Did door pins. Win

 

You did that yesterday, Liar!

 

I have had a lot going on so between life in general, and weather, things with my son's Blazer were put on hold for quite a while. Anyhow, for quite some time we've been trying to get an engine into the '85 S10 4x4 Blazer we bought for my son. We finally got a 3.1 out of a 91 Camaro ready to go in. However, the no simplicity law kept/keeps kicking in. We discovered that part of the neck of the torque converter had broken when the old 2.8 engine had thrown it's rod. After the neighbor pulled the broken chunk out they stabbed the brand new torque converter and then at one point we tried to stab the engine.

Upon having problems I knew something wasn't right. Then the neighbor said something like, "Well we're trying to keep the end of the torque converter lined up cause it's already in the engine." Red Flag! I transferred onto the ground and underneath the Blazer to find that the torque converter was not seating properly. Upon further investigation, after lifting the engine back out and pulling the Blazer out from under it, we found one of the 'ears' or tabs that the torque converter seats over was messed up.

I had checked around with several salvage yards and was told no one had a used transmission but decided to make that one more call to a salvage yard that can usually find what I need if they don't have it. They said they had one in their warehouse for $450. Next I called A&Red's (the transmission parts place where I bought the torque converter) and told them what I had going. I asked what they charged to rebuild one, even though I was sure I couldn't afford it. He told me they didn't rebuild them anymore but recommended me to Terry's Transmissions. After he'd heard my situation he told me he would rebuild the transmission for $450 and guarantee it for a year as long as I brought it for inspection after we got it going and then again after a certain time period.

So, over the last couple of days my son and I pulled the transmission. We had a close call yesterday. I started to lower the transmission having forgotten about the floor shifter for the 4wd. I saw it just in time and raised the transmission back up. Then we pulled the boot off and I was trying to remove the shifter when the safety chain came loose and let the transmission begin to slide off of the jack. (I intentionally didn't have the 'corners' on it because I knew we were going to have to get it off of the jack to get it out from under the Blazer.) As I started to work with the shifter the transmission shifted. Oh the irony.

Then it was hanging by the shifter and barely on the jack. Naturally there was no help available. I no more than suggested we slap some braided fence wire between the frame rails under the transfer case to make sure it didn't fall when my son said, "No. I have an idea. Put the tow strap under it. I want to use the come-along and car to lift it back up." That's exactly what we did and it worked great. After taking up the slack he ratcheted the transmission to just the height I wanted. We finished unhooking everything and then lowered it down with the jack and come-along.

I do believe we'll use two tow straps to lift it back up high enough to get the transmission jack under it when putting it back in.

 

you ratted him out

 

What a nightmare, Brian. Gotta love it - always something on a engine swap! God knows I've been there ...


Threw my Blazer on eBay for 3 weeks. Waste of $92. Very little interest. Lowered the price the last couple days of the ad too.Thing runs mint - just has a rusty body. That scares everyone away. Undercarriage is nearly rust free. Oh well. Another vehicle to park out back with the rest.

Today I get to wrestle a clutch line in a '94 S10 plow truck I got for free. Boy, did the GM engineers hit that one out of the park! God forbid they use a NORMAL friggin brake line. Nope!! Too simple! They had to F the consumer as usual, and put some proprietary push-pin o-ring setup in there. To top it all off, no bleed nipple on top of the slave! Just a allen head plug that squirts fluid all over the place. No way to hook up a Mityvac to that! Friggin GM for ya. Had to pay $56 for the damn line when I have 150' of copper-nickel alloy line sitting here ...

 

I swear they should put it in the books. The No Simplicity Law should be listed in the beginning of every user manual ever made. Among other issues, I think they burned the transmission fluid in that thing. I had to drain it and pull the pan in order to Beat the dipstick tube out of the transmission and that fluid reeked. After beating the dipstick tube about half way out I had my son tap it back down. Then I sanded the exposed portion of the tube hoping it would make it easier to pull. No such luck. I still had to hammer it out, including using a punch for the last 1/2".

After that I was able to get a wrench on the transmission lines... at a 45 degree angle that is, and that was a regular wrench. I knew that wasn't going to work. I had to go buy a set of flare nut crows feet in order to get them loose.

I wish I had a dollar for every time I wanted to kick someone in the teeth for the way they designed something.

I think if I had something like you're describing for bleeding, I'd be wanting to kick someone in the teeth. What a mess. I use an old piece of oxygen hose that I got from the hospital for bleeding my brakes. Works great. Let's me direct the fluid into an old bottle, and I can SEE when I'm getting bubbles and when I'm not.

 

I've got some of that hose for an asthma nebulizer - works great! When that runs out I have some Tygothane C-210-A hoses I used for the oil injection lines on my '74 Yamaha RD350. Stuff is great - holds up to gasoline too. I use it repairing weedwackers and chainsaws - run it right into the fuel tank and throw the filter in the end. Holds up pretty good to the ethanol diluted fuel up here.

I think the last good vehicle rolled off the assembly line in 1972. From now on, nothing I buy will be newer than that!

 

i kicked that lazy no rent paying truck out of the garage for winter. last years it was just in the way anytime i was trying to do something so figured it could go outside. took the boggers off as 2 of them keep going flat



used to go out every weekend with it then every other weekend. year before last i think it went out twice, last year once and this year none such a fun truck and runs great just beat to crap and has issues so not really worth much so im stuck with it til i blow it up i guess

 

Yeah that's where I'm at with mine. Everyone sees the body rust and gets scared away. Wasn't one of my smartest investments ...

 

Yeah, I think the oxygen line I've got is the same stuff as what you're talking about. I had to trim a bit off the end of it to get it to 'plug' onto the bleeder but I've been using it for many years and I don't see any visible wear on it. I've got two or three of them around here somewhere as well as made one for my buddy which he promptly lost like he does everything.

Well, it could be a while before I get back to work on my son's Blazer. I picked up all four U-joints because I figured I'd put some heavy duty ones in it while the I had the drive shafts out. The transmission for Old Blue is supposed to be done tomorrow. Of course that won't matter as I can't go pick it up. It's been one of those days.


If I were one to complain when things didn't go 'as planned', today would be one of those that would have me complaining.


I recently had a timing belt kit put into my van. Upon picking it up the brakes were squalling something fierce. I knew they were needing replaced but I sure didn't remember them being that bad before I'd parked the van. Need less to say my plan was to park it and continue to drive my T-Bird until I had time to replace the brakes.


I've also recently done a ton of work on my T-Bird. Most recently I had the timing set on my it. I was pretty happy with the way it was running. It had a lot better pickup on the low end and the gas mileage was Much better.


Today I headed into town for therapy on my legs. I got two and a half miles from my house and as I was coming to a four way stop my car began to backfire. It then died at the stop sign and wouldn't start. It cranked over and occasionally backfired and I was fairly certain it had jumped time.


I called a friend who came to tow me home. (He actually had to take his wife to drop her off at her doctors office a couple of miles from where I was broken down and then come to help me.) While I was waiting on him I called the Auto Zone I do business with and had them pull the brakes for the van so they'd be ready to pick up. Then when Mark got there I asked if he'd mind going to pick them up and then coming back to tow me home. He didn't mind and so he did.


After we got my car home he was going to help me do as much on the brakes of the van while his wife was at the doctors office. [He does most of the running back and forth to grab and/or handing me whatever I forgot so I don't have to get up and down/in and out of my wheelchair.] HOWEVER, as luck would have it the battery in the van was Completely dead. We tried giving it a jumpstart but it was still dead as a doornail.


Eventually we pulled the battery out and hooked up my charger. It was acting weird so I'm questioning that battery. Meanwhile we put the battery out of my T-Bird into the van (doesn't actually fit) long enough to pull it out next to the T-Bird so I could do the brakes. We'd no more than got it out there when his wife called and said she was ready to be picked up.


I guess I should look on the bright side though. A short time later I had it in the air and Just before I could get a jack stand under it the dang thing fell. Luckily I jerked my arm out of the way Just in time to keep from having it broken, or worse. See how lucky I am?