I have my '88 blazer that I am building into an armoured S10 Blazer pacifically for driving in the woods while I am hunting. So far I have my brush guards (1inch think plates ran entirely underneath my truck protecting all mechanical work including brake lines, wiring, gas tank, tanny, ETC. I have mt Grill Guard modified with a winch for any reason I might get stuck.

But this is my question for you. When it comes to riviting new fender placements over my old. I was wondering what you might think if I took tin roofing/siding and used that as my siding. And in each crevice use foam insulation to fill them in before placeing it on the truck for maximum dent protection. And ideas on new siding that can keep my baby safe please do tell.

 

you would probably be better off with something like this you can side swipe just about anything without any damage.

 

I do love that setup though. Anyway, I wanted a more unique look by creating something I have not seen. And as far as that setup goes my doors are still able to get rampaged just a bit.

 

I can't begin to imagine how much a 1" thick steel plate the size of the underside of a blazer weighs, let alone adding all sorts of armour on the sides, hope you have a good engine and transmission and a damn big winch for when you get stuck. I'd have thought that parts like fenders and doors would be cheap enough from a junkyard over there that you can just replace them when they get too beaten up. A good set of rock sliders with treebars on the rockers and if you really think you're going to need it an exo cage would be the best bet, add tree wires from the top of the screen/roll cage tubes down to the tips of the fenders to push branches away from the screen too.

 

The plate on the bottom is not the entire bottom. It is 3 seperate ones. One starts from the front bumper carrying under the engine to front main axle. The second is covering the transmission area and the third one covers the gas tank.

Also there are no junk yards with in 300 miles of my area that even consist of the blazer and the metal recyclers around here will not sell parts because they said that we could file a law suit if they break or cause an accident. And the ones online are like 100 plus dollars.

So why not use 4cm tine metal with foam insulation on the dip ins? I mean it only cost 50 dollars for the entire truck and is able to protect the metal I do have. I mean it is common rust around the rear fenders but tin metal is not going to add but another 30lbs to my car.

And my transmission is actually newly rebuilt has like 400 miles on it right now... But my engine is the 4.6L V6 with 37,000 miles so I think she will still have it in her.

 

Considering that a 1 foot square 1 inch thick steel plate weighs 40 lbs, and I have no idea what you mean by 4 cm 'tin metal'... I think this is going to be an interesting build to follow.

Maybe if you coat this armor with a couple layers of anti-gravity paint... bearing in mind that doesnt affect mass inertia, just apparent weight.

 

Hope you plan on putting a v8 in that thing.

In all honestly you would be better off just ditching the body and building one off the frame. Just riveting panels to the thin body will pull loose over time. Anything that hits it hard enough will still cave in the body since its not designed to take impacts like you are thinking.

An exo cage with metal bolted to it will prolly still be a better choice.

My skids are built out of 3/16th thich steel and still heavy. 1 inch will weigh way too much.

 

Why do you have to tell them what you are doing? Are they demanding to know what you are going to do? I think it is none of their business IMO. There are local supply yards where I live at you show them the money and they don't care what you do with the metal. All I say is only say what is necessary to make a sale.
I worked at a place that sold car parts and the moment you told them it is going on an Airplane or experimental Aircraft they canned the order and gave the customer their money back.

 

That is odd for sure, i mean the metal recyclers here are more than happy to sell their stuff. They dont care if its getting re-used or melted down, afterall, they just want it recycled.

I also think your fenders are a little stronger then tin siding. But i am interested to se what you come up with. Modding is about being unique, so give'r

 

I think your best bet would be an exo-cage. If you're really concerned about your body and paint, I would stay as far away from rivets and spray foam as possible. With tin riveted to your truck and spray foam in the crevices, I can see that holding water and rusting away the body. And for doors, couldn't you make some tube half doors, like on a jeep?