1994 v8 4x4 s10 blazer tahoe
 

Well here goes my blazer build , it's definatly going to be different . Let me start off by saying I'm not a ford guy . I am putting a engine out of a 82 ford f150 302 , and the transmission and the transfer case . Things have been going great the transmission is in ,and its only about 3/4 of a inch longer than the 4l60e . I was able to use the transmission mount from the 4l60e also . Tomorrow I'm putting in the transfer case and I'll get some pics . The motor mounts needed very little fabrication (only about 3/4 off) . The oil pan , that will be made by my friend and take some time . Its alreay formed it just needs to be welded up , we used the rear of the 4.3 oil pan and attatched it to the 302 oil pan . There will most likely be some clearance issues with the heads and or headers on the steering side , but I'll solve that issue when I get there . I have put alot of thought into this and I really don't see why it shouldn't work . I hate ford ignition modules so I bought a hei distributor , one wire hook up .

Um ok

Pic's!!!???

Yes I have a bunch of pics But there on my phone so I have to have my wife show me how to get them here . The engine is totaly tore apart right now , and we fit it in the blazer today and mated it with the transmission . Finally got the oil pan where we needed it and welded that up . Painted the block and heads blue and yellow with opposite colors on the bolt heads , and it looks sweet . Tomorrow I plan on getting the crank bearings and crank in and the pistons and rings . This was going to be a strickly off road vehicle but the way things are going I should be still road legal . I have searched the internet and a few other people talked about doing this but thats as far as it got , I am a professional mechanic and all my friends are into metal fabriction or a mechanic to . So between my friends and I this will work , and be one of the sickest blazers around my area .

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...911_1748-1.jpg Total engine rebuild kit including see through HEI distributor and high torque mini starter and high flow oil pump .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...911_153803.jpg The toughest part of the project so far , the oil pan . but I was able to keep the windage tray in there and get the oil pick up down far enough so the oil shouldn't vortex .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...12911_1819.jpg One of the heads painted with plugs installed .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...12911_1951.jpg Block and head mated with head bolts just for picture .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...1/DSCF2745.jpg
And heres what all thats going into , Picture was taken after winning first place at the Broome Tioga Mud bogs . I was the smallest vehicle there running 235/75/15s and everyone else had 35s or bigger , it was so fun .

Cool idea, do you have access to a whole truck? Swapping a 8.8 rear and TTB Dana 44 would cool too

Yes I do have the whole truck , it's a 82 f150 4x4 , used to be are plow truck . It ran awesome plowed snow like a tank and has a very tight shifting transmission . The truck does have a 9 inch rear end in it , but the front has the twin i beam suspension , so I am looking for a ford solid front . I wish I had the front end now and then the oil pan would not have needed to be made . I new at the beginning that I would be doing a solid axe and thats kinda what led me putting this ford engine in . At first I was going to go with 1 ton chevy axles , but the drive shaft was on the passeger side , and it had 16 inch rims . I just bought new 15" 33s so I didn't want 16 in rims , I no they make wheels that are 8 lug 15 inch but I guess I just didn't want to . And when I was checking out the ford I noticed how simaliar the to were so I measured and remeasured and there was less than 3 inches diffence between the two . And I owned most of the parts needed to make this happen , so I was able to spend a little extra to make it pretty cool . The engine is getting put back together right now and its bored 0.040 crank bearings are 0.020 and rod bearings are 0.030 . This is a winter project so I do still have plenty of time to get the front axle and stuff though .

Why not go with dana 30's from a jeep wrangler? Driver side drop and minimal width problems.

Well I could go that way , and I'm not saying that I haven't thought about it , or that I'm not going to do it . But the rear thats in the ford is in great shape so I would like to match it with a solid front and keep the same bolt pattern and width . Not that I mind width I actully prefer it .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...r1/Lexi010.jpg

Are you a U of M fan? blue and yellow engine?

I'm guessing ford and John Deere fan lol.

I was just thinking for simplicity. You could always cut the axle tubes off the ford front and flip flop them to make a ds drop. But you'd either need a jig and really good welding skills or a machinist. Also you'd have to be careful to flip them so they are EXACTLY the same length on each side as they were before (only reverse the sides) or you'll have to have custom axles made.

Edit: is the front axle a 9" as well? If so does it have the removable pinion carrier setup? Of it is you can flip the carrier and internals without cutting the axle tubes. But I think you have to then get a reverse rotation kit for it iirc.

I have an '88 F150 with the TTB front axle, and the carrier/front driveshaft is on the driver's side just like the blazer, so I thought maybe it would be a good candidate for a swap if you could make it work. I'm not sure how hard it would be to mount everything up though. My F150 has a Dana 44 TTB, I imagine if you find a solid front Dana 44 you'd be in good shape. Probably need to put new gears in the front or rear to match, but it's all part of the process.

But either way, the ford drivetrain looks like a good idea. Not something you see everyday, and seems like it's virtually free for the base vehicle. I thought about using the axles from my F150 in my Jimmy so I could do a solid axle/9" swap in my F150 then use the TTB/8.8" rear in my Jimmy which would be more than strong enough for my 4.3

No the way I came up with that color sceme is I had a set of goodyears and the side walls were yellow and my blazer is blue and they just went together good .

I installed a 3 in body lift a last year and a most of the lift cylinders went through the floor panels . My welder friend and I fixed the passenger side already ( that was a full 8 hour day for two guys ) . Now I have to do the drivers side , with out the lift this would be about impossable .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...1316engine.jpg Side view of motor
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...1/myengine.jpg
I wish I had taken some before pictures , This engine used to be pretty rusty . I still plan on getting a different intake and water pump , maybe even a electric water pump . I already can't wait to drive it , but I'm still taking my time .

I have been researching the solid axle swap for quite awhile now , trying to decide what I'm going to do . And 4wdfactory.com has the kit I think I'm going to go with , everything is pretty much bolt on . And I still haven't quite made up my mind on the front axle but the kit goes with several axles from chevy , jeep , and ford . I'm thinking I'll go with a axle from a ford f250 though .

I was wondering if any one knows about how much clearance the oil pan has with the front diff . My oil pan that we made has about 1 1/2 inches , and I'm going with solid motor mounts . So I should be good but I'm worried about it enough to where I'm thinking about just taking the 4x4 diff out until I do the solid axle conversion . If I didn't want to do the suspension lift , I could just run all the stock blazer drivetrain , but I need some serious lift .

Well the clearance to the front diff doesn't matter in this case. Unless you're worried about the diff exploding? The diff doesn't move with the suspension so you don't have anything to worry about with the diff......

The reason I'm a little worried is I built a ford 360 and put it in a ford f150 with a 300 6 cylinder , and made solid mounts and they kept breaking and it would poke a hole in the oil filter every time . Of couse I beat the living crap out of it , using it to skid logs . But I'm definatly going to do the solid axle before spring , and then I will have zero worries .

The engine is in the vehicle , finally . I have some pictures I'll post later , I don't know how chevy v8s fit in a s10 , but this 302 is huge , alot of firewall fabrication . And I still will have to use elecric fans to cool the engine . But everything else went pretty well . Its not any wider than the 4.3 just way longer so I have plenty of clearance for my headers , and fuel pump . But the oil filter would have to be pretty small so I think I'm going to go with a remote oil filter . Its coming together so great though .

I'm stoked as heck to see it, It's a personal favorite to see "frankenstein" vehicles, and I wish you the best of luck. Do you have pics of the whole thing though? I'd love to see the engine bay, and transmission, as well as the interior and stuff too!

Best of luck!

Yea I have a ton of pictures , the firewall is far from being complete , but it should look awesome when its done . I'm going to diamond plate the fire wall and front floor boards to help disperse the heat . And the diamond plate will be bolted so I can still get in there . Right now I need to find headers and I want them to go on the outside of the frame , I'm not sure if I can get the bends I need with the shorty headers . And there is a kit on ebay that you weld together yourself , but they come pre bent so I would have to make them completly different .

http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...intruck004.jpg We had to trim the fire wall abit
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...intruck003.jpgI love this blazer
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...intruck014.jpghttp://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...intruck013.jpghttp://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...intruck012.jpg
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...intruck007.jpg

Sorry I figured out how to resize the pictures and got a little over confident , I guess . Could someone please fix the pictures so they are in a row , so that I can edit them and explain why I took them .

looking good bud,

awsome!!!

Clean

The only bad thing about this project is that its all I think about , even in my sleep . My main tasks at hand right now are the headers , Transfer case , and driveshafts , and fire wall . For the headers I ordered a 302 weld your own header kit from ebay and 10 ft of 1 5/8 tube . The transfer case is not to bad but I got ahead of myself so I have to take the cross member out in order to mate it with the transmission , then it will go back in with about 1 1/2 inches of clearance . The drive shafts will be made by my friend at work , after I figure out what I need . And I'm going to built a diamond plate fire wall and shift lever perch for a b&m ratchet shifter . It looks great in my head , so we'll see . I will get better pictures today I have the engine in and timed and started on some wiring .

Well I pulled the engine back out , when I was turning it over with a ratchet I could feel a slight catch , that I didn't feel before . So I pulled the plugs it was still there , pulled the valve covers and loosend the rocker arms and still there . I then attatched the engine back to the stand and took it back in the heated part of my shop , and tore the oil pan off to check for binding rods or something , but all was good . Then pulled the heads off and found a little chunk of metal , it must have been in the head and when I was turning it over the valve opened up and let it fall onto the piston . It didn't hurt anything but man I'm glad I felt it . I do have the engine almost back in , but the tansfer case is just barely hitting the torsion bar and cocking the transmission just enough to not let the bolt go through the motor mounts .

Last night we got the engine mounted in , made the rear drive shaft , and mounted fan and radiator.
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...ntruck3018.jpg
It don't look half bad in there .
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...ntruck3019.jpg
http://i1092.photobucket.com/albums/...ntruck3017.jpg
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Today I'm going to get the starter in and do some wiring , and install the rear drive shaft . I ordered a header kit from jegs that will come out on the outside of the frame , they should be here monday or tuesday . When this engine was in our plow truck it was running on 7 cylinders with crappy stock exhaust and it sounded great , and had tons of power . I can't wait to hear it run , Happy New Years everyone .

I'm so happy today I installed the starter and a bunch of other wiring and I have power . Gas lines are hooked up , made front drive shaft .

looks like your progress is coming along really well, so when you do a solid axle conversion are you going to have to redo a different oil pan or keep that one in there. looking good by the way.

I will have to make the drive shafts again but the oil pan can stay the way it is . Yea my friend and I have been working on it pretty steady right now . I put new 31 10.5 tires on last night and a few other things . My headers came today from jegs.com , there the ones you build yourself . Once I get the headers welded up and order a romote oil kit for the 302 it will be ready for start up . I probably should have waited for a couple oil changes to put the royal purple in holy crap is it expensive . I don't have the oil dip stick in yet because I'm waiting for the headers but I think it's going to take around 7 damm quarts . It is -5 here with wind 25-30 mph so I stayed inside researching and price checking different things .

One thing I'm having a little problem with is getting power to the truck , I have it but it don't seem quite right (like I'm missing a ground or something) . I have the red wire from the coil harness routed to the positive on the battery but theres another wire in there (two wire connector) I think its gray or brown and maybe I have to hook that to a ground or power not sure . With it hooked up the way it is I have power when key is on , thats it no head lights or nothing with key off . I am also going to post this problem in the electrical section .

do you have a wire from the alternator to the pos on the battery ?

do you have a ground from the battery to the block ?

How about a ground to the block to the Frame

No I don't have the alternator hooked up yet . Could this be the problem ? The alternator is the one wire type and it just goes to the battery .Yes battery has good ground to block , and block is also super grounded Solid engine mounts + ground cable . Do you know the wire that I'm typing about ? I think it has something to do with that .

the wire from the alternator supplys the power for every thing on the truck

Like the lights dash dome lights and other stuff that i cant think of

Ok the way its hooked up right now is like hot wiring it and I did this all wrong sorry I feel stupid . xgiovannix12 thanks for the help its cold here so I'm just thinking without looking , but the wiring harness from my s10 does go to the alternator , and the ford does not .

you got power in the truck? Yea its cold here also

its -2 here

Hey i plan to come to MR MUD PIT if my broncos ready this year

I will look forward to meeting ya guys

I have power with the key on only , but I completely forgot about the other wires that go to the alternator from the harness , That was what I was missing . My new alternator is a one wire to the battery so I just plain forgot the s10 had them wires . Its warming up , almost 5 now , I'm going to go out and see how my header pipes are going to fit . And it would be great to see you at MR MUD PIT , it sure is fun , we are reworking the whole track . The big guys tore it up pretty good , my tyres wouldn't even touch the ground if I tried to go in there now . And just down the road theres also broome tioga mudd bogs , thats also a super great time . I am already going through mudd pit withdrawal .

Im getting some dana 60s or 44s for the bronco i might be putting 33s or 39s what ever i find 1st haha

I wonder if the 4.3 alternator will bolt up to the other engine Possibilitys makes me wonder =P