with the "BAB" in the project title, there really was only one thing to come to mind...............one full-size Bad A$$ Blazer like you said.

and i must say, having brought my 'Burb from Arkansas, i can appreciate what it's like to have a rust-free truck for a project.


actually Lorton..................in a build thread you don't need to edit anything, you can post 5 times in a row if you want to.

good luck to you & your son on the project brother, make sure you update us with pic's as you go along, it's always nice to see the progress that's made with a project.

 

Ok tonight got the roll cage out! Ended up having to grind 3 of the bolts out with an angle grinder. Got the front seatbelts off. Also got the steering wheel pulled in preparation to replace the ignition key cylinder and replace the steering wheel. And got some more trim off (just 2 small pieces (the ones behind each door on the floor), and of course they each have 2 stripped screw heads so that will be another PITA.

My son is out there pulling the rest of the carpet off, probably only about 4 sqft of carpet to remove at this point.

Next, clean out the interior, degrease and scrub it down to see just how the metal looks. Plus, it's amazing how much DUST is under the trim pieces, especially the trim directly behind the cab windows. It's THICK behind there!

Then, replace ignition cylinder and if I can get my friend over here, maybe install a Push-Button ignition.

Once the ignition cylinder is replaced, will drain the old gas, blow out the fuel lines, put new gas in, install the battery and get her cranked up!!!!

Then (within a couple weeks) it's time to pull the rear end off of the donor truck and put it on the project. Can't wait, it will be drivable then!

Pics this weekend....

 

Well, after sitting thru a 115 degree summer, Project BAB is back!

Today we got the ignition key cylinder replaced, put in a new (used) battery and tried to start it...

After sitting here for a year and at the previous location for 14 months... it STARTED in FOUR cranks! I'm sure that was just priming the gas, and it cranked right up!

I didn't let it run for long, nor did I "rev" it much... it's smoking a little but I'm thinking that's the 2 year old gas (which will be drained soon).

It ran PERFECTLY smooth, though, no stutters or hesitation, I was amazed at how well it did run considering the gas.

I also used Purple Power to de-grease the engine bay - it still needs a bunch more work in that department, but it looks much better!

Next, oil change, gas drain/replace, having a friend come over to work on the carb a little... then probably in 2 weeks we're putting a "new" rear end on her.

After that, (knock on wood), it's all cosmetic stuff - replace all the interior parts (dash cover, carpet, re-upholster the seats and door jambs), and probably by June we'll have enough $$ saved for the paint job.

 

Glad to see this thread is coming back to life.... Still have the younger guy helping ya?

 

Yep, he's gonna have to, it's going to be his

He helped a lot with all the removal stuff, categorizing/labeling bolts, etc. He's excited again after not doing much since July. 3 weeks off of Baseball so hopefully will get a bunch done in that time.

 

Well tonight we sprayed down the entire interior and underneath with Purple Power full strength and let it sit for about an hour. Then power-washed everything. I couldn't believe how much GRIME came off this thing including what looked clean originally!

We have to do the Purple Power again tomorrow to get the stubborn stuff off.

Then we're going to put some rust-oleum on the entire interior floor/walls before we get the rear axle replaced. And also spray all the underneath with either flat black rust-oleum or bedliner-type material.

If all goes well, the truck will be relatively road-worthy by Friday night.

 

That looks awesome. Keep up the pictures.

 

I took a bunch of pics today, showing current progress, and will try to post them later tonight but for sure by Sunday night because the next 2 days are BUSY:

Here's what we got done today:
- Ordered brand new reproduction dash pad (not a cover, the entire dash pad)
-Entire interior floors are scraped (removed whatever minor rust was there), sanded and primed.
-Wheel wells are power-washed and the rear ones are primed (ran out of primer).
- Roll bar is sanded and primed.

Son has Thursday and Friday off of school so here's the plan:

Thursday:
- spray bedliner on the area behind the rear seat (carpet is going forward of that).
- finish sanding/priming wheel wells and visible frame areas.
- wet sand and light prime the roll bar

But mainly Thursday is swapping out the rear axles from the "donor" to BAB. Have a friend coming over to do that.

Friday:

- spray underbody coating in wheel wells.
- spray gloss black on rest of visible frame areas
- wet sand and finish coat(s) on roll bar

Progress is FAST now... and limited only due to lack of cash-flow during the slow part of our business year

 

Ok, as promised here's a few (actually a lot of) pics. My son did all the prep work (sanding, cleaning, etc.) and I did the spraying. I wanted him to spray but he didn't want to.

Interior cleaned up and sanded, totally prepped for primer.










Interior primed (taken before totally dry, so looks splotchy)

 

Ok, now for the spray on bedliner... pics were taken about 20 minutes after spraying so again they are blotchy- as it is curing, the blotchy-ness is going away. We are going to carpet the wheel wells so we didnt' bother to remove all the really difficult to remove sticky backing stuff.









I also sprayed bedliner down the center-line of the front of the interior just for a little noise reduction (carpeting this part).