Yeah, I discovered the 80% rule awhile back. It puts some of the old muscle cars we drove back in the late '60s and early '70s into perspective for today. Even going by Net HP, the smog certs from the mid '70s onward really put the hurt on power up until just a few years back when techno started catching up.

 

Congrats on the "new" truck Kyle.
The original jack was a crank style stored on the left inner fender under the hood.

 

Thanks Rob! I have already done quite a bit of work on it, mainly stripping things down getting ready for some sheetmetal.

I knew the jack was not the factory jack, but it looks as though it was installed (and never used since) way back when. Some lithium grease and WD40 and it looks new again and works great!

Rob, do you know if the roll bar was a factory option? Earlier in this thread I meant to say that it looked factory, not necessarily that it was standard. This truck has 3 point seat belts in the front which I am not sure if they came like that from the factory... The only seat belts that match the SPI label are the outer ones in the back which are charcoal gray. The rest are all black.

 

Nice to see an old Blazer being saved instead of it biodegrading or being recycled into 15 Kias. Congratulations, nice!

 

I'm not aware of a factory roll bar. Factory seat belts were simple lap belts.

 

Only place that gave me the impression that the roll bar could have been factory was THIS.
And I have found references to the "family" roll bar. The picture below is from a 1973 dealer brochure. Does not mean that these were factory equipped, but they were available when new. The folks over at ColoradoK5 report that there were some of the 1st gens with factory rollbars that had the option shown on the SPI label in the glovebox. The same things were offered up through 1975 from what I have found.

 

A little update...

Earlier last week I had found an eBay auction with original 1976 K5 Blazer front seats, complete. The seats looked decent and had the complete bases which is more than I can say for the seats that came with my Blazer. More on that on the ‘Interior’ page. I purchased the seats for $10 and $90 delivery charge. We had agreed to a $1/mile (one-way) charge and that I would meet the seller just south of Binghamton, NY to pick up the parts.

After talking with seller, I found that he also had a pair of doors, and a set of later model chrome mirrors. For an extra $100, I purchased these parts as well.

 

Kyle,

I was just reading your posts. I'm new to this forumn and you have already made a couple of responses to my posts about my 74 K5, thanks. Your Blazer looks like it is going to be a great project! I look forward to reading all your updates. What is your goal with it anyways? Just a restoration or are you planning on making it into a wheeler?

Thanks,
Israel

 

My main focus right now is just building my competencies with metal and body work. If I keep it after I am done with the work that it needs, then I will have to evaluate what to do with it then. It already has a 3" BL and 33x12.5 BFGoodrich M/T TA tires on it, but those are leaving! Damn things are too loud on the road.

 

Nice truck.

Funny about HP back in those days.

In high school, I had a '76 camaro with a 305 V8. It was factory rated at 140HP.

Now I own a 2006 Impala with a 3.5 liter V6. It is rated at 211HP and could take that old camaro easily.