Project WTH?

17x9, Idk the back spacing is but its a positive offset. Yes, Do Not Get the G80

Not getting Posi will save some $$ in the initial purchase.  But will be more $$ outlay later, which might not matter if my current posi is going to take a crap anyway.

Later, Doug

As you all know, I lowered the Blazer a couple weeks ago.  After driving it around, the back end seemed a little more bouncy than normal.  I didn't think about it much as I'd been messing around with the front spring rates.  I went to take measurements yesterday for some 3-link calculations and found the cause of the bumpy ride.

Right side bump stop had about 1/8" gap.


Left side bump stop was pretty much touching.


Apparently I forgot that I needed to cut down the bump stops after adding the 2" blocks.  It looked like it had plenty of clearance when the suspension was at full droop.

I popped the snubbers out and cut them at the 2nd groove from the bottom which shortened them about 2.5".



Installed back on the frame...


At ride height...


I was able to jump up and down on the rear bumper and actually had some suspension travel.  Moral of the story, check bump stop clearance after lowering your vehicle. 

Later, Doug

Haha I remember that.  Too bad I didn't think of it earlier.     Did it feel like you were bouncing up and down in the front without the back moving?

At least it's not as bad as the pickups....

Did it feel like you were bouncing up and down in the front without the back moving?

I little bit. I know I went from the 700+lb/in Z85 springs to the 250-350lb/in springs so I knew the front would be soft and the leaves were still the Z85 units so I didn't think twice about the ride.  I was bouncing off the seat back more than normal. 

I drove the truck 25 miles to work and I can say the ride was much better.

Speaking of the front and bump stops, I think I need to cut the stockers or get the ZQ8 snubbers.  What do you guys think?



BTW, my LCA are close to parallel to the ground.  What have you guys done for the stops?

Later, Doug
 

Poly pancake stops are what I'm using.

Those look pretty neat. Good find.

you can get them from summit, sometimes even Autozone will have them.

How hard or soft are those bumpstops? 

Later, Doug

They are pretty hard if they are Energy Suspension. Had them on the old truck and that is why I decided to run the ZQ8 bumpstops on this one.

You could look into the first design ZQ8 BS if the second design is to tall.

First GM # 15989674



Second GM # 15956547



Second on my truck but I don't know how much the tall LBJ and cut coil lowered it. (click it, you want to)



Rockauto has Doorman replacements if you want to save a few dollars on these.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?catalog=42&partnum=31064&a=FR42-31064

Rockauto has Doorman replacements if you want to save a few dollars on these.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?catalog=42&partnum=31064&a=FR42-31064

Coupon code 21840851826267 for another 5% off at Rockauto.  Good through November.

A small update....

I went to a swap meet about a month ago and picked up a few things.  I got the light pigtails for the secondary lights in my turn signals.  I got a Hurst shift lever for $5 and I picked out a new, still in EDP '95-97 OEM Blazer/Jimmy rear bumper for $20.

Three weeks ago, I went to a new Pull-A-Part location and picked up a pair of rear bumper extensions, a pair of rear bumper brackets, license plate light assembly for a '95-97 Blazer/Jimmy.  I also picked up a fold down license plate bracket for a mid-80's full size Chevy car.  All of this stuff for a few cents over $40.

The plan is to make a step shaver, without making the rear into a bubble butt like the ECC or other companies step shavers do.  When I'm done it'll hopefully look like this...


The reason for the fold down plate bracket is that I want to fab some kind of hidden hitch and have it stick through a hole in the bumper behind the plate when I want to tow something.

I also when back to Pull-A-Part last weekend and grabbed a fuel injector harness from a '00 Dodge Caravan with the 3.3L V6.  The reason...some 2000+ Chrysler vehicles use the EV6 connectors that the Mercury marine intake uses.  I cut the connector on the main harness side so it will be easier to splice into the Blazer harness.  It cost me less than $10 compared to the $30 for 6 EV6 pigtails from eBay.  I'm in the middle of making it fit the marine intake injector spacing a little better.

I also cut a spare A/C compressor/steering pump bracket in half becuase I want to ditch the A/C system.

I still need to get an extra nut to weld onto the shift handle and a shift knob and the shifter will go into the truck soon.

I also have my headlight trim rings and the Xtreme grill and airdam being painted.  I got the 2 left side bumper brackets and have the upper right bracket on order.  I think I'll be making the lower right hand because I can't find one.  Here's the teaser that my paint guy sent me..


I pretty much am trying to finish up all the little stuff I have laying around that doesn't take a lot of $$.
 
I've lost my camera, but have the memory card  so I don't have a lot of pics taken of the progress.  Once I get pics taken I'll try to post them.

Later, Doug

Sounds like you have a pretty good plan,much of which I do not understand( have no idea what a step shaver is),and wiring gives me a headache!I guess I am more of the old school hot rodding.That is a very slick blazer in the pic.If that is what yours is going to look like it is going to be REALLY nice!LOTS of rubber under there!

Step shaver is just another term for roll pan.  Here's some examples of the normal step shaver...




To me it makes the Blazers rear end way too rounded.  I'd like to have a small ledge to break up the curve.

The rear tires on the black Blazer are 315's on 11" Zr-1 rims.  The fronts are 245's.  More about the Blazer can be found here.

Later, Doug

Ah,ok,I get it.Not a big fan of all that plastic crap screwed to the outside,I really think it takes away from what they are really supposed to look like,that's just me though.

Found the my camera.  YAY!!! Anyways I took some pics of the little progress I've made. 

Here's some of my wiring mess.  The hardest part of it all was figuring out how to pull the pins out of the connectors.  Hint: A set of precision screwdrivers works wonders.


I also cut and filed the plate that is riveted to the throttle blade on a spare TB.  A pair of tin snips and some files are all that is needed.  The TB will be installed with the marine intake.


I also got some pics of the rear bumper.  I shaved all the un-needed holes in the license plate area and drilled two new ones for the license plate bracket.  Two 8mm nuts were welded to the backside of the bumper for the license plate bracket bolts.  The plugs were welded all the way around on the outside and tackwelded for extra reinforcement from the back and then smoothed on the front with a flapdisk and angle grinder.  Excuse the splatter as I'm using flux-core wire.





Here are the pics of the A/C compressor/steering pump bracket after I was done with it.





One more pic.  This is of my freshly painted Xtreme air dam.  The back of the foglight holes have been cut so that I can eventually run brake ducts from them.  My buddy siad it'd be easier and look better to cut them before painting than after.  I also hardly ever used the foglights on my WRX so I don't really need to buy and wire up new ones for my Blazer.


That's it for now.

Later, Doug

They sell tools to repin connectors.
Are you going to run the full X kit? I had a dream last night about putting one on my truck....

They sell tools to repin connectors.

I know. Summit has them for $6/each but I didn't know which one I needed and I already had the precision screwdrivers.

Are you going to run the full X kit?

That's the plan.  I'm going to piece it together obviously.  I picked up the airdam for $40 and then the grill for about $55.  I still need to grab the side skirts and 4 fender flares.  I'm thinking of going with fleetside rear flares and modded fleetside corner skirts for my future modded bumper extensions.  I just don't know how well the flares will match up to the bumper extensions at the horizontal body line.

Later, Doug