The 1991 S-10 Blazer now is rolling on the 1998 Corvette wheels and new General tires. They fit perfectly within the wheel wells and look great. The only modification I needed to make was to cut 1/2 inch off the very long spindle threads so that the center caps would fit. The tires cost us $99 more than the original price we paid for the truck!
The 1991 S-10 Blazer is officially blue now! She still needs to be color-sanded and buffed, the fender flares need to be installed and the new tires and rims, but now Zach has his graduation present. Congratulations my son!
Unbelievably, with all the heat we have been having, it was too cold to paint today. With a high of only 70, I needed 5 more degrees in order to prevent my paint from running all over the place. We did get to jamb today, which was nice. The Blazer is all tucked away, prepped and ready to be painted tomorrow as soon as it hits 75 in the garage. I can't wait!
For the past five days, I have been blocking, and sanding, filling, shooting primer, blocking...did I mention sanding? I spent 13+ hours today busting my butt on this truck, and when the new compressor quit on me this morning, I was ready to die. Seems the wiring isn't strong enough for the length of the run, so I had to move the air compressor close to the breaker in order to get it to work. By the time I figured this out, the primer had all set up.... in my primer gun. GREAT! After I cleaned it out, it doesn't work worth a damn anymore, looks like I am looking for a new primer gun. I did get the truck sanded out with Zach's help, and ever painted the bumper and side mirrors. They look great, and I can't wait to jamb the truck tomorrow.
We have been spending the past few days in the ridiculous heat sanding the body on the Blazer. The heat made the filler dry extremely fast, so I only mixed up a very small batch for each section I was working on. If more than a fist-sized puddle of Rage Gold was mixed, it would harden before I could apply it. After all this, I am actually looking forward to going back to my office tomorrow for a break. The Blazer is ready for it's first coat of 2K primer, and then on to block sanding. I know the drivers door and a few areas still need a little work. I'm hoping that it will not take too much to get her looking good. We also picked out the color...but I'll keep that a secret for now.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Here is the tire comparison chart for the 1998 Corvette wheels we have to install on the Blazer. According to this, we should see about a two inch drop just from the difference in the sidewalls.
We took advantage of a few nice hours this afternoon to mock-up the grille on the Blazer. After pulling off the old front bumper with the impact strips, we installed the new smooth front bumper, followed by the new lower valance. We topped it off with the new grille, and the results are posted here. Everything is just hand tight now, as we had to make sure there were no clearance issues or gross misalignments. The only thing to mock up from here are the fender flairs (I hope that is it). We also need to weld up the holes for the S-10 emblem on the fender and the antenna, then it is on to the sanding and body filler. It shouldn't take much, and I hope to get to that by next week.
We've been making progress on the Blazer. The doors were swapped over and the power windows transferred from the old doors to the new ones. I popped the dent out of the drivers door by inserting a deflated football inside the door, and then blowing it up with the compressor...pop, no more dent!
The Blazer is almost ready for prep and then paint! Today Zach and I took off the old mirrors and installed the new sport mirrors, and they look much better. We left the plastic protector on the glass for now, because we are going to paint soon. We also bought a few new parts like a new grille and some new taillights to install after the paint. I can't wait.
Another hot day in the sun resulted in the driver's side quarters being completely patched up. I thought I had taken some before pics, but apparently I forgot to. Oh well, I will just have to show off the after pics. I still need to go and work on the driver's side rocker panel today, that should be fun. I don't have a patch panel for that, just some steel to make a rocker by hand.
The passenger side quarter is done...at least the metal work is done. If you look closely, you can see the butt weld where the patch panels meet the original body. I'll wait until I get the rest of the metal work done on the driver's side before I get to the body filler. A quick skim coat is all it needs to hide the line and scratches from the grinder.
It cost me 7 lbs in sweat today, as it must have been about 90 degrees in the shade. Tomorrow I will start on the other side, then on to the roof to fill the luggage rack holes. I keep forgetting to swap out the passenger door too... gotta put that on the list.
Today I decided to remove the rear bumper on the '91 S-10 Blazer, and install a roll pan. Removing the bumper was as easy as disconnecting the license plate light, and unbolting the 8 bumper bolts from the frame with the 18mm wrench and socket. Seems like everything on this truck is 18mm.
Once the bumper was gone, the rear frame needed to be cut back a few inches as not to interfere with the roll pan. A quick appointment with the sawzaw was all it took to chop the frame and then I prepped up and tacked the roll pan in. You can see there are (were) a few holes in the tailgate from the spare tire carrier, which is long gone. The holes were welded up and primed over with a bit of epoxy primer.
After the rear metal work was done, I moved on over to the passengers rear quarter panel. Zach came and helped a bit, and of course I almost set myself on fire with the welder. Tomorrow I will hopefully tackle the front of that quarter, and if the rocker needs anything I'll make up a patch for that too.
Another score! We went to the good old Craigslist once again, and came up with two rust-free S-10 Blazer doors to replace our VERY rusty ones. The bottoms of our old doors are completely gone. The seller only wanted $50 each for these, and other than a dent in one door and the fact we have to swap our power windows from the old doors to the new ones, it was a bargain. Funny how the flat black primer matches the car perfectly too! Zach and I swapped out the driver's door a few days ago, and will get to the passenger's side soon. I almost forgot, we also had to drill a large hole in the door for the power window wiring to reach the motor, but that wasn't so bad. We also tuned up the motor a bit with a new fuel filter, EGR valve, coolant temperature sensors (there are two on this truck, one for the gauge and one for the ECM) and a new IAR solenoid to ease the starting. Occasionally we need to tickle the gas a bit to start it, but it might just be a fuel pressure issue. She runs fine otherwise.
It wasn't too difficult to search out the forums, and discover that the 90'2 corvette wheels fit the early first-generation blazer, After a while, we found a set of corvette "wagon wheels" on Craigslist for a decent price, so we picked these up. They are 17x8.5 for the front and 18x9.5 in the rear I think, I'll have to confirm this. Now we need to save up for some tires... 245/45ZR17 for the front and 275/40ZR18 were the stock vette sizes. Maybe we should mock up the wheels first just to make sure they fit. Center caps would be nice too.
The S-10 Blazer is now lowered! We installed the Belltech Stage I Lowering Kit, dropping it down both 3" in the front and rear. The front was a bit difficult to get the torsion bars loose from the lower A-arms....actually we never did get them loose. We beat the hell out of the bars trying to get them to slide forward, but eventually loosened the rear cross member and slid that back to release the keys.
The new keys were a snap to install (you can see the difference between the old, rusty keys and the new ones below), and we then moved on to the rear drop. Cutting off the old U-bolts was easier than getting them off the correct way, then we installed the lowering blocks and new hardware. The stock "truck" tires are just a bit big, but I'm looking for a 17" rim/tire combination that will work cheap.
The 1991 S-10 Blazer finally got a much needed fuel tank today. The old tank could only hold about a 1/2 tank, then it leaked all over the place. I figured it must have been leaking at the seam from the lower to upper half of the tanks. I know someone had been working on the fuel system before, as most of the lines and clamps are not stock, and the plastic cover over the tank was missing. We purchased a new tank online from CarParts.com, and spent the day draining the old gas, swapping out the fuel pump from the old tank to the new one, cleaning up the rear end and the tank straps, and then re-installing everything. We had just enough gas to get to the Sunoco, where we put $40 and a nearly full tank in for the first time since we have owned it with NO leaks. Nice.
Zach and I were quite successful at the 2013 Spring Englishtown Swap Meet. We were not but a few feet into the first row when we came across a pair of rust-free S-10 Blazer fenders, and after a brief bit of haggling, we picked them up for only $20 each! We also grabbed ourselves a Haynes repair manual for the truck for only $10, and a few other small odds and ends.
Since I've already passed the truck through the state inspection, (which means we will be keeping it for a while) I thought we would go ahead and replace the old, leaking fuel tank this weekend. If we have some time, maybe we will also start on the new Belltech lowering kit we also picked up. Zach also found another pic, so I have to post it for inspiration...
This past weekend, we converted the 1991 S-10 Blazer from a 4 wheel drive to a 2 wheel drive. It all started with an innocent first real inspection of the under-carriage of the Blazer....something I should have really done before now. I grabbed the can of rust penetrant, and then climbed underneath. WOW, there was some rust in areas I was not expecting. I swear, someone must have used this truck to launch a jet ski or boat in the marina or spread salt. I knew the doors and fenders were rusted, but the shocks? The passenger side upper A arm had a whole or two completely through it! That was replaced immediately. Since we plan on lowering the Blazer, and since the 4 wheel drive didn't work well, we decided to pull the front drive train out. We removed the front axles, front drive shaft, and even the front differential. There is still one piece there to remove yet, for lack of a better term I'll call it the passenger side torque tube. We also pulled off the skid plates, tow hooks and front valance. Parts should start arriving this week for the new gas tank and suspension, and we will be looking for sheet metal at the swap meet this weekend.
I want to put a bunch of YouTube videos on this blog to help me get some ideas and even some technical insight for our build. We will start with this one...
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Zach
and I have been debating whether we should fix up the 1991 Chevy S10
Blazer Tahoe or not. We both like the body style of the two door, but
recognize that this one needs some work. After racing with our friend
Jay this past weekend and his 1986 S10, and watching a few videos like
the one below... we have made the decision to go for it. We spent a few
hours today going over the plan, and even ordered a few parts like a new
gas tank. I'm thinking of keeping it flat black (like the one to the
left), but with a customs RS ghost stripe and emblems like I have on the
'67 Camaro....we will see. After we get the body done, we are even
considering pulling out the 4.3 V6 and throwing in my brand new 355!
The 1991 S-10 Blazer now is rolling on the 1998 Corvette wheels and new General tires. They fit perfectly within the wheel wells and look great. The only modification I needed to make was to cut 1/2 inch off the very long spindle threads so that the center caps would fit. The tires cost us $99 more than the original price we paid for the truck!
The 1991 S-10 Blazer is officially blue now! She still needs to be color-sanded and buffed, the fender flares need to be installed and the new tires and rims, but now Zach has his graduation present. Congratulations my son!
We have been spending the past few days in the ridiculous heat sanding the body on the Blazer. The heat made the filler dry extremely fast, so I only mixed up a very small batch for each section I was working on. If more than a fist-sized puddle of Rage Gold was mixed, it would harden before I could apply it. After all this, I am actually looking forward to going back to my office tomorrow for a break. The Blazer is ready for it's first coat of 2K primer, and then on to block sanding. I know the drivers door and a few areas still need a little work. I'm hoping that it will not take too much to get her looking good. We also picked out the color...but I'll keep that a secret for now.
We took advantage of a few nice hours this afternoon to mock-up the grille on the Blazer. After pulling off the old front bumper with the impact strips, we installed the new smooth front bumper, followed by the new lower valance. We topped it off with the new grille, and the results are posted here. Everything is just hand tight now, as we had to make sure there were no clearance issues or gross misalignments. The only thing to mock up from here are the fender flairs (I hope that is it).
This past weekend, we converted the 1991 S-10 Blazer from a 4 wheel drive to a 2 wheel drive. It all started with an innocent first real inspection of the under-carriage of the Blazer....something I should have really done before now. I grabbed the can of rust penetrant, and then climbed underneath. WOW, there was some rust in areas I was not expecting. I swear, someone must have used this truck to launch a jet ski or boat in the marina or spread salt. I knew the doors and fenders were rusted, but the shocks? The passenger side upper A arm had a whole or two completely through it! That was replaced immediately. Since we plan on lowering the Blazer, and since the 4 wheel drive didn't work well, we decided to pull the front drive train out. We removed the front axles, front drive shaft, and even the front differential. There is still one piece there to remove yet, for lack of a better term I'll call it the passenger side torque tube. We also pulled off the skid plates, tow hooks and front valance. Parts should start arriving this week for the new gas tank and suspension, and we will be looking for sheet metal at the swap meet this weekend.
Zach
and I have been debating whether we should fix up the 1991 Chevy S10
Blazer Tahoe or not. We both like the body style of the two door, but
recognize that this one needs some work. After racing with our friend
Jay this past weekend and his 1986 S10, and watching a few videos like
the one below... we have made the decision to go for it. We spent a few
hours today going over the plan, and even ordered a few parts like a new
gas tank. I'm thinking of keeping it flat black (like the one to the
left), but with a customs RS ghost stripe and emblems like I have on the
'67 Camaro....we will see. After we get the body done, we are even
considering pulling out the 4.3 V6 and throwing in my brand new 355! 
