That's what I'm hoping anyway! Once this is all finished I can get back to my motor swap again. I'm still not certain if I'm going to continue with the 5.3 or build a vortec 383 stroker.

 

No one ever complains of having TOO MUCH power ...

 

Today a swapped my motor mounts. I'd say they were very long over due! The motor was about an inch forward of where it should be so I used a porta power and pushed it back in line.






I replaced them with new poly mounts and everything went easy and well until it came time to put the bolts back into the trans mount (i had removed them before pushing the motor back) and that's when I found that my new poly trans mount was doing its job a little too well without any motor mounts holding everything in place lol!

Luckily it is only the adapter between the trans and tcase that's broken and I've already got a spare for some unknown reason but it is more work that I wasn't counting on.

I've also got a Spartan locker, and 3/4 heims sitting under my tree right now for the front along with a pinion guard and shave cover for the rear

I'll have plenty of free time next week so I should be able to get everything buttoned up and back in driving condition.

 

Looks just like the motor mount in my '72 El Camino (sold car a few years back). Engine used to torque up off the mount about a foot when I gave it heavy throttle, then it would slam back down when I let up, LOL. That'll get your attention!

Drove it like that daily for 3 years ...

 

Those Poly mounts are stronger than I though.

 

Got some goodies installed today!
Pinion guard along with drilling out the yoke to run u bolts instead of straps


Spartan locker up front and the rest of the axle is fully assembled.

14b shave cover is installed but may be coming off in favour of a full cover as the newer axle that I have has a drain built in to the bottom of the pumpkin that would leave a big hole if I were to shave it as much as the cover allows. I'm going to look it closer tomorrow and make a final decision.
Here's a test fit pic

And my heims came in today as well but I'm dumb and had my wife order the wrong ones so I'll be calling Ruff Stuff tomorrow to get them exchanged and I don't anticipate any issue there except now I'm further delayed

The plan for tomorrow is to get the trans fixed and mod my crossmember for the drive shaft then assess what I'll do for the exhaust.

I'd also really like to move my front axle forward 2-3". My springs are right at 23.5" centered so I need something with a long side around 25-27" any suggestions?

 

Transmission is fixed along with finally modding my crossmember so I can finally fit a front driveshaft only to find out I need to shorten the xj shaft that I have. Since it's the front shaft I'll just shorten it myself to save some money. I also have the correct heims on the way to get the steering finished up.

 

Well I found a new job today so I'm stoked about that! I will be rebuilding massive circuit breakers for nuclear power plants. I've got a lot to learn about the job but I'm excited to get started Monday morning. The company is buying me a tool box and whatever tools I need so that's pretty awesome and they seem to be a really tight group of people with a good culture and atmosphere. They do hot bagel Mondays and burrito Thursday plus a company supplied cookout every other Friday afternoon! It's Monday through Friday 9-5 with unlimited overtime for the foreseeable future so lots of money to be made. It's about $12 less an hour than my last job but still over $20 an hour and I should be able to get back to about what I was making in a couple years here. It's only 6 miles from home so it also saves me 26 miles a day on the road which is exciting given the traffic in this area. The best part is the president of the company already encouraged me to bring my Blazer to the shop so I can work on it after hours and on the weekends in the shop! The position is a win for me overall tho because I get to be a mechanic like I want but without all the dirty greasy mess associated with working on vehicles lol. Plus everything is done on a bench so it's much easier on the body.

As for the blazer updates I moved it to my buddies house today so it would be more secure and closer to home. The burban pulled it awesome tho for being such an old lady! My correct heims also came I today so now I just need to find some time to get the steering finished up.

 

Good luck with the new kob, 1 step back and 2 forward

 

I went from driving 65 miles a day to 7. You will definitely like the drive.