Northern Michigan University Car Club

This is the start of my official truck build thread. The build has been going on now for some time, just been too damn busy to post up what’s going on. So here it goes!

Recently I purchased a 1995 Ford F150 4x4 standard cab truck. It was cheap, ran good, but once I drive it up north once, decided it had to go, it was small and uncomfortable and I wanted something that had at least a back seat in it, no matter if it was useless or not. Lol I set my sights on a ford ext. cab truck but a deal fell through and I wound up selling my truck, and made a little bit of money on it actually.

Then this blazer project sort of fell into my lap. I was floating around craigslist and came across this guys ad for a blazer project. It consisted of two 1978 K5’s both half taken apart, one with a complete and restored body, the other with a drive train and good interior. So I called, since I’ve always had a love for k5’s went out there and decided I had to have the trucks. So I spent two days draggin both trucks, and all the miscellaneous parts that came with them home and set to work taking the parts truck apart.





After the body was removed we decided that the parts truck frame was the one to rebuild, since it had much less damage then the frame that the good body was on. So I stripped the chassis, and took it over to my dads buddy’s shop and sand blasted the whole frame, save for the drive train components.







Then painted the whole frame and most of the components with POR-15, axles and such were done with rustoleum.




Now the only problems I had were I didn’t have a good drive train. The engine in the parts 78 was full of rust from sitting outside under a tarp with no intake or valve covers on it. Plus, I am planning on building somewhat of a street truck out of it, or atleast plan on towing with it, so I want to build something that would do as good as a truck of its size can do on fuel, and a 4bbl sbc with no over drive and full time 4wd is NOT the vison of efficiency I was looking for. So I set out trying to find something that would fit the bill. As luck would have it, the place I took the frame to get blasted at had a 1988 k5 sitting there, that the owner was having the plow removed because the truck was done, he was scrapping it. It somehow had the set up I was looking for. TBI 350, 700r4 tranny, NP208 t-case. It also had a good matched axle set under it, stock of coarse so it’s the 10 bolt front, 12 bolt rear.












So now I have a painted chassis, and a good drive train. I have since, rebuilt the front and rear axles, as far as seals and bearings go, save for carrier and pinion bearings, hopefully they aren’t too beat from being in the plow truck. I have also painted everything, the engine and axles have been cleaned and painted. I even bought some nice chrome valve covers for the engine just to dress it up a little, and painted the block chevy orange to go with the 78 theme, since its essentially going to be a 78 truck.







Now the most recent I have started re-assembly of the chassis, and as of tonight the engine is in the frame! All that is left is to complete my rear disk brake conversion, figure out how all the damn accessories back on the engine, clean and paint a fuel tank, buy a fuel sending unit and fuel pump, and plumb the chassis and she’s ready for the body.






Well I guess I’m done overloading your internet with pictures. Sadly this is only part of them. If anyone is interested in more, here’s the link.
http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee16 ... 20Project/
Other than that I’m giving up on this for the night, I’ll keep the thread updated.

realized that i forgot to post pics of the good body...

Finally got the engine on the frame eh? Good news! Looks like its comming along well!

When you coming back north again? I miss keith!

holy crap! thats quite a transformation.

looks good

That's a hellova nice body for a K5, should be sweet! A friend of mine had a pristine K5 in HS (that same blue color), it was such a sweet truck, one of the few Chevy's I'd ever consider buying .

She's getting there, unfortunatly ran out of money again so it's been sitting dormant for the last week and a half.

the whole reason I bought the piles of truck I did was for the body. It'll be awesome when its done....someday. lol

Well got a few odds and ends done recently. Spring break Chris came down with another buddy, and we held a drunken fab night. Got the air conditioning/power steering pump accessory bracket modified for the new headers, and also messed with the rear disk brake setup a bit.

Then finally last weekend I was able to complete the disk brake set up!!!! It took a little re-doing on the drivers side, because i kinda fucked myself when I welded the backer plate on. I didn't account for the inward motion of the axle thats needed to remove/install the C-clip on the axle shaft. So...a ton of grinding, hammering, and heating later I got the backer plate to bend enough that it works now. Lesson learned the passenger side is perfect!

what is the latest with the axle bearing issue? gonna just run it or try to fix it or did u already fix it? i know we talked about the issue but don't remember if you had come to a solution yet or not.

For those out of the loop. When I welded the backer plates/caliper mounts onto the axle I shrunk my bearing opening. I did resolve it. I wound up grininding open the hole with a carbide bit and measured it with a dial caliper until I had the correct clearances and honed gthe opening for burrs. Bearings fot well, I'm concerned they may still be slightly tight, but for the time being, the truck is just sitting and it has wheels on it again and that's all that matters for the moment. My dad wanted to be able to move it easily for while I'm not around.

i think it will be fine, the amount of load the bearing may be under due to a slightly undersized opening for the race realistically is not going to be any more of a load than the truck sees during normal operation or "abuse" it may see from shock loads like bumps/jumping....lol

i think it will be fine.

Project on hold... like everything else I own. Moneys to tight, but in the process of solving that issue

Awesome job man! That frame looks beautiful. I'm pretty sure everyone in Michigan with a 95 and older vehicle wishes they could do what you did haha. POR 15 isn't cheap either! Keep going!