I am waiting on some parts to continue with the inside of the Blazer so thought I would start on the outside. My parts are supposed to ship by the end of the month. (Fingers crossed)
I had a great deal of rust to deal with but luckily none was through so no patch panels were needed. I shaved the roof rack and prepped everything for rust treatment. I have never used por 15 so really hoping it lives up to the hype. Both quarters around the windows were rusting and also around the windshield. I believe it is from prior repairs in the past when the glass was removed they didn't cover up the bare metal from the knife when cutting it out.

The body is braced up a lot and finally sitting 100% on it's own weight. I was planning on keeping the outside looking as close as I could to original but the more I look at it I am thinking I might widebody it. Thoughts??? If I do there is no way possible to get it done this winter but I am thinking while I am there doing all the bodywork now is the time. This is why my own projects get over done because I always think while I am there I can do this in turn adds another while I am there rinse and repeat. What do you all think? It would let me run some really wide tires and also bring a huge different factor to the game. I have not seen any pictures of a widebody Blazer and have been looking. If I do widebody it I will widen it with the body line so it fits the body and looks like it was built that way and not some cheap fiberglass stick on crap.

 

So today I did a bunch of trading and ended up with a 2002 Z06 front frame clip with complete suspension brake to brake. After a bunch of measuring I can make it fit but will need to go widebody now but not sure how wide yet. Going to go pick it up tomorrow and excited because now my front suspension search is over. The nice thing is that the front crossmember is an aluminum bolt in setup and will give me tons of clearance for oil pans and headers or whatever I want to fit up front. I also found front coilover swap kits that will work perfect for what I am planning to do with the Blazer. Drawback is from some measuring I am thinking I will need to gain about four inches of width to the body but that equals massive tires. I also decided today that I am getting rid of the LT series engines and going LS because it now will be a direct bolt in and I believe will be better down the road anyways.
Still looking at rear setups though. Been leaning more to a 3 link setup but still a lot of thinking to do yet.

Had a rough day and only got the roof stripped. I did do a few touch up welds where I shaved the roof rack and tomorrow plan to get it all mudded up.

 

How much wider is the stance your looking at? I like the widebody look myself, as long as it's not over done lol

 

Not sure how much wider I will have to go until I get the front end welded in and tires on it. I am going to guess between 3-4 inches.

 

Myself,

I wouldnt go more then that per side. I find it gets hard to morph the body into anything wider that that. I seen an old k5 blazer modded with fiberglass fender flares about 4-5 inch on either side. Not nice...

I got about 3 inch on stock zr2 fender flare, modded for 4 door 2nd gen, I think that's about max without looking odd... first gen is different, harder to work with, I'm really interested to see a mock up. I'm

wondering if a baja wide body would blend in?

 

I don't really like the baja style but did look into that. Agreed about being to wide though. I am hoping to widen it about 2-3 inches if possible so I can make it look somewhat original Blazer but we will see. I go to pick up my new front suspension tomorrow because they didn't have it ready today so hoping to get started on that tomorrow, but need to spend some time on my sons K5 so not sure yet.
Sorry no picture update today. I did get all the bodywork done on the upper quarters and roof today and primed up. I didn't take pictures of it primed because we all have seen what primer looks like lol

 

Got my seats today and very nice tight fit for me. Have the next four days off so going to try to get the front frame section done. Also have been kicking around the idea of running a 2jz or 4g63t engine instead of a ls based engine. It would give me a ton more room under the hood but still just kicking it around.

 

Very nice

 

Happy turkey day!
This morning did a bunch of measuring and cut the frame off of the Blazer. I work on cars for a living but it was a little unsettling to cut the front frame apart because it is a big no no at work now. Hoping to get the front mocked up tomorrow and hopefully welded in this weekend.


Ready to cut.

And cut

 

So I got the frames trimmed up enough to get the C5 front clip setting where I want it. I can make it work but it really worries me about welding thin high strength steel to thick mild steel so decided to make my own front frame section that will use the C5 front suspension. I have everything drawn up and measured but all the steel yards were closed today so couldn't get any metal. I am hoping they will be open tomorrow so I can get everything I need and get my front end in hopefully by Sunday.