I totalled my Blazer, and the wife agreed to disagree on fixing it....so here we go..
 

Well, I was in a wreck on the interstate the Friday before Christmas. Totalled the Blazer. :icon_cry: Prior to that it had never been wrecked, save for a Buck that unfortunately got in the way about 4 years ago. I would have just let the truck go, except for the fact that the engine (a Jasper) only has 30k miles on it, and I just had new steering components and ball joints installed. It runs (ran) great, and I have a hard time giving up a "utility" vehicle (the other cars are a Volvo V70 wagon, a Chrysler Town and Country, and a Triumph Spitfire, and none of them have a towing pacakge or 4 wheel drive). The insurance adjuster said at least $3,800 to fix it - I think I can do it for considerably less....and the buy-back value was only $474 from the insurance company, so I felt like I could at least sell it for more than that in parts if I decide not to fix it. They valued it at dealer quality, and I think that was fair, as it was in really good shape....just old (1999) with high miles (197,554).

Anyway, I'm very mechanically inclined and have pretty much all the tools I need. I have a Haynes Manual, but have never tackled anything quite like this before (everything I've ever done has been electrical or mechanical - no body work). I don't think the frame is damaged, but I know I'll have to have that checked out professionally.

So, I've attached a photo of what I'm up against. Both the fenders, the hood, both headlights, the grill, the radiator (which I replaced a couple of years back myself), the cooling fan attached to the water pump, and all of the sheetmetal around the radiator....

Looking for any/all advice, especially anything that the Haynes may not be good at pointing out (they are good, but certainly not the end all be all). Also, considering whether to get new (aftermarket, not GM) body parts or to go with salvage parts. Any advice here would be appreciated. I'd like to make it look new again, as the rest of the truck is in great shape. This may sound prissy, but my wife would not be thrilled about keeping (much less, driving) a vehicle if the body panels don't match.

Thanks!

Jonboy

with that many miles on it, it may not be worth fixing. everything that you just did to it is probably junk now from the accident. sure, its not all that hard to fix. a word of advice though, pull as many of the panels back out to the original shape as you can before you remove them and start on the core support.

Good luck with that labor of love. i know the feeling.

it honestly doesnt look that bad of a repair unless there is more damage then we think so far. pull the panels off and get a look at the frame etc make sure its ok. If you have a pull it yourself yard around your area you can fix the blazer for about 300 bucks.


edit : you are in NC. there is a pull it yard in Raleigh and goldsboro

Ask your wife if she would be rather paying a loan for several years plus higher ins or a few hundred now

Bolting on parts is easy enough. Paint matching can be more of a challenge, maybe take the parts to be painted before bolting them on.

^^ yep his color isnt really common. if it was red he'd be golden.

kick it to the crusher with that many miles and salvage title.

well after looking at the picture again, if you decided to keep it, you should probably change the motor and tranny mounts.

it looks like the hit was almost above the bumper
I did a malibu years ago after my buddy run into a power pole
I was pretty happy with the end results
I had to tweak the frame to bumper area back with a sledge hammer
He had found a donor vehicle that I salvaged the front clip from
Basically we sold the donor car for the same as what he bought it for as scrap

Looks like yours is pewter color , I swear just about every blazer in my area was pewter

here is one in your area for cheap ,keep yours for a parts vehicle
2000 Blazer

I hear ya, but the motor is solid. The only thing of significance (as far as I can tell) outside of the body and sheet metal damage is the radiator.

Thanks. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm actually in greensboro.

Have not really looked around for parts yet.

Well, we already replaced it with the Chrysler. Not a brand new one, but still, that issue has been settled.

Thanks. Wondered about that. Figured I would tackle that once I got all the body panels out of the way.

It is actually a brownish color. Chevrolet referred to it as Champagne.

Thanks, but no. Mine only has 30k on the engine. I guarantee that one doesn't.

yep
that color was very popular here :icon_screwy:
It does look cleanish longer

I think if you were to do a bit of looking in your area you could find a cheap donor or like someone else said pick N pull
If its not a color match you can probably find a local body shop to give it a spray after you do the prep work

Johboy, being the owner of a self rebuilt Blazer, i say fix it. it's a shame to see these crushed. the cash for clunkers claimd enough of them. i did a repaint on mine, but everything but the grill and front lights are from PNP. the grill and front lights were just as cheap new online.

With as much love as everyone has for these blazers I would fix it in time.From the pic you need a new front clip with the core support and probaly a new rad.As long as the frame isnt bent it should be a fairly easy fix to change those parts.I wouldnt worry about matching paint.I would have a custom done after its put back together.

Hi 1sttimejimmyowner,

Thanks for the feedback. Thought maybe I'd get the hood and fenders and take one of my damaged fenders and have a local shop match and paint them before I bolt them on. Can't justify painting the entire vehicle.

More than likely I will need a new radiator, and I'm sure I'll need a new condenser. Definitely a new core support.

I've googled "blazer clip" and the like, trying to find the front end as a whole assembly, but no success. Are there yards that specialize in this, or would I be better off just pulling the parts individually?

Thanks,

Jonboy

Thanks for the encouragement, Copperhead!

i pulled my parts individually. i could not find a blazer, that had NO front end damage, when i was rebuilding mine. i drove it for like a year without a front bumper, prior to the re-paint. also, a cheap (maaco?) paint job, would probably cost less than a color match. or do like i did, and paint it yourself.

Cheap paint jobs look terrible and fall off

I would look around on your local craigslist and look for somebody who has a blazer to part out.For a while on my local cl there was a ton of them but not so many lately.If nothing there check your local pull a part junk yard.You should be able to find everything you need.

well yeah there is that Chesty, LOL. i painted cars for a couple of years, so for me, it was a no brainer. i never did like that "hershey candybar" shine maaco, and sprayglow has, but it looks better than i guess 5 different colors. LOL

The front clips are easy to remove minus the bumper you can remove both fenders along with coresupport in one peice.Replacing everything thats damaged should cost no more than$500 give or take some.To whom posted the pic of the other blazer forsale thats a nice one.I like the wheels and wish I had a set like that for mine.Question is how well do you like this particular blazer?Are the engine and trans,4wd drive dependable even with the milege thats on it?

Such a positive person

I've priced everything out individualy, and between prices posted online by my local U-Pull-it yard, and prices for other new components (radiator, condenser, and a few other pieces), I'm looking at about $1,400 in parts. I think (as long as I don't have any issues with the frame or something else that I can't see, I can completely get this back to the way it was (including painting the hood and fenders before assembly) for $2,000 or less (doing the labor myself, of course). See the parts list below.

As for your question about reliability.....I'm convinced that if I had been more serious about the maintenance of the engine and cooling system originally that I would not have had to replace the engine.

As for the transmission I've not had any problems (knock on wood).

As for the 4WD, I have a sensor on one of my back wheels that has caused the 4WD to not work, but until that happened, it was running perfectly.

If I didn't feel that the vehicle was solid, I wouldn't consider fixing it. I am the second owner, and I bought it in December of 2000 with 23,000 miles on it.

Here is my parts list - don't know if this is high/typical/low, because I pulled this list together in about 30 minutes and haven't dome much looking elsewhere:

Part / Cost (some from local u pull it yard, some from online)
Chrome Bumper with impact strip $225
Grille $100
Hood $150
Rt Fender $100
Lt Fender $100
Rt Headlight Assy $50
Lt Headlight Assy $50
Radiator Fan Shroud $10
Radiator Overflow tank $25
Radiator Core Support $125
Radiator $150
Condenser $150
Water pump (because I want to and the one on there from Autozone sucked) $125
Radiator Fan (it was mostly destroyed on impact) $25
Fan clutch $50

Grand total:$1,435

Jonboy

pretty close, my fenders were $75.00 a piece, my hood was $75.00, and my water pump, from o'reilly's, was $38.00. the PNP i got my radiator core support from, was $50.00

Time is everything!
 

Yea, three months after you need it, I just bought a new condenser on ebay for $44. with Warranty for a year. Mine ate the scrap from a compressor meltdown and after replacing that twice (warranty!) I found out that the gunk in the coils flows back under new high pressure and causes the compressor to eat itself, putting crud into the condenser for next time. Of course this comes right after I finally solve all the oil leaks from installing new oil lines. The clip fastners on the oem oil cooler are stupid and I would gladly undertake a mod if anyone has experience. Now a t 187k on my 2K LS and have replaced all the steering arms, ball joints, hubs (again) and oil lines (:icon_drool:) will do the condenser but don't want to spend another 2 months cleaning oil spots off the driveway. Thinking maybe a new oil cooler forward of the rad on the driver side?