So I’m 16 years old and I got my first vehicle in may a 2003 4dr 4x4 ls blazer. First vehicle so of course I think the world of it. It is 100% stock right now so I’m trying to build it up and I need some help if anyone knows what I should start off with let me know.

I want to add a
•lift
•new wheels/tires
•a light bar
•bull bar/brush guard
•new door speakers
i just need some help starting off on what to do first as I am going into this with barely any knowledge and have to do it myself. Thank you.

 

Congrats and welcome to the group.

My first advice is to search out what others have done for all those mods and see what worked and didn't work. Many people have build threads (even I have a modest one linked below) that are good sources of information on different mods.

Regarding lifts, you can go anywhere from a 1.5" to 2" lift with minor parts to a 2.5" lift that requires modifying the front axle assembly to 6" lifts. For the later people will also go for a solid axle swap (SAS) using Jeep axles. You should decide what your needs are and then do it right.

In general a good starting point would be to find the list of the common things on Blazers that break and need to be repaired and how best to do that. Among the most common and most important are the following:

• leaking remote oil cooler lines and gaskets
  • this more of an annoyance but a catastrophic failure is possible
• leaking lower intake manifold (LIM) gaskets.
  • these can fail with no warning dumping coolant into the lifter valley ruining the main bearings and making the motor junk.
• loose idler arm
  • the OEM idler arm design was weak. The replacements by Moog and Proforged are considered much better
• Fuel pumps
  • do not ever let your tank go below Empty. Although we have 18 gallon tanks, it is best to not let them get below 6 gallons as the fuel helps cool the pumps and running them dry will shorten their life appreciably. Swapping out a bad pump is nasty job.
• Cooling system
  • The early days of 2nd generation Blazers used an orange coolant called Dexcool. At the time it was incompatible with the traditional green coolants and when mixed, a brown sludge would form. This sludge could also form if there was air in the cooling system with the Dexcool. Today's coolants can mix but if your system had either the mixing or too much air with the Dexcool, you could have a cooling system that is below its top efficiency. Do a thorough check and do proper flushing or repairs as needed.
• Rotted under-hood vacuum hoses.
  • the vacuum hoses help engage the 4wd system and also run the HVAC system. These tend to rot off and fail about 12-15 years. I have a thread (linked below) that describes how I I replaced all of mine.

Other advice is to get a listing of all of your options for your truck. You can do this by looking at the sticker inside the glove compartment door that lists the RPO codes and VIN. There are VIN and RPO decoders that can help with this. When I did this I learned I had a ZW7 Premium Ride suspension. This was important for my suspension lift as it has self-leveling shocks combined with special springs. As such, I could not just replace my rear shocks with standard longer ones when I did my lift. Instead I added extenders for the mounts for the shocks.

Have fun with the new Blazer. They can be great rigs and these days, there is nothing else out there you can buy new that combine the body-on-frame construction with their not-so-big size.

Christine

 

Thank you so much for the help!