For the past 6 months my daily driver has been a 1995 suburban. I decided it was time to get something a bit more fuel efficient, so I bought this:



1999 Blazer with 150k miles, leather interior, 4wd...and best of all the average fuel economy is 18mpg. (the suburban currently gets 13 average so this is a big jump for me.)

The first thing i did was fix the headlights:


Then of course an ebay air intake:



I drove it for a bit, and realized something was amiss. I drove it to my buddies shop, and he suspected cracked heads. He tore into it and this is what we found:


Upon further inspection, I realized that the previous owner had been having issues, and installed heads from the local junk yard. So for my piece of mind, I decided to go ahead and order a rebuilt set of heads that I know will be good to go for a while. I ordered the heads last week and they arrived yesterday:


This is where I left off last night:


I have to order new rocker arm studs, the ones that came off of the old heads are too big for the new heads. :/

Future plans for the blazer include a different set of rims because I absolutely hate the style rim currently on the truck. A bravada tube and one piece front shaft swap and a slight lift using shackles and a mild t-bar crank.

 

I finally got the truck put back together and on the road. I ended up having to go to the pick and pull and get the roller rockers off of a 2000 blazer. The only thing i need to do now is take her to an exhaust shop and get a couple exhaust leaks fixed. Then I have to get the AC checked to find a leak there.

Roller rockers installed:


Engine finally assembled:


And as of a few hours ago, she is finally home:


I almost forgot...after getting everything finished up, my airbag light is on and I can't figure out why. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Good to see you got it back on the road!! Is there possibly a missed wire connection from disassembly that's causing the airbag light to be on that would be my first place to start?

 

That was my first thought, so I double checked all of the connections. I was exhausted when I checked though. I will check again tomorrow and see if I did in fact miss one.

 

I think i just figured it out...I took the steering shaft out to pull the driver side exhaust manifold. When i had the shaft disconnected we moved the truck because we had to make room in the shop for another truck. I pushed and my buddy 'steered' the truck. I think turning the steering wheel without the shaft caused the light to come on.

 

I got all of my exhaust leaks fixed, and have put about 100 miles on her so far. She runs great! The only thing lacking is the AC.

I have officially retired the suburban from daily duties since i'm averaging 20mpg in the blazer.

 

When I bought the Blazer I tested the 4wd, and everything worked. Now that I have replaced the heads Its not working. I can hear the transfer case engage, but the front diff isn't locking in. I traced and replaced the vacuum hose to the actuator because it was dry rotted and leaky...the front diff still won't engage. On the plus side, replacing that vacuum line got rid of the SES light. I was throwing P0440.

Once I knew the vacuum was good and It still wouldn't lock in, I checked the cable on the actuator and it moves freely. I can't figure it out, so instead of messing with it and trying to figure it out, i'm just going to do a Bravada shaft swap sooner than expected.

Oh, and I took her on a road trip over the weekend. Put a little over 700 miles on her and she performed flawlessly.

 

might have toasted the clock spring when the wheel was turned with the shaft off, did you check for vacuum at the actuator when 4wd is engaged?

 

Yessir. It is indeed the clock spring, I'm going to get that fixed soon. I'm tired of seeing the airbag light on.

I replaced the vacuum line to the actuator, so i'm assuming it has vacuum.

 

well, after 6 months of trouble free operation...I'm back to DDing my suburban. The blazer started throwing a P0330 code (knock sensor), also throwing codes for 02 sensors, and catalyst something or another. I'm not sure when i'm going to get around to working on the damn thing so she's out of commission for a while.