Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Well, as usual I failed miserably at meeting the deadline I set for myself. I am still plugging away at it whenever I can. I should be able to get back to regular updates now that life has settled down a bit.
In the last four months not much has gotten done. My brakes are finally functioning at least. My biggest update would be that for the first time in it's life my Blazer is sitting in a garage. It's much nicer being able to work on a smooth level surface, and stay warm and dry while doing it.
Here's a picture of the view outside my new kitchen door.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Right now I am focusing on wiring. Then I have to make a transmission crossmember, get some work done to make my driveshaft from an old project work, and connect my headers to the rest of my exhaust. That's about all that's keeping it from running at the moment. Hopefully I can get some work done this weekend.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I dropped my driveshaft off to be shortened. So in the meantime I've been knocking a few of the smaller things off of my checklist.
First I got started on making a plate for the passenger side firewall. I started by using paint around the border of where my plate should go, and while it was still wet I pressed a peace of cardboard against it to transfer the outline to the cardboard. I then cut it out if the cardboard and used the cardboard to make a template out of some old 1/4 inch plywood I had laying around. I used the cardboard template to make a wood copy because the cardboard template was very rough, and I don't really like trying to trim cardboard to the correct shape. I much prefer to work with wood, so this will make it much easier to get the exact shape I want before I transfer it to a sheet of steel. I can also drill mounting holes and holes to run wiring if need be, and use the wood piece as a temporary cover to keep the critters and the elements out of the inside of my truck in the meantime.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I also cleaned up some of the wiring under the dash and got started on mounting my gauges. I gutted the original gauge cluster and will use that to hold my gauges in the right place, then I need to figure out how to make it look nice.
I apologize for the poor lighting, my garage is very dark.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I got my interior all cleaned out just to find a rusty mess in the passenger area. I had checked it out about 2 summers ago and the rust was very minimal, I had one small pinhole on the floor near the passenger side kick panel and a small amount if surface rust. It seems the last winter with leaky seals really did a number on my floor. It's hard to tell in the pictures, but I took close ups of several of the holes. They just look like little black spots do to the camera flash. I don't have any tools or sheet metal to repair the damage at the moment. So all I can do is clean it up as best I can and keep it from getting worse for now. Definitely a bummer.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

This is a cool build!
Sorry about the rust man that's no fun!
Me being a redneck I know how I would fix it!:lol:
Ok, I wont make any smart remarks today.:lol:

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Thanks!
Haha! Feel free to make all the smart remarks you like!
I'll get over the rust. The rest of the sheet metal isn't anything to write home about anyway, I was just always happy to have a rust free truck in the rainy NW.

Are you gonna make a build thread for your 76? I like the 65 too. I've always wanted a 64-66.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

This is great build. I like the color a lot. It'd be cool to see how much of the exterior paint would come back with some gentle cleaning and compounding. I like the idea of a performance build in 2WD Blazer that's all business. A little rust converter on that floor, top and bottom, gone over with Rustoleum and you'll be in good shape until you can have somebody patch it. How come no cam? Saving that for later? Just curious because you did heads and went to manual brakes.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Certified Organic.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Thanks!
I had always wanted to paint the truck some sort of orange, but in the past year this blue has really grown on me. Especially since I've uncovered places in the interior that haven't been faded by the sun. I'll have to look into bringing it back like that. I really like that idea.
That's the same thing I was thinking for the rust.
I actually have several reasons for no cam yet. The biggest reason would be money. I have little to nothing to spend on this for a while. I also figured a stock cam would be easier for me to tune since this will be my first experience tuning efi. Plus here in Portland I have to take the Blazer through deq to pass emissions, and I figured the stock cam would make this easier on me the first time. And lastly, I was seriously considering trying my hand at throwing some sort of boost at this motor in the future, and wanted to wait to buy a cam that would work better for boost. I have been trying to find some sort of cheap cam in the meantime though, cause I'm not looking forward to seeing how this performs on the stock cam with the top end goods I have bolted on. The only reason I got those heads was because they came up for a really good deal and I figured they'd only be a lot more expensive when I went for them on the future.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

On a similar note, I actually picked up a turbo for this not too long ago. I will throw some pics up when I get it out of storage soon. No idea when it will make it on the truck. I want to get it running and driving before I try and tackle building a turbo kit.
I've also been getting really excited to work on the interior. I like building my own interior pieces and have had some new-to-me ideas recently.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

This had me laughing real good. It kinda makes me want to leave it in wood!
The people around here would probably be much more fond of the truck if they knew this. :lol:

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I would just put some sheet metal over the rust holes and call it good or just say "I will fix it later" LOL

Yea I do plan on making a build thread for the 76 sometime soon I just don't have a lot of money right now and am putting most of what I have into my station wagon and the 65.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

As promised here is a sneak peek of the turbo I took out of storage this weekend. Also found some other parts I forgot I had, like a crack free dash pad, a full set of moog tie rods, a body bushing set, some shock extenders for the rear and upper shock mount reinforcement brackets for the front.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Coming along nicely.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Haven't made a ton of progress. I got the firewall panel cut out of steel and have been working on getting it fitted. I also got my four main gauges mounted up in the stock cluster somewhat. I installed my oil pressure sender for the oil gauge in the oil cooler block off. And found out that my throttle body has a weird 4.25" inlet diameter, but my filter has a 4" inlet flange so I was unable to make it fit. I can't seem to find any couplers/reducers or filters for 4.25" tubing either. I'll have to do some research to see what I can make work.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Well I got my firewall panel 99% finished. I also mounted my computer finally and ran my wiring through the firewall. I have to mount my catch can again, but that's all that's left to do on the firewall for now. I only have a few wires left to solder up and I'll be finished with wiring.
If anyone was wondering, I'm using one of Holley's pre-made harnesses and I had to cut a 2 inch hole in the firewall in order to run the wiring through the firewall. In order for the 2 inch hole to work I had to push the engine harness through from inside the cab.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

This weekend I got some work done routing the engine and transmission wiring, just need to secure it on the cab side of the firewall and finish up some soldering then wiring will be completed.
I also cut my last piece of exhaust and started on my fan brackets for my radiator.
I've been procrastinating getting to work on my transmission crossmember because I'm not completely confident in my fabrication skills yet, but I finally cut the pieces for it.

Posting pictures doesn't seem to be working for me at the moment so I'll have to get some pics up later this week.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Oops. Looks like I forgot all about the pictures. I'll have to get some more pics of the crossmember to upload.

In the meantime I've gotten some other work done. I made some mounts for my fan out of some 1.5" angle aluminum.

On a side note, I hate how that upper radiator hose looks. In the future I will be getting an ls3 water pump so the hose doesn't have to travel to the opposite of the engine from the radiator.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I got a little bit more work done on cutting up the old gauge cluster to fit my new gauges into it. I ended up just cutting the whole back out of the plastic piece and together with the black metal piece they hold the gauges at the right angle and mount them into the dash perfectly. I will be modifying my gauge bezel to try and make it all look a but nicer as well.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I hate to say it, but I'm beginning to regret buying the pre made Holley wiring harness for my motor. It's awkward and bulky and none of the connectors seem to end up where I want them. There is also a ton of excess on the computer end as well as at the back of the motor. None of this is really all that bad. It's better to have excess then not. I'm just thinking I should have made my own harness to get the cleaner look I would like. So at some point I will be cutting up this harness a bit and rerouting things to make it all look nicer and hide the wiring as much as I can.

This is a pic of the jumble of wiring I had to hide under the intake. One of the biggest things I want to clean up. There is also all the vacuum lines, my fuel return line, and my throttle cable all running under the intake as well.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I've decided to pull the trigger and make some big changes. Just sold my intake setup and will be looking for a different intake that will make better low end power for me. At the same time I now have room and time to clean up the wiring and things running under the intake. Hopefully I can relocate my coils while I'm at it.

So far the best intake I can find to make me some more low end power is the stock ls3 intake. I've considered the ly6 intake, but it's just too far from the look I would like. The ls3 intake isn't the prettiest either, but I don't mind it.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

I'm so sorry, I didn't realize I forgot to respond to this.

Thanks a lot for the compliment. It means a lot considering the calibur of your builds.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Just picked this up at work today. I'll try and throw it on this weekend.

Re: My Nameless 79 Blazer Project
 

Got ahold of some more new parts. My intake, throttle body and fuel rails showed up today.