6.5L Turbo Diesel Blazer Project
https://www.thedieselpage.com/images...zer-65-500.jpg
This is the way the Blazer's 6.5 looked this morning, after spending yesterday installing new cam bearings and setting the crankshaft into the block. :) The engine shop that did the machining already installed new cam bearings, but they weren't installed with the oil holes clocked correctly. So, they had to come out and another new set installed. Since this photo was taken, all of the pistons/rods have been installed along with the 16 roller lifters and oil pump. I also looked through the various and sundry boxes of parts. Haven't found them all yet, but it's early! I wasn't the one who disassembled the Blazer, so my foggy memory and the GM service manuals will have to suffice with the re-assembly process.
Onward and upward... My daughter helped me a few of the weekends during the two Duramax head gasket jobs. After a couple of weekends, she looked over at the 1994 Blazer, and asked what I was going to do with it. Long story short, it's now hers, and we'll work together to make it go. She's a trooper, likes learning and enjoys spending time with her dad. Plus, she'll have a rig to haul a kayak and do some light camping with her friends.
Jim
6.5L Turbo Diesel Blazer Project
Well, it begins.
I've had this Blazer for some 11 years now, and it seems like there were always higher priority projects that prevented me from working on it. Then there were the obstacles, the hurdles - the complications that got in the way of moving forward. Things like a damaged crankshaft that required replacement (finally bought a used crankshaft from a local engine shop for $300 in 2017)... The original cylinder heads were not rebuildable, and replacements were hard to come by... unless I wanted Chinese heads or way too expensive GEP replacements. I finally bought a set of rebuildable GM heads a few years ago from a guy in MN for $350 (they are right now at an engine shop being rebuilt). When I got it back, the Blazer was rolling on oddball tires/wheels that just wouldn't work, so they were removed/replaced with the OE tires/wheels from Lil Red. I wish the Blazer had come with its original set of factory wheels... Then there were the hard water deposits all over the exterior of the Blazer. Before I acquired it, the Blazer apparently sat unused for quite some time right next to a sprinkler system that pulled water through what must have been a limestone deposit of epic proportions...
https://www.thedieselpage.com/images...er-2021-01.jpg
After several days of working on the hard water deposits, the above is the result... There really was a Blazer under all that crap. We tried every product and chemical known to Youtube, and discovered that Youtube has not yet found a way to remove 10 year old hard water deposits/stains from auto glass or any other part of a vehicle. I was at a point of considering glass replacement. Unless you have already experienced it, removing fossilized water spots (more akin to the buildup around Old Faithful - a little hyperbole) from auto glass is near impossible. Getting the paint and chrome clean is far easier by comparison, but it's still an ordeal.
We tried ZEP, CLR, Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner (that works wonders on tub/shower hard water deposits), vinegar, and carefully tried other products that contain phosphoric acid (NAPA's Aluminum Brightener & A Must for Rust). None of them would touch the hard water stains/deposits on the glass - none. The Lysol TB cleaner worked best (though not quick) on the paint, but we couldn't use it on the chrome (it'll turn dark). We tried steel wool on the glass, and we tried auto rubbing compound with a power buffer. Wouldn't touch the stuff on glass, and would only polish the water spots on paint/chrome.
What worked, and did a great job was not found on Youtube... It was a desperate attempt to find something, some combination that would save us from the pit... The saving grace came in the form of a combination - Steel wool and 3M Auto Advanced Rubbing Compound, used together by hand, cut the hard water staining/deposits on the glass and chrome where nothing else would. It actually became... well, maybe not easy, but not all that hard either. The glass is now almost perfect. Looks almost new, in fact.
https://www.thedieselpage.com/images/Blazer/3M.jpg
Jim