Almost finished installing a new radiator. It is a Champion 4-row one. Still need to install the battery, battery tray, and air inlet box. My one concern is if the air box will fit since the new radiator is about 3/8" thicker front/back than the previous one I had from Engineered Cooling Products.

 

Christine,
Interested to hear how that Radiator works for you. I pulled mine and reinstalled the OEM type because it was so leak prone.

Did the front brakes on my ZR2.

Guess it was about time..lol didn't hear the brakes grinding except at low speed...ABS was firing and locking thrm up. Should have looked sooner.

 

Today I finished the installation of a Champion 4-row radiator. I also drained and refilled the front dif.

For the radiator, it was a replacement of an Engineered Cooling Products one. The Champion one is 3 1/8" thick front/back at the side tanks, about 3/8" thicker than the ECP one which was thicker than the OEM style.

I kept the original fan and fan shroud that I had previously modified for the ECP radiator. So, this can be done but it is a tight squeeze! I had to do some mods to the air inlet box. The major issue is that with the thicker radiator, the radiator hose and the upper oil-cooler line start to have interference with the box. I was able to make room for the oil-cooler box by using a heat gun to soften the plastic. For the radiator hose and a metal bracket on the other side I had to do some trimming of the lid.

I'll be posting a full write-up on my build thread.

 

Finally got the new ball joints in after discovering that the Mevotech ones I had purchased had studs that were too long. So I went back to trusty Moog. I then tried to rebuild the CV (outer) joint on my left side front axle but I couldn't get it to work. This came from me wanting to replace the inner and outer boots. (FYI, if you ever want to do that, do NOT disassemble the outer CV joint.) So fortunately I had a replacement axle on hand I had purchased about 7 years go and had stored that I installed instead. I kept it because I had installed it back then and couldn't return it. At the time I couldn't get the shaft to engage with the front differential but thought I had. I then drove with it not engaged ruining the output seal. So I swapped the retaining ring from the old shaft onto the new one and also made sure that the opening of the ring was at the 12 o'clock position and it went in perfectly. (I only recently heard of the trick to rotate the ring opening to the 12 o'clock position.) I also installed new front sway bar links. I managed to break one of them when moving one of the lower control arms while trying to install a lower ball joint so I figured I might as well replace both. And I also replaced the left front wheel hub. The old one hadn't worn out, but instead I broke off the Allen bolt that held in the speed sensor and I couldn't get it out so that the only solution was to buy a replacement. Ugh.

All this came from thinking over a week ago "Hey, since I have the truck in the garage and on jack stands, I might as well replace the lower ball joints. What could go wrong?" LOL

 

Not today but back in June I suspended the insurance on the Blazer and put a battery maintainer on it for the summer. Took the 1500 off suspension as it gets much better mileage and is 2wd. I'll swap them both again at the end of Oct/early Dec when the snow begins to fly. Been doing this every year since I got the 1500 a few years back.

 

While Im not a fan of cutting on perfectly good parts... if you think you need it, you could probably get away with trimming down the hose. Actually, since I have everything apart replacing a water pump (235k miles so a pretty good run IMO), I dont think its the airbox that will be the biggest issue, its going to be the transmission cooler line. It is RIGHT up on the box. I think its going to come down to if the TANK is 3/8" thicker or just the core. Looks like our core doesnt come close to using all the available depth the end tanks use.

 

Funny you should mention cutting the hose because I did.

And you are correct about the oil cooler line being an issue. I used a heat gun to soften the plastic of the box to add a dimple for clearance.

I posted pictures of the final installation at my build thread.

The OEM style radiators sure are thin, aren't they?

 

I'm just glad you were able to use a heat gun and clearance the box enough for the hard line, the radiator hose had enough wiggle room that I was pretty sure a half inch chop would probably improve things clearance-wise. As fast as the stock radiator... yeah, I was looking at how thin it was while I dribbled sweat all over everything in this Texas heat! If I hadn't already replaced it a little over a year ago, I'd be looking at a multi core myself! The current overheating is certainly related to the water pump (leaking almost as bad as my forehead) and I'm crossing my fingers that the new pump (O.E. new and not one of the rebuilds) is the final piece. Well, I guess it should be since it really is! New heater core several years ago, all heater and radiator hoses replaced, thermostat and radiator replaced, the pump itself was the last thing except the fan clutch (which I verified the mfg date code on the fan blades of sept 1998 today!) is the last of the original cooling system. Now that I've said it out loud, the overflow tank will probably crack! 😂

 

Today I installed 6 oz of Counterbalance balance beads in each of my 30×9.5R15 Toyo Open Country A/T III.

Balance beads are supposed to be good for large aspect tires with agressive treads with lots of lugs. Many folks swear by them.

I sure hope this addresses the vibrations i
I still had after one regular rebalance and a road-force balance. If I can't get them to balance I might have to get new tires!

 

Today I removed a 1/2 inch deep socket from my catalytic converter. Imagine the racket this was making, it sounded a little like a paint can rattle. If a person has the exhaust manifold removed from the Y-pipe, it's a good idea to put a rag in the hole so nothing gets dropped.

The 6 flange nuts were a real bear to remove. Three came off clean, but the other three were removed with an air chisel and air hammer. Further, the top nut on the manifold side is difficult to access.

I am planning to replace the hardware with stainless steel nuts, flat washers and anti-seize. I wonder if it's necessary to stake the nuts with a punch so they don't come loose. I don't want to use the OEM locking flange nuts because they can't be removed with a nut splitter.