I thought its about time we all got to know each other a bit better and then we can share info better amongst ourselves, especially stuff relating to RHD versions as it seems hard to come by. I'll start off as I seem to be the gobby one!

My names Phil, I'm 44 and live in Lancashire, I'm a full time stay at home dad, cook, cleaner and general dogsbody to my four year old twin boys. I've just bought my first Blazer a couple of weeks ago as my new daily to replace my previous 98 Isuzu Trooper.

My car history is many and varied starting with an early interest in clapped out rusty classics, my first car being a 1969 MKIII Spitfire, progressing through various Triumphs, Alfas etc then onto 4x4's via the odd sensible but dull motor, having owned at various times a Suzuki SJ410, Series IIa 88" LR, a couple of Cherokees, the wifes had two disasterous company Freelanders and now has a fantastic Nissan X-Trail and most lately I've had a couple of Isuzu Troopers.

My Blazer is a metallic red 2001 four door LS with a manual transmission and loads of odd extras and an LPG conversion. I have the usual list of problems like droopy doors, a rear wiper that just makes a noise but doesn't wipe, random ABS activity and the odd random "service 4wd" light. I hope to address all these issues in the coming months and then start modifying it a little. It'll be used for general running around, some towing, and possibly the odd run down to our holiday home in south-west France when its all sorted.

I'm a fairly hands on kind of guy and will be doing most of the work myself. I have no formal mechanics training but starting out driving cars with a tendency to break down regularly and where random bits fall off kind of forces you to learn especially when young and skint. I can wield a spanner with reasonable success and weld too.

This is my Blazer



I'm not a complete novice when it comes to American vehicles as I also own a 1967 Chevrolet C10 LWB Fleetside pickup with a 300HP 350ci (5.7L) small block V8. It was my daily driver for a couple of years but has been off the road for a few so its a bit of a restoration job now. I've repaired/replaced the kick panel, floor and innner/outer rockers on one side, and currently the engine is getting some attention in the form of a Edelbrock performer inlet manifold to replace the stock cast iron item, conversion to electronic ignition from points and some other tweaks.





The engine as it stands at the moment, lots of shiny period niceness to be fitted yet.



So lets be having you, time to stand up and be counted!

 

This my motor -



'00 LT. Everything works as it should including the heated seats, except the drivers mirror doesn't fold in and the windscreen is cracked. FSH with only 2 previous owners

Even though I am only 24, I have had a crazy array of cars from Navaras to E30 325 BMW's to A Citroen C2, However, right now we are using a Zetec-S, 2.0 petrol Mondeo, which is surprisingly quick and reliable and the Blazer.

My Yank motors I have owned in the past were:-
94 Camaro
93 (I think) Olds Toronado Trofeo, all black everything.
96 AstroVan Starcraft Brougham.

Right now the motors are in Kent, but we will soon be near Bristol.

 

Do Kiwi Blazers count?

I'm Ken 64 & been a Kiwi now for going on 10 years. Before that I hail from Sutton Surrey & Pevensey in Eastbourne. And for good measure - waaay back from South Africa.

Anyway, here in Kiwiland we have Jap Blazers. From my investigations, all RHD's were built in Linden NJ for export to the UK, Japan & some to South Africa.

So it seems our trucks are essentially the same. I did establish my truck was one of only 12,000 odd built in 1999.

As for the LPG conversion, this is very popular down under & whilst there are many Blazers with the LPG conversion, none have joined the forum.

When the fuel prices went crazy in 2009 or thereabouts, the only way car yards could shift stock was to do the conversions.



In terms of spare parts, well that's another story.
We have only one place to get them here & that is from the local Chevy specialists who import new & used trucks (mostly fullsize) & Camaro's/Corvettes then do the RHD conversions.
For a while they imported used Blazers & stripped them for the parts market. Now they only buy from auction houses & insurance companies. When this source dries up . . . . This of course applies to RHD parts. The rest can still be sourced from the USA.

I've had a Japanese friend try find a place in Japan to get parts but no luck there.

 

pic's, or you're full of you-know-what brother.

seriously, i wanna see a pic of that interior.

nice C10 btw. luv the colour.

 

Here is one he posted on another thread:-

 

Ken, you're more than welcome mate! Those are interesting front lights, where did they come from?

 

The headlights or the LED's? Both off e-bay actually.

The low beams had to be converted to suit RHD - cut new cut-oof plates in reverse.

The LED's, also off e-bay, came from Hong Kong. They come in various lengths & can be cut to suit. (in multiples of 3) Rubbery flexible strip 7mm wide. Makes for a tight fit between lamp & grille. Difficult to fit lamp back in slots correctly.
I've had mixed comments about them but mostly possitive.

The indicators - I cut holes in the dummy lens & fitted a 2nd lamp.

The lights above the tow hooks came from K-Mart. Has a park & the fog bulb.

 

well Lippyp, i guess that makes your Blazer more rare than my Jimmy.

and probably the only factory 4 door/manual trany Blazer/Jimmy out there.

 

Apparently on LS spec blazers it was an option in the UK so there may well be a few others out there. We tend to like shifting our own gears over here, most people drive manuals not autos. Maybe thats because until recently the combination of an auto box and a small engine (most cars tend to be sub two litres here) tended to end up as glacially slow. I had a friend with an automatic 850cc mini, you could measure the 0-60 time with a calendar!

 

welll....those 2 statements right there just goes to show you (most) North American's are dumb & lazy.

very little diesel or manual options available over here. hell, if you want anything besides a VW with diesel, you're SOL. don't bother mentioning Audi or MB, i'm talking about us normal working class folks options people. even getting a manual gear box in your diesel pick-up is getting hard.

still..............i don't understand why we never got that option over here, when they clearly made the trucks with it (yours & the pick-ups/2 dr Blazers).


ok enough jacking...............i'll let you have your thread back now.



thanks for the info on your rig.