Well today I ran to town to get some bits to finish up the BenzBlazer.. got some of it , but half the city seems to shut down on Sundays.. so didn't get a bunch of stuff i wanted to get..

However, After getting back from town, I got under the blazer and fabed up the shift linkages. and the PRND321 sector switch , this was actually pretty easy, but took forever since it was all done under the truck and tack it up, pull it, weld it good, then put back, then tack in place another piece, then pull it, and weld and reinstall. Did that process for a hours.. all under the truck.. god I'm glad thats done!

The after that was all done I put the drive shaft on .. then started it and took it for a spin... it goes good.. However I forgot that my gas tank consisted of a 20 oz soda bottle and that I didn't fill it before setting off.. I was cruising along at 60mph and I started to feel this very slight stumble.. I was lke " Oh crap!!, I didn't fill the bottle!!!! " so I turned around but didn't make it all the way back.. once it started suckin air and really stumbling I shut it down.. I was about 1/4 mile from the shop so I got a little walk in..

However it runs and drives.. it's no slower than the Benz was .. and sounds like a truck should sound

 

Ordered some stuff tonight.. A cone air filter, a 16" 2750 CFM electric radiator cooling fan, and hood pins..

I cant use the factory hood release thing with the radiator mounted up front of the rad support so hood pins is my closure device... plus there kind of cool!

Ill get a momentary swith tomorrow for the glow plugs.. and ge that installed tomorrow.

SO far my budget looks like this:

Benz motor.. had it already .. thus what started the project.. $0.00
2000 Chevy Blazer.. $550.00
Drive shaft work $150.00
Steel for all the fab work $ 36.00
Oil pressure bits $ 24.00
16" Cooling fan $ 79.00
Hood Pins $ 8.00
Air filter $ 23.00
Other Misc bits, fluids, and supplies.. appro $ 97.00

Total $967 not bad. under budget.. not by much but under


LOTS more to come including a tour and drive video and the veggie conversion!

 

Thats awsome and for under $1000, its even better. So did you get all the guages to work?

 

All the factory gauges work except the speedo.. But now I'll have build in navigation and a speedo.. via the GPS

Dang I forgot about the GPS, that was $99, now I'm over budget now by $65.

And today I splurged on some fancy bi-colored switches for the glow plugs and I decided to do some cool stuff with the kick down switch also.. so now I'm kind of going nutso.. I spent $15 on those.

And Ihave plans to add a boost gauge and also some other nice to have items.. so yeah I'll be over budget but not by much.

 

glad to hear it running, and to hear it drove without a hicup on it's maiden voyage, save for the refueling issue (ie; driver error, hahahaha!). looking forward to seeing it totally buttoned up and on the road.

 

My first test drive I knew I had something wrong with the vacuum lines... it was shifting hard.. that's a pretty tell tale sign you have a vacuum leak on these tyrannies.. so.. Tonight I sorted that all out... made a couple mounts for the motor oil cooler and then hooked up the alternator, then found a larger "fuel tank" a 1 gallon jug.. filled it and stuffed it in the engine bay.. then went for a decent test drive... this time ensuring id have enough fuel to go for a ways.

Dang I love this thing! It reminds me of driving a semi or dump truck, at idle it shakes and shimmies a bit.. you got that diesel sound at idle, then you get on the throttle the vibration at idle goes away nearly as soon as it comes off idle, once the turbo spools up and you get that nice turbo wine .. it moves well down the road.. even with no hood on it

I don't have a tachometer at this point so I cant really tell how high it's revving at 60mphh but I think its revving a bit higher than it did in the Benz.. however I got plenty of revs left.. took it up to 65mph .. but didn't dare go any faster with no hood, and a gas tank dangling in the engine bay..

Things I have yet to do.. the kick down switch needs to be wired and mounted.. and a glow plug switch needs to be wired in the cab.. and I'm waiting for the electric cooling fan, cant put the front together without that in first.. and the hood pins.. hopefully they will get here before this weekend..

But till then my next big task is the fuel tank modifications.. I hate crawling under that thing one more time... but it's got to be done.

 

Tonight i didn't get over to the shop but my new air cleaner showed up.. and i got some break fluid for the blazer.. it was a bit low.. tomorrow I'll get over to the shop and get the kickdown switch wired up and the glow plug switch put in..

Tonight I'll be looking for a air solinoid for the vacuum activated shutdown.. somewhere I read that in the Benz there is a solenoid that will work for this .. but no one said where or what it was.. any one know??? Maybe in the heating r air conditioning system??

The solinoid needs to block vacuum when power is applied and when power is lost it will open and allow vacuum to pass through to the actuator on the injection pump...that then cuts all fuel off.

Anyway, I'm taking off half a day on Friday to work on the blazer.. I hope the fan and hood pins get here by Friday so I can get it all buttoned up this weekend.

 

Well today I got the custom power steering hose made and installed.. that's all working now.. tomorrow I'll tackle the gas tank dip tube and hopefully get all the fuel system for the diesel done.

More to come!

 

Awesome build. Saw this while looking at your videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjwmG...eature=related I'm ready for you to do my 90 S10 Blazer if you get bored and need another challenge.

 

Glad you got it going! I'm interested in some pictures