Well here are some pics of my new project. It is a '76 2wd Blazer. It has some rust issues, but nothing a lot of time and patients can't remedy. It has a GM crate 350 in it w/ a freshly rebuilt TH400 and a 12 Bolt rearend. It's got like new 15x8" American Racing aluminum Mod. wheels w/ 31x10.50r15 BFG All Terrains on it. It's got lots of other new parts on it, and came with a lot of other new parts as well.

I'm pretty excited about this aquisition, as I have wanted one of these since I was 16. My plans are still in the preliminary stage, but I happen to have a 2004 5.3 swap that I was going to put into my '87 SWB that may just find its way into the Blazer. First, though, is getting all the cancer replaced. It needs both doors, the rear "door" skin, both front floor pans and the rocker panels. The rest of the rust looks like it will be repairable. I won't know until I get the body off the frame and have it media blasted. Once I get to that point I will have a much better idea.

Here's some pics. Let me know what you think!

Subscribing!
I say use the 5.3 in the blazer.

What are your suspension plans?

Nice buy, even with the cancer it's not far from being real nice. I hope your going to put this in the weeds, im not too big on a 4wd looking 2wd, but either way, nice buy.

Ya I will be keeping up with this one too, it looks to be a good truck to start with. What are your plans for it? Colors or mods?

Love it. What's your vision for it?

i love it also! cant wait to see you tear into it in the new "shop"!

cute doggies btw! :)

i love it also! cant wait to see you tear into it in the new "shop"!

cute doggies btw! :)

Yeah the 2 big ones are mine. The puppy was just being babysat for the neighbors. The big ones are Beavis & Butthead ;)

The "shop" should start taking shape in the next couple of weeks. The concrete retaining wall and the 2 back walls and footings will be poured the week after Thanksgiving as long as the weather holds.

It is going to definitely be lowered. I would really like to bag it, but that may be down the road a bit. I will certainly get the spindles and drop springs on the front and probably just a shackle and hanger for the rear, until I take the body off the frame. Then I will build the notch for a flip :)

I had the same thoughts to lower the rear of mine after the swap. Thats when I read in here that if you use a shackle it will hit the filler neck and the truck hangers are different from the blazer ones (too tall) so they dont work either.

About the only straight forward options are leaf removal or a flip kit.

Flip kits for these factory 2wd blazers (73-82) makes them set really low and look great. But they are different than putting a flip kit on a pickup. The c-notch is a must! Then the other issue is the center section of the rearend is really close to the floor.

I have owned a '79 2wd and an '82 2wd blazer.
The '79 had longer rear shackles and some pulled leafs out of the spring pack. Some creative fuel fill routing is necesssary to clear the shackle.
The '82 had a homemade flip kit and air shocks, when I bought it. Looked cool but rode like crap. I un-flipped it and installed 4" lowered leaf springs, and longer shackles to fix it. (an another round of creative fuel fill work)

Since then I found out that a cheap fix is to install new rear "shackle frame mounts" from a 4x4 blazer.
(they are longer than the 2wd frame mounts, essentially raising the flip a little)
Then add the economical flip kit.
This allows a little more suspension travel after the flip kit is installed.

The down side to this mod,... is that the gas tank needs to be removed to grind rivets and bolt in the new 4x4 brackets.

The only other choice would be to install the flip kit by itself with a big notch and cut the floor for the rearend center section clearance.

Love any 2wd blazer or Tahoe builds,... so I'll be watching for updates!

Here's an old pic of my '82 2wd.

nice blazer, why does it seem like eveyone has a 5.3l lying around that they want to swap in.i'd keep the 350 if it ain't broke don't fix it.

lolife99 -

Thanks for posting that. I'll keep my 4x4 shackle hangers in place on my swap then. Just wish you would have posted that before I spent 2.5 hrs getting the 2wd ones off my doner frame. What does the drop wind up being? 3-3.5"? That would be perfect with at 2.5" spindle...

Would the 4x4 hangers give you the room at the filler neck to run a drop shackle? That could get back whats lost in the flip by using the 4x4 hanger.

The stance on the red truck is perfect. What was used up front?

lolife99 -

Thanks for posting that. I'll keep my 4x4 shackle hangers in place on my swap then. Just wish you would have posted that before I spent 2.5 hrs getting the 2wd ones off my doner frame. What does the drop wind up being? 3-3.5"? That would be perfect with at 2.5" spindle...

Would the 4x4 hangers give you the room at the filler neck to run a drop shackle? That could get back whats lost in the flip by using the 4x4 hanger.

The stance on the red truck is perfect. What was used up front?

I haven't personally done this.
I found out about it after I went to all the trouble to switch my junk around.

It was done buy a guy doing a 4x4 conversion. He used 2wd rear frame shackle mounts also,... and ended up re-installing the original 4x4 mounts to raise it back up a little after he installed the flip kit.
I think you will end up with a 4"-5" drop. I don't think you will need the "lowering shackle" with this set up.
My red truck had 3" drop spindles and a cut set of stock springs up front. (done by the previous owner)
Sorry for the late post.

^^^Good info about the shackle hangers. I'll have to check into that.

A friend cut my filler tube and put a turn in it to clear the shackle, welded it up and painted it. It turned out great and looks good too.

That is good info! I will have to save all info for some things down the road..;)

I haven't personally done this.
I found out about it after I went to all the trouble to switch my junk around.

It was done buy a guy doing a 4x4 conversion. He used 2wd rear frame shackle mounts also,... and ended up re-installing the original 4x4 mounts to raise it back up a little after he installed the flip kit.
I think you will end up with a 4"-5" drop. I don't think you will need the "lowering shackle" with this set up.
My red truck had 3" drop spindles and a cut set of stock springs up front. (done by the previous owner)
Sorry for the late post.

I was thinking of using the drop shackle if you wanted it lower after the flip. I guess I wasnt too clear, but I meant it to get back the 1-2" you will lose by using the 4x4 hanger. I'm not exactly sure the difference between the two, but I could measure it later.

Either way a flip kit on the blazer with a 4x4 hanger will be higher than one on a 2wd truck. I was thinking you might have room to run the drop shackle then if you wanted, without hitting the filler neck? I'm going to try it regardless, the flip kit brackets are only $30 on ebay.....

Thanks again for the info and saving me the work of cutting out 12 or so rivits :metal:


nlped, sorry for the thread jack, truck looks like a good starting point and I like the colors. Your ahead of me, yours runs and is already 2wd....

^^^Lol!!! I'm actually winnin' :metal:

Well, I finally have an update for the "Bull". But first, just in case anyone cares, I sold my '87 GMC named "Bob". Now you know why I finally have started doing a little work on this one.

It isn't much, but I drove it this morning and noticed the power steering was making a little noise, so checked and topped of the PS fluid. While doing this I noticed that the PS sector/gear was leaking from the input shaft, and since I already knew it needed the rag joint replaced so this was a perfect time to dive right in. I didn't buy the entire rag joint assembly, but a rebuild kit instead. What a chore! It's done though and the seal isn't leaking anymore, the steering is considerably firmer, and no groans from the PS.

I plan on doing some work on the ole truck now. Just small stuff first, but eventually the body work and lowering :metal:

I added a pic of the new & old rag joint "bushing" to show how bad it was ;)

Another quick update. I finally got around to figuring out how I am going to drop the old Blazer.

I am going to put a 2 1/2" drop spindle and cut half a coil off of new stock springs for another inch. In the front now it looks to have freight train coil springs (the coil itself is about an inch in diameter...huge) in the front to accomplish the 3 + inches of lift it has now, so I need new front coil springs anyway and I can get the stock ones for $60 vs. $140 for a 1" drop coil from the aftermarket.

In the rear, I am going to take the stock leaf springs and the 3" lift block off and replace the leafs with ones off of a '95 4x4 2 door Tahoe (Thanks for the info TVBlazer) that I scored from a local salvage yard today, and do a flip kit. Should work out to about 4-5" in the rear. So I can "adjust" the front coil springs if needed later on ;).

Now I just have to wait on the drop spindles. :)

I got the drop spindles, new Moog front coils, and the rear leaf springs. Now I have to come up with some tires to put on these aluminum mods to accomodate the impending drop ;).

I also picked up a Miller 172 Mig Welder yesterday for a song, so I will be trying my hand at replacing the floor pans and lower rocker panels :metal:

The next update pics should be sweet...

Thats right, pics always makes it better..

Well, I have finally gotten a few parts and new tools rounded up for "The Bull". I also have the '95 4WD Tahoe rear leaf springs, but I still need to take them apart, clean them up, and spray some paint on them, so I didn't shoot a pic of them yet. And the flip kit saddle I made myself. I am working on building a batch of c-notches as well (to sell once I confirm there fit and finish ;) )

What do the tahoe springs do? Are they shorter?

No, actually they are a bit taller. A flip kit on a Blazer lowers it so much that the rearend ends up touching the frame (like 6-7"). With the 4WD springs and the flip kit I should end up with abut 4" of drop in the rear. Then, if I need more, I can add shackles. I don't want it to low right out of the box, because of the terrible roads around my area.

Put me on the list for c-notches and flip kit brackets....

Put me on the list for c-notches and flip kit brackets....

I'll do it! ;) Hopefully I will have the new c-notch prototype today :metal:

What are your plans for the front since you have the spindles on the parts board??

Thinkin' about one of Nate's crossmember's ;)

^^^with the McGaughy 13" front brake kit, and it comes with the drop spindles. But I won't buy, 'til I sell. (the brakes, not the dropmember ;) )

Woo Hoo! :metal: Me & a buddy wired up a plug for my new welder and plasma cutter this evening. The plasma cutter is more fun than any other tool I own. We cut from 1/8" to 3/8" thick metal, and just a little fine tuning of the air pressure and the voltage setting, it cut it like butter.

I now just need to fine tune my ability to cut a straight line ;)

Well, I sold the first set of drop spindles and got my McGaughy front and rear 13" brake kits w/ cross drilled rotors. I will be starting on the install on them this weekend. Finally working towards taking some elevation out of the Bull.

Quicky shot of the front kit behind the 18" 338's. Oh, did I mention that the 338's fit without ANY issue with this set up :metal:

Wow, super nice. Get that thing on the ground all ready...



I know I'm one to talk huh??? :lol:

Nice to see some progress on The Bull, I was afraid you were going to sell it. The wheels and brake kit look great.

^^^ I seriously considered it, but I have wanted one of these things since high school (many moons ago), so I just decided to keep it. I will make a serious effort to focus on it and just make the 'Burb a tow vehicle... For a while anyway ;)

looking good bro! cant wait to see it all together

Very cool! Now put them on and post pics!

I'm gonna start this weekend. Gotta do some machine work to the rear axles and install the Auburn diff and new 3.42 gears first. I want to get the rear lowered first, so I know where the front needs to end up.

I am definitely dragging @$$ on this project, but I finally got a little bit done. I pulled the rearend out from under the "new" '88 Suburban, because it was howling like a rabid coyote, so I can use it as the replacement rearend for the Blazer. Both are 12 bolts, and the one in the Blazer seems to work perfectly so I am going to put it back under the 'Burb when I get this one back from being rebuilt.

This pic is obviously before being cleaned up and painted, but just so you know, I have actually cleaned on it for about an hour with a 1600psi pressure washer. It had leaks from everywhere, so there was stuff stuck to it all over. I ended up wire brushing it and finally using the ole portable sand blaster and getting in the nooks and crannies. It's now painted gloss black with PPG Gloss Black Alkyd Enamel Commercial Performance Coating.

I also will be going by today or tomorrow to pick up the axles, which have been machined to fit the C5 rotor in the McGaughy 13" Big Brake Kit :metal:. And I took the 4x4 Tahoe springs apart and sanded, primed, and painted them with the same PPG paint.

I hope to get the Blazer a little lower by the end of the weekend, weather permitting ;). I'm going to put the 'Burb back to stock ride height for now, using the Blazer parts... until I can do it up the way I want it!

:metal: any progress is good progress!!!

:metal: any progress is good progress!!!

Thanks ;)

I got the axles back from being machined down to fit the C5 rotors, so now I am going to take the donor 12 bolt to my rearend guy...that sounds really bad :haha: ... so I can get it fitted with the new 3.42's, Auburn Posi, & new bearings and seals :metal:. Then it will be going under the Blazer!!!

Just a before & after shot of the axles side by side, still plenty of metal.

I'm just about ready to get started putting everything back together. I got the rearend back from having the Auburn, gears & bearings/seals installed...cost me $100 this time :metal:.

Now I am in the middle of painting the calipers, rotors & CPP m/c. I did the rotor hats & veins and the caliper bridges in a high temp gloss black, and the caliper bodies in a high temp cast grey. The rearend housing and '95 4x4 Tahoe rear leafs are painted with PPG gloss black Akyln Enamel Chassis paint. I'm hoping to get the rearend ready and possibly put under the Blazer this weekend.

Quick pic of some parts :)

Lookin good....

x2

All right, I got a little bit done this weekend. I pulled the factory 12 bolt out from under the rear of the Blazer and the factory leaf springs too. I was about to start on installing the new Tahoe leaf springs and the new 12 bolt back under but ran into an issue I need clarification on. The Tahoe springs are about an 1"-1 1/2" longer, from spring eye to spring eye, than the stock springs. Is this going to cause me problems?

The bolt that holds the leafs together and locates the spring perch and flip bracket is also that much further back, but I figured I could just drill an new hole in the flip bracket in the center and that would fix the rearend location issue...right? I have kind of come to a stand still until I know if this is going to work.

I also figured out why the rear brakes smoked when used a lot :haha: , it has a fubared axle seal, but I can fix that. This rearend is going to end up under the 'Burb.

good progress...those brakes look awesome too!

did you get the leaf's from a 2 or 4 door tahoe?

did you get the leaf's from a 2 or 4 door tahoe?

I got them off of a 2 dr. That was right, wasn't it?

Well, I went ahead and used these 4x4 Tahoe leaf springs. After a quick conversation with Travis, I decided to try them. I did go ahead and drill a hole directly in the middle of the flip bracket to compensate for the Tahoe spring bolt being 1" further back. That way the rearend would be in the correct location as far as the driveshaft is concerned.

I didn't get it finished, but the actual rearend is under the Blazer, and all of the major bolts are in place & the u-bolts are tight. I didn't tighten up the shackle bolts or the front leaf spring/hanger bolt yet, as I figured it would be smarter to do that once the truck is back on the ground. I still have to bolt up the driveshaft, install the hardlines on the rearend housing (I waited to do this because of the disc brake kit), and install the brake kit and bleed it. Then I just have to put the rearend cover on and add fluid and friction additive and I should be good to go :metal:. I'm going to try and finish it up tomorrow evening if the weather permits.

Then I have to start on rebuilding the whole front suspension... YUCK!!! But it's gonna ride one heck of a lot better, and the 4 wheel drive stance will be gone.

Very nice work.. You have been working a lot on this thing. Sorry that I have not been on here that much. The new house keeps me going. Anytime you all need help just email me and pm me.

Keep it going and lets see some pics..:metal:

Well, I have the rear about done. It got dark on me, so I had to give up on the final little bit. I still have to tighten the shackle and spring eye bolts, bleed the rear brakes (after installing new M/C & P/V and gutting the stock p/v), and just go over everything in the rear.

I now have to get started on the front. It's a bit lower than I expected, but I do kinda like it. I guess the front will have to come down about 6-7" from where it is right now.

Here are a few night pics of the rear and a pic of how it sits now...Kinda comical.

looking good. a little difference between front and rear ;)

I like it, tucking just a little bit of tire. How much room do you have before the axle hits the floor or frame?

Cool man keep up the good work.
Kind of reminds me of me I wanted one in high school too, and when I bought mine it looked like a 4wd Blezer 33's and all.

looking good Ed! keep at it... i wanna see the front done by the time i get home from work!!;)

I like it, tucking just a little bit of tire. How much room do you have before the axle hits the floor or frame?

From the floor... A lot of space, from the frame... About 3 1/2 inches. That's about how much space I had on my old '87 SWB, so hopefully it will work for now.

looking good Ed! keep at it... i wanna see the front done by the time i get home from work!!;)

Unfortunately, I have to work too :whine:. I won't be able to work on it again until this weekend, then I don't have a day off for 11 days. That's why I worked on it so much at night the last 3 days. I hate working on a gravel driveway...HATE IT!!! But until my "Man Building" project is resurrected, this is how it's gonna be.

If I get home in time this evening, I will try and get a few more shots of it.

Looking good. Gives me some hope once I can get my drive train issues straightened out

Wow! Looking good! Those Outlaw rims and All Terrain BFG's should sell for a nice price and help with funds. The rear disc brake set up looks good peekin through.;)

Sweet tuck!

Did I mention that I have to work on this d@mn thing outside in a gravel driveway...And with the heat index, it's 106 degrees! Just jacking up the front end and pulling the wheels and I am absolutely sweating to death. This sucks, I hate humidity!!!

Well, I got the front suspension totally removed. What a PITA!!! Did I mention it's raining pretty steadily & between 90-95 degrees out, so it's awesome to work out in the driveway...NOT!!!

I got everything out except the d@mn brake hoses, but I'll get them tomorrow evening. After I started taking things apart to clean and repaint, I realized that the D/S Lower Control arm is slightly bent. It looks like someone attempted to replace the bushings and didn't do something right, because that's where the arm is bent. It's like they didn't get the bushing started squarely and bent the POOH out of that area. There are no indicators that there was an accident or anything of the type. I just know I now have to locate a replacement D/S LCA...D@mn It!!!

Here's a pic just to show the damage. See the difference in the right upper bushing area vs. the left upper. :uhmk:

Nice progress. Too bad about the A-arm, but I'm sure you can find a donor for cheap. Your like a freakin mail man, be it heat, rain, or dark of night you will deliver...:)

Your like a freakin mail man, be it heat, rain, or dark of night you will deliver...:)

:lol: I want to drive this thing with a suspension that doesn't try to throw me off the road, so I am going to get 'er done. I foresee it lookin' so cool, and riding so much better that I really want to get it right the first time. I have wanted one of these since high school (circa 1985) so I am going to build this the way I envision it.

But now I am contemplating putting tubular upper & lower control arms on it so when I finally do the frame off, I can put the Porterbuilt dropmember in and have the control arms in place. I WILL be bagging this at some point in the future, so I may as well spend the money once, right?

Nice work!!!
What size tires are you running?

^^^Thanks Man, and the tires are 255/50r18's (28.2" tall)in the front and 295/45r18's (28.8" tall) in the rear. Toyo Proxy's. Can't wait to get the frontend back together!

No updates on this thing yet???

any updates ?

I admit that I'm draggin a$$ this summer, but I am in my last semester of college (my midlife crisis is to get a college degree so I can hold it over my kid's head) and will be graduating in 22 days :metal:. And the weather has been nothing but MISERABLE down here! Remember I am doing this in a gravel driveway behind the house, so the motivation to sweat like h%ll isn't very high when you have to drag a floor jack through the gravel.

I did finally get a new D/S LCA, knocked out/cut out all of the upper and lower ball joints and removed the oe control arm bushings...absolute PITA (the bushings), got them sandblasted and repainted them with the same chassis paint I used on the 12 bolt. Now I just need some cooler weather, a couple of days without any school or work conflicts and I will get the frontend put back together. I plan on trying to get the front end back together this weekend if the weather permits.

Oh BTW I'm also about to pull the trigger on some of Nate Porter's parts for a later time in Da' Bull's future ;). I can use all of the stock parts that I have rebuilt on the 'burb when the time comes. :)

Finally, a small update. I got all of the front end parts put back together and painted, so this morning I decided to try and get at least one side put together before it started raining. And I got the passenger front all put back on, minus the brake line 'cause I am going to replace all of the o.e. hard lines w/ S.S. and get rid of the stock proportioning valve since I have the corvette m/c w/ the p.v. attached. I hope that won't be an absolute PITA too ;).

I stuck the front wheel on it and lowered it down to see how it sits before any settling occurs and it's just a fuzz higher in the front than the back, so I should be all good after a bit of driving. :metal:

Here's a few pics, sorry for the obscured view but I'm working in the gravel driveway, which sucks btw. Well, whatcha think?

Badass!!

^^^Thanks Man! I can't wait to get to the other side and finalize the brake system. I'm gonna drive the snot out of it...for a few days at least...then it'll be time for the 6.0L/4L80e swap :metal:

looks awesome!! very sweet buddy!

keep in mind the ls motor will be a bit lighter so the front will raise up some when you do the swap... might have to wack 1/2 coil off. i know i'm going to have to do that;)

Whoa! Altitude adjustment! That looks great.

looks awesome!! very sweet buddy!

keep in mind the ls motor will be a bit lighter so the front will raise up some when you do the swap... might have to wack 1/2 coil off. i know i'm going to have to do that;)

Thanks a ton! Means a lot to get props from you! Silver is lookin' absolutely fantastic!!!

If it settles out like Bob did, it should be about 1/2" lower than it is now, so I think it will actually look just right once I put the 6.0L in it. I keep looking at it and the front is actually a good bit lower than the rear, so I think I will be able to afford a bit of additional height.

Whoa! Altitude adjustment! That looks great.

Thanks Man!!! I still have to get the left front suspension and all of the steering stuff on it, then at least I can roll it around. But until I get the brake lines, M/C & booster replaced it's just going to be that...A roller :(.

Soon though!!!

Very nice!