Hello,

I have a 1992 Chevrolet S10 Blazer Tahoe LT 4WD with a L35 W CPI engine. I'm planning to rebuild the car (long term project!).






I have a farm in the foothills of the Pyrenees, I need to tow diverse and heavy stuff all around through some kind of, wild nature environment. I like simple and sturdy vehicles.

It is a car I bought in a hurry because my previous one was very worn and the engine was fried and would have needed a complete overhaul or engine remplacement, but being also an old car, finding another good engine take time…
It had no real service history, had obvious signs of poor maintenance and bad repairs, the engine had some ignition and injection issues, but the general mechanical state seemed OK, the mileage was "only" about 150'000 km (<100'000 miles), and I don't know, I just liked the car, very unusual here. Big gasoline engine 4WD cars are not so common here (I used to work on gasoline engines: 2 strokes, carburated, turbocharged mainly...), and this one have a good reliability reputation. Spare parts relatively easy to find (except for 2nd hand ones…). And above all it was cheap and within my very small budget at this time. Yes, the poor man pays twice, as you say in English I believe… I've promised me not to do it (again) before...

Eventually, after some time doing small repairs and adjustments, the engine was still not running smoothly. I made a compression test and among all the cylinders with very good compression values, 2 of them had very bad values (#2 & 4)... I was thinking it was only a head gasket failure (like an opened bridge between cyl. #2 & 4) or burnt or bent valves (crappy work on the intake & spider made by the previous owner could have let something enter). But it resulted in a cracked head and pitted and probably worn out cylinders (the others still have the honing marks...). Probably an overheating failure. Or thess pre-Vortec heavy iron heads are not so reliable?

So I had 2 choices: send the car to the wreckyard or rebuild it (yes another one!). I'm leaning toward the 2nd option and want to share it with you.

The rebuild program as I'm seeing it now (will depend on budget, parts availability and, spare time!):
- chassis sanding and epoxy painting;
- suspension complete overhaul, maybe some improvements for better road & track handling (not so good for what I've seen);
- better brakes (2nd gen discs & calipers??) maybe, as well not really impressive as stock;
- body works and painting : some bends (a big one on the rear right fender) and scratches, rear gate crushed, missing front skirt, etc.;
- interior repairs and missing parts to be put back;
- heavy duty hitch + tool box;
- "new" engine (maybe a 2nd hand 96-06 L35 X from 2nd gen S10 Blazer ?), with E85 conversion: marine like intake + external injection system + standalone ECU (the GM ECM staying for the display & TCC). I could tune the GM ECM but it is a very specific world to discover & learn, and it appears to be slow to set (not really real time data logging & on the fly adjustement). For now I've not even succeed to communicate with the ECM using an homemade cable...;
- transmission boxes and axle servicing, the 4L60 (non E version) will require to modify the flywheel cover to mount a post-96 engine.
- maybe small modifications like AC delete, cruise control delete, electric cooling fan, electric steering rack depending on what I can find at the wreckyard;
- electric & lights works.

Yeah, crazy for an old and ugly car!

And alongside, I'd like to completely overhaul and modify a LU3 07-14 engine for better reliability, efficiency and low end performance that I could put inside later… E85 also and low-pressure turbocharged probably… Expensive, time consuming and for now I have no or difficult access to a good machine shop.

If you live close to South France (Spain, Switzerland, etc.) and that you have contact for US cars 2nd hand parts or good machine shops (race engine, US engines), let me know !

 

This sounds like a great project! Be sure to keep us posted and ask for help.