1989 K5 Blazer project

[86K5Custom]

It is on hold while I get my daily driver back to daily driver status.  Unfortunately, I am will also have to sort out the rear suspension..

ok, thanks. i was considering doing this to my 86 Jimmy but it really seems like to much for me. Planning on going a different route right now.

[blckbety80]

any updates on this build? Looks pretty good so far!

[Captkaos]

Well I actually during the rainy weekend about 2 weeks ago I got some templates made for cutting out the rear 4 link frame mounts, but that is about it.  Still focused on the LS swap truck.  This one is next though, and I am working on making the same changes to the wiring on this as it.

[Captkaos]

Monday, June 17th, 2013: With the R10 in the shop getting turbos installed I took the opportunity to scrounge up some used spindles and brakes and mount them to the truck to get the ride height set so I can get the rear brackets made so I can get this thing back rolling and moving forward..  This won't be a slammed truck, it is going to be setup to be driving and if in the circumstance that my wife has a bag blow out, it will drop down to the bumpstop and she will be able to still drive it albeit slow to her destination...

Right now it has the stock 4x4 rearend and 6 bolt rims on the back I plan to get the 2wd rearend over and mount everything up, or find the 2wd 10 bolt axle and switch them out, but for now the airbar is setup on the 4x4 rearend, here it is...

[Captkaos]

Saturday, June 22nd, 2013: After looking for my "spare" 5 lug 10 bolt and realizing it was the one that was stolen a while back a buddy came by and told me he had a 5 lug axle at his house that had issues that I could use to mock everything up.  He dropped it off at my house and I realized it was from a 88-99 truck and it was wider, so that was a no go.  I may keep it and use it in my R10 later as it was a limited slip with 3.42 gears.  Tore both my 10 bolt and his down to verify they were both 30 spline and the gearing on both.  They both ended up being 3.42's with a limited slip.

Sunday, June 23rd, 2013: After unsuccessfully finding a 10 bolt and not wanting to drive to my brother shop I decided to just pull the 12 bolt axles out of my 2WD Jimmy.  Pulled them out and then swapped them into the 12 bolt.  Generally I haven't had issues with this (it only works on 88-91 30 spline 10 bolts) but this time I had to polish off the ends to get the c-clips in.  Now I have 12 bolt 5 lug axles in my 10 bolt.  After getting the 6 lug 4x4 axle converted to 5 lug I setup the Blazer to be level front to back as I want it level while driving.  I then set out to sort the rear axle clearance as far as drop goes along with how much of a C-notch I need.  In the below picture the front tire will go up 1" for parking lot cruising and when at ride height I plan to raise the rear about 2" and the front about 3".  Next step is to set up everything at ride height and get the front link brackets made.

[Captkaos]

Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013: Playing with the Ridetech Airbar and not going to be able to get it as low as I want it.  Trying to come up with a way to use some of what I have to work without recreating the whole setup.  Doesn't look promising...
This is the rear suspension with the bars level, and the truck about 3" too high for ride height..  You can tell the 78-up dropped floor is in the way of the top bar.  Will be looking for alternative mounting today.

[hotrod24]

Nice build chris. Its looking great...

[Captkaos]

Saturday, July 6th, 2013: Started working on the rear suspension and designing the 4 link front mounts.  Played around with the height for a while and finally decided on what would be the cruise height shown below.  Ride height will be a little higher in the front and back to get good suspension travel.  I setup the link to be able to clear at this height so moving it down would be simple.

Here are the templates I made, just need to pick up some steel and get them cut and welded.



Here is the view from the back sitting much lower than above.


This is going to be cruise height.


This will be REALLY close to ride height:


This is why it is going to be cruise height...


After all of this, I have decided to redesign the rear suspension completely as all the parts I have from Ridetech for a pickup will end up being cut up, so I might as well make all of this fit like I want it.  Bags will be in the rear, shocks will be in the front.  The panhard is going to be MUCH longer.  Stay tuned...

Sunday, July 7th, 2013: Talked Live85 into bringing his truck over and mounting my rims up on his truck for fitment and ride height guides.  In this pic his front rocker is 9.5" off the ground, the rear was 10.25" off the ground

[Captkaos]

Wednesday, August 28th, 2013:  Finally received the brackets I designed for the rear suspension and that I had someone laser cut.  They got them before I left on vacation.

[Captkaos]

Tuesday May 20th, 2014: Ordered a rear trailing arm setup from Porterbuilt.

Tuesday July 15th, 2014: Porterbuilt parts showed up today.  Going to be attempting to get it in and under the Blazer.  I put the crossmember in place just to get an eyeball on it...

[Captkaos]

Monday, July 28th, 2014: In order to get the Crossmember in the correct location I needed to get the engine and trans set in the truck.  So I went to my other garage and picked it up with the help of my Brother.
He couldn't stay but helped me get the motor and trans connected and I spent the rest of the night wrestling it in between the frame rails. Unfortunately I stopped right around 1pm to go to bed and didn't get it bolted up.





Tuesday, July 29th, 2014: After getting home I attempted to install the motor mounts and found that they were too tall.  Call Porterbuilt and talked with him about replacements.

[KojaK 79k10]

Like what you are doing, subd to watch this build.

[Captkaos]

After some time off I am getting some time to get back on this.  Hope to have it ready by PowerTour 2019.
To catch up on the timeline in June of 2016, I was talking to Porterbuilt about their Blazer rear kit that they were at the time making.  Mine was a truck version, as they had not planned on making a K5 kit and in June 2016 they did.  I was going to contact him in July 2016 and get started on it, when I sold my house and other things snowballed out of control.

Fast forward to below.

Sunday, July 22nd, 2018: Spent the whole day cleaning out around the K5 Blazer.  Pulled out parts and found most of what I needed.  At this point in time I still needed to pull the motor our and replace the engine stands on the PorterBuilt crossmember.


Monday, August 6th, 2018: Started communicating with Porterbuild inquiring on what would be needed to complete the rear trailing arm setup on the Blazer.  We exchanged a few emails and explained what I needed.  At this point the biggest hurdle was he didn't have a later frame (they are different) and I needed a Bridge/Notch for it.  But he was currently busy with other projects and the Blazer kits were not a hot item.  He asked to give him some time so I did.

Monday, September 17th, 2018: Due to prior commitments, Project and timing Porterbuilt wasn't going to be able to move forward on this. 

During this time I considered completing the other possibilities: Building a bridge/notch for use with either the PBfab Trailing Arm setup and/or the Ridetch 4 link.  But at this time the only option for these were Air Ride.  And I am really over that for a driver.  I looked at several options and talked to a number of companies.   I decided I wanted to go with Coilovers and looked at QA1 and RideTech setup, but Still no one had an answer for a Blazer.  During the drives home in my truck I was constantly parking in front of the 1986 Corvette rearend I acquired back in March of 2007.  And one day it just hit me,  I should just try and mount that under the Blazer.


Friday, September 21st, 2018: After doing some research I found FlatOut Engineering makes a kit for the 67-72 Pickups, which based on the crossmembers I used to chop and sell will fit a 73-87.  So I called them and during the conversation I told him what I was wanting to do and he was interested.  He send me some forms to fill out and that weekend I took some pictures and measurements and sent to him to review.  He also told me some places to check for front suspensions

Monday, September 24th, 2018: I found a Ebay listing from one of the reputable companies he suggested and I placed an offer and I made the purchase for a 1992 Corvette IFS hub to hub. 

Monday, September 28th, 2018: I called FlatOut Engineering and told him I would have to front coming and would give him a call on Thursday October the 4th.

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2018: The front Corvette IFS was delivered this afternoon.

[Captkaos]

Thursday, October 4th, 2018: Called FlatOut Engineering and ordered a 67-72 C10 Front Kit and a 55-59 Pickup rear kit along with Coil overs.  They should be here in a week.

[VileZambonie]

Nice. Should be a pretty slick setup!