing the stuff I want to do, but I don't know for sure. Since I don't want to incur (much) trail damage, I'd say medium difficulty is about what I'm looking at. What you said is pretty much what I was thinking, though. I'd like to go crossover, but it's about $1000 to do up nice on my truck.
 

Ridge Runner

Delta V
Called Advance Adapters on Thursday evening. Second gentleman I spoke to, Vic, was super helpful. AA is getting away from the 205 and concentrating on the Atlas t-case, so they won't be making any 6L80/205 adapters in the foreseeable future. However, he told me that the GM 1 tons from ~'84-'90 ran the circle pattern NP205, and it should bolt right up to the 6L80. Even though it means I'll have to buy another t-case, the best part is it's still going to be cheaper than a $600+ adapter from AA.

Got the front end mocked up last week just to see how it looks. I was given a '71 grille with the truck, but I was able to find a correct, driver-condition '70 grille at the local yard. It's not as rough as it looks in the picture. There are a couple of dings and it's oxidized, but otherwise it's in great shape.
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And my dog that I'll be taking. Best part about the lift and 35s is there's plenty of room under the truck for both of us.

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Ridge Runner

Delta V
What I'm thinking for the front (if I have the time and money) bumper and rear carrier. These are just rough drafts = they'll obviously have to be tweaked.

Tubes will definitely be thicker, but that's as big as MS Paint lets you draw. Drivings lights will likely be moved outboard underneath the parking lights to make room for a recessed area to mount a winch. Again, if I have the money to spare I'll make some cutouts and mount for lights in the bumper.
ftbumper800x604.jpg


Boxes on the side are gas/water cans. There will be a hi-lift jack mount and small basket on top, I just got lazy and didn't draw them. If the carrier's sturdy enough, I'll make it so the upper half (jack and basket) unbolt.
rrbumperrack800x569.jpg
 

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