Project: R3DN3CK Blazer

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Whelp, I am thinking the weather might start to cooperate here before too long so I can get a better start on my Blazer. I have every intention on finishing this, sold every other project EXCEPT this one just to keep it on track and my main focus. The thread title is just because I know it's coming, figured I'd jump on it first. ;-) Little back story:

My step-father purchased this brand new off the showroom floor back in '94/95. I've been borrowing it a lot since '04~ and have always done any/all work on it as well as beat this piss out of the poor thing. Went through a few rear axles, almost died in it a couple times (very literally/seriously) filled the engine with water twice (removed spark plugs, turned over to quirt water out, replaced plugs, drove away) and have a LOT of memories in this thing! I've hauled boats, campers, loaded car trailers, entirely more than it should have been able to. I pulled a car trailer with a Bravada on it to Michigan, dropped the Bravada, loaded a '73 Mach One and pulled it back. Pulled tree stumps, downed trees, done tug of wars with fullsizze trucks, had it completely airborn on numerous occasions, etc...

He gave it to my mom a few years ago, then she was going to trade it in a couple years ago, I matched the offer and bought it. It is SOLID, no rust at all, in fantastic shape for something pushing 300K miles. I've done little things to it here and there such as de-badging, tinted lights, blacked out front end, stereo, remote start, etc... I recently managed to throw a rod, crazy how much I abused it and it just went while cruising down the interstate at 65mph. So, now it is time for a complete overhaul! This vehicle will never leave me, it may sit alone for years but I can honestly say I have an extremely unhealthy emotion/sentimental attachment to this ole girl. This is going to be a few phase build as follows...


Phase 1: (to be finished in a couple/few months hopefully) Dana 44 front, Dana 60 rear, already have 4.10 gears, leaving them, not ideal but good enough, lockers, 37" tires, winch, moving the factory 52" rear springs up front and throwing 63" springs in the rear. LM7 swap, stock trans/t-case (see how long they last) Getting a snorkel and exhaust out the hood along with a ton of waterproofing. LM7 was never part of the plan but I can get one with a harness and computer for a couple hundred cheaper than a replacement 4.3L anyways. and since it is getting custom intake and exhaust, it's really not adding any more work and gaining 100hp+ easily. as well as getting rid of the shitty TBI the '95's came with.


Phase 2: (to be completed when I have a real garage/shop again) 2.5Ton rockwell axles, dual triangulated 4-link out back, 3-link/trackbar front, 16.00/R20 tires (53"), boost the LM7, 2WD 4L80E and divorced NP205 transfer case.

Some random pics I have from over the years, I can't seem to find a bunch of pics I know exist somewhere.

Green castle when it was flooded. not too deep, just barely up to the doors
http://s28.postimg.org/il8t9zwzx/184518_4147523666108_1809433725_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
http://s28.postimg.org/badaxvglp/971375_4147523986116_563655264_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

If you look close, you can see a fish wedged against the firewall. This was the day I filled the engine with water the second time down at the roller dam. I drove across the river, got cocky and tried to do it again taking a different line, found a deep spot. LOL
http://s28.postimg.org/n8evbrkct/555265_4427123135920_2125988671_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

just the flat grille/gloss emblem paint job I did out of boredom
http://s28.postimg.org/kflnrqk0d/563531_3774960432260_847417791_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

buddy liked it so I did his HHR too, left the chrome trim ring and used Plastidip instead of flat paint like on the Blazer.
http://s16.postimg.org/fxa1lh6l1/574699_3774960992274_28430220_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)


off-raod buddy of mine. HaHa
http://s28.postimg.org/ln46xozil/972048_4426665764486_1325849963_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
http://s28.postimg.org/ihjl7hgwd/993360_4426666004492_214987903_n.jpg (http://postimage.org/)



ANYWAYS, I'll try to get some actual project pics up before too long. I have my son this weekend so no work getting done on it but hopefully next week I'll have some decent pics to show.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

The axles, nothing special but I got them for $100 so... standard D44 front and D60 rear, 4.10 gears and hydro-assist (which I will be using via a drilled/tapped Astro steering box. These are used as they are the same as the Blazer but the pitman arm drops forward rather than rearward which is needed.) Getting Ausi lockers and high steer/crossover steering and the rear is getting a disc brake conversion. I will be using the factory 16.5x9.75 steel wheels with the 37" tires. Forgot to mention I will also be ditching the carpet and bed lining the floor/bottom portion of the interior as well as the body line/down of the exterior.http://s27.postimg.org/fjuzjcoj7/axles.jpg (http://postimage.org/)


The main reason I haven't got too much of a start yet is because I only have a 2-stall garage right now and my Cadillac is parked for the winter. Wasn't about to do any real work with that thing only a few feet away. Plus I had to replace a stolen welder and an air compressor I sold along with TONS of other stuff I got rid of during my separation a couple years back. Finally getting around to being interested in cars again. Been doing a lot of work for/with other people but not much of my own stuff.

[JustinS]

Why d44 front d60 rear? Sounds like a fun build regardless.

Bout time this place gets some off-road action.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Because a D60 front sells for $1k~ and you can get a pair of 2.5T rockwells for that much. So, Phase 1 is a budget build and I found a crazy deal on those axles, both for $100, couldn't turn that down. I'm not ready for rockwells yet so, starting with the D44/D60 combo first.

[JustinS]

Good choice. Cant beat that price.

[Drifte]

Looks like a fun project.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Got a lot done today but not much of it was on this. LOL

I did start to get the front axle stripped, got rid of 90% of the rust with an air chisel and 4" grinder/wire wheel and ordered the parts for the rear axle disc brake conversion. I got side tracked a lot, ended up spraying the grille on the Riverado semi-gloss black, then found some "Nightshades" I had left over from the Blazer and decided to do the headlights too. Then I decided I was going insane without music so I took some time to get my stereo hooked up out in the garage. Then I busted out the leaf blower to clear the driveway and sidewalks of sand/salt/pebbles, etc... and lastly decided to rake up a ton of pine needles and pick up sticks/trash out of the yard. I don't smoke but there were literally hundreds of cigarette butts all over my front yard, perk of living on a busy street I guess. -_-

here are the only two pics I managed to get. This is the main reason I don't do build threads, I never remember to get pictures. Rather, I hate stopping so I just don't get any. I am stripping on the trailer because me and my buddy almost frikkin died loading them on the trailer. With the steering stuff intact and the 16.5x10 steel wheels and all of the rust, I bet it easily weighed 500#. Trying to get them stripped down as much as possible before we unload 'em! LOL

http://s4.postimg.org/mxklth1v1/axle_started.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

engine bay is a disaster right now! I'll be getting as much out of it as possible including the A/C junk, ABS, unneeded wiring, etc... If you're wondering about the speaker wire, it is just so that I can have temporary power to the vehicle when I hook the battery up. Just to roll down the windows, test the lights, etc...
http://s29.postimg.org/rgt1n3e6v/engine_bay_mess.jpg (http://postimage.org/)



I will be getting new ujoints installed, new hubs, rotors, calipers, etc... rear is getting the disc conversion so it will obviously all be new as well. Got a lead on some axles from an F-450 SuperDuty and am very tempted but I think I'll stick with these for now as I plan to upgrade to rockwells in the future anyways.

[Drifte]

Should start a thread "post your garage stereos" hahaha, some people go all out. I'd like to some day.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Mines nothing great. Older 7:1 Magnavox, pair of 12/6/3 towers and a pair of 8/6/3 towers. Plenty loud, doesnt sound too bad, built them with cheaper Dayton Audio speakers from Parts Express. Receiver volume is like -30 up to 30, don't think I've gotten past -10 or so. LoL was my home gym setup, moved it to the garage for the spring/summer/fall since I can get back outside to work out now.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Not much to update, been out of state for work, putting in 12-14 hour days so the couple days I have off now, I don't feel like diggin in too deep here. I did manage to get the rear axle out. It was a fairly simple task other than EVERYTHING being completely seized. Even with a 3ft breaker bar, nothing would budge so we cut it out instead, took all of about 10 minutes once we decided to bust out the blades.

http://s27.postimg.org/dy8yhmjoj/mfqbtag9.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

http://s1.postimg.org/lcioboe9r/f2hbjmq3.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

probably won't keep doin these little/meaningless updates, LOL... Haven't gotten much work done yet, I have friday off, hoping I can get at it a little bit this weekend! The person I let move in to watch over the house while I work out of state decided to run off and cost me a bunch of money so I spent the week filing reports, getting his junk out of my house and other BS. I did "make" up some paint for my axles and shit. I had a bunch of random left over paints, metallic silver, black onyx, dark red metallic, etc, just decided to mix it all together and ended up with an "interesting" color. prematurely painted the rear axle as I wanted to see what it looks like. Just have to weld the spring perches on so it's not a big deal, grinder and a little touch-up afterwords.

pic taken in my garage, metallic looks crazy in the sun as there's some really fine flake and some more coarse flake. Not that it matters as they'll be under the vehicle.
http://s29.postimg.org/6q1bu1xon/jpkfz8bb.png

(http://postimage.org/)I spend a good chunk of time researching. I'll be making a trip to the junkyard to get some leaf spring packs here shortly. Hoping to have the axles under it and have it "rolling" toward the end of this month as long as I have a bit of time to work on it. In all honesty, once I have the leafs together and 220v done for my welder, it should only take a weekend to get it rolling.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Obviously, I got side tracked for a while, finally back at it though. Got the front end all yanked out is all so far. http://s24.postimg.org/wiycd725h/IMAG0245.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/cocar2mxt/full/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Oh, I ditched the D44 front too and ended up grabbing a D60 instead. Figured 300hp+ and 37"s would kill that 44 pretty quick so, no point in wasting time/money on it. I've got some steel cut up and waiting for me to make the front spring hanger mounts and everything though.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Little more work done, been getting off work around 5-6 (instead of 3:30 like usual) so I usually only spend a couple hours in the garage a night. Got the gas tank pulled out (going to run a fuel cell where the spare use to mount up under the back), the stubs for the front leaf springs cut/welded up, cross bar for the front cut but I ran out of wire before I could weld it. Spent a solid hour fighting the damn rear leaf springs as the bolts are seized into the bushing. I'm pretty stoked otherwise though! This thing is coming apart VERY nicely!! Being 20 years old, I was expecting a lot of torching and breaker bars but, not yet...

I'm horrible at pictures because, well, I'm working on the damn thing! LoL front stubs got a full perimeter weld as well as four dime size plug welds on the bottom and a half dollar sized plug on each side. Factory holes in the frame rails up there, figured I might as well use them. Picture was just tacked and top bead, got triple passes all around after. Probably not 100% necessary but, too much is better than not enough. ^_^
http://s4.postimg.org/7zwdjpfp9/IMAG0274.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/w3n57zy61/full/)http://s27.postimg.org/k1kc9yabn/IMAG0273.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4g30pzydb/full/)http://s30.postimg.org/ngz1mssvl/IMAG0275.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/brv1yu1wt/full/)

[Drifte]

Looks like a fun project

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Got the spring mount pretty much done. Gotta drill the holes still, obviously and throw some gussets on for good measure...

http://s18.postimg.org/wdds5108p/IMAG0290.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/c60ccq2r9/full/)

http://s18.postimg.org/ikzd9e9h5/IMAG0295.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/4rb0kcgvp/full/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Got the rear end tore apart and ready for the disc brake conversion when the parts show up. I'm guessing those brakes prooooooobably weren't any good. HaHa
http://s27.postimg.org/i3sc2iyw3/IMAG0292.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/5p5k277dr/full/)

http://s27.postimg.org/72sljrh9f/IMAG0293.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/xb3q951cv/full/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

front bumper trimmed to fit and just sitting in place. Planning to keep it as "stock" as possible body wise. Will be adding ZR2 fender flares.
http://s30.postimg.org/iwrchz135/10411883_10201736059362935_3175333968739301751_n.j pg (http://postimage.org/)

[AutoMods]

1857

with those red magnetic squares, i discovered my tig welder does not like welding close to magnetic fields. as long as your an inch or two away its fine. probably applies to most tig welders

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Yeah, I found that out pretty quick myself! HaHa. Just put em on, tack em up good, remove them and then run beads.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Not a lot too update really. Got a lot of parts but no time to get them on yet. I've been flipping a bunch of cars lately so most of my attention has been on those. I got 3 of the four sold and decided I'm going to keep this last one for a winter beater. I did get the brackets and crap cut off the front axle, going to clean that up this weekend and get ready to fit it next weekend hopefully. Got the engine nay cleaned up and the remaining stock stuff removed (engine, front diff, IFS brackets, etc...). I have all the parts to make my shackle buckets and hangers, bushings, gussets and a few other odds and ends. Hopefully I'll have something decent to update next week. Just so this wasn't a complete waste of a post, the axle/bracket aftermath. Not bad IMO considering I haven't used a torch for at LEAST 10+ years.
http://s17.postimg.org/nfrych4cv/IMAG0341.jpg (http://postimage.org/)
http://s3.postimg.org/dzm9jmpyb/IMAG0340.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Not a lot of picture worthy progress but I did finish the front leaf spring hanger. Did some other crap too bubujust clean up and grinding and prep work...
http://s27.postimg.org/9cavt42v7/IMAG0349.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

http://s27.postimg.org/qe3pv7hqb/IMAG0353.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Guess it's been a while... I got the disc break setup on the rear end, got the 64" leads mounted out back and the stickers moved up front. I moved so I need to get this in a "roller" as fast as I can so I can move it to the new place. I got the rear axle mounted up temporarily, spring under axle style to clear the garage, gotta run it out on bare rims so it'll make it out the door. Getting the front axle mounted (again, temporarily) this week and hopefully bringing it to the house next week/weekend.

I'll try to get some pics and stuff when I move it.

[AutoMods]

you move a lot!

how tall is your garage door?

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Yeah, it's getting old! HaHa. I'm out of town (Vinton/Urbana area) now, small acreage (little over 10acres is mine, sitting in the middle of thousands of acres of corn/beans though) out in the country, where I belong. Got my horses again, goats, ducks, chickens, pigs, etc... Living in the city sucked so I moved at least once or twice a year. This last time, I moved to help my sister. She's getting divorced and neither of them could afford the house alone so I basically rented it from them until they got shit figured out so it didn't get foreclosed. I bailed on the lease I was under (and paid for it...:-/) and moved into her place for 4 months.

Anyways, my place now has 12ft ceiling and a 9ft+ door. My sister's (where it is still sitting) had 7ft ceiling and a 6ft door. Even with the axles on top of the springs and on bare 16" steel wheels, it's gonna be a tight squeeze out that door. HaHa

12ft ceiling is nice, garage has a nice big apartment built up stairs or it would have 20ft+ ceilings. Going to try to rent the apartment out this spring but being above my garage, might be a little difficult. It's insulated really well so sound isn't too horrible. I can run the WS6 with open headers in the garage and you can feel it upstairs more than you can hear it.

[JustinS]

Leafs? Really?

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Yeah... No point in a link suspension for what I'm going to do with it. 64"s in the rear and 56" in the front, it'll flex far more than I'll ever need it to. ;-)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

I suck at pictures, when i get going, I never remember to stop for pics. LoL. I made a couple changes, I went with 64" springs in the rear and 56" springs in the front. I moved the front axle forward about 6" and the rear got moved back about 8". Centered, I barely got any flex before hitting the body, with the 29" roller tires. So, no way the 37"s would have worked like that. Obviously, I can't cut those areas on the body so moving the axles and cutting bumpers was my only choice, unless I wanted to lift it another 2ft.

Still PLENTY to do but it's on it's own weight and everything so I figured I would snag pics. I set up my shackle angle for mostly down travel. The front axle is a bit wider than the rear, I just plan to remedy that with different backspacing on the wheels. They be 16.5x12, 5" backspace on the front, 2.5" on the rear. Still have a lot of frame plating/boxing to do as well as cleaning up the spots where I cut off brackets and plugging a few holes.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

I'm horrible at build threads... Just a picture for now, more work and pics underway soon.
http://s13.postimg.org/w57mqreqv/IMAG0632.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

[85XR7Project]

Looks good man. Really neat build

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Well, I ordered some wrong parts soooooo, waiting on exchanges. LoL. I got bored and wondered if the paint would shine up at all. I was not disappointed, that's about 3-5 minutes work on that door is all.
http://s9.postimg.org/9zhvlan4f/IMAG0673.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

http://s28.postimg.org/70i54a03x/IMAG0674.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

http://s14.postimg.org/hm2vvcesx/IMAG0677.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

[sLoWnStEaDy]

I really do work on it, I swear. HaHa. Gonna have to get me a photographer to go out to the garage with me. LoL


http://s8.postimg.org/qm983rkxh/IMG_20150328_181014.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

[AutoMods]

made a big difference on those firebird scratches.

blazer is looking good.

[derek072887]

Looks like you might have some clearance issues with the rear quarter, plan to open up the wheel well or?

[sLoWnStEaDy]

The angle of the Blazer and the angle of the picture is a bit misleading, there's a good 6" clearance back there. Which isn't A TON but should be enough. My suspension is VERY biased toward down travel. I'd say my up/down travel ratio is in the 15/85 range. I'll only have in the area of 4" +/- up travel. this build was planned for a good couple years before I started so I did a lot of looking around and reading on different suspension setups, up/down travel, shackle angles, etc... it won't be an insane rock climbing rig or anything so the 4-link didn't make sense cost/performance wise to me. with the right leaf setup, I've seen crazy amounts of flex with the right shackle angles and travel bias, so I went that route.

I got some stuff ordered so the engine should be in within the next couple weeks. Then the boring stuff, wiring, brake lines, rock sliders, rock lights, stereo, etc. I'll be getting more pictures from now on.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Ya got me curious so I had to check... LoL. I've got 8.5" of clearance and about 5.5" up travel before I'm on the bump stops.

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Got the engine, trans and t-case all put in. Wasn't fun doing that as an assembly with my little 1-ton engine lift. Actually had to take the front wheels/tires off and set the pumpkin on a 4x4 just to get it low enough for that midget hoist. LoL. Also got the Astro steering box put on. Pitman arm is forward on it, unlike the original Blazer one. I may need to move some accessories around but not sure quite yet.

Going to start with the wiring here shortly as well as the fuel system. Hoping to get some goodies this weekend at the swap meet!!

http://s2.postimg.org/uaao7qi2x/IMAG0738.jpg (http://postimg.org/image/41zjicxz9/full/)