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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 9, 2020 0:42:48 GMT -5
i had this blazer as a beater for about 50-60k miles but it finally died on me about a year and a half ago not bad for 900 bux.
parked it and got a truck i got for a steal on the road. couple months later the frame broke and i welded it to hopefully get through the winter. well it made it to almost march and i said yep its getting ready to break again and took it off the road. i didnt want to risk it coming apart and hurting someone else. lined things up to borrow a car for about a month and went to work. i was going to fix my blazer and do the v8 swap ive been getting pieces for slowly. i had a 72 block 350 that was one of the last hot motors from back in the day. basically rated for 350hp with a fresh rebuild. mild built 700r4 trans with a small stall converter. long tube headers a cast gm performance intake for q jet and an aluminum corvette intake for qjet.
but i had this 1996 chevy truck with the vortec 5.7 and those were the heads i really wanted anyways. they make stupid torque and are the strongest stock small block heads aside from lt1 heads and those have their own set of issues to use them. and i got to thinking man why tear apart 2 good motors to have 1 to use? why do i really need a built hot 350 with sick heads thats gonna end up cranking out 500hp in a 2600lb vehicle. im gonna twist the frame. so i decided to freshen up the vortec 5.7 instead and leave the hot motor for something else. the vortec stock is rated at 255hp with a factory detune. it comes as 330hp and 350hp in other vehicles and the motor is identical its just the tune. but it makes torque 330 ft lbs at low rpm. the higher power tunes were 350 ft lbs both at 2800 rpms. it made torque off idle. now i decided if im gonna rebuild this one im gonna add a cam so im not always wanting one. i went with a lunati roller cam as the 1996 block is a roller motor. but i went with a torque cam designed to really wake the vortec motors up but idle good and have good vacuum but improve torque with some top end pull too. i replaced all the bearings discovered the block was actually a reman from 2010 so had pretty low miles on it and the cylinder bores were brand new so i didnt mess with those. cleaned out the no sludge that was in it you can see the metal in the lifter valley starting to surface rust after the cleaning because it was that clean inside.
replaced timing chain and cam gear and sprocket as it was deff needed resealed everything new oil pan oil filter relocation kit now as the long tube headers have to be removed to get the oil filter off and on. it has electric fans that almost never come on because she runs cool. the motor is set very low in the vehicle and the motor is far forward because i have nothing between radiator and the belt. distributor is right there and cake to get to everything is accessible and thought out. everything works except the ac but everything is there for it i just need to mount condenser and get hoses made if the ones i have cant be made to work. all gauges work speedo is accurate. i have odb2 port to read codes if i ever get one. cats o2 sensors and mine is rated for california emissions so its technically 50 state legal swap. engine is 2 years newer than vehicle technically but it was actually from 2010 so even newer. better emissions and gas mileage and can pass smog test.
i smoked the 700r4 trans within a month it couldnt hold the torque. so i converted my 4l60e from the truck from 4wd to 2wd and stuck it in behind the motor and now i have mild 4l60e with stock rpm stall converter so i dont lose out on my torque. the cam i have is a step up from the lt4 hot cam from gm performance parts that will support 385hp for my motor. it hasnt been dynoed or tuned yet sadly due to quarantine but i dont need the extra power. im easily making 330-350hp and 400-450 ft lbs of torque. when i get a proper exhaust and h pipe to improve torque it will be 450+ft lbs of torque. i got a set of 3/4 ton springs for it and it still makes those squat hard and the front end is at the limit of suspension on a hard launch when it hits the next gear it picks up more. 0-60 is in the 4-5 second range with this transmission and sticky tires. it does not spin and it has infinite passing power. all while getting 25-35 mpg avg highway at 70 is 25 and 55 mph roads its 35. torque converter will lock at 35mph and doesnt need to unlock for hills. i havent found a hill that will make it unlock.
the videos at night from the passenger seat on first drive are with old trans. the ones in the day are with new trans and 3/4 ton springs but my friend wouldnt floor it like i told him to.
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Post by oldgeek on Oct 9, 2020 5:20:17 GMT -5
Nice work! I really liked those 1st gen Blazers, I had two of them years ago. They were parked in my yard with no plates and the city came and took them from me.  I wish I still had them. You dont see many of them around anymore, but I did see a blazer the other day someone had done a swap on, you can always tell cause the front suspension was still stock and a bit under sprung. |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 9, 2020 23:07:11 GMT -5
yeah sadly they are starting to get scarce but that makes them that much more special when you get to see one.this one made it 300k miles before it needed a good ole transplant. ive got quite a few people try to buy it from me just about every time i take it somewhere someones trying to make me an offer. surprisingly the offers have been high like in the 8-10k range and its made it really hard to not sell but if i ever need some quick money i know where to find it at.
it sucks they came and took yours. one of my friends had 2 cars taken by the city without a warning or anything they just showed up told him they didnt run and took them.
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Post by Steve B on Oct 10, 2020 11:04:48 GMT -5
 Will always hold a place in my heart. |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 10, 2020 11:12:39 GMT -5
ive always liked those tahoes but they are even harder to get your hands on. and if you do find one its either 10 grand or rusted out.
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Post by Steve B on Oct 10, 2020 11:21:33 GMT -5
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Post by Steve B on Oct 10, 2020 11:24:24 GMT -5
ive always liked those tahoes but they are even harder to get your hands on. and if you do find one its either 10 grand or rusted out. This was the last year of the K5 Blazer before being rebadged to tahoe. |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 15, 2020 0:08:14 GMT -5
thats new to me but makes sense. when i took the link to it it was tbi and the tahoes i was thinking of had the vortec 5.7 in them. still clean and a nice body though and apparently was around the corner from me.
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 16, 2020 23:14:50 GMT -5
got some more love for the thing this week from the ppl i work with. a few ppl from other shifts have been seeing it in the parking lot and asking around till they made their way to me and asked me for a ride lol. they cant seem to get enough of the thing but everyone keeps crying about the dent in the driver side. i just remind them its a daily driver it doesnt need to be pretty it needs to work. i dont want a show car im afraid to get dirty or scratched. throw whatever in it and go.
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Post by Steve B on Oct 17, 2020 9:20:21 GMT -5
If you ever need parts Rock Auto is great
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 23, 2020 23:15:41 GMT -5
If you ever need parts Rock Auto is great i appreciate the heads up but ill never buy anything from them. every interaction ive had with them has been negative. and in a few cases the parts they sent to the repair shop i worked at were severely damaged due to a joke for packaging and they wouldnt do anything about it other than say place another order and hope for better luck. most parts i order come from dealer parts store or aftermarket supplier anyways. i like having a warranty and an easy to use warranty say something goes wrong. |
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Post by 90GTVert on Oct 25, 2020 12:35:52 GMT -5
A friend of mine had a white S-10 Blazer very similar to that, but with a 4.3 Vortec. He wanted to do a V8 swap someday. Didn't happen because he rolled it. Wet roads, got wild, hit a ditch, crushed the driver's side roof in to the point that it was hard to believe he made it out. He and his passenger were basically fine, but the truck was totaled. I thought he was going to roll it one day before that, also in the rain. He passed a car and ended up fishtailing when he went to cut back in. Another friend's father had the GMC version, Jimmy, and rolled it over in a ditch right in front of his house. It's a nice truck, so try to keep the tires on the road. lol Here's a local acquaintance's S10 truck if you're looking for some future ideas :  |
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Post by Steve B on Oct 25, 2020 12:52:55 GMT -5
I have heard of people doing that with the engines. I like those chevy s10 because the corvette 350 drops right in,
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Post by chehystpewpur on Oct 30, 2020 0:22:11 GMT -5
i always liked the pro street look on these little guys but not for me sadly. im still 50-50 on a cowl induction hood but i like the flat sleeper hood that i have. and i have heard these things are rolly and top heavy but i lucked out on mine being 2wd and having the heavy duty suspension and sway bar. it now has 3/4 ton rear leafs and is very flat on the road. i will be installing a rear sway bar next year though. itll go around a corner faster than i would ever feel safe going around one in a truck. dont get me wrong ive had alot of cars and driven many more while i was a mechanic. this will go around a corner better than my 97 bmw 540i that i had with the widest tires it would fit. i plan on keeping it for a daily driver for a while so no worries shes gonna stay wheels down unless shes getting jacked up for repairs or on a hoist. quick side note and an action shot. there is a 1/4 mile strip where i work and one of the guys i work with has a 454ss truck with 30k miles. he finally raced me lastnite after work and oh boy was that fun. 2 truck i always wanted to own on the same strip and it would seem i made the better choice.
it shut off before 1/4 mile for anyone thats good at guessing et's from trap speeds. it shuts off at 90 currently and would have easily hit 100-110 at 1/4 mile. you can hear it start pulling timing after it hits 3rd gear then it cuts fuel so i downshifted to make some noise going past the line. we did another run that was for the books leaving the camera man but his fone messed up the video and it wouldnt load but it would have been awesome. cold tires cold road but we both left the line sideways and would of sounded amazing. 804 cubic inches of fun.everyone from work was talking about it on 1st 2nd and 3rd. we had an absolute blast after 2 months of trying to make it happen. but sadly the millions chevy put into r&d making the 454ss were no match for a man and his ss10 |
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Post by chehystpewpur on Jan 9, 2021 1:09:16 GMT -5
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I wish I still had them. You dont see many of them around anymore, but I did see a blazer the other day someone had done a swap on, you can always tell cause the front suspension was still stock and a bit under sprung.
