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
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.



And the odd gapping I mentioned:


it's more obvious on the driver side but exists on pass. side as well

 

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!

 

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.





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.

 

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
New door and kick panel speakers
New Dash Speakers
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!