Well I started this on .net so figured I may as well add it here too. . .
Ok so I started tearing it down to get to work on cleaning up the rust, sadly I think the fenders are beyond saving at this point (as much as I loathe doing things halfway gonna do my best to make em look decent for now due to finances). Once I removed the grill I found the front lower part of the fender where one of the bolts goes through is rotted completely away http://blazerforums.net/images/smilies/frown.gif
Which may explain the odd gapping at the bottom where fender/front door meets /shrug I can wrench but body work is a new thing for me so if you have suggestions i'm all ears!
Here's front view of the pass. side fender to show what I mean about lower mounting area being completely gone.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/3351/1004831vl6.th.jpg (http://img120.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004831vl6.jpg)

And the odd gapping I mentioned:

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/8983/1004799jl6.th.jpg (http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004799jl6.jpg)
it's more obvious on the driver side but exists on pass. side as well

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/4909/1004791pk8.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004791pk8.jpg)

update time, thanks to a cash gift for christmas I got 2 (almost) new fenders from a friend of mine as well as some body mount bushings to replace the ones that are rotted away causing my odd gapping. both fenders, front bumper, cowl and hood are in primer (cant afford primer,paint and clear atm so settling for primer to cure the cancer befor it gets any worse) and ready for reassembly. now onto the new pics!

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/9213/1004986ur8.th.jpg (http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004986ur8.jpg)

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6921/1004954gf6.th.jpg (http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004954gf6.jpg)

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/9509/1004985uv7.th.jpg (http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004985uv7.jpg)

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/4754/1004983je9.th.jpg (http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004983je9.jpg)

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/6929/1004984pm1.th.jpg (http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1004984pm1.jpg)

you might try rust converting primer. cost is the same but will convert the rust to a black primer. if you dont kill the rust even if you get it down to where you can't see the rust it can come back. there are other ways to kill the rust, I have heard vinegar and alcohol as well. I am not sure how to use those though.

wasnt any rust, the old fenders are in my scrap metal pile, replacement fenders were only on the donor truck for 4 weeks, they were purchased from lmctruck brand new prior to the engine blowing and my friend scrapping the truck (lucky me).

daughter took off with my camera today so all i have are phone pics so will have to do for now.

http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/7291/0103091653os7.th.jpg (http://img230.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0103091653os7.jpg)

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/5010/0102091845ng7.th.jpg (http://img178.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0102091845ng7.jpg)

hopefully life will allow me enough free time to finish putting her back together tomorrow, what I wouldnt give for a heated garage.

Aaaaaaand it's all back together! will take some pics and get em up in a little bit, daughter took off with my camera again /sigh.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3020/1005061qi1.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1005061qi1.jpg)

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/1918/1005062tz5.th.jpg (http://img183.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1005062tz5.jpg)

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/4710/1005060ry0.th.jpg (http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1005060ry0.jpg)

When she brings the camera Back, Hug her Hold Her and tell her how much you love her.

This usually causes confusion and panic in the child and they wont repeat the offending action.
:)

I enjoy looking at the 3 teenage children with a big smile and saying "I love you" never fails to have them walking the straight and narrow for days because they just know they got busted on something, the 11 y.o. twins on the other hand just smile and say they love me too lol.

Update: rot cut out of the door frame and new steel welded in, striker bolt remounted and adjusted so for the first time in a month my door shuts all the way yay!
bad part is i get to redo all that this weekend when we put the new door on lol.
On a side note found a junkyard that was willing to let me lay claim to 2 1st gens for anything i can take off that i need (cost me $70 total to do this deal) they drug em out of the yard and onto the concrete inside the fence area where they work out back so random people cant even touch em owner said just let him know when I'm done and he will send the remains off for scrap. one is a bravada with heated seats going to hook some power to em and see if they still work if so I may have to swap them into my blazer just cause I'm getting too old to be cold lol.
Planning ahead a bit they said t-case and tranny are good in both but motors are shot so I'm going to take both from each truck as well as the abs box for future use (I've seen prices on these parts and dread the day they become an issue) figure I'll likely not find such a good deal when I do need them so may as well stick em in my garage to have on hand (my brother has a 1st gen as well) so chances are I'll find a use for em sooner or later lol.

wellllllll new saga, was going to my little brothers a few days ago and my head unit decided it was too tired to do anymore work /sigh figures the longest trip i take in a few months and it quits halfway there ah well what do you want for a second hand $20 head unit? TIME FOR NEW TOYS! lol anyways.....
New Head Unit (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-kjB9liOQqH4/p_130DEHP290/Pioneer-DEH-P2900MP.html?search=pioneer+dehp2900mp&tp=5684)
New door and kick panel speakers (http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SPS600C/Alpine-SPS-600C.html?tp=94)
New Dash Speakers (http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1086422CFP/Infinity-Reference-6422cfp.html?tp=100)
Now I know none of this is anywhere near top of the line but 5 kids = budget and it sounds worlds better than the old kenwood kdc-122 and stock speakers (kick panel speakers not in yet still in the process of modifying those so I can do the install) $329 total for this setup not too horrible I dont think (and no I did not get any of it from crutchfield it was just convenient to show links, I found much better prices at a local sound shop and did the work myself) and nope no amp yet gotta finish the body repair/paint first!

oops i r slacking on updates over here so guess it's catchup time:

I just double checked the chrome yellow color im using was used on 'vettes from 99-04 and looks like this:
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/6549/yellowc5side1zt8.th.jpg (http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=yellowc5side1zt8.jpg)

and the graphic im leaning toward atm is this (assuming I can find someone to make it for me):
http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/5383/2agraphic2su5.th.jpg (http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2agraphic2su5.jpg)

this shows the same rims my truck has but mine are pretty ugly these days so thinking about painting them black for now until i have the lift done and extra cash for the steel rims I want.
should look pretty nice when its done (hopefully in the next 3-4 weeks) then I can start on the lift and my newest idea (custom made front and rear bumpers) not positive on the bumpers yet in the process of designing them atm my welder buddy is excited about the prospect of making them (he welds bulldozer blades for cat for a living) they are actually not entirely my idea seen em for fullsize trucks and loved the look (with a few modifications of my own) so trying to draw out what I want and decide if it's feasible or not. It may turn out to be too heavy or just to big to work on an s-series but what im aiming for is a rear bumper like this but with extra backup light on each side where the little design is on this pic:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7867/rearbumperom4.th.jpg (http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rearbumperom4.jpg)

the front bumper will look like this and yes that is a hidden winch mount in the center:
http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/598/frontbumperwwinchdimensze9.th.jpg (http://img254.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frontbumperwwinchdimensze9.jpg)

but with a grille/light guard coming out of the top similar to this:
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6241/brushguardta4.th.jpg (http://img4.imageshack.us/my.php?image=brushguardta4.jpg)

Ok that is all for getting you up to speed on where I am on .net now for today's news:

Found a guy to make my graphic linked above ($100 for both sides) replacements for the 2 missing center caps should be here Monday (ty ebay!) new rocker panels from lmc due to arrive tuesday picked up my new leaf springs today and a 3" body lift today (no bumper relocation brackets in this lift kit but it had everything else and was only $61 from summit racing.) Also picked up a set of monroe reflex shocks for the front and monroe sensa trac load adjusting coil over shocks for the rear. Sadly no extra money for shackles and new wheels/tires atm so just gonna have to deal with 3" body lift and painting my stock rims (they look like crap anyways) for now gimme a few days (if all goes well) to get everything on and i'll have some pics of it with new paint job completed (minus the graphic) and body lift installed. Oh also found a nice set of the factory black plastic fender flares that are gonna go on until I have the money for better aftermarket ones.

Well guess center caps wont be here monday after all, they came today instead!
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/1241/dsci0011eb8.th.jpg (http://img21.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsci0011eb8.jpg)

where can i buy these body mount bushings? Because mine are rotten as well on mine and i need two new front fenders and body mount bushings. Which is good to know because i thought it cam with the fender which i no am glad to know, But yeah let me know how much it will cost me for 2 new front fenders and body mount bushings
Thanks

Fenders i got from a friend he put 2 brand new ones from lmctruck on his girl's 92 and she blew the engine 2 months later he got fed up and scrapped the truck (but not before I raided it lol) body mount bushings I still havent done (bought em just not installed) real life got in the way (my first grandchild was born last night so been a lot of running between hospital and doctors and home for the past few weeks) as for the bushings I bought This Kit (http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=ENS-3-4132G&view=32&N=700+4294908216+4294924760+4294907470+4294925130+ 4294839050+4294881579+4294907043+4294907039) Summit is convenient for me (only a 30-45 min drive away depending how heavy my foot is that day lol)

Oh kewl, Congrats on the grandchild there, Now when you took them off was you able to mount the new fenders on with it being rusty?

the mounting points were good except for one hole on the core support on driver side (grabbed that off my buddy's truck too) the hard part was putting the new fenders on, there are bolts that are sorta hidden if you dont know where to look (old fenders were so rusted only 4 bolts to remove em) I kept finding more bolts during reassembly and they were of course so rusted they kept snapping off so after replacing half on the pass side I said screw it and bought all new bolts and clips (help aisle autozone and advance) made things much easier TIP: use anti-seize for reassembly just in case you have to take it apart somewhere down the road (I did just in case) being 15 years old never know when i'll have to take her apart to get to something later on.

ok thanks

Started shooting some of the yellow today (inside and edges of the new doors before i put my window etc in it)
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/8856/0306091255.th.jpg (http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0306091255.jpg)
loving the way it looks so far gonna throw some prism clear over it then normal clear on top of that should look pretty sweet and I'll never have trouble finding my truck in a parking lot again lol.

what brand paint did you use and how? like in a can or a actual painting tool like with an air compressor

spraying with a compressor it's taking awhile since I never touched a spray gun before this project so it's a learning process. A buddy of mine was gonna do it but after having my truck 3 weeks and only accomplishing sanding down one door I said screw it took it back home and bought my own gun.

wow very nice work for the first time, Did you sand it completely down?

yeah took it down to bare metal (had a cpl dings from his kids) and the primer/clearcoat that were on it when he got it was already peeling off so i removed it all and started from scratch

Very Nice Job so Far, I have heard good and bad about the
body Panels and so forth from LMC Truck, How have you found them?

i just ordered a catalog

I have had zero issues with the panels thus far everything lined up just perfect (still have not knocked the holes out of the doors to run the wiring for my power windows/locks yet) got sidetracked working on the rockers and tailgate (which needs replaced but try finding a tailgate in decent shape seems the aftermarket totally ignored this panel)

yea i hear you about that one, mine started rotting out, i got lucky and a friend of mine
had a 90 sitting around his place so we ended up stealing his and replaced it with mine since his was headed to the junkers anyways.

well right on and thanks.

Found a tailgate today ($100 but its immaculate only took a month of searching to find a good one) now to drive 4 hours tomorrow to pick it up /sigh
now onto the good news new pic passenger side all fixed up and in primer!
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9333/0308091756.th.jpg (http://img3.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0308091756.jpg)

not a whole lot to report but since I was asked about progress here goes:
it's coming along but have had some other things come up so its been on back burner last few days (o2 sensor on the cavalier, pass mirror and driver window motor on the astro van, my 2 brothers and their families were here all day friday and of course spoiling the new granddaughter rotten) I did get the last of the surface rust off the driver side yesterday afternoon but then hit the 24 hour wait (putting por 15 on every spot that had rust to prevent it's return and that stuff takes 24 hours to dry) Rear bumper and hitch have been removed (what a pain in the butt hitch was welded to the frame ugh) body is now hanging from the beams in my garage ceiling to make it easy to install the 3" body lift, hopefully i'll have it all back together by wednesday but no rush i'm taking my time and ensuring everything is done properly and completely because I sure dont want to go through all of this again lol. Once the body is remounted i'll be stripping the interior and painting the inside so jams etc match the new paint scheme and it's a good excuse to make sure all the interior is thoroughly cleaned with the steam cleaner no sense having a stained looking interior when the outside is gonna look brand new now is there?

One question for the other 1st gen owners though... anyone have any luck finding a new lid/hinge/latch assembly for the center console? I havent found one yet and all the junkyard ones seem to have the exact same issue as mine, about to just buy a hinge from homedepot and fab up something myself

nice work...

bah no painting the interior yet got everything stripped out except the dash (may not even bother with that just mask it off) but apparently I need a new driver side floor pan
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1096/dsci0101.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsci0101.jpg)
not good when the body mount bolt is sticking through the floor /sigh it's the project that never ends.
but anyways bunch more pics uploaded if your interested not gonna load em all to here to but you can see everything I have so far Here (http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r238/wykidwolf/)

Well slight change in plans, started spraying the yellow today and it just looks too much like a short bus so waiting for it to dry 24 hours and sanding it back down and starting over with black tossing in the yellow as highlights in a couple areas (i.e. the stencil I made for the word Blazer) hate trying to keep black clean though its a pita lol

yeah yeah I been slacking I know...
Well it's been awhile soooooo here's what she looks like atm
Front doors are in color too (just 1 coat on everything so far) but i'm waiting for the polyurethane hinge bushings to arrive before i remount em (which also means the remaining coats of paint have to wait as well since I want to do it all as one unit for those)
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/2476/photo0001mkw.th.jpg (http://img5.imageshack.us/my.php?image=photo0001mkw.jpg)

yeah yeah I been missing for awhile sorry bout that been busy,new energy suspension body bushings are in, 3" body lift is in, add a leafs are in, polyurethane door bushings are in, paint job is finally completed and started putting the interior back together.
Still have to hook up the shift linkage and do most of the interior currently waiting on window motor for front pass door (its been bad for over a year and since I still haven't put the glass back in yet it's a good time to get a good one) will get some new pics up once its done and out of the garage (wouldn't think more than another day or 2 at most) most importantly I can't wait to drive her again she's been sitting since February :(

Persistence paid off! Nice job.

Ok so it's taking a lil longer than I thought to find the time to finish putting her back together but here's a little sneak peek at the acid etching I did on the rear window (permanent free advertisement lol) clicky the pic to enlarge
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8234/photo0019b.th.jpg (http://img194.imageshack.us/my.php?image=photo0019b.jpg)

Well it's all back together except the bumpers my "easy fix to fill the body lift gap and look different from everyone else" idea isn't going quite as well as i'd hoped was gonna back it out of the garage and take some pics without the bumpers but while putting the shift linkage back in (modified with the extension piece from the body lift kit) I find out it's still nowhere near long enough so gotta decide fight with more fab work to get that working or just buy the lokar cable linkage kit from summit racing or trash the column shift and put a floor shifter in . . . decisions, decisions (BTW have I mentioned my wife wants to kill me since this took so much longer and cost than originally planned?) Pfft her 98 cavalier is next bet she doesn't complain about anything but time on that one!

Very nice bud cant wait to see how it is going to look, after i get my fenders from ebay i am going to buy a cheap compressor and spary gun but not too cheap i will repainting my blazer this blue http://www.autonav2000.com/images/Scrapbook/BlueChevySuburban1.jpg

that's what i did got a compressor from summit for $135 (7 cfm @ 90 psi) don't work too well for impact gun or cutoff wheel but meh it did what I needed it to and a 2 gun hvlp spray gun kit from harbor freight for $30 then I went back and got a texture gun from harbor freight ($20) and used that to spray bedliner on the entire underneath my truck and from the lower body line down on the sides, turned out great.

nice i was going to use bedliner on the out side of mine to from right under the side molding all the way down and on the door steps, and when you did under your truck what did you spray everything? like what component's can you not spray like the muffler and all the i know you cant spray but i am not sure on other things

I went overboard i'm sure, I took tcase and tranny out (was replacing a couple leaky seals and figured may as well get front tranny seal too just to be safe) so I just cut a piece of sheetmetal and bolted in on where the tranny would go exhaust was also removed since I was putting on a new high flow dynamax system (cat and everything behind it) so there i just stuffed a rag in the end of the y pipe and just went nuts I sprayed everything in sight liberally.

wow thats great well i cant wait to see pics bud you been putting a lot of time into you blazer its going to be one sweet ride :)

aaaaaaaaannd the beast lives! Finally got her out of the grage and motoring around town today, new bumpers still aren't ready yet but I could not wait any longer so it has stock bumpers with a crappy gap for now but meh it will do for the time being will get some pics in daylight tomorrow.
Couple small issues left to fix but nothing major (abs light on at 20mph and up and gas gauge disappearing up past the full mark when you turn the key on)

here we go! Clicky the thumbnails for bigger pics (crappy samsung gravity cell phone since my son took off to kentucky with my camera GRRRR)

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/1577/frontbkq.th.jpg (http://img199.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frontbkq.jpg)
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7618/drvside.th.jpg (http://img15.imageshack.us/my.php?image=drvside.jpg)
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8716/rearypa.th.jpg (http://img189.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rearypa.jpg)
http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8920/passside.th.jpg (http://img199.imageshack.us/my.php?image=passside.jpg)

gas gauge fixed (i think) took forever to track down the problem the connector right at the gas tank went bad wasnt getting anything past there (50 ohms on gas tank side and only 1 ohm on truck side) bypassed that and gauge dropped from overfull down to 5/8 so should be about right we'll see once i drive it a bit and see if it moves.

damned sexy