Yo guys, what's up? I'm getting the bug again. I have an 86 S-10 Blazer 4x4 that I've had for almost 15 years now. It was my first car and I can't part with it. I pretty much daily drove it every day, except for a 2 year stint when I was commuting a long distance, up until about 3 years ago when I found rusted body mounts.

Bought the truck up outside of Philly, so it has the normal northern rust even though it has spent its life down in NC. All that high school abuse sure hasn't helped matters.

Anyways, it has been sitting in storage for the last 3 years, so it is time to bring it back to life. I'm going to fire up the welder and put all new sheetmetal on it, probably have it media blasted first, and then go to town on getting it to where I've wanted it all these years.

Plans are to make it look pretty much stock, with the stock 15" 5-star wheels. Interior is going to be bone stock except for a nicer stereo. Exterior is going to be stock except for a small cowl hood.

Engine is going to be a Gen III 5.3L or 6.0L with a 4L60E hopefully.

It is going to be a complete frame-off resto. I told my son he can drive it when he turns 16, so I have a little over 12 years to get it finished.

I'm probably going to start in the next few weeks. I'm going to work on it here and there as I have time. Frame work is first, I'm either going to buy a whole new frame or have mine straightened. I'd prefer straightened so I can keep my frame, but we'll see.

I'll keep you guys posted!

 

Oh, and I also change my mind a lot. :lol:

Since I posted this I've decided to go with a regular SBC in it, a 355 or a 383. I already have a 355 block here, probably some other stuff I've forgotten about over the years. Figure all the rest of my cars have Gen III motors, might as well do what I've wanted to this last 15 years.

 

Welcome and good luck and have fun.

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome from New Zealand.

 

welcome to the show.



hopefully you'll have enough time to finish it.

 

welcome to the forum sounds like it has the potential to be a sweet ride for the youngster.

 

You don't know how slow I work.

I'm really scared about how much rust I'm going to find in this thing. I know at the least it needs both rear quarter panels, all 4 inner fenders, doors, rockers, body mounts, and probably some floor patches.

Probably needs more new metal than existing metal. But it was my first car and I'm going to save it. I'm just a little crazy.

 

if the body is that bad, why not just pick up a cleaner body to swap it out?

or are you looking @ improving your welding skills?

 

Yeah, that's probably because I've spent so much on my blazer it is my first car and I love the way they look. Long ways to get what I want to do done though especially when you don't have tons of cash lying around.