Ashyukun's Winter Beater: The Blazer of Glory

After lots of searching and failing to find or manage to buy anything that really fit my parameters (which is confusing since they were very vague ones...), I finally succeeded in buying a winter beater over the weekend: a shockingly rust-free 2000 Chevy Blazer 4x4 with a horrendous rod knock. It has about 160k on the clock.

The good: As previously mentioned, it is VERY rust free. I commonly see S-10s and Blazers half as old with lots more rust than this truck- there's just one small spot that may need addressing (in front of the passenger rear wheel and into the bottom of the door jamb), otherwise it's not got ANY rust. The exterior on the whole is above average, especially for its age. It does have some scratchs and scuffs and has a dent the size of a baseball on the passenger front fender, but it's nothing that a paint touch-up pen and a dent puller wouldn't easily take care of. The black trim is a bit faded- will have to see if some Back-to-Black will shine it up well or if it's far enough gone to need to just hit it with some Trim Black spray paint.

As far as I know, besides the engine issue the rest of the mechanicals are in good shape. It has a good number of newer parts on it- it apparently had a good bit of work done about 2 years ago including a new starter, catalytic converter, and from the looks of it the radiator.

The bad: It needs a new engine, there's no two ways about it. I heard it run before buying it and decided that it was just NOT going to be a good idea to try and drive it the 2 miles to get it home and that it was worth the cost of towing it. Also annoyingly, since it's a 4wd the front hardware prevents the oil pan from being dropped so I can try and slip a new bearing on to get it drivable temporarily.

The good news with regards to this being that it has the 4.3 Vortec which is VERY common and cheap to come by. Yes, as has been mentioned in the original thread when I was considering buying this, I could drop something larger in- but that would likely make it harder to resell down the line.

It does have a number of small quibbles in the interior to be dealt with- the Blazers apparently have horribly designed interior door panels that break left and right, and both front panels are broken. I found a passenger-side one in my salvage yard run the morning I bought it, but couldn't find ANY driver's panels in the yard- and they're like $150 on eBay. Hopefully the yard where I'm hoping to get a new engine will have one I can snag. The center console lid is also broken, which is another common thing on pretty much any car. That should be easier to find (both in the yard and they're much cheaper on eBay).

The seat back adjuster for the driver's seat is broken off. The seat itself is fairly worn but not ripped- if I can get lucky and find a replacement seat in better shape I may grab it, otherwise I'll just pick up a replacement handle and fix the existing seat.

The interior does need a good, deep cleaning as well- the previous owner unfortunately smoked- but it's just worn not ripped or damaged, so I know that the place I've had do interior detailing before should be able to improve it markedly.

It also probably needs shocks, but I'll worry about that after getting the engine replaced.

To Do: Replace engine.

I started yesterday prepping to pull the bad engine out- got as far as getting the radiator out and the fan off. Would have gotten the A/C condenser loose and figuring out if I could pull it out of the way too, but ran out of time. The A/C system appears to have at least some charge in it, so I don't want to breach it if I can get away with it, but I'm not sure with the lines that are there whether or not I can safely move it out of the way or not. The plan is to pull pretty much all of the doghouse off to make it less painless to pull the existing engine and put in the new one.

If I make enough progress over the next few days and am able to track down some assistance for Saturday I may take off a half day on Friday and head out to the U-Pull-It yard with the best selection of potential donor vehicles & prices on engines to pick one out and then hopefully head out to get it on Saturday. The difficulty being that I'll need someone to help who has either a truck we can put the engine in the back of or a vehicle & trailer to put it in...

Costs So Far:

Purchase of Vehicle: $400

Towing: $55

Passenger door panel: $20

Total: $475

Link to Photobucket with pictures:

Blazer of Glory

The bolt for the fuel line in the back of the head takes longer to remove then the rest of the engine . Good luck.

dropstep wrote: The bolt for the fuel line in the back of the head takes longer to remove then the rest of the engine . Good luck.

Yeah, looking things over I can tell there will be a lot of interesting things to deal with. Would LOVE to find someone with some experience with these engines nearby to help with the swap!

Nice! I love seeing old, cast off vehicles being brought back to life.

List of parts/things I still need:

1. New engine (that's kind of a biggie. Would have liked to have found one I could hear run nearby but have thus far come up short on that- will likely get from the newer U-Pull-It yard in Louisville that only charges about $200 for a V6
2. Driver's interior door panel. Possibly the window switch assembly too (they'd taped the panel together and it's got duct tape residue all over it)
3. Driver's seat or replacement seat handle
4. Center console lid
5. Passenger mirror housing- it's cracked and I may be able to fix it but unsure how long that would last
6. One stock wheel center cap (can see it missing on the passenger front wheel)

Still somewhat undecided on what to do with the original engine. Easiest would be to price it to move and sell it to someone to rebuild to recoup some of the cost. Other option would be to try and repair it myself- but would not really be able to test it out effectively. Lastly, I could keep it around as a possible candidate to replace the D's PRV when it finally gives up the ghost. It puts out 25% more power (and more torque too I imagine) and shouldn't be too far off size-wise, though it doesn't match what some of the more popular choices like a supercharged 3800 in power.

A few more things to add to the list of things to get:

1. Battery- the one that came with the truck is apparently shot
2. Radiator isolator bushing- the passenger side one was largely mush when I pulled the radiator. Annoyingly these things are like $15 EACH from anywhere that I've found them. Plan to just snag one from the truck I pull the replacement engine from.
3. If I can find a DIN radio adapter in a junkyard Blazer I'll snag it, would love to put in a cheap Bluetooth radio in place of the stock head unit.
4. The shocks seem pretty shot, so I'm going to replace them while I've got the front end partially apart.

Pretty much have everything on the top-side of the engine unhooked and taken off that can be easily done- there are still some electrical connectors on the back of the TB and of course there's the fuel lines behind it. The accessories are all off of the front of the engine, with the AC and PS still connected but off to the side and out of the way.

With some luck tonight I'll take care of most of the stuff under the truck (drain oil, remove filter adapter/extension, pull starter, remove flexplate bolts) and potentially pull the grille and radiator support (and possibly the fenders if necessary). I'm hoping to pull the engine with the manifolds attached, so will also take a crack at getting the nuts off the manifold/crossover pipe connections.

The bilstein shocks from a second generation bolt in, and are never worn out. Should be five bucks each at the junkyard.

Also, the little c shaped radiator bushings are damn near universal in 80s gm products. Should be able to get them out of almost anything.

Also make sure to thourouly clean the oil cooler and lines. They collect debris from healthy engines, let alone broken ones.

Seats from a grand am mount to the s10 bucket rails perfectly.

The radiator bushings in this are donuts- these are the ONLY ones that I've found that are stated to be the exact replacements: http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00CS3366W

Undoubtedly other ones bushings will work, but I figure that the driver's side one on the truck I pull the replacement engine from should be fine (mine was, it was only the passenger side one that had seen a modest bit of Dexcool that was toast) so I'll just grab that.

Bilsteins from 2nd-gen S-10s/Blazers? Any easy way to identify them on the trucks in the yard?

For the oil cooler and lines I'm probably going to be trying to flush everything (oil, transmission, coolant) anyway since I don't have any idea what kind of crap they've seen. The modern-day 'universal' coolants should play nice with the Dexcool that was in the engine, correct?

Ashyukun wrote: Bilsteins from 2nd-gen S-10s/Blazers? Any easy way to identify them on the trucks in the yard?

They're yellow :)

oh. those annoying bastards on the bottom of the radiator to the core. I used heater hose.

and the bilstiens are yellow. usually with blue boots. don't get the orange decarbons. they are absolute crap. I wouldn't even use them for gravitational assistance in my scrap metal bin.

universal plays fine with dexcool.

and most all chassis parts interchange between s10/blazer/s15/jimmy/Sonoma/brevada

brevada has an awd transfer case. and a great grille. usually also has power leather bickets.

Got down to transfer and register the Blazer today, so budget update:

Previous total: $475

Tax, title, registration: $124

New Total: $599

Id do an oil pump and pan gasket on the replacement before dropping it in. But otherwise you seem to be moving right along.

Awesome! All of my best beater ownership experiences have been old GM products. I'm pretty sure the average Advanced O'Napa Boys Zone has enough parts on it's shelves to build a new 90s GM product right in the parking lot.

Just put through an Amazon Prime order for a bunch of the things I expect I'll need/want for making sure the new engine is good to go:

1. Intake gasket set
2. Oil pan gasket
3. spark plugs
4. radiator flush/cleaner
5. cooling system 'flush-n-fill' kit to make flushing system easier serpentine belt thermostat

Total including tax: $90

New total budget: $689

I plan on getting a few other parts too (will need exhaust flange gaskets and a few more seals) but Amazon didn't have them with Prime shipping that would guarantee they would be here on time, so I'll just get those from the local parts house.

Held off on getting new shocks until I can see if there are any of the Bilsteins on trucks at the salvage yard- getting a full set of decent shocks for about what one new one costs would be a nice savings.

Bilsteins only came on the 4x4 trucks. Also the z71s and 4x4 suburbans from 93ish-99 use the same shocks (front I KNOW, double check me on the rear). I usually snag some fronts to go into the rear of my volvos. Dont forget to do the compression test (push down, if they have resistance and extend when you let go they are good) oh and visually observe for leaks

Made more progress this evening- 4 of the (I believe) 6 bell housing bolts are out- but unfortunately those that remain look to be a BITCH to get out. Starter is unhooked but I've not figured out how to get it out at all- it may just have to sit there until I pull the engine (and then stay there when the new engine goes in). Have access to the flex plate bolts but didn't get the chance to try and get them out. All but the connections on the very back of the engine should be off as far as things top-side. Also got the grille off and a start on the radiator support.

Rather frustrated after tonight's work on the truck...

Still have one bell housing bolt left- the top driver's side one that's essentially wedged between the bell housing and the body. I may be able to get to it if I can get a 15mm 1/4" socket and/or a 15mm 'wobble' socket- it's just impossible to get a normal 3/8" or larger socket on it. I've heard of jacking up the body to get more clearance or lowering the transmission to get a better angle- but neither would be practical if I'm doing this in a salvage yard (where jacks aren't usually even allowed...).

Still cannot get the starter out- there just doesn't seem to be clearance... which means that it's even harder to get to the flex plate bolts. Which I also cannot get out because I can't find a good way to secure the engine so that the flex plate doesn't turn (and there's not clearance to get my impact on the bolt to mitigate the need to hold it). I can't hold the main pulley bolt AND try and break the flex plate bolt free, and I can't see how to wedge anything in to the flywheel to lock it into place. >_< Which again- I'm going to have to worry about when pulling a replacement engine unless for some reason the transmission is already out.

Had a fairly eventful and overall good weekend with regards to the Blazer.

Friday afternoon I took a half day from work and headed the hour and a half to Louisville to the U-Pull-It yard with the best prices on engines and a decent selection over potential engine donor candidates. Almost immediately found a good candidate: an Astro cargo van with about 120k on the odo that had clearly been wrecked. The bonus? Somebody had already pulled the transmission and cut off the exhaust right behind the manifolds- so the worst of the work had already been done.

I looked around at all of the Blazers in the yard and realized I had enough time and headed to the other yard nearby and picked over all of the Blazers there. Haul from Friday:

1. Passenger-side mirror
2. Wheel center cap
3. Center console lid
4. Single-DIN car stereo adapter plate
5. Replacement driver's side seat back handle
6. Driver's interior door panel

Total cost (including fuel): $80

New project total: $769

Unfortunately, the door panel is the wrong color- it's the lighter 'medium grey' instead of the 'charcoal' that mine has- but unfortunately it was the only intact driver's door panel from a 98 or newer (they changed the interior slightly including how the door panels mount...) Blazer that I found out of probably 3 dozen Blazers between all the yards. 90%+ of the Blazers were completely missing the panels, the rest were broken. Apparently it is a VERY common piece to break. So, now I need to either deal with having the wrong-color door panel (I wouldn't care, but will likely help in selling it to have it not have a multi-colored interior...) or see about re-coloring it. The plastic should be fairly easy- they sell a plastic spray in the color I need made for just that. The fabric is more difficult- but I may be able to swap the fabric panel from mine (I has the fabric part, the door panels break below the fabric panel). Or just find an appropriate fabric spray and do either both front door panels or all of the doors so they're consistent-looking.

On Saturday I headed back out with a borrowed Ranger pickup to get the new engine. Getting everything unhooked took only slightly longer than planned but wasn't too bad. Unfortunately I was unable to get the fan off the water pump and as it looked like the fan had taken damage from the accident I decided I'd just get a new water pump and set it aside. The interesting part came when the forklift driver went to pull the engine out- he was pretty impatient and didn't want to wait for me to hook up a chain on the back of the engine. Frankly I'm shocked both that he was able to pull it out at all and that the engine didn't get dropped and destroyed. But somehow he got it out with the only apparent casualty being slight damage to one of the (apparently plastic/composite) valve covers- and I of course can just use the ones off the old engine.

New engine (including fuel): $200

New Project total: $969

Unfortunately I had both gotten a later start than planned Saturday as well as managed to get my arm stabbed on part of the wrecked car body sent me to the local clinic for a tetanus booster since I'd not had one in well over a decade, so after unloading the engine and getting it secured on the stand I called it a day.

Yesterday after church KYAllroad came over to help with pulling the old engine. We made rather good progress, getting it to the point where the only thing that needed to be done was to get the exhaust system unhooked from the engine and to unhook the motor mounts. I did unfortunately break one of the body/frame bolts trying to remove it to be able to jack up the body to get to one of the bellhousing bolts, but I figure once everything is back together it shouldn't be too much of a problem- and I don't see any real way to fix it anyway.

After he headed out I tackled the exhaust, with very mixed success. The bolts on the manifold/crossover joint on the driver's side would NOT budge. I had better luck on the passenger side, getting two of the three off- until the third backed off a turn or two and then just started spinning on the stud. So, I had to resort to unbolting the exhaust manifolds from the engine, and will have to try and tackle getting those bolts off once the engine is out.

Just ordered the additional parts I'll need: Water pump & bolts (damaged one of the fan bolts on mine so can't reuse it), stereo wiring harness adapter (plan to move the older stereo from the D to the Blazer), exhaust manifold gaskets & manifold-to-crossover gaskets. Cost: $70

With luck, after work today I'll be able to get the engine pulled and get started checking over and cleaning up the engine that will be going in.

New Project Total: $1039

Thanks to KYAllroad's continued help after work yesterday, the old knock-knock-joke engine is how out of the car- and no thanks to my missing like 4 different things that needed to be unhooked (including a bellhousing bolt... ) for the engine to be free to come out. Hopefully I didn't damage the transmission oil cooler lines beyond use in the process, that would be another $30. Have no choice but to replace the motor mounts though, the rubber had completely separated from the metal so there's another $20.

Unfortunately... First off, I'd planned on putting the engine on my little roller cart since the new one is on my stand. When we went to test-fit it, we found that I was wrong about the mounts between the 350 the stand is made for and the 4.3- as in the mount points on the engine are back about 6 inches from where the brace is on the cart. I have in thinking about it overnight come up with a few possible solutions to keep from having to pick up another engine stand, so we'll see how those work out tonight.

Also though- we apparently somehow managed to break one of the rear wheels off the engine hoist. Looking at it I can't honestly say I'm too surprised- it was a very poor design from a stress standpoint and is an issue that newer hoists seem to have rectified the problem.

Won't likely get a whole lot done over the next few days as I need to step back and try and clean up and organize the garage a bit before trying to clean up and check over the new engine and get the manifolds free from the exhaust and cleaning up the engine bay in general.

Still debating whether to pull the heads from the new engine and have them cleaned and inspected- it's an additional cost and extra time, but at the same time I'd hate to get the whole thing together and into the truck and find that I've got a head gasket issue and have to pull the heads while in the truck...

Yesterday was a 'reorganizing' and cleaning day where I got little practical done on the truck or engine. I did get the old engine onto the cart with some wood shims to make up the difference between the 4.3 and the SBC the cart is made for, and the old and new engines and the hoist put away in the garage as well as going through and putting away and organizing my tools.

Did have an amusing conversation with SWMBO about my dilemma about how much to dig into the new engine and check it over before putting it into the Blazer- primarily my internal debate on whether or not to pull the heads and have them gone over. Her response was pretty much spot on for her, "This really shows the difference between our respective ways of approaching things- I'd just be putting it in as-is and rolling the dice instead of researching and calculating everything like you are..."

Got into investigating things with the replacement engine over the weekend and found that the intake gasket seals around the water passages were solidly shot- as a result, I'm going to be crossing my fingers and hoping that I'm right in assuming the head gaskets are actually fine and not pull the heads. Will still be pulling the oil pan to at least confirm that the engine shouldn't have any spun bearings like the one I'm replacing, but otherwise am not going to tear the engine down any further.

Took way too much time yesterday getting the last exhaust manifold out of the car. Took pulling out the big gun (literally) and firing up my air compressor- which unfortunately only got one bolt off as the other two rounded off almost immediately. Note to self: next time, lead with the air impact. I had to break out the angle grinder and cut the other two nut/studs off to get it out. If I need to use that manifold for some reason I can just replace the studs, but I have the manifolds on the new engine as well so I shouldn't need to.

So, moving things along slowly but steadily. If I don't encounter anything really bad in pulling the oil pan I should probably be able to have the engine back together tomorrow and move to cleaning up the engine bay and checking things over before potentially trying to get the engine in the car over the weekend.

Also ordered a box of stainless steel flange nuts for when I hook the exhaust back up- I don't figure on needing to disconnect the manifolds from the crossover/Y-pipe, but if I do I don't want to go through the hassle I had to this time (and I'm sure the next person will appreciate it as well).

Trying to find the right replacement motor mounts to order- it's confusing since the R & L ones that I pulled off are CLEARLY different but every place I look at for replacement ones has ones that are supposed to be the same R & L...