my MINNESNOWTA winter beater build!
 

alright so i decided to start a build thread for my 1998 blazer (new to me) so far i havent done a whole lot but plans are building. right now i am concentrating on getting it road worthy, it has some special needs right now nothing too serious. BUT i did pick up some bed liner and POR-15 rust proofer and had a blast so this is where ill start. also did the quad light mod and have HID's in both hi and lo beams 55wat 6000k kits.

mechanically i will have new distributor and cap, new spark plugs, new spark plug wires, new front wheel hubs and bearings, new brake pads and rotors all the way around, new pitman arm, new idler arm, new upper and lower ball joints.

just wanted to do a quick update. i hit a deer with my charger the day i picked up my blazer from the shop. FML get one back and the other goes into the shop. just my luck. anywho, this is everything i had done:

top and bottom ball joints
pitman arm
idler arm
front hubs
all four brake rotors and pads done
new distributor and cap
new plug wires
new spark plugs
remote oil cooler lines replaced
trans filter/fluid change
rear pinion seal on the rear diff replaced and new diff fluid
changed engine oil/filter
new wipers

still had an ABS light on, was a bit disappointed i thought that the new front speed sensors would fix that but it was still on. then i had a headlight issue both hi and low beams on the drivers side were not working. figured that out today i had a blown fuse. most likely due to my quad HID headlight mod. replaced that fuse and the right side went replaced that one and now its fine. ON the bright side (pun intended) while i was in there i noticed i was missing one big A** fuse. a 60A fuse, turned out to be the ABS fuse!!! WTF right??? went to my local napa and picked up a new one for 2 bucks and popped it in and what do ya know! no more ABS light!!! yayyyy!!!

will be working on converting to LEDs in most exterior lights, hopefully will be picking up some aftermarket headlights and taillights with a clear blinker lens so i can use switchback LEDs. and i just found out i have fog lights today never noticed until today since they are integrated in the lower part of the headlight!!

waiting for xmas i may have a bull bar up front or some nerf bars on the sides, then ill be pick up a roof rack and a few light bars. will be well on my way. im hoping to make it through this winter with the tires i have but i doubt i will be able to. want to wait so i can spend the money on some nobby 31's this summer!

The fog lights are completely useless unfortunately. They are too high off of the ground to have any real impact when driving in the fog.

Looks like you are putting in some work!

yeah they didnt do that much when i turned them on... might try to rig up something and add some fog lights down lower and run the wires from the useless fog lights down to those ones so i can use the factory switch. dont know if that is possible.

yeah i got a pretty good deal on it, going into it knowing what had to be done helped alot. so i dont feel bad putting some coin into it. it runs alot better now though!!! just need an alignment done and will be driving straight. also thinking about doing a Ac compressor delete, mine doesnt work anyway and its my winter beater so wont be needing it anyway.

What parts of MN are you from, I am from the Saint Louis Park area.

SE down by rochester

I graduated from Brooklyn Center, before it became the ghetto....

Nice area down there. I have a done a few photo shoots around that area.
It looks like you could see some accumulating snow Friday (not much for your area, more so into IA

Before it became the ghetto.. LMAO I love it!

Continuation from my response above, you could see some pretty decent amounts of snow in IA depending on your location.

hahah yeah, doubt it will stick, ground isnt frozen yet. but i cant wait for some real snow to try out the 4x4, though like i said i dont have the best tires so im not expecting a whole lot, but i am happy i have ABS back now

It definitely could stick to grassy surfaces and bridges/overpasses. And some less traveled side streets depending on how heavy it ends up falling

(sorry, my inner weather nerd kicking in, have done work with the NWS and FOX 9 weather for numerous years)

This year I do not think we will see anything "huge" I think most of the large storms will stay south of us, we will just get the cold from it. Lets see in the spring if I was right haha!

Glad you got the ABS working, I wonder why the fuse was pulled.

sure could, maybe enough to make a snowball to throw at my girlfriend :icon_denk: lol

and yeah if i remember right i think NOAA and the farmers alminac had conflicting predictions for this winter. one said cold with more then avg. and the other said cold with far less then avg snowfall. we shall see, either way its going to be cold!!!

as far as the ABS fuse is concerned i really am not sure, when i bought it i asked the guy if he looked into the ABS problem he said he cleaned the connectors and didnt look into it further, i even asked about the fuses he said it was fine. had it at a shop for a pre purchase inspection they didnt see it, even had them do a diag. on the CEL and ABS after i bought it and they didnt see it. THEN i had it at a different shop for some of the work i listed earlier and they didnt see it. my only thought is someone pulled it out to check and didnt put it back in. dont know who. i doubt anyone other then a mech. would pull that fuse out. but IDK

Sorry I don't have anything to contribute to the ABS thread, but thankfully I don't think we are expecting that much snow:). I live in Winterset, a little south of Des Moines - The birthplace of John Wayne and the Bridges of Madison County. Whoo hooo right?? :icon_special:

well sounds like iowa got hammered with the snow, we got just a dusting here in rochester, but it was enough to know that i will most definitely need new tires for this winter. just that little bit of ice and snow was a tad scary, also first time driving my blazer in the winter, and ive only had it for about a month so that doesn't help lol

well not alot has happened lately but i just wanted to update a few things, i had it in to a local shop to do an alignment because i had all that front work done. and right after that the starter took a crap. got that replaced and looking at the bad one i am amazed it lasted this long... the thing was a pile of crap!! hahah rusty as hell as far as i can tell i think its the original. so not bad since it lasted 158k miles lol. it did start a little hard before but not it starts like a dream!! and drives nice and straight! so thats nice!

pulling the trigger on some tires this week from tirebuyer.com decided to go with some firestone winterforce UV tires 235/75/15 for the stock wheels. they were super cheap and had really good reviews. and the best part is its a snow rated tire but you can use it all season. not great for ice but had really good ratings for snow. still better then a standard all season tire IMO. we shall see how they are but it will be nice to have some decent tires, i have been lucky so far with no major snow storms or anything here in SE MN on my really bad tires i bought it with

i will post some pictures when i get the new tires on. hopefully by next winter i will have some new wheels to go with the new tires