04 blazer project

tossed the driver side envoy manifold on for shits and giggles and wow, that actually looks pretty nice!
no gasket on there now so that'll cause a little issue, but i can actually install the steering shaft with the heat shield on.
exit is pretty ideal too.
since i already have the f-body ones being shipped to me, I'm going to see if those do better, but I have a feeling the envoy one is the way to go (at least for the drivers side)

i mocked up the 98-99 stamped SS camaro manifolds.
the pass side is fine, it works, but the drivers side points pretty much straight at the front diff, plus it comes out wider so the steering shaft has no chance at fitting.
no idea why this is the 'common' setup for s10s.
Envoy manifolds it is! If i'm really lucky i can find a bolt-in y-pipe too, and get to retain the factory 3 bolt flanges.
fingers crossed.

It worked for one guy, so no one else explored the other options? That and not being cast does have an advantage for amateur welders. I'm happy with mine, but the steering is definitely a very tight point.

got lucky and somehow the stock coils and brackets bolted up with just a fastener change on the last bolt/stud. used a regular bolt and it looks like it'll work fine


new steering shaft made from just regular 1"DD technically clears the heat shield. with flex im sure there'll be some rub, but the heat shield should self clearance itself.

Making progress, 3 bolt flange fasteners are fully accessible. These envoy manifolds really are the way to go!

Also as assumed, truck 3 bolt flanges are the same as the envoy ones. went to the local junkyard and got both flanges for $7



not sure where is the best location to cross over from the left to the right side... maybe right before the trans xmember, but i feel I'm going to lose a touch of ground clearance there even with just 2.5" tube. I'll want to build a skidplate to not rip the exhaust off with that method.

Feel free to post up ideas.

i decided hugging the back of the oilpan is the safest, as the LCA mount area hangs basically as low as this exhaust ended up being.
running the cross over anywhere further back would have similar ground clearance "issues" but less peripheral component protection.
not sure if there's a pretty way to oval the pipe... press and patience? but if i could nicely crush the low points about 1/2" I would be very happy.
It's just a touch higher than the front skid plate now, which isn't ideal, as I don't currently have a skid plate under the trans.
I guess maybe this just means i need to run a full flat undertray?

not having enough hands and my harbor freight scissor trans jack being loaned out to a friend who's been collecting dust on it for months means ratchet straps and sticks on floor jacks is all i have for fixturing...


I've made several merge pipes in my life but i think I've never enjoyed any of them.
Is there a secret on how to do them with more fun?
This one was particularly annoying because of space constraints and the 2 "ins" entering off plane from each other.

Depending on what you want, 2 mufflers is a good choice. Mine seems to be rather gnarly now that I have it running, but I'm also not running a tail pipe yet.

Not sure what to say about the merges. I used the DIY merge collector idea I found at Honda-Tech for mine and didn't feel too frustrated making it.

https://honda-tech.com/forums/welding-fabrication-53/merge-collector-fabrication-101-a-2787713/

Of course I wasn't splitting again either and just ran the 1 muffler

i had 2 from the vette so i figured why not recycle both?

they were fairly quiet on the vette but that was with cats and a full length pipe so I'm not sure how this will be, I'm hoping to get it pretty quiet with a nice tone.
I'll still have room in the "stock" muffler location but it'll have to be a flat horizontal muffler if i want to place it there, which means it'll most likely have to be a 2in,2out muffler
I guess I have the option of crossing under the rear driveshaft for more room but im not sure I want to add THAT much weight in just exhaust.
plus no stock exhaust hangar options on that side.

I'll probably start it up with just these 2 mufflers and add on more later if i decide it's too loud.
I'll be running vband clamps right after the mufflers so swapping out should be super easy. (have to drop the trans xmember to get this mid pipe section in or out currently)



symmetric merges are more fun, but weird ones like this based on packaging constraints cause lots of headache.

If there's 2 definitely recycle them. Also looks like you're recycling most of the rest of the exhaust too.

I think I forced mine to be symmetric. I built the merge first onto the long straight pipe, but had the joint at the V Band, so I could rotate it. I also had 2 or 3 other bend/straight combos that I was rotating and adjusting at the same time to make it work as I passed under the driveshaft.  Definitely could be a challenge without all the fixtures I built on the frame table.

yea, i briefly considered welding some bolt-on fixture tabs to the frame rails but decided it wasn't worth it.
a frame table sure makes things a whole lot nicer to do.
Oh and having the frame off is nice too.

was really trying to avoid cutting up the trans xmember but wasn't happy with the clearance. 

This wouldn't have been a problem if I went with the single 3" exhaust like i originally planned instead of this dual 2.5"

oh well, I hope it sounds good!

Well i finally completed the midpipe, progress is slow with long hours at work and no sunlight after work. oh and it's cold out.

waiting for the rain to stop so i can paint it and bolt it up for hopefully the final time!

Harley says he just lost the first light. Hes holding out on telling me which part failed.

Plastic.

Knowing that people out there run quad beam setups gives some confidence in not overheating the housings.

Also these are already sundamaged on the front optics. I'll polish them out, maybe add a UV film back on. Then its a real race to see what fails first

-(new) Bulbs from being run at the top of their voltage range
-Converters from being cheap
-Original headlight wiring from higher current
-Headlight housings from higher power
-Headlight housings from UV damage

Now taking bets. I'll post back when something breaks.

I guess I could ask a mod to split this off into its own thread too.

Harley says he just lost the first light. Hes holding out on telling me which part failed.

Plastic.

Knowing that people out there run quad beam setups gives some confidence in not overheating the housings.

Also these are already sundamaged on the front optics. I'll polish them out, maybe add a UV film back on. Then its a real race to see what fails first

-(new) Bulbs from being run at the top of their voltage range
-Converters from being cheap
-Original headlight wiring from higher current
-Headlight housings from higher power
-Headlight housings from UV damage

Now taking bets. I'll post back when something breaks.

I guess I could ask a mod to split this off into its own thread too.

All signs point to failed filaments.

Haven't worked on this since last year, but hopefully building up motivation on this as I start up on it again.

Today I welded together the upper half of the stock accessory bracket (to use the stock AC compressor and lines) on top of the vette alternator bracket.

i waterjet some plates with some tabs and slots to make a quick fixture so alignment and spacing is correct.



this is where the compressor ends up. (note: alternator not fully bolted in because i had a few clearance issues at that point)



I apparently didn't account for the stock fuel rail though.
As you can see the bracket assembly won't fully bolt to the head with the fuel rail still there



I'm sure there's a fairly simple aftermarket rail fix, but that requires some digging on google.
Anyone know off the top of their head which aftermarket rail might solve the clearance issue I'm having?

Another solution could be running the car intake IF that lowers the fuel rail height. anyone know off the top of their head if the fuel rail height is different between a truck and car intake?

google shows that maybe switching to a car intake wouldn't be super helpful

Doh!

And I'm assuming it is completely welded up now too? So suggesting a rotation of the A/C compressor isn't super helpful?

The Gen 4 engines use aluminum fuel rails. That would be easier to modify/shorten for you.

oh nice, good to know.
I haven't seen any gen4 motors show up at the u-pull yet.
i wonder what the going rate for them online is

yea, i knew the rail issue before i fully welded but rotation wouldn't work very happily with the stock lines which is what i wanted to use so i fully welded it up anyways.
i figured the rail isn't too difficult of an issue to solve either with aftermarket or the mentioned gen4 ones.
I'd much prefer an OEM part to mod than ebay china parts

 

Looks like the back of that bracket could get thinner without risking much. How much relative motion should be expected between the two items? How little clearance can you tolerate? How many bolts do you really need to keep your compressor in place?