I'm putting this here as it is more of a general nature.

After having had the opportunity of stripping a dash out of a wrecked Blazer this past week
I have come to the conclusion it's too big a job for me to want to tackle.

The guys printed off the "how to" from the GM site which seemed straight forward. Difficult, but straight forward. UNTIL I got stuck in.

When I started, there were already some components taken out/off so things did get a bit confusing. By the way I had their mechanic check on me every now & then for advice.

Getting the dash out was no big deal, when it got stuck I just yanked - no worries about damage here! And, nothing was going back in. LOL

Then, the heater core! To get this damn thing out, I had to access screws on the engine bay side of the firewall AND surprise, surprise, 2 screws were behind the heater radiator in the engine bay. So - I had to remove the cover & then the radiator thing itself! God forbid if the engine was still in there.

The mechanic ( an American chap trained in the US) laughed & reminded me he told me it's not easy! What he does, is remove the passenger fender & panel inside to get to the heater, remove it & undo those damn screws!

So what I'm trying to tell you guys - I'll be booking my truck in & they can do it!

Another thing - they say these heater cores tend to corrode & leak easily so to fit a used one is not advisable (I've now got one I stripped out & it looks OK, no leaks!) & for 254 bucks it's best to fit a new one. I'm happy with that.

An interesting thing I found out is that when the the Chevy guys do the one on the bigger trucks (& indeed the new ones they convert to RHD) they have a guy that makes new cores using brass tanks & copper core. They've never had a comeback. So I visited this radiator guy, but after checking he's unable to make one up for the humble Blazer - even though it is roughly the same size as the ones on the Silverado's. The problem is the "in & outlet" pipes come out the side ot the top tank in the Blazer & the Silverado's on top. The top (brass) tank, that he is able to source, is not high enough to acommodate the in/outlet pipes. I don't think he is skilled (or bothered) enough to fabricate a bigger top tank. He's a "one-man-band" - works alone & I think it's all just too much bother.

So. Bunce can do the job. My pleasure! Even at around 1500 - 1600 bucks all up!

 

Removing the inner/outer fender makes this job a lot easier in terms of being able to get to the fasteners. But that still does not make it an easy job.

 

And I didn't get the opportunity to strip off the fender to se how big a job that is. Then there is the risk of scratching the panel when it's off. LOL