1975 GMC Jimmy 4x4 Full Convertible

[Mike Phillips]

1975 GMC Jimmy 4x4 Full Convertible

It's alive!





Purchased back in January 22nd, 2008 and a little over 2 months later we've successfully converted her from a manual 4-speed with a NP205 transfercase to a 700R4 overdrive automatic transmission with a NP208 transfercase.  Today Steve over at Bowtie Overdrives dialed in the TV Cable for the most efficient shift points and she runs out real nice when you push the pedal to metal.

Now it's time for some detail work...  it has a brand new paint job but it feels like it has some dry spray all over everything including the glass, so it's going to get an extreme makeover in the paintwork department.



 

[79diesel]

wow very nice...why the change from manual to auto?

[76_Scottsdale]

He posted in another topic that he lost his leg in a drag boat accident. Very nice Jimmy by the way! You'll love the overdrive.

[Dragon]

Congrats Mike, She Looks Real Good  Sounds like she was given an Earl Shyster paint job, like I had on my old Caddy , but you could probably get away with a good color sanding....  As for the windows, a good concentrate of straight Non-AntiBacterial Dawn Dish Soap, a few Old Sunday News Papers, and elbow grease would help get rid of most of it... Then you just hose off the soap, and your good to go  Wouldn't recommend the soap coming into contact with the rest of your paint though, as if it wasn't sealed properly, it too will be stripped

[VileZambonie]

Awesome Mike! Are you going to paint the top the same color as the truck? Ever gonna run it topless?

[Mike Phillips]

 Sounds like she was given an Earl Shyster paint job, like I had on my old Caddy , but you could probably get away with a good color sanding....  

My last Blazer, a 73 2-wheel drive, had a $800.00 Maaco paint job and it was pretty bad, we did wet-sand it and buff it out and it came out pretty good.  This paint job has a lot of orange peel so the plan right now is to wet-sand it using the Mirka Abralon system which starts at #1000 grit and goes to #4000 grit and then buff it out using the new Meguiar's M105 Ultra Cut Compound and then finish it with some lighter polishing using a DA Polisher and then of course seal it up with some wax.

It needs a new hood, this was a farm utility truck in it's previous life and the hood has a bunch of small dents that were scuffed and painted over instead of pulled, so the hood's pretty bumpy looking and down the road it will get replaced and painted.

Joker Truck sanded using the Mirka Abralon System

[Mike Phillips]

Awesome Mike! Are you going to paint the top the same color as the truck? Ever gonna run it topless?

The top was restored and then painted using a Marine paint, forget the paint system but it's actually the nicest removable hardtop I've owned out of the 4 full convertible Blazers I've owned in the past, so there are no plans to re-paint it.  There are plans to remove the top in the upcoming days, thought about taking it off on Wednesday in fact but want to make sure most of the rainy season is behind us first out here in the SoCal desert.

I have a rear roll bar and I'm looking for a front roll bar and after I get these installed I'm going to have a custom Bikini Top that goes from the windshield to the back of the rear roll bar.  This will keep the sun from beating down on the tops of our heads while preserving the fun convertible feature of the truck.  We live in Apple Valley, California and the sun is pretty bright out here most of the year and while we love convertibles we don't want skin cancer and my little boy likes to ride around with dad so I have the health of others to be responsible for too.

But yes, the top is coming off very soon!

[Toolmaster]

Very nice looking Jimmy !!! I like it !!!!

[JJSZABO]

Man that is sweet!!

[red4wd]

Good looking clean truck

[Captkaos]

AWESOME Mike, Glad to see you are enjoying it.

[Mike Phillips]

AWESOME Mike, Glad to see you are enjoying it.

It is so much fun to drive, of course "fun" is a relative word, this thing has a pretty stiff suspension and it rides pretty rough but I don't mind at all.  It seems to have a ton of power for a small block that supposed to be a stock rebuild, it does have Doug Thorley Headers and Flowmasters mufflers, it's kind of on the loud side but sounds real healthy.  The transmission seems to be shifting perfectly and throttle response is crisp.

Now I have to put the interior back together and spruce it up as it's all apart and kind of messy but we have Wednesday off this week and by Wednesday night it should be mostly re-assembled.

One thing for sure, my 9-year old son LOVES riding around in the Taz Truck.  This is my son in this Batman costume in the back of our 1959 Cadillac which by the way has a 462 Big Block Chevy in it.

[bfofish]

That is sweet      I'M JEALOUS OF THE FULL CONVERTABLE

[JRConnieK10]

Very nice looking blazer. Enjoy.

[75 C20]

awesome looking blazer  you got there. i love the stance it has.