wildbill83 : 1989 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer

[wildBill83]

My driveway is a semifrozen mud pit that is 1/4 mile long. I'm worried about high centering.

Do you mean sidewall fat or width fat?

[ol blue]

My driveway is a semifrozen mud pit that is 1/4 mile long. I'm worried about high centering.

Do you mean sidewall fat or width fat?

Width fat. Driving with fat tires sucks ass. That is why I see a lot of lifted up trucks in the ditch during winter.

That and they think they can drive like a dumbass because they have 4x4 lol. Not saying your going to be a dumbass, just that is how the drive up here.

[wildBill83]

I wasn't wanting wide tires, just tall tires.

Well I tried for a few hours tonight to figure out the flooding problem. I'll work on other problems and come back to it. I was trying to tune it with a vacuum gauge (like an old school carb) and realized there is a massive vacuum leak somewhere or I've got other problems. The vacuum never got into the range I was expecting and jumped around a good deal. The more and more I think about it the more I wish the v8 swap was done already. I'm going to adjust the valves and test some electrical signals to the ECU tomorrow and this weekend.

I think I might only have a few more vehicle rebuild/restorations in me before I just give up. Next restoration project I get I'm not trying to recycle anything, it always takes longer and costs more than just buying a new (reman) short/long block outright. I'm actually fighting that urge now.

The goal this winter is to stay out of the ditch!

[XCRN]

I wouldn't rule out buying a re-manufactured block. For winter driving you really want peace of mind that you will get home safely. I am not saying you do not know what you are doing but if something goes wrong it is on you and you might be in a situation where you can't afford to fix it. Then you are stuck with the CB for winter.

[wildBill83]

I agree. I'm without my tools until after Thanksgiving. So either way I'm not well equipped for a swap or internal work until then.

Rebuilding the short block with it in the truck is not an option. I'm getting too old for the added frustration.

I am buying another compression test set (can never have too many tools) and i'm removing all push rods and I'm going to test leak down too. I'm going to finish assessing the health of the block then decide from there.

[XCRN]

Out of curiosity, when does serious snow start falling there and do you live in a more secluded area where the state does not do as much for clearing the roads?

[ol blue]

Out of curiosity, when does serious snow start falling there and do you live in a more secluded area where the state does not do as much for clearing the roads?

There was some snowflakes last night already lol, but I also live 3 hours north of wildbill.

[wildBill83]

The first blizzard can be as early as the end of the month, but is rare. We had snow flakes yesterday and all of the farmers are saying early snow fall this year. Directions to my house are "turn off the paved county road onto a gravel road, follow that 1/4 mile to a "T" and take a right, follow that gravel road 1/2 a mile to a pig farm then turn left into the corn field and you are on my 1/4 mile dirt drive". The population of the closest city is 3,300 people.

I carry a shovel and salt with me everywhere.

[wildBill83]

Well my tools in Texas are gone.

So now I start from scratch. I have to buy a new compressor new air tools and hoses and a new a/c reclaim system. My rolling tool chest with all of my engine rebuild tools is also gone.

I'm out about $5k in tools and want to die...

[wildBill83]

After losing my tools I decided I need to start getting some more. I got a new engine hoist a couple of weeks ago, it's setup and ready for action, much better than my old tired one I left in Texas. Even thieves don't want that one.
Well today I had hoped to buy parts but instead I bought tools.

Today's acquisitions include:
Load leveler for hoist
26 gal 150PSI compressor (weee!)
1/2" air impact
3/8" air ratchet
engine stand (can never have too many)
a set of metric impact sockets

there were other things but these are the big ones. I'll get a photo up of the new workshop once I get more of my new tools in. In a way it's a fresh start, in another I'm going to be so lost and behind. I forgot to ask if my welder was still in the shop in Texas...

Anyone on CB7Tuner in MN/IA/SD area selling any tools?

I should have the 4.3L out shortly, it's a pain in the ass to unbolt from the bell housing, may have it out and on the pallet by the end of the day tomorrow... beer permitting.

I'm trying to decide on having the 700R4 rebuilt too, and depending on how the bottom end looks I may be ordering 262 parts soon.

I should have bought a lift and tires instead of tools this weekend, instead I'm deciding to go deeper into the motor and buy more parts and seals.

Still no snow on the ground so that is good.

[H311RA151N]

I cannot wait until you get back into working on this thing! I know it's kinda a pain but some pics would be cool. I like this Blazer.

[wildBill83]

Well, I corrupted some photos so I'll have to retake them... I was impatient with my microSD card reader.

Current status is that the block is out, F*$# the bell housing top bolts on 700R4s in s10 bodies.

Here are some photos of before the motor was pulled, the last shots of it as a long block and the shot of the heads on the floor before going to the machine shop... there is a story involved there and I'll get around to it when I have the time.


Last shots of the full motor assembly with accessories.


Corrupted photo, maybe the CB7 SE had something to do with it. Can you spot the CB7Tuner sticker?



Accessories removed, left bracket still in place.


After that I pulled the heads. Unbolt the transmission and pulled it out the top with my new hoist and load balancer. I don't have any photos that survived the corruption. Stay tuned for a rebuild in my new engine stand once things come back from the machine shop.



Also some photos of my new air tools acquirement (still need an air hammer/chisel). It's a start to rebuilding my shop.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, I can't upload large high quality photos to photobucket anymore because it kills my cruddy home internet. Sorry if my cheapo camera (that I don't mind getting oil on) makes photos that give you sea sickness.

[wildBill83]

I've been considering pulling the fenders and doing some cancer fighting, it will also allow me to install the engine with the hoist over the side of the vehicle rather than out the front. That means I could close my garage door and turn on the heater when working.

We will see how ambitious I am when I get my parts back. I'm not getting the heads back, I left them with the machine shop. They first quoted me $200 for tanking, a 3 angle valve job, and resurfacing. They called me up the other day and told me they were going to be done with the heads Friday. Problem is they decided to install new valve seats, something I didn't ask for or need, and also new stem seals (not the stem seals I dropped off mind you that they lost) and a whole slew of new hardware I didn't ask for. They told me my heads would cost $500 now. I told them to get bent, I could buy reman'd heads for cheaper and to just sell the heads they have, so now I'm deciding on using a vortec heads setup with an edelbrock carb intake manifold and a TBI adapter plate. Price and woman permitting... Then all I would need is a newer ECU to play with.

Specs on the block coming soon, I had to send it to a shop in South Dakota that some local circle track racers recommend. They quoted me around $350 to tank it, punch it out .030, final hone it, turn the crank, align bore the crank bearings seats in the journals and connecting rods and install my new cam and new bearings as well. I'm supplying all of the parts like I did with the head, just asking them to size it with plastigauges not assemble it to save cost.

I had a spun bearing on #6 and a burned valve on the same cylinder, that is the reason for the rebuild.

I'm jittery to get her back together before the snow falls, but then you know my transmission is just going to shit out on me. That is my luck!

[H311RA151N]

That's a nice air compressor! Some pretty nifty air tools as well!

[wildBill83]

That's a nice air compressor! Some pretty nifty air tools as well!

Yeah, I could have used them to pull the motor but they came in too late. I got decent equipment but I miss my tools I had in Texas, they were easily much better, my compressors weren't new but I always liked oiled compressors over oil less and this is my first larger capacity oil less compressor so we will see how it holds up. It takes forever for it to reach it's full shutoff and it will do HVLP painting as well (or that is the claim), so we will see. Either way I got all of the fittings upgraded and I'm using flexzilla hose for my primary. All I have left to do is plumb the compressor to a manifold in the garage and get a reel for it so I can store it cleanly.

I am going to try and get out to the garage today and take some photos of the current status of my garage. I expanding foamed the outside and I'm going to fiberglass insulate and fiberboard the inside walls in the next few weeks to finish protecting me from the MN winter. This garage had so many holes in it when I first moved in out here and was full of appliances and old garbage so it is a world better now than it was to begin with.

I'm still shopping around for heads, I'm having a hard time finding the difference in the heads pre-92 and pre-96 to see if I can use an early "vortec" (not really vortec) head in place of my pre-92 head. I still have an extra set of heads from a junk yard run but I'm going to keep them on the shelf as they need minor work as well. I know that any head post-96 needs a different intake manifold, specifically a vortec, but the CPI and TBI intakes should be interchangeable I would think on any pre-96 head. Then all I would need to worry about is the rockers I think.

I also started looking around for a Dana 30 axle for a SaS just to get pricing and options planned out. I've not ever been a fan of the vacuum locker or IFS on a 4x4. So if I plan to use this for only winter driving then I should leave it IFS, if I plan to go wheeling (I live in the FLATTEST place on earth, yes the flattest) then a SaS would be a good idea. So really it is just a curiosity. If I still lived in Texas I would go SaS for two reasons, down there I could use it and play around in hill country and there is no snow bank in the center of Texas roads to give me clearance issues with the front diff.

I did find a manual locker for my IFS from LMC Truck and will most likely order it soon along with the 3" rough country lift kit. We will see how I feel after that point about IFS, this the first 4x4 without a solid front axle I have ever owned so this is new grounds.

The more money I put into this now the more enjoyable it will be to drive in the winter, but the less I can spend on my CB7s for winter upgrades... The only convincing thing I have going right now is that I can drive the S10 in the summer too so I can keep the CB7s down longer if need be with a 3rd vehicle and soon a 4th. I'm also in the market for a full sized pickup or SUV with 4x4 so I'll be scouring the sale boards and locals for a vehicle for Julie so we don't have to fight over the LX and S10 all winter long. I wish Subarus or Audi's were cheaper, easier to work on, and could be driven in DEEP snow on gravel roads or hit snow banks without destroying the car and deploying airbags.