Chassis Build Up & Design

Any more pics of the motor mounts? The design looks awesome, I would like to see how they turned out.

Any more pics of the motor mounts? The design looks awesome, I would like to see how they turned out.

did the new angled design ever get cut?

Any more pics of the motor mounts? The design looks awesome, I would like to see how they turned out.

did the new angled design ever get cut?

No and as you know I've still to get the original design to you to weld up.  The guy you reccomended to me has been unresponsive when I've emailed him since I got the first set, too.  Back to finding someone local who will cut for a reasonable amount or making enough money flipping cars to buy my own cutter.  Both of those options seem like long shots at this point haha.

No and as you know I've still to get the original design to you to weld up.  The guy you reccomended to me has been unresponsive when I've emailed him since I got the first set, too.  Back to finding someone local who will cut for a reasonable amount or making enough money flipping cars to buy my own cutter.  Both of those options seem like long shots at this point haha.

sounds like a typical annoyance when you try to find cheap work done by people who do it for side jobs...

might be faster just buying a bandsaw and being careful!
bandsaw and bridgeport are how mine were made! self labor is free right?

sounds like a typical annoyance when you try to find cheap work done by people who do it for side jobs...

might be faster just buying a bandsaw and being careful!
bandsaw and bridgeport are how mine were made! self labor is free right?

Pretty much.  I would do that if it was a priority, but would also be nice to find a water/plasma/laser cutting source I can trust locally.  That way I just need a crazy idea and a few hours on the CAD machine to get stuff made up.

These are the only two other pictures I have.  Both are of my initial design that is yet to be welded.  I keep putting off deciding what size bushing and tube I want to use.


ISO - Driver Mount by TheHarley, on Flickr


IMAG0245 by TheHarley, on Flickr

How about some wheel discussion now that the Isuzu has inherited the original wheels for this project?

I've got some phone calls to make to see if I can get the width, offset, and bolt pattern I want without too much trouble.  If I have to go with 5x120 I've got a solution I found on a Camaro forum a year or two ago that uses a valve cutter to bore the pattern out to 5x4.75, but if I can get the manufacturer to do it for me...

Anyway 18x11 with 315/30R18 tires looks to fit the back easily enough.  Front has a slim chance as I'll show below.

My mockup wheels/tires are my 17x9 with 275/40R17 and 5" backspacing; very similar diameter to the 315/30R18.  In the back, even with full bump and some droop on the other side, I've got nearly an inch of clearance using my poster board template on the 17s.  6" backspacing is looking like the magic number.

Up front with the 18x11 mock-up it doesn't look too bad at ride height.


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr

Give it a realistic max bump of ~3" or so and things get tighter.


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr

And max out the suspension at ~6" (I should have measured) and there's almost no turning radius.  Tire is into the cab and brake booster.


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr


Untitled by TheHarley, on Flickr

Once the project is moving again and the body meets the frame, I'll order up a pair of 18x11s and the 315/30s to test fit before making a final selection up front.

Can you run a smaller booster? And tub the cab? 

Hydroboost and tub the cab.

6" of travel is unnecessary on a vehicle you are planning on compromising ride quality of anyways.
i think getting 3" of travel is a good idea, but no need to double it. just get good bumpstops.

but good to know it looks possible!

thing to note for people who havent noticed: going to 18s actually gives you a selection of tire sizes that are shorter overall than in the 17s (for the 275+ sizes)

6" of travel is unnecessary on a vehicle you are planning on compromising ride quality of anyways.i

This.  I simply did the 6" of travel out of curiosity and for reference.  I'm pretty sure my shock will bottom out before I get 6" of travel.  I'll have to toss those in without the spring to check that sometime too.

Bolted a few things onto the mockup to check for clearances up front.  I have a couple ideas rolling around in my head for the radiator and fan, but need to do some more electric fan shopping.  I had a "corvette radiator" on the shelf that I picked up several years ago anticipating needing more cooling at some point in the Blazer.  Looks about the size of a 2.2 radiator with a double core.  May have a trick to mount this and have it look stock, but still clear enough for fans with the truck accessories.  Slim chance, but I will explore it before cutting up the brand new rad support.


20140425_225634 by TheHarley, on Flickr


20140425_225647 by TheHarley, on Flickr


20140425_225702 by TheHarley, on Flickr

look into the "taurus" fan. in quotes because it came in many other vehicles(only v6 cars, the intrepid was another one), but is refferd to as the tuarus fan swap. it fits the stock s10 radiator almost perfectly, and flows something ridiculous like 3200+ cfm, its relatively thin, and you can get them new from ebay for less than $100. they are 2 speed and most people have had no need for the high speed with thier 4.3s. large cables and proper relays required as one might expect with the currect draw for that type of flow.

got curious and found this
http://www.v8s10.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=33173

i've been told the fiero fan is quite nice too, and plus you probably have some laying around

After using the taurus fan then switching to an intrepid fan i will personally never consider the taurus fan for an s-series swap again. With changing nothing but the fans my 93 v8 s10 ran 10° cooler.

Already looked at both the Taurus and Intrepid fans.  I ran the Tuarus on the Blazer up until I tore it down.  It seems to flow well, but draws an obsence amount of current.  The depth of the Taurus fan also doesn't fit in the space I'm looking at nor did I want to keep running it.  Intrepid fans do fit the 4.3 radiator great, but the 2.2 and Vette rad I have are narrower than the 4.3 rad, so no go there.  I'll pull the dimensions on the Cavalier fan here at work and take some measurements on the mockup to see if that wouldn't work out.  It uses the same fan blade as the Electric S10, which used the same radiator core size as the 2.2.

List of other possibilites after reading through that thread (and Ryo):
Fiero
Taurus SHO
LT1/LS1 Camaro - actually thought about this already and have a mockup in one of the other S trucks at the barn, but didn't think it would fit well on the smaller core.

If you're looking to run super wide tires all around, here's a truck I found online that proves its possible. Looks to have pre runner fenders and pulled bed sides, no inner fenders, and possibly extended control arms? Tires are 335 KDWs.

More pictures of that truck are never a bad thing. 

From the little information I have found on his setup I'm pretty sure he is running a stock based suspension.  I don't think it is widened, but he certainly has his front offset pushed out.

He has pre runner fenders both front and rear.  Not sure how much I can pull the quarters out on the Blazer, so I'm seeing what I can stuff under stock sheet metal for now.

My 245/45R17's on 17x8 wheels rub at full lock on the Isuzu with xtreme coils and tall lower ball joints.  I know I'm going to rub, but should be enough room to still enjoy spiritied driving even if parking is more of a planned event.

the lower arms appear to be stock length on that truck. its got some ridiculously wide rims.

by accident, i have discovered that the monte steering box im using on my truck limits the steering more than the s10 box. im running the same size wheels and tires and it doesnt appear that they will rub, obviously with the caveat that you lose turning radius. im also not sure if the stop tabs on the spindle/lca are supposed to take the abuse to the front steering while at lock. this may not be an issue a street truck though.

http://blackwidowexhaust.com/gallery

^More pics.

I wonder if its the spindles that push them out far. You can only see the inside of the rims in the pic on the lift.

After I put on the Belltech Blazer spindles, I had to bend back the steer stops. The steering wheel literally could only make one rotation before the spindle touched the stop. I bent them back as far as possible, which I kinda regret doing now because the tires rub hard at full lock. Just for fun I tested fitted a 1" spacer on and it eliminated the rub on the frame and sway bar. But with a 18x8 +0 and 245 it slightly skimmed the back of the inner fender at full lock. With a 18x9.5 +6 it skimmed the inner fender and rubbed the sway bar and full lock.