Have been on the lookout for a new (another) project for the last 5 months or so. I wanted something different from the bagged '01 this time. I feel like I cant take it anywhere, get afraid to leave in in a parking lot, drive it on non-paved roads, take it to the river/tailgating/etc after all of the body work and paint thats gone into it, plus it is a pain to keep spotless. I still love driving it, but its not as much fun as I want from a weekend cruiser. I have always had a soft spot for Blazers, S10 or K5, so I settled on a K5 this time (Round 1 with a 94' S10 Blazer didnt go so well). Its a fun, old, good lookin rig thats easy to work on and modify, plus I wont hesitate to take it anywhere once it is done. Ive been looking on Craigslist for all of south TX for months, my budget for the truck itself was $3,500 and it didnt look like I was going to find anything in good shape for that price but I was being patient since I still have the '01 in the meantime. I stumbled across a nice one for $3,500neg. in Killeen, TX about 2hr away from me and jumped on it. I picked it up yesterday, here are the pics from when I got it home:
I bought the truck from a guy who had just finished his service time in the military at Ft. Hood, he moved back to his family in California and did not want to pay to transport the truck back with a baby on the way, so he made me a deal. I am the 3rd owner. It doesn't look like its been ragged out, with all of the old man gear still on it im assuming the first owner wasn't a kid that kept it that way for almost 2 decades. Rust is minimal to nil, with none in the common trouble spots and it has never been wrecked. It has a 350 in it with almost 30k on a rebuild and 229k on the body. Overall the body is in awesome shape, the undercarriage and suspension is showing age - but much of that will be replaced or cleaned up - and the interior is still all there and everything works but I will be doing alot of work to bring it back to life and change the color from navy to charcoal.
The plans will change as I learn more about the truck and really nail down what I want the end result to be, but here is what I've got in mind for now:
Current Specs:
- 1990 K5 Blazer Silverado, 4X4, 5.7L TBI, 700r4 trans.
- 15x10 or x11 Centerline Wheels, 32x11.5 BFG A/T
- Stock other than wheels and head unit
What currently needs repair to get it to where it can be driven reliably and comfortably, going to fix these things before doing any heavy modifying:
- It has a bad shake at highway speeds from the rear end. Im thinking it is the driveshaft/u-joint/CV, but not sure (done).
- Stereo does not work when the headlights are on and is powered directly to the battery, ghetto wiring and poor mounting
- Front windows do not roll down
- A/C compressor will need replacement, and blower does not work (will address this in early spring '15)
- Cruise control inop.
- Steering is a tad loose, steering wheel is off-center
- Brakes pull to the right when applied %50+
- Gas gauge always reads empty, speedometer reads innacurately
- Power steering pump leaks
- LF door needs a new lock cylinder
- Air leaks through alot of the weatherstripping and seals at highway speed
- Gas petal is hard to push (done, needs a new cable though)
- Wheels need a polish and seal
Future plans:
Interior:
- Swap to charcoal/colormatched interior: carpet, dash, seats, door panels, seatbelts, and headliner will be replaced. Everything else will be dyed or painted.
- Replace gauges with new white-face gauges when I swap the dash, replace fuel gauge with tachometer and move fuel gauge to smaller open space.
- Line-X floor behind rear seats
- Replace speakers, add 2 kick-panel speakers and 1 10" sub, new head unit mounting and wiring
- NBS Charcoal seats and overhead console
- Center console from new model truck or custom made
- Fully sound deaden/insulate under carpet when swapping
- 30% tint on all windows
- Billet steering wheel, and possibly column
Body:
- Remove wheel well trim (done), bedliner on inner wheel wells
- Trim rain gutters
- Replace or remove tailgate trim (done)
- Repair scratches, PDR, touch up paint, then full paint correction and detail
- Replace black OBS mirrors with old-style chrome mirrors
- Grille swap - thinking of the 4-lense 85-88 grille at this point, then colormatch
- HIDs depending on what headlight lense I use, and LED reverse/field lights
- Strip and coat the frame
Suspension:
- I honestly dont know yet! I need to repair all of the issues to start with, then the interior will be my next focus. The wheel/tire combo fits well and looks good, the suspension rides well for a 24yo truck, and the tires have a ton of life left in them so there is no hurry there. I would like to run a 6"ish lift with a 35" tire on 15x12" or x14 wheels - but am still undecided on the end result.
Motor:
- Simple repair and maintenance for now. Not modding an old rebuilt 350. I really wanted an '87-91 since they came with the TBI, this will make it much easier if I ever want to swap a 5.3 down the road. I will, however, replace the drone-ey, loud si/so muffler with a longer Magnaflow and a dumped tip.
Im in no hurry to finish this thing, but ill be damned if im going to move as slowly as I did on the '01 build. I can handle almost everything on this list myself or with friends - no frame welding or extensive body work needed that will hold me up, and no reason to take it off the road for months at a time waiting for parts or money. Overall going to keep it fairly simple. Pretty pumped about this one, Ill be sure to chronicle it well right here!
I bought the truck from a guy who had just finished his service time in the military at Ft. Hood, he moved back to his family in California and did not want to pay to transport the truck back with a baby on the way, so he made me a deal. I am the 3rd owner. It doesn't look like its been ragged out, with all of the old man gear still on it im assuming the first owner wasn't a kid that kept it that way for almost 2 decades. Rust is minimal to nil, with none in the common trouble spots and it has never been wrecked. It has a 350 in it with almost 30k on a rebuild and 229k on the body. Overall the body is in awesome shape, the undercarriage and suspension is showing age - but much of that will be replaced or cleaned up - and the interior is still all there and everything works but I will be doing alot of work to bring it back to life and change the color from navy to charcoal.
The plans will change as I learn more about the truck and really nail down what I want the end result to be, but here is what I've got in mind for now:
Current Specs:
- 1990 K5 Blazer Silverado, 4X4, 5.7L TBI, 700r4 trans.
- 15x10 or x11 Centerline Wheels, 32x11.5 BFG A/T
- Stock other than wheels and head unit
What currently needs repair to get it to where it can be driven reliably and comfortably, going to fix these things before doing any heavy modifying:
- It has a bad shake at highway speeds from the rear end. Im thinking it is the driveshaft/u-joint/CV, but not sure (done).
- Stereo does not work when the headlights are on and is powered directly to the battery, ghetto wiring and poor mounting
- Front windows do not roll down
- A/C compressor will need replacement, and blower does not work (will address this in early spring '15)
- Cruise control inop.
- Steering is a tad loose, steering wheel is off-center
- Brakes pull to the right when applied %50+
- Gas gauge always reads empty, speedometer reads innacurately
- Power steering pump leaks
- LF door needs a new lock cylinder
- Air leaks through alot of the weatherstripping and seals at highway speed
- Gas petal is hard to push (done, needs a new cable though)
- Wheels need a polish and seal
Future plans:
Interior:
- Swap to charcoal/colormatched interior: carpet, dash, seats, door panels, seatbelts, and headliner will be replaced. Everything else will be dyed or painted.
- Replace gauges with new white-face gauges when I swap the dash, replace fuel gauge with tachometer and move fuel gauge to smaller open space.
- Line-X floor behind rear seats
- Replace speakers, add 2 kick-panel speakers and 1 10" sub, new head unit mounting and wiring
- NBS Charcoal seats and overhead console
- Center console from new model truck or custom made
- Fully sound deaden/insulate under carpet when swapping
- 30% tint on all windows
- Billet steering wheel, and possibly column
Body:
- Remove wheel well trim (done), bedliner on inner wheel wells
- Trim rain gutters
- Replace or remove tailgate trim (done)
- Repair scratches, PDR, touch up paint, then full paint correction and detail
- Replace black OBS mirrors with old-style chrome mirrors
- Grille swap - thinking of the 4-lense 85-88 grille at this point, then colormatch
- HIDs depending on what headlight lense I use, and LED reverse/field lights
- Strip and coat the frame
Suspension:
- I honestly dont know yet! I need to repair all of the issues to start with, then the interior will be my next focus. The wheel/tire combo fits well and looks good, the suspension rides well for a 24yo truck, and the tires have a ton of life left in them so there is no hurry there. I would like to run a 6"ish lift with a 35" tire on 15x12" or x14 wheels - but am still undecided on the end result.
Motor:
- Simple repair and maintenance for now. Not modding an old rebuilt 350. I really wanted an '87-91 since they came with the TBI, this will make it much easier if I ever want to swap a 5.3 down the road. I will, however, replace the drone-ey, loud si/so muffler with a longer Magnaflow and a dumped tip.
Im in no hurry to finish this thing, but ill be damned if im going to move as slowly as I did on the '01 build. I can handle almost everything on this list myself or with friends - no frame welding or extensive body work needed that will hold me up, and no reason to take it off the road for months at a time waiting for parts or money. Overall going to keep it fairly simple. Pretty pumped about this one, Ill be sure to chronicle it well right here!
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really looking forward to seeing you work on it and bring it back to life.
. Looks super clean, would love to find something like this, I miss my K5.
buy one, drop it, then we can trade for a few months out of the year. Done.
. And the license plate says 'Bad Ass Boys Drive Bad Ass Toys' Fresh outta the street scene catalog, good lord.
