What is it about these vehicles that people are fond of?They seem like they are always needing major work done on them and a PIA to work on.Everything that I have had to do on mine has fought me tooth and nail.Every bolt or nut I had to lossen has taken me considerable amount of effort to remove.I wish nw I would have bought a 1st generation instead of the latter.How do the rest of your guys/gals feel?

 

i love my 99. i do agree that working on them can be a pita but im getting better at working on them from tips and trick from being on this site.

 

I will say that when I first bought mine I thought it was ugly but it fit what I needed at the time for my family and budget so it was purchased. Now that I have had it for a bit and made it my own I love it and don't ever plan to get rid of it. I do have alot of future plans for it but those certainly don't include selling it! I get alot of people that ask me why do that to a Blazer? The anser is simple "when was the last time you saw a jeep with modifications? Well ten minutes ago! Ok now when was the last time you saw a blazer with modifications? UMMMMM I dunno! Exactly I don't want to be like everyone else thats why!!"

 

The first gen isn't any better, trust me on that.

 

You and me both. This is primary reason #1. The only think i dont like about my truck is how low the frame sits, but thats soon to change.

But after pulling, rebuilding and installing a 3.0 Toyota engine into a 4Runner, working on the the 4.3 is a dream. Everything is soo much easier to work on in the Blazer compared to the pile of crap 4Runner. Unless were talking about a 22re then thats different...

 

trust me any thing has there issues.... even other makes and models.

 

When I 1st got it the price was cheap enough $450. with a bad engine.Simple enough I thought I`ll just get another engine and drop it in.Well I found a short block with low miles 88k for $100 and already had a set of heads from cpi engine.I was going to put the cpi top end on the motor which i did then when I installed the wiring harness wouldnt work too many connections that didnt match up.By then Im questioning myself what did I get into.So I got the true vortec heads for the 97 block i purchased and swapped back to the original factory setup for my year and installed the engine.By this time 6 months had gone by because i was working outside in the eliments and mother nature was cooperating very well with me.Ontop of that I was working in a gravel parkinglot which definately made the work even more difficult.So I bought plywood and laid that down underneith my jimmy while it was jacked up on ramps.Then I went to put the trans in and found out the previous owner had lied to me about it being good.So I had it rebuilt and bought a new converter to go with it.1 year later the following spring this year I rented a shop and moved everything over into it.Started to install the trans and nothing wanted to cooperate with the install.By this time Im losing faith and thinking I should just give up.So it sat for 3 months in limbo and after regrouping I decided that i have all this effort,time and $ spent its time to continue.Several trys later the trans still was going in as palnned.Mind you im doing all this work by myself.Well i figured out why the trans wasnt going in as it should and thats because I had other work to do undernieth such as replace the fuel lines and a brake line.Now all this has been completed,the engine has everything all connected up.So now it sits waiting for me to do a reattempt at installing the trans and transfer case.The exaust still has to be hooked up but thats another thread I just started earlier today.The body is cherry red and very clean and the interior is clean so i hope that after Im done getting all the work finished its starts up,runs and drives and hope that all my effort wasnt all in vain.

 

time and patience is the key. Ya need to remember putting a tranny on is not very hard nor easy ....

 

I have two Blazers ('94 and '00) and two Jimmys ('93 and '98). I love them all. They're small, tough, rugged, durable, and relatively easy to work on. Every vehicle has its own problems, like replacing the spark plugs on the right side of an Olds 307 in any big Buick of the 1980s. By the time you get past all of the emissions crap there's hardly any room to get to the spark plugs.

There are definitely things that are nicer/easier about the 1st gens: heater cores, HVAC controls, transmission, wiring, and controls in general. There are things I prefer about the 2nd gens also: seating, ergonomics, top end of the engine.