Hello, i have never done any thread like this about my cars but now its time. I post here updates and stories about my journey as Blazer owner. So far i have got lot of help and information from this forum, thanks a lot for all of you.

Lets start:
Got this car at 7th of October and its my first American car. I was really pleased about how it drives and reminded me bit about my fathers old suburban, loved that car. Seller was sure that it was rust free and always held nicely.. It was part of the truth.
Always wanted to have some kind of lifted car as daily, it brings good balance to have low summer car and big daily. So the plans for lifted offroad car have been stuck in the back of my head long time.

This was the condition of the day i bought it.




Firstly i ordered some Raptor bedliner and Led headlights. Just minor mods.
Rockerpanels had bad paint and surface rust. As we started to sand the rockers i found small rust hole in the middle of the drivers side. Not big issue but made me scared about upcoming surprises. Bit of Kemppi and it was good. Painted the fenderguards and rockers with the raptor, it came out just like i imagined. Really happy about the results.



Then i ordered some wheels and keys & shackles kit. I sprayed some atf+acetone mix in advance to loosen up the shackle bolts since i was told they might be stuck. Little did i know they were solid with the inner metal tube from the bushing. Decided to get new bushings and just cut and burn all the old parts away.

Choice of bushings were Energy suspension ones, literally the only ones avaible here. Very easy assembling since old bushings outer sleeves stayed on place, just new poly ones in with some lube.
Rear suspension raised promised 2” and i was happy. Front torsion keys change is still pending since my diy shackle tool did not work as planned.




I had really hard time figuring out what size tires i would like to run. I decided to go with 32x11.5-15. Therefore it needs some more lifting.
Friends at work made me 2” polyurethane blocks to put between frame and body. Bodylift only needs bolts now. I took one bolt out and it was 95mm long, i measured that with 2”(50mm) lift it would be 145mm long bolt (somebody can confirm this). I hope all of the bolts are same length and they come out as easy as the one i tested.


Also today i tested the new wheels. This thing will be so good when it sits on these and 32”.

Wheels are Enkei hurricane 15x7” offset -7mm. Welded 3 piece wheel.




This is all that i have done for now.
In future plans there will be baja style front bumper and possibly winch. Not so easy to find parts or help with this type of car here in Finland, almost all offroad style cars are toyotas or nissans. Nice to have this kind of forum that has all the info about the most usual modifications.

-Jamppa

 

You have done some nice work already!

 

You're off to a good start! How hard are parts to get there in Finland?

 

Welcome!

 

Thanks!

And its not as easy as for euro cars. Getting the most basic maintenance parts is fairly easy, like brake stuff, oil filters etc. If anything more unusual it almost everytime needs to be ordered from somewhere else or if needed fast, can try to find it used.
Here are few small companies that are focused only on usa made car parts and can order some parts if needed but they dont have almost anything in stock.
But whats funny, they still keep some really expensive crate engines in stock?!

This week i kind of started the body lift project, all the drivers side bodymount bolts came out easy and in one piece.
On the passengers side front and back side mounting bolts snapped right off under the head... Next time i need to start the welder, try weld some nuts on there and then try to take them out. Wish me luck. The liftkit is ready to be mounted. I tried one of the new bolts on and it went in but not just by hand, i carefully turned it with ratchet. Still needs to check them with thread gauge so i dont ruin the nuts in the body.

Just ordered those ”body mount cushion washers” from rock auto. Funny that shipping only is more expensive than the parts cost.
Few of mines were rusted so bad that im surprised that the lower bushing has not dropped on the road.

Also tried to find some fairly priced polyurethane body mounts to swap at same but only avaible kit is energy suspension ones at ~320$.
If anyone has any good suggestions about a alternative bodymount kit it would be appreciated. Maybe some other models kit could fit?

-Jamppa