When we arrived at Oceano Dunes in Pismo Beach, California, we were half expecting to see another flashy paint job on a street pounder that gets babied all the time. Were we in for a surprise! We should have known that when we saw the nitrous bottle mounted in back. Josh Morris spent hours with us out in the Dunes proving that his truck had what it takes to be a duner. Josh and his father Tom started on their '80 K5 Blazer just two years ago with the intent to make Josh's dream driver. The Morrises live in San Luis Obispo, only 12 miles from Oceano Dunes, so naturally the intent was to build a truck that would not only handle trails but also big hucks by having lots of available power and lots of reinforcements.
They found their Blazer in the clutches of an old hippie who let his dog reside in the back. The old K5 had seen better days, and when they pulled the rear carpet they found that the dog whiz had left the K5 in less than desirable condition, as rust chips were about the only thing still holding the floor in place. Josh and Tom went to work cutting and welding, masking and painting until they turned the old K5 into something they could be proud of.
The Morrises laid their own paint in a farmer's barn near their house, and Mom even lent a hand by sewing a custom Zebra headliner for the swingin' Blazer. The rest of the interior was treated to a black makeover with a diamond-plate revamp on the rear side panels, lower door panels, and around the transmission hump to offer protection from feet and miscellaneous objects while flying through the air. A sub enclosure holds two 10-inch subwoofers in the back, and then there's the 10-pound bottle of nitrous....
A tried-and-true 6-inch Superlift suspension was bolted on to absorb the hard impacts, while a 3-inch body lift makes sure that those 38-inch Swampers don't touch that clean body. To handle the steering duties, Josh welded in a steering brace for the box and added dual steering stabilizers to absorb some of the stress of the big Swampers. | 
The Dana 44 front axle has been loaded with 4.56 gears and heavily trussed to keep it as straight as possible, while the 12-bolt rear has matched gears encircling an Auburn limited-slip unit. By not having full lockers at either end, Josh can get away with such a big tire on 1/2-ton axles without serious fear of breaking anything. | 
The Blazer gets its push from a mildly built 350ci wearing an ensemble of Edelbrock headers, intake manifold, and air filter over a Rochester carb. When it needs the extra ponies, nitrous on demand is ready and waiting. All that power is directed through a bombproof 700R4 tranny with a nine-clutch assembly and lockup torque converter built by Bow Tie Overdrive. |