1989 Blazer

[gophergunner]

So I finally got my old Blazer up and running, and here are a few pics to show everyone.

Its a 1989, 6.2 (now turbocharged), 700R4, NP241 and fully loaded. When I picked it up, the tranny was shot so the first thing I did was get that rebuilt. Then I swapped the axles with those from my 1979 3/4 ton chevy pickup. The rest is pretty basic and it looks like a beater because my goal was to have an off-road vehicle. So I had it lifted 6" and put on some 35x10.5xR16 tires.

This is the "before" vehicle.



And this is the "after" vehicle, out in the mountains for a weekend trip.






And of course i had a little mishap on the way home with this thing...





I didn't get hurt in this incident, but its gonna require more time and money now to be able to keep driving this thing. Luckily all the drivetrain is working fine and undamaged.

[gophergunner]

one more thing i should add here......for anyone else's future reference too i guess.

i happened to find a set of front seats from a 2004 sierra. they fit into the blazer almost as if they belong there. i had to abandon the old seat holes and drill my own, but that was not a problem and they sure do make for a nicer riding vehicle.

[arveetek]

Whoa!

What happened? Did you roll it?

Casey

[gophergunner]

yeah......it got rolled over. i think 2 or 3 times. but it was still running when it landed, and the next day it started and i was driving it around.

i have a 1979 chevy pickup with a fairly good body on it yet, so i might just steal the cab and front and put it all on this blazer frame. that is if it will all fit properly.

but i must say, it sure is nice to drive a diesel off-road. for low speed stuff it has no shortage of power and its heavy enough that it gets great traction.

[a5150nut]

Yup, just crawl over what you would have to blast over with a 350! Don't have to bounce your brains out.

Welcome to TDP!!!!

[80Sierra]

If you need some front sheet metal for her, I've got a complete 88 crewcab front clip here you can have for free. I had a hood, but I had a tree fall on this fall, doh! Its a single headlight clip, looks just like the 84 - 87 trucks.

Please tell me you braced the crap out of the under-side of your floor when you installed those seats... Just drilling holes and putting even big washers on the bottom isn't sufficient to keep the seat from ripping through the floor in the case of a serious high speed collision. You really should have a 4" wide piece of 5/16 plate steel that runs from the front of the track to the rear on both sides of the sheet metal to make it strong enough to be able to run the integrated seat belts.


Unfortunately, I don't have any spare K5 bodies kicking around anymore... I've cleaned up most of the wrecking yard that was my backyard, lol

[gophergunner]

well i have the whole truck body of a 1979 chev pickup, so i don't be needing any parts if i just steel the cab and front end to transplant on the blazer.

and the seats........yeah i just did the hole/washer trick. not too late to add some steel plates though.....not a bad idea really.

but i do very much enjoy that diesel engine. sadly, with my gearing and tires its not too great on mileage for highway driving. but it still makes me want one for my 1970 pickup

[80Sierra]

What are you running for gears?

I'm planning on running mine with the 35s, 4.10s and the NV4500, should put my rpms under 2000 at 100km/h for fairly good mileage

[gophergunner]

i got 4.10 gears and 35" tires.

luckily, i think this blazer had 3.73 gears before, but whatever it was my speedometer just so happens to be accurate, or if not absolutely accurate its extremely close.

with the gears and tires it has, it runs nice on the highway, just struggles on hills and doesn't have a real high top speed. i have a tach but its not calibrated so i'm not sure what it revs at when i'm on the highway.

[80Sierra]

I'm working on building a signal conditioner to make use of the ESS sensor on some of the newer vacuum pumps for a factory gasser style tach. I understand that there is an article that outlines it if you pay up for membership (which I probably eventually will), but being an instrumentation guy in training, I just have to figure it out for myself, particularly with having all the development equipment at school to use

[6.5 Detroit Diesel]

What are you running for gears?

I'm planning on running mine with the 35s, 4.10s and the NV4500, should put my rpms under 2000 at 100km/h for fairly good mileage

I am running the 36's, 4.10's, and the NV4500.
90KMH is reading at just a hair over 1700 rpm, but then you have to take into consideration that your actual speed is well over 100 kmhs with that tire combination. What type tire are you running?

[80Sierra]

I'll be running a set of Uniroyals. They look just like a regular half ton tire, cept they are much bigger. My truck is not an off-roading toy, more of a weekend warrior, lol