Project: Modify everything, even the aftermarket parts to fit...

I still say I would at least want some kind of defrost setup in case you ever race in the rain.

local track requires side windows to be open at all times any weather, so it shouldnt fog up

I still say I would at least want some kind of defrost setup in case you ever race in the rain.

local track requires side windows to be open at all times any weather, so it shouldnt fog up

Windshield could, but if your truck is like mine, it fogs with the heater on worse than off, so I would just get some hot air moving to try and help.

Replaced my rear shocks with the cheapies I've had on the shelf for a while this morning, huge difference yet again. I'm really suprised by how good these cheap shocks have been out of the box. I know their longevity won't be good, but I don't need it.

The rear shocks on the truck were bilsteins, which is hugely surprising, I did not realize that even back to first gens pretty much all blazers I've found had bilsteins in the rear. The drivers side shocks was still in decent shape in compression, but rebound was shot, and the passenger side shock was destroyed, leaking, internal stop gone very little compression, non-digresive compression and pretty much no rebound at all. I'm going to check their compressed and extended lengths, hopefully they'll work for as long as I keep leafs on this truck, which will be a while. I've got feelers out locally for a bilstein certified re-buider, but I may have to send them in to a place like speedway. Now I just have to find the fronts.

Also, I've been reading into the Astro fiberglass leaf springs, if anyone has any info on them, I'll be very happy to hear anything you've got. From what I've read so far, the fiberglass were on pre 95 vans, and are not quite identical to the S10 leafs, unlike the 95+ steel leafs on the astros, however I'm not at all against doing a little modification to get them to work. Springrates seem to be completely un-known to anyone and the Astro guys all seem to want to get rid of them, but I've not found anything about them breaking or any real reason why they want to get rid of them, except to lift the truck. On the bright side, the Astro is a lot heavier than even the Blazer, so the leafs should be pretty stiff.

Well you're in luck on the Astro leaves.  My friend and I spotted them at the yard and he was curious enough to do some comparison's with his 4 door Blazer leaves.  If you want any more info on a particular part number let me know and I can at least help you find what vans to look for.

The S codes are for 90-95 vans and the rest are 85-89 from what I can tell.



Z87 Xtreme Blazer Leaves



ZW7 4 Door Blazer Leaves

So we're looking in the area of 180lbs\in on the Asrto leaves(for the top most line, there are so many there I can't tell where they converge and diverge, but some will be stiffer, up to about 200lbs\in if they start at the far right of the pack and end near the top of the pack) 225lbs\in on the Z87 and aobut 240 lbs\in on the ZW7. Wow, they are a lot lighter springs, I'm quite surprised. I'm definitely going to have to check the arc on them and see how much drop I'm going to be subjected to. I'll be happy with as much as I can get, it'll just mean I have to wait till I have the parts together for the front drop too. I'm going to hit a new yard I found today, hopefully get a steering box and front swaybar, maybe even rear swaybar frame brackets, just so I don't have to fab my own, unless they look like junk. I'll see about getting some lower control arms while I'm there too, hopefully they have a vehicle positsioned just such that it's possible. I might even check some driveshafts, a 2DR blazer ZR2 probably isn't that common, but it's worth checking.

I color coded the chart to the best of my ability.  There isn't much more resolution on my end than you see here haha

Ah, very helpful, so the SABs are by far and away the stiffest, I'll have to see what I can find on them. Or if I can find that code SAB on some option tags. The trip to the yard was delayed, I got new fuel injectors, remans, and got them installed, and decided I needed to make some other changes in the fuel system, and now I've hit a stop till I can get to the hardware store. It is running SO much better with the new injectors it's astounding!

Are you talking about purple?  That is SAK.

I can use the part numbers to find the application, RPO, and maybe some other info to help narrow your search.  The code I provided I do not believe to be the RPO.

The red SABs will actually be the stiffest because they have almost the same total load, with with quite a bit less travel required. The more vertical the line the stiffer the spring.

That is what is what I get for not taking the time to do the math.

I'll look up those part numbers at work tomorrow.

Sweet, thanks mate!

SAB part numbers are referenced to the 90-95 vans.  Parts catalog only offers that they exculde the YF7 RPO.  From what I can tell YF7 is for the upfitter package.

Nice, that should make it pretty easy. Since I'm sick now, and was over my weekend, I'll end up going this thursday I think. I'm gonna get a set of LCAs while I'm there, I'll have an extra set of hands, so it should be possible, that'll mean I'm ready to start building delrin bushings. Hopefully I'm back in a place, now that I'm caught up from my fiance leaving, that I can start pulling parts back together to get the suspension re-built.

My truck freaked out on the way home this morning, got it home, if barely, popped the hood and there was a weird clicking in the distributor. Let it cool down, got the cover off and couldn't figure out what was wrong at first, the rotor was a bit burned, but shouldn't have been as bad as it was.

Then I noticed a spring partially melted into the rotor next to the electrode. Looked inside the cap and the entire spring-loaded center was completely gone. I don't know where the stud went, or the plastic, but it was GONE. The spark was literally having to jump more than 1/4" inside the distributor, lol. I don't know how it managed to stay running. Got a Duralast Gold because it has a 5 year warranty and brass electrodes for $22, so I figure even if I burn through one a year and have to swap them out it's a pretty decent deal.

It looks like I'm going to have to make a tool to adjust my fuel pressure more easily. It looks like I'm going to have to epoxy a cut off long allen wrench into a 1/4" drive socket so I can get it done much more easily.

I did that allen trick for my Audi door panels.  The allen key kept running into the panel and I'd have to pull it out and reseat it.  A pain when you can't see the bolt you're turning.

It rained all damn day, and I was at the yard anyway! I wasn't able to get the fiberglass leaves, though they do have SEVERAL sets, I just wasn't comfortable trying to do it by myself. They use an interesting mount that removes the need for a shackle, which will have to be adapted I think, more research is necessary. They look like they're going to be more trouble than they're worth.

I also wasn't able to get a set of lower control arms because I didn't take a large enough box wrench. Was pure stupidity on my part.

On the bright side, I got a nice steering wheel, box and a rear-view mirror with no lights, all off of a pretty heavily modified dually S10 standard cab long bed that I found. I might go back for the dually flares tomorrow.

I also happened across a TBI 4.9L olds with the intake hat still on, so I grabbed it and the stud.

Got it all for $50. Tomorrow is going to be a front sway bar from a different yard, and hopefully get the LCAs. The leaves might just wait.

interesting, is it on sliders or something?

i think you needed 18s and 21s or 22s.

congrats! you finally got a steering box! not zq8 tho?

if that dually was on a 2ng gen please get the fenders 

It's actually in a pocket essentially. I'll grab pictures next time I have a chance. It's odd.

18s and 21s do the bolts, but the castle nut is huge, 1"+

It is either a ZQ8 box or a Monte SS box, had to eyeball the range of motion while on the truck, and it's definitely better than a FE2 box.

Dually was a first gen, thought it might look cool on my blazer.

Yeah, that pretty much looks right. Do we know for sure if that front is an open eyelet or not, that will make all the difference. The axle pads are also quite different, but I think that will be relatively easy to adapt. The astros actually have staggered shocks too FYI. The rear end I was looking at I would swear was an 8.5" too. I wonder what the total width of the axle is...