I just finished major repairs on my Blazer it's finally running without any issues which means now I can start upgrading it the way I want. I want to build a Blazer that I can drive to work everyday but also go on off-road adventures with. I'll need some help along the way. I have a list of things I want to do and it might change.

• Rims / Tires
• Small Suspension Lift
• Exhaust Upgrade
• Intake Upgrade
• Pro Tuning
• Transmission Replacement or Upgrade

I want to keep things as reliable and comfortable as possible which means I won't be doing crazy things like racing seats or roll cages.

I'll keep track of progress here and I would love some recommendations!

 

The first thing I want to get is new tires and rims for snow and dirt. What do you guys recommend? I don't want to up-size due to speedometer issues, but I would like to maybe get some off-set so the tires lines up with the wheel well or maybe even stick passed it.

What do you guys have? Do you have pictures? The size is P235/70r15.

 

When I first bought my Jimmy it had 235/75/15 tires. Two weeks later I did aftermarket keys and rear lift shackles and put 31/10.50/15 tires on it. It currently is running 35/12.50/15 on 2wd s10 rim's. If you are wanting a wider stance you could do spacers or find a set of 2wd rims or aftermarket rims with less than stock back spacing.

 

I'll be looking forward to seeing what ideas you come up with as it sounds like your goals for your Blazer are a lot like mine. (see the link to my build thread below)

I did a suspension lift using the Rough Country upper control arms from their 2.5" lift kit but then only cranked the T-bars and added new shackles. When I had to have the transmission rebuilt, I had it done with some upgraded parts and a shift kit. In retrospect I wish I had at least considered the options of other transmissions, e.g. a 4L65E, with stronger internals.

For tires I am running 30x9.5s. I almost put on the 31x10.5s but with my running board end caps and current rims the tires rubbed the frame and were super close to the wheel well edges at full turn so I went with the 30s. I will be revisiting going to 31s when these wear out and considering using the 2wd rims or wheel spacers.. You can use an online tire-size calculator (https://tiresize.com/calculator/) to work out the calibration between the actual speed and that reported on your speedometer. I think with my 30s it is off by 7% compared to the stock 235/70R15s. Note that with the larger tires you are effectively raising the rear-end gearing by the same ratio. In my case that means that my differential ratio of 3.73:1 is now closer to 3.47:1.

I also use my Blazer for towing a boat so something important to me was cooling of the engine and transmission along with good brakes. For the former I have a double-sized radiator and an extra transmission cooler. For the former, I found some advanced rotors and pads for the front brakes to improve my stopping. I also purchased an UltraGague OBDII gauge reader so that I could monitor the transmission temperature.

Other upgrades you might consider is replacing the idler arm with one of the Moog or Proforged ones that have a more durable design over the OEM. I also purchased for the future a bracket that will allow me to install an idler arm and pivot from a 1-ton Silverado. I got it from https://www.outfitterdesign.com/1-to...m-bracket.html. I'll install it next time I need to replace the idler arm.

I replaced the LIM gaskets and while at it I upgraded the fuel injectors the later style. They were not really running bad but were getting old and while I had it all opened up I thought I might as well do it.

Is this what you have in mind for upgrades to the intake or do you have something else in mind?

 

I actually just replaced my worn old idler arm with a Moog problem solver one. Hoping that does the trick. I also replaced the cylinder heads, head gaskets, valve cover gaskets, all intake manifold gaskets, and got the new design spider injectors. As for intake, I was more leaning towards a cold air intake since I can tune it to really utilize it properly. I'll be doing that after exhaust though.

Since I wanna do some off-roading, I'm focusing on tires first. I really don't wanna re-tune the speedometer if I can get some good performance out of stock tires. Spacers may be the way to go but I'm gonna look into rims with low offset first and run spacers if I still need more.
Regardless, I'll keep everyone up-to-date!

 

The Goodyear duratrec are a good tire for on and off roading. Wears good and lasts a while... they come in stock size, but measure out a little bigger. Doesnt effect the speedo, and look good. A cheap upgrade for the offset rims are the rims off the 2wd s10/blazer/so on...

I have the same mind set for my build as you(daily driver that can go offroad), and so far Im really eally happy with the outcome... got a build thread that shows the work done, as well as many others.

 

Any chance you have any photos? I'd love to see your setup.

 

Also; To anyone reading, I wanna get some black fender flares but the only ones I could find are these bushwacker ones: .

I couldn't find any photos of them on a Blazer, but If they look like the ones in the thumbnail, I'm not sure that I'm interested. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

https://blazerforum.com/forum/builds...-blazer-93975/

as per the fender flares, there are stock ones for 4 doors, available in Europe............. and the kick in the butt is that they were made in canada.........

you could get 2 door flares, the ones you are looking at might work, and cut them to work with the door. There are a few different write ups on how to, as well as that is in my build thread

 

This is perfect! Thank you!