Jrob238's build
 

Alright guys a little background on this blazer. I bought it back in 2006 from a guy from ringgold, GA. I drove it for about a year untile I busted the rear end out of it brag racing at a local drag strip. I sold it to my dad thinking I done way more damage then I really done. He paid me 600 for it put a new rear end in it and had extensive internal motor work done to make it the power plant it is today. About two days ago I bought it back from him for 1500. Not a bad price for a blazer with only 56000 miles.

So now the specs:
1997 Chevy Blazer 2 door
4wd Auto tranny
4.3 liter vortech bored .40 over
Replaced the Rockers, Cam, Crank, Ignition System, Fuel Delivery, and forged the internals.

There is a few im leaving out just cant think of them at the moment.

A list of mods I hope to achieve:
3 inches of lift. (2 inch lift shackles and cranked torsion bars with a 1 inch body lift)
31.10.50 Goodyear Authority
Some sort of Off road light maybe some Hella 500's
CB
New Head unit-Pioneer-Done
Door speakers-Kicker
12 Kicker Comp
Headers
exhaust-Cherrybomb Turbo for now
Vortech Supercharger
High flow Cat-Magnaflow?

I hope to have the list completed by the end of next year. There are a few small things I will be geting around too before most of the mods start. I need to fix the rearview mirror, passenger seat wont slide forward or back, driver reclining lever broke, door jam alarm goes off randomly, I have to keep the fuse out that goes to the interior light because the door doesnt register shut so my battery dies, tire carrier needs to be repainted, trim around rear windows is shot, and the passenget door leaks. lol after all that is done then I will start on the modding.

List of things done:
Rear view mirror
Painted tire carrier
Head unit installed

so here is some pics

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...1225091152.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...1229091747.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...1229091748.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...229091748a.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...229091748b.jpg

Nice looking truck! I always liked that tan/brown color on the Blazer. Can't wait to see the progress :)

Thanks! I am gonna get some more pics of the interior tomorrow. and a few better exterior. I was using my cell and it was getting dark.

I am going to the junkyard tomorrow to try to piece together a headlight conversion kit.

looks like a great start, i am interested to see what happens

Me too! Keep us updated!

Sweet looking rig, looks in great shape.
Will be stopping in to check out your progress :icon_teeth:

Out of curiosity, why would you go with a 1" BL? Seems like a lot of work just for an inch of lift. Why not go with a 2" BL? Is there that much of a price difference?

Yeah you don't normally see a 1" lift. There must be a reason behind wanting it though. I was just curious

I hate body lifts is why im only going with the 1 inch. I hate the way the frame rails get exposed. Also in the future I will probably go with a bigger suspension lift. Im just skimping now to fit bigger tires. I have a friend who is gonna build me some lift shackles so torsion keys and the BL is all I will have to buy for 3 inches.

agree with ya 150% brother. that's why i'll never BL anything, and why i'll never be able to run anything bigger than 31's because of it.

oh well. :icon_shrug:

Yeah that does stink about the s10s. I am used to Jeeps and on a 3 inch lift its not uncommon to run 33's now I am only gonna run 31's thats the only reason i decided to do a BL.

If I do a 1 inch BL is there really any need to do a 1 inch motor mount lift?

You would probably have to lower the fan shroud.

Well got one thing knocked off my list today. Just got through painting the tire carrier. I kinda made a boo boo though I was so excited about painting it I didnt sand it any so some of it looks really smooth and some of it has some dots in it. So I will probably have to spray a second coat to cover it up. I also got some runs on the tire holder itself but no one will see those. I will probably go back later and actually take it off and sand primer and reshoot it with some better quality paint and then lay down a clear coat to protect it. anyway here are some pics for you guys.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...101001448a.jpg
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0101001448.jpg

Well two things now off my list today

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0101001621.jpg

now I can see behind me. About to go see what I can do about that darn door alarm.

Anyone got any ideas?

EDIT: Ok so I been working on this thing all day and decide to wrap the day up with installing my Cd player. Boy oh boy is this thing a pain in my nek. I have done plenty of head unit swaps but none like on a blazer. For starters I freakin bought the wrong dash kit. Package said for 92 and up GM vehicles I didnt think to check the specific ones and what do you know. It doesnt fit the 97 blazer. So now my dash is completly apart and its too dark to mess with it. Tomorrow is gonna befull if fun!

I think I had to get a special dash kit for my 01. Just go to best buy and let them know, they had to grab a different one from the back room for me.

Oh I forgot to update. Thanks to jshultz78 I found the product number for the right dash kit. For reference its metra part # 99-3043. I ordered it off line for 8.99 and free shipping. Cant beat that.

I like that spare tire carrier. Looks a hell of a lot better painted! very clean. I have to get mine done this spring/summer.

Yeah I probably should have waited till it was a little bit warmer but im ready to get all the little things knocked out so I can get on with the juicy stuff haha.

I was actually wandering about that. I saw a few people who had 31's on the 1st gens.



Anyway on another note I really wish companies did same day delivery no matter what day of the week it was. Having a huge hole in my dash where a Cd player should be really sucks.

Well a little rant about Cartoys.com. When I placed my order for my dash kit I was extremly happy about the price, 8.99 and free shipping and handling. At checkout it said it would take 2-3 buisness days to receive my order via UPS ground, awesome. I call today because it is 230 my time and I was just wandering if I could get a tracking number. The customer service rep very rudely told me that it was 11am there and that it probably wasnt ready yet. When I asked him about when it would be ready he gave me the lovely response of I dont really know sir. By this time I am tired of trying to be nice and so I asked him what the hell did he know and if he couldn't give me anymore info then I would like to speak to a supervisor or someone who does know. So he connected to his supervisor who apologized to me and told me a tracking number should be on its way in a few hours. I was fine with that. It gave me a time line. Out of curiosity I asked him about how long once the order is shipped could I expect to receive my purchuse? He said 5-7 buisness days. Not what they promised at checkout. No where near it. I am pretty upset with the customer service and integrity of this company. Even though they have great prices I don't think I will be going back nor would I suggest them to anyone.

I find Crutchfield.com a lot better. At least you know for next time not to use them.

Yeah, I have used crutch a few times with really good results. I just found cartoys a little cheaper. i guess you pay for what you get.


On another note the mtor had finally reached its "break in" point today and I decided to test her out on the interstate. Well it was pegged out at 100 on the mph guage and my GPS read 135 and still pulling. Then smoke started bellowing out of the hood. I guess the stock radiator just couldnt take it anymore and crapped out on me. Also the thermostat stuck closed cuasing the motor to over heat and it ended up making a good centimeter sized hole in the housing around the thermostat. so needless to say its in the shop. I am suppose to get it back tomorrow. Only gonna cost me 150 bucks for a brand new (bigger) radiator, colder thermostat, all new hoses, and all new coolant. That price also includes labor and taxes. Thank god I have a really good friend who is a mechanic haha.

Got the blazer back and she seems to be running great. Quick question though: Does anyone else's temp flux a little? Mine is moving between the half way line between 100 and 210 up to almost 210. It never quit reaches but its not moving much. On my previous vehicles it would warm up to operating temp and stay there. Just wandering if I should start checking temp sensors or what? Maybe im just paranoid lol.

So after driving around looking at this for two weeks
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...04001507-1.jpg
I finally got my dash kit in. So I went to install it today and the harness is keep ing it from going all the way in. After fighting for two hours I gave up and now it looks like this.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...0111001625.jpg
im gonna get in there tomorrow or sometime this weekend and fix it. I just got too pee'd off today.

Well its been awhile since I updated so I figured I would give yal a quick spill on whats been going on.

I have not done anymore to the blazer nor have I fixed that crooked radio haha.

My little girl came into the world a bit early. She was due on the 23rd and they brought her to me on the 14th. So all mods was placed on hold for a bit.

Here is a few pics of my princes:


Here is me and her when I first got to hold her. I know I look like hell. But I had been up for 38 hours at this point.
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...69210_6887.jpg

And here is our first family photo
http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/c...69210_6887.jpg

But this sat im going to find some door speakers. I was tipped off on a local flea market having brand new speakers for dirt cheap so im gonna go see what I can find maybe grab a sub or something.

Congrats! Good luck in the Future!

Do you still have the RC 2" suspension and body lift? If you do, will you take $300? Please e-mail me at pzal777@yahoo.com.

Well guys I'm back. I know I kinda dropped off the face of the earth for a while.

Little story on what's went down since the last time I posted.

For starters my little girl is doing great she is turning one in a few weeks and couldn't have a bigger attitude lol.

Also I had sold the blazer and bought a 2001 xterra. Thought I needed something with four doors. The xterra was great but mpg sucked. I sold it about july and bought a 98 dodge ram 1500. My dream truck or so I thought. Turns out the guy I bought it from was a horrible shade tree mechanic and had jb welded a 2 inch crack in the block to sell it. Weld let loose about a month ago I got it sealed back up and started on the prowl for another vehical.

Now luckily I sold my blazer to my younger brother and he came into some trouble so fate found the blazer back into my driveway.

So now I'm picking up where I left off with a few change in plans.

New list of modes are as follows:
New door speakers no def brand picked out yet maybe some walmart specials
A decent lift around 2 or 3 inches
Some nice all terrians walmart has some agressive goodyears
Still want to do the face lift to convert the grill to the newer style.

That's about the extent. I do plan on buying another truck so the blazer is going to be just my toy. It may end up with a bigger lift and tires or I may end up tubing the rear slappin some slicks under it and. Beef it up with a supercharger. Not really sure we will see how it pans out.

Welcome back to the fold. Good luck with the truck and that little girl.

Thanks.

while it sucks when changes don't always work out to how you planed, i'm glad to see you found your way back into your old truck. sometimes s**t happens for a reason, although i can never figure out why!


GL with your daughters 1st birthday, it'll be one you won't forget. and good luck with the build.

Yeah luck didn't seem to be on my side until I let the horses roll today on they way to work. Something about going 0-60 in around 6 seconds in an suv really gets the blood pumping. I had to throw her up on the interstate this evening for old times sake and didn't realize how fast I was going until it shut off at 97 mph haha. My dad had the factory limiter reprogrammed when my younger brother had it. Does anyone know how to disable it? The guy I bout it from originally had it done before I owned it.

well thought id give a little update since I haven't since the first of the year lol

First off I ran into a little trouble.....a lot of trouble actually. I found a way to get rid of that nasty limiter and pull in a few more horses. I was running 1/4 mile in about 12-13 depending.

On my way to do some reserve work for a small police department I got behind a guy running 35 in a 55. I followed him until I got my chanced and punched it to roll around him. Tires chirp, motor screams, all is good. Until I slowed down. I noticed I could no longer get the truck to speed up and my oil pressure bottomed out.

Long story short, I spun all the bearings sending lovely metal chips through my motor. Done enough damage I had to completely replace the motor.

So now im running a brand new stock motor, transmission, and cooling system. yay me......