The Trooper/Blazer I call Blooper.

[pappawheely]

How many of you knew that rebuilding motor mounts was even a thing? I am kind of surprised at how nice this chassis really is. When I did restoration, I worked on a lot of gray market stuff from Europe. Everything was rusty and dirty. I've driven this truck for years in the desert and it's fairly clean and mostly rust free. I pity all you Easterners who have to deal with aggressive rust issues.

 

[SDDiver5]

Regarding the 6 or 8 lug... you're this deep, I say go 8 lug because why not.

 

[pappawheely]

Have they lost their minds? Must be made from billet Inconel or normalized meteor.

 

[pappawheely]

I'm not going to lie. I'm pretty proud of myself for getting the tank back in by myself. Only a couple small scratches and it went in with a ratchet strap and a floor jack. Anyone who has done one of these knows they can fight you. Especially with a trailer hitch.

 

[pappawheely]

I decided to go 8 lug. When I drove this chassis around it always had a leak on one side. I think I found the culprit. Someone beat the crap out of this or some other catastrophe happened along the way. I bought this 14 bolt from a junkyard and just threw it in.



I guess I'll have to dip into my parts bin for a better example.



I sent an email asking a friend about sway bar design. I didn't expect to hear from him on Christmas Eve, but since he works from home and we've been friends for years, he answered back. Then he suggested some parts and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I'll be putting a Rock Jock sway bar on the rear. Thanks Brian! The truck never towed worth a damn due to the super plush prerunner leaf springs. With V8 power, I'm going to want to tow a trailer now and then. Nothing huge, but I flat tow a lot of my junk around and I've got a trailer we built years ago.

 

[Arjan]

Love this !

Will be really nice.

Following with interest from the other side of the Atlantic

 

[pappawheely]

Removing more from the frame. I took off the chevy body mounts on both sides. They are riveted on at the factory. I'm going to be running rock sliders and didn't want to be limited as to how they can attach. I also want some type of exoskeleton cage. That means I should forgo rubber body mounts and attach the body directly to the frame. I want the exo cage to be right up against the body, not hanging out to give clearance for it to move. I hope we see prices going down because steel is super expensive now. I need some DOM tubing for my steering and the tubing for the cage. I don't like to scrimp and it's getting very hard to find any deals or even just a bargain anymore.

Here is my factory rivet removal kit. I've found that the easiest way to get them out is to grind down the head and then punch them out. Learning how to weld has made me good with a grinder. You'll need a face shield, good gloves and ear protection. That punch is extra long so you don't ********** your hand with the hammer! Just that hand full of rivets weighs what seems to be a pound! They don't make them like they used to.




Despite having a good pile of parts to start with, I can't help doing a lot of preventative maintenance while everything is apart. My leaf spring bushings are toast; had to order new ones. Add it to the list of stuff that was not part of the budget.

 

[pappawheely]

This is the donor vehicle. Photo taken in the early 90's. Interestingly, I had shaved the door handles and put flush handles from another vehicle. That vehicle was an Isuzu pickup. Check out those Enkei, saw blade wheels.

 

[pappawheely]

Today sucked. Everything went wrong. Waiting for parts. My welding regulator broke. First world problems. Still blessed and hope you all are too! Just have to think about better days!

 

[Arjan]

We all have those days..

Just sit back and start again when time feels right

 

[pappawheely]

Pulling the bushings out of the leaf springs. Ordered replacements based on year. My Rancho springs are not stock, so they didn't fit. Had to call Energy Suspension for help. Got it! Great customer service. Parts ordered soon. All the bolts are rusted and pitted so it's a good thing that I checked. They will also be replaced. The springs also caused me a little grief with my shocks. I ordered 2 to 4 inch lifted shocks from Bilstein which are going to work so nice with these springs. I guess my springs are over 4 inches taller. No problem, it's not the 90's anymore. I don't need to be the tallest truck in the mall parking lot. I got a longer shackle for the rear and am fabbing up new shackle plates for the front to drop it 2 inches all around. I like the low on big tire look and don't want to have to climb way up into the truck every time.

More parts on the way; Borgeson quick ratio steering box, tapered pins from Foddrill to mount the high steer linkage and some brackets for the torque arm I'm building for the rear axle. It's going to be like in the photo below. The springs are very soft so they wrap up under acceleration. I just grabbed that photo from the web, but I noticed it's on a chevy squarebody. I recognize the factory bump stop bracket. I hope to get the chassis dialed in and start working on mounting the body. Lots of work ahead. I'd like to get it rolling before we get snow. It seems like the farther I go, the behinder I get. A typical build project.

 

[pappawheely]

Using some CAD to check clearances around the Rock Jock sway bar. Cardboard Aided Design. Looks like it clears the rear end and drive shaft. I'll design the torque arm around it later. All the bushings are out from the leaf springs and shackles. Found the sizes I need from Energy. Custom springs require custom sizes. The kit I ordered based on 1979 Blazer did not fit. I also modified it a little. From the factory it used 3 different size bolts on each pivot at the front. That's just stupid design. It was probably based on cost and not function. They wanted the smallest bolt based on the loads. Sure you will save cost on using a half inch bolt instead of 9/16's on thousands of units, but you also need to source and warehouse different sizes. Short sided bean counters ruin everything.

 

[chet6.7]

''Short sided bean counters ruin everything.''
Indeed, and they have their paws on just about everything.

 

[pappawheely]

I'll bet that many of you are not as excited as I am about this, but I feel very blessed to have scored this parts cleaner. Even after replacing all the hoses, it was less than $100, grunge and all.

 

[chet6.7]

It beats using a bucket of gas like I used to do.