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3/21/2010 1:32:29 AM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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Yup, seems i'm always tinkering with something, My latest toy happens to be an 85 blazer i bought for under 800 with a beat motor. AND since i juuuuust happened to have a whacked out smallblock sitting on my garage floor... *smiles evilly*
1.) The 85 blazer i picked up for under $800. it's pretty clean, just one small dent behind driver rear wheelwell.
2.) the engine: 1969 4blt smallblock 350 .030 over, forged pistons, plasma rings, turned & polished crank, rods reconditioned, bottom end rebalanced, extreme 4x4 cam (largest one in series *originally motor was meant for another vehicle*) new balancer, roller rockers, brand new GM vortec heads machined for dual valve springs that go with cam, any fastener that could be, was replaced with arp studs or bolts, air gap intake setup for holley TBI pro fuel inj. on the list of things to get yet are a pertronix distributor and control box, as well as possibly gathering the rest of the parts i need yet to install a functioning TPI setup, possibly.
(this last pic taken when i pulled the covers to clean some oxidation from the aluminum and my 8yr old daughter thought the "blue thingy's" were pretty) *grins*
3.) a 700R4 lockup trans with fresh rebuild and shift kit and new torque converter in the 3000-3200 range
So with a engine bracket kit and radiator in shipment from JTR, my garage is as close to clean as its gonna get, and a sudden onset of great balmy weather here in west cola, SC. i take one last snap before i dive into the tools.......
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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3/21/2010 1:34:59 AM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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next up: the end of day1 and the old 2.8 removed and engine bay empty...
day 2 consisted of 6 cans of degreaser, a gallon jug of Purple and a half dozen assorted brushes willing to give up their lives for the cause of removing 25 yrs worth of oil, grease and road grime from under the hood and frame....i spent nearly the entire afternoon till dark working on this aspect of the project,....YUK :
was too dark for any pics, will get some in morning when i resume the clean-up under hood
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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3/25/2010 12:12:32 AM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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days 2 and 3 (not concurrent due to rain and misc other BS)
So back at it again today cleaning up stuff and whatnot,...decided it would be just out n out easier to yank the entire front clip. so off it came which lead to yet more cleaning and degreasing. (read as: got tired of climbing over the radiator support :P )
here she is all cleaned up and lightly scuffed, waiting for it all to dry, so helped the wife with some gardening for a bit.
did a quick mask and spray of the firewall and inner fender areas. yes i used cheap ass rust-oleum spray cans for this bit....it's an engine bay *shrugs*
after dinner i pushed her back in under the roof and up on stands. Also got the engine and tranny ready to start sliding in come tomorrow.... even slid her in once to make some clearance marks so i can start off the morning with the grinder and torch lmao
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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3/29/2010 12:07:58 AM
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Dredpyrate Wesley
Posts 333
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Three days and no word from Kama. I hope he didn't weld himself to the frame or something crazy like that. More pics! =)
It's odd for me to see a Blazer (especially one this old) that isn't completely rusted out. Nice!
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Dredpyrate Wesley, Archer of Dred, Garon Dredzneyev, Tatiana Dredzneyev, Oliana Nefzen von Dred, Dredulus Mythweaver, Merem Nefzen Von Dred, Dred the Black
One man's drink is another man's poison, but one man's poison usually works on everybody
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4/2/2010 1:53:18 AM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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yep been a bit busy with things other than just the truck,...but anyways, here's the latest on that...
tore the dash out and peeled the carpets back enough that welding on the firewall wont set any major fires inside.
Here's the firewall around the trans tunnel and reshaped and re-welded, last shot is just some halfassed primer i had laying around
at this point i am waiting on being able to get ahold of a piece of 14 gauge steel so i can finish the oil pan mods and awaiting on being able to order the U-build it header kit.
So in the mean time i have been enjoying the hell outta the great weather and doing lotsa spring yard work.
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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4/2/2010 1:59:52 AM
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AllPlayAndNoWork
Posts 65
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Looks neat mate....just one problem......
The steering wheel appears to be on the wrong side........
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DM Allplay
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4/3/2010 5:24:16 AM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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So i started on the oil pan mods this evening. The problem being that i am trying to use a road racing pan with internal baffles to help control oil movement and it is substantially bigger at the sump than a stock rear sump pan, couple that with an already tight fit and yet again the cut-off wheel and welder come out to play.
the pan before i start cuttin':
after i made the base cuts and fold scores:
cleaned up around cuts and scores and fit up taking place:
the next thing i did was pull the cut seam in tight and tacked it up with the welder ever inch or so, and then i ran little stitches along all the fold scores till it was all welded up,(it got a bit too dark for the camera and the weld-up pics didnt come out) still have to get some 14guage sheet to fit in the corners nice n tight, but that 'll be latter this week.
Being that i am using a fluxcore welder and not regular mig with a bottle on it, it isnt gonna win and prettiness awards,...but WTF its UNDER th car and all i care about is oil control and it NOT leaking heh.
edited by -Kama- on 4/3/2010
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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4/18/2010 4:14:38 PM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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OK, the last 2 weeks things mostly sat since i'm now off the unemployment roles again and back to work.
Got the oil pan all done and leak free last weekend after several pin hole hunts with it full of water,...didnt wanna take and chances, so i also coated the outside with an epoxy and then files and sanded to make it look fairly clean.
This weekend i got the pan back on the motor and bolted up the engine and trans and started wrestling. Conclusion,.....even with the trans X-member out and the front clip off, trying to slide em in as a single unit made my ballz hurt. could NOT get it to clean the oil pan and frame no matter what angles i tried to sling it.
So, dropped engine in by itself and bolted to the mounts, then used a block of wood between the firewall and back of block long enough to get the hoist out and front end up on jackstands high enought to slide trans under from the front. then wrestled trans up onto homemade jack plate (12"x 14" 3/8 plate on a 1 1/4 pin) on floor jack, from there it was a simple matter of re-slinging the back of engine on the hoist again to be able to adjust the angle of motor and run the jack up and move **** all into place.
took a torch and grinder to the tranny X-member and moved it back a little. what i did was mount it by the rear hole on frame to front hole on X-member and then marked out and drilled a new hole in frame on each side with a 1/4 inch bit. Afterwards from underneath i used a holesaw and several beers to punch a new 1/14 hole on frame bottom, the drilled out upper hole to 3/8 (giving me a little bit of slop in case upper hole wasnt dead nutz on)
got it all bolted up and on the pads last night just after dark, so pics had to wait till today.
one thing i did to the JTR mounts was to cut off the lower mount slots, since i wanted the motor as low as poss in the frame, and the hang down was basically rubbing on the frame and pads a bit. so out came th gas wrench and grinder yet again. HEH
ended up pulling the AC cowl after it became a casualty while i was wrestling the engine and trans as a single unit and the valve cover punched a hole in it, had to come out anyway since the valve cover was no way in hell gonna clear it. but as you can see i have PLENTY of room at the back of motor.
and this is with the motor as far back on the JTR mounts as possible.
one thing that bothers me is this, the frame to oilpan clearance is still to damn tight, bout an 1/8 static, on passenger side $%^#&^#%^&@#$%
i think i am gonna pull the mounts and cut off the ears and reweld em bout 1 1/4 forward there by giving me the ability to slide motor back even more, i have the room already on trans X-member since while i was working on that i thought ahead and elongated the pad slot, its currently resting up near the front of that giving me at least 1 1/2 room to go back yet.
I'll prolly pull the mounts and take em into work where i have access to the vertical saw and stuff to jig up the ears and plate to hold it all square before welding.
as for the AC cowl,...i'll be working on that next, gonna cut out bits of it and reshape with some fiberglass to clearance it nicely then re-install.
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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4/18/2010 9:44:26 PM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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got back out there and on it while there was still daylight, and things just went nice n easy for me.
cut and chopped on the AC cowl and then got the fiberglass out,..AC cowl all roughed in
here's roughing in the hole and looking at fitup:
Then it was onto the fiberglassing:
first stage...wrap a wooden block in tinfoil and tape it tightly to the outside of where i wanted to do th 'glass lay-up
nice n easy, quick too, i mixed my stuff hot heh
then i cut up a window wash fluid jug, the type of plastic they use is rather flexable and the resin dont like to stick to it, so it make a great temp mold. i cut and taped it into the shape i needed from the front, and then layed out the glass from the rear again. 20 minues later this is what i had
test fit on truck, looking f@#kin' good, will finish epoxying the seam edges and skim front with filler later this week after work.
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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4/28/2010 8:19:36 PM
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-Kama-
Posts 414
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HaaR!, well i got some more done this past week and tonight!
I did take the motor plates back off and took em to work where i moved the tabs forward on the plates another inch, and then i raised em up 3/8 as well, this effectively let me move the motor another inch back as well as lowered it a bit more in the chassis, i had already cut off the lower slots that keep the motor up even higher, but figured since i had the tabs off, might as well go for broke right?, well they're now to the point that the top rear block bolt is just a bit of a F#%ker to get in past the shield on the rubber mounts, as that bolt is now riding midway front to back and just a hair above the mount centerline.
still have plenty of room between the actual firewall and the motor, marginal on the AC cowl even with the cutaway on it. just for kicks i slid in a stock HEI, had to #$%^$%@ around with it to get it in, **thank god i'm tossing it in the trash for a pertronix in a few weeks**, but it does fit if i HAD to use one.
moving the motor back farther sure opened up the oil pan clearance nicely for me, no longer have to sweat and motor rock.
anyways, here's the latest pics.
the roughed in AC cowl piece
taken after i had hit the second coat of glass filler on it
and just taken tonight, a couple shots as light was running out, got the AC cowl and inside heater core assembly all done and installed again, AC cowl was painted and clear coated, used seam sealer on the two halves between the AC core, and then used the foam camper tape on the cowling against firewall, trimmed with a razor blade, worked out nice and looks pretty damn close to how the factory had it sealed up.
sorry that last pic is a bit fuzzy, batteries were crapping out on me.
also the fuel infection system isn't completed yet, more or less just laying up in place while i figure out cables/wire/hoses and that assorted ball pain.
edited by -Kama- on 4/28/2010
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-Kama-
*****Retired DM team, forums administrator, custom content creator and manager, & builder.*****
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