I thought I would start a project thread on my Blazer. I asked my wife what she thought I should name the project and she came up with "Project What the Hell" for a couple reasons. 1) When it's done, that's what most poeple will say when they see it. 2) Every time I go to work on something on the vehicle, something screws up and I want to scream, "What the hell?!"

My Blazer is a 2002 two door, 2WD, with the 5-speed. I has the Z85 suspension, 8.5" rear end, G80 posi, and GU4 3.43:1 gearing. It doesn't have cruise, power door locks or power windows or a rear window wiper. Pretty stripped down model.

The plans are to lower it, turbo it, and make it into a more race oriented, semi-Xtreme clone.

Here's how it looked most of the time I've owned it.


I removed the roof rack and plugged the holes and I also removed the chrome trim around the headlights and the chrome bar across the grill. (I kind of have a hatred toward chrome. I'm not totally against it but try to keep it to a minimal amount.)

I then totalled my WRX in July and got a check from the insurance company and bought an expensive pile of stuff. I bought a marine intake, Zoom replacement clutch, QA1 coilovers w/ 550lb/in springs, 3" lowering blocks and a HP Tuner.

While walking through Summit Racing looking for trans fluid, they had some clearance tables out and I just happened to find some goodies. I picked up a set of returned clear markers for $20. Not bad I thought, until I came across a pair of 25mm Eibach wheel spacers for $25 (they retail at $202!)


I got a repop of an Xtreme grill from eBay for cheap. Even not painted, the new grill looks much better. The marker lights had small fitment issues but nothing a couple files and time couldn't fix. Now the front of the truck looks more complete. I still need to get the grill color matched though.


With my new coil overs and 550lb/in springs with the spring seat at 4.25 turns from the bottom, the vehicle was still at stock ride height. I wanted a 3" drop so I started looking for another set of softer rate coils. I got a great deal on a set of new 250-350lb/in coils and set them at 1/6 turns from the bottom.

I tried installing the 3" angled blocks from Belltech but the driveshaft was pushed all the way into the trans and I still couldn't get the locating pins to line up between the axle pads and the blocks. So back to Summit and I got some 2" DJM blocks for $20 less. After I get home and read the instructions (I know, who does that?) and DJM suggests getting block plates due to the narrow axle pads in the late S-series vehicles. Not wanting to run back to Summit or spend any more $$ I decided that making my own would not be hard. I found some 1/8" SS plate and made my own. After that I finally got the rear lowered.

Thanks to the wise people at GM but they decided that a 4x4 stance would be great for a 4x2 vehicle. So after a bunch of $$ and several trips to Summit Racing, I got Project WTH lowered. It's not as low as I wanted but it's close and I ran out of $$ to make it any lower this year. I think final measurements were 2.5" in front and 2.125" in the rear.


I also couldn't help myself and threw on the adapters and 2 of my Firehawk rims. The 275/40-17 Goodyear racing tires with shaved tread really demostrates that I need to go a little lower to make it look right.



The front rim/tire sits close to flush with the fender...

But the rear rim/tire isn't as flush. I plan on getting 1.25" spacers, instead of 1", for the rear to fix that.

I also turned the front wheel lock to lock to check for rubbing and I have at least 0.5" clearance to the nearest point.

I still need to get my marine intake installed but I have to make the fuel injector wiring harness and all the fun stuff yet.

Later, Doug

 

Nice build so far! Those rimes definitely aren't my taste, but overall the truck is looking good. You got some good deals too on the corners and spacers!

 

Sweet looking truck, I really like the rims!

 

Thanks. They are 17x9.5" with 5.5" of backspacing. I wanted to get new tires and installed the rims this year but $$ ran out so it'll have to wait until this coming spring.

Later, Doug

 

Looks great so far!

 

looks great, what part of ohio are you from?

 

Looking good! Not sure if you caught that or not, but the GU4 rear end is actually a 3.08 ratio, the GU6 is 3.43.

Lovin' the way those spacers look.

 

Akron...


I know, I was going off of memory and forgot.


I also forgot to add that I have the Xtreme front grill, a Xtreme airdam, and the chrome headlight trim being painted right now. I'll hopefully have them on this weekend.

I also recently picked up a brand new, in primer, '95-97 rear bumper that will be cut down and modded along with bumper ends to be a little more flush fitting like this...


I don't like the way the normal roll pans make the 2nd Gen's into bubble butts.

Later, Doug

 

that bumper is cool!

 

I like that bumper too. Thats the first one ive ever seen like that. I always wandered why nobody ever shaved down that bubble butt.