after seeing what so many have done, i have decided to post my own build. a 2001 Blazer 2 door 4x4, that i bought as a wrecked vehicle. (side of the road) with a for sale sign. and an extremely messed up front clip and windshield. not looking to spiffy.

 

It took a bit to get it started and it sounded rough. But it wasn't smoking or knocking, sooo... the PO originally wanted $3000.00 for it, LOL. i got it for $1200.00, and it had just under 111,000 miles on it. The interior was in Unbelieveably great shape. never been smoked it, and very very clean. Pics of that to come later.

 

After i got it home (carefully, so the bent hood wouldnt fly up, and the right front (passenger) tire wouldn't rub. (i pulled it out some by hand, and a tire iron i had), my project was home. This would be my third Blazer. i have had a 96 2 door, 2wd, and a 2000 4 door 2wd before. What can i say i am a glutton for punishment. the two prior ones were from nice car lots, and no real work required. But i wanted a project. i sold my old ford work van, and used the money to get this one up and drivable at least. though not pretty.

 

so i removed the hood, passenger fender. The front bumper/grill and The passenger headlight were missing. (PO) claims he hit a deer. must have been the size of bigfoot. but no frame damage, so it was all good. When i was looking at it, i also notice it had a radiator hose that had been split open and zip tied around the wiring harness. PO said it was to keep it out of the fan. (oh yes the Radiator support was bent slightly back, and the fan shroud missing as well.)

 

After a quick tune up, usual wires, plugs, cap, rotor, and carb cleaning the throttle body, i got it started again. sounded better, but had a bad exhaust leak fromt the front. The EGR system, had been cut out, and had exhaust coming from under the hood. (Pick n Pull) here i come. after getting that fixed, re started it again. but would cut off for no reason, just shut down. a quick scan later revealed crank position sensor. after replacing that, and resetting the computer, it would do it again.. here there, and then restart. hmmmm. so i tear apart the (split radiator hose/wire loom)??? LOL though not funny at the time, to find that the harness had been cut, and all the wire (quick connected with the cheap blue clips) back together. So.. out come the solder gun, and a large supply of heat shrink tubing, and 5 1/2 hours later, VOILA problem fixed, and she ran like a new one. woo hoo. new factory wire loom covers, (they fit now) and it looked factory.

 

The next thing was the radiator support, fan shroud, and fan blade (part of one blade was missing) so i straightened the support, and pick and pull provided the other parts. Then i ordered a new set of head lights, parking lights, and a new grill from EBAY (all new parts). and went back to pick and pull, and found a teal hood, and a dark green front fender. i then installed those, and went without a front bumper for about 8 months. i kept checking pick and pull, but it took that long to finally find one in good shape. A trip to autozone, and 5 cans of spray Indigo blue metallic (plastikote factory colors)and the fender and hood were just a bit darker, but it was at least road ready.

 

Then i replaced the radio (missing volume ****), with a new Kenwood head unit, and all the interior speakers with Pioneer digitals. Only the original tweeters in the front dash we not blown. The amp, and subs were my Christmas present in 2011. so tunes up and sounding good. BIG PLUS!! then other issues, both front hub bearing assemblies, brake pads, throttle body blade mod, and a few other things, and drove it like that for a while. My wife took a trip to OHIO, and left me here in sunny Florida, so with time on my hands, i took it to my brother in laws backyard shop (he always has a bunch of old projects, and tore it down, and began body work. (EDIT) i had safelite, install the new windshield, before i strted using it as my DD.

 

The black plastic pieces on the rear, that are so prone to looking like crap, and getting brittle, and dull, needed fixed. a bit of filler, and alot of sanding, and i had decided to paint this the body color. (just a side note, but i ordered the Cold air intake, at the same time i ordered the paint.


then it was time for tape off, and full paint.

 

the finished product didnt look too bad.

 

after six weeks, i color sanded, and buffed everything completely smoothe, and started with the ZR2 decals, and pin striping. The new overhead lights, (ANOTHER SIDE NOTE) by this time, i was reading the Blazer Forum, and getting some ideas of what i wanted to do.and where i wanted to go. After reading REX's 96 blazer build, i finally tackled the non working 4X4. Seems in the crash, the actuator diaphram housing had been cracked. YUP pick n pull. then i found i had a broken vacuum hose.... then .... the actuator cable was frozen up...(insert NEW part here), LOL.... and VOILA 4WD!! so far the pic i have as my sig, is the Blazer as it stands now.