Chassis Build Up & Design

If there is, I don't know it. I bought a bag of them at the dealer, they were cheap.

For future reference, I started another thread for RSX seat progress. Airbags are removed without much trouble at all.

http://www.pro-tourings10.com/index.php?topic=2440.msg14173

Tonight began the teardown to end all teardowns.

teardown? i want  more assembly!

Wow, the frame hasnt been off that table in... how many years?

Progress!

Assembly? Well between yesterday and today I tore down both the transmission and the engine to fix and investigate a few things.  Transmission has all the internals now and rotates freely.





More importantly engine has oil pressure! I pulled off the pan to investigate the o ring, pump, and oil level. Everything checked out good, but when talking to Ryo he mentioned he had to crank his for something like 60 seconds to build any pressure. Also learned from the internet that the front oil galley plug leads right to the oil pump and can be used to pre-fill it to help make the vacuum needed to pull oil out of the pan. 30-40 seconds of cranking and the gauge budged.

Another video of the engine cranking for your viewing pleasure: https://youtu.be/WEv9sLWVjaA

It has been a productive last couple of weeks and I'm feeling some good momentum. Which is good because I should be working four days/week starting next Monday and that will be less time for everything, but this is still my primary focus with my spare time.

Frame is now notched to recess the lower transmission mounts.











I then reassembled the engine, fuel system and most of the rest of the chassis in preparation of mating the body to the frame.

The heat shielding for the fuel lines and harness turned out great. I ended up cutting up an aluminum shield from a Silverado and riveting it to a couple small brackets welded to the Y pipe. Still getting a hang of the TIG. Was feeling good about it the other day, but all I seem to be able to make is large puddles, which tends to burn through thinner material.  Also used a 4.3 engine mount shield, bolted to the transmission, cut in half for the transmission temperature sensor and reverse lockout solenoid.









I still want to build a shield for the backup lamp switch, but I've got my eye on one of the floor shields from an S10 to cut a small piece out of.

With all of that done I went ahead and gave the engine another test fire. This time with success after getting the PCM setup correctly and plugging the brake booster vacuum port. Dropped the video on youtube: https://youtu.be/xbzgJ-KvbxQ


Al helped me drag the Blazer body inside that night and I'm onto getting the last details on the frame and body done that I won't be able to easily accomplish once they're bolted together.





Maybe I will get this done before never!

There is some awesome progress happening here. It was good to hear the engine run.

The second half of the week felt like slow progress, but once I stepped back and looked at what I accomplished I'm thinking differently.

I pulled out everything I had been storing in the body. Not that much, but it got me sorting and itemizing everything I still have for the truck. Looks like I pitched a good amount of the interior and I'll be hunting for different carpet without as many holes while replacing what's missing. Got the floor finished up for the most part. Patched the hole I made for the fuel cell filler neck, removed and replaced the driver seat belt bolt hole I had drilled out, and cut out the shifter opening.





The stock Blazer foam seal fits the hole perfectly. Glad I spent the time dropping the body on the chassis to get that lined up beforehand.





And that means the body met the new chassis for the first time today.





Just need to seam seal my patchwork underneath and that side of the body will be done.

Nice - super fast progress now!

Thanks! It's looking like it might actually be ready for the spring roads. If only there weren't so many pot holes

Just for fun I dragged the frame out of the barn by myself

https://youtu.be/vIVQtlvYI1Y

good progress!!!

Are you keeping CAGS?

I've got all the wiring and the solenoid for it. I'll start out with it on, but easy enough to turn off with TunerCats. Actually one of the reasons I asked for your Vette tune, so I could transfer the parameters over.

Wow this has come a long way. Nice work!

I've got all the wiring and the solenoid for it. I'll start out with it on, but easy enough to turn off with TunerCats. Actually one of the reasons I asked for your Vette tune, so I could transfer the parameters over.

aha, i see.
I have yet to drive anything with cags enabled. I disabled it on the vette before I ever drove it and never hooked up the wiring on the rx7.

I've not minded it in the few vehicles I've driven with it. Everyone complains about how invasive it is, but unless I'm going real slow off the line it didn't engage for me. And honestly that's kind of when you'd want to be skipping gears in a vehicle with enough torque for it.

On the flip side it is only there to improve CAFE numbers. It is tuned to work under the testing conditions to improve economy for that circumstance in particular. Real world effectiveness could be debated.

I've not minded it in the few vehicles I've driven with it. Everyone complains about how invasive it is, but unless I'm going real slow off the line it didn't engage for me. And honestly that's kind of when you'd want to be skipping gears in a vehicle with enough torque for it.

On the flip side it is only there to improve CAFE numbers. It is tuned to work under the testing conditions to improve economy for that circumstance in particular. Real world effectiveness could be debated.

You can also tune it to engage whenever you want. Its not just a choice between stock and disabled.

I haven't made a ton of time to work on the Blazer lately. I've cleared my schedule for most of March and April to improve on that trend.

In the meantime I've been tidying up the body and getting ready for putting the interior back in.  All of the floor repair and modifications have been seam sealed and I cleaned up any of the surface rust/peeling paint I found on the floor. I also fitted the shifter foam and a Camaro lower shift boot I picked up from the junkyard. If I weren't using the foam I could cut the hole to fit the Camaro boot exactly and have that fitting more flush, but I'll be running both. It should seal up nicely once I get it screwed down.







I got the RSX seat positioned, but haven't tacked in the actual mounts yet. To get it dropped down and fit cross car the way I want - bolt access being an issue at the lower height - I am having to move it outboard, but I had already considered moving the steering column out as well to help with exhaust clearance. That all seems to be working in conjunction and the column bracket looks like it could be easily slotted to move everything over just right.  The passenger side I'm not going to mess with dropping the seat as low as possible because they don't have a steering wheel to contend with.



I also took inventory of what I have left of the interior in good condition. I apparently have a decent shopping list for the junkyard on the right.

And after a couple afternoons the driver seat is in... I'm definitely just slapping the passenger seat on top of the S10 rails haha It was quite a bit of work to get everything cut down and shaped to take up the small amount of extra height that was available. And the seat still feels an inch or two high compared to a stock Blazer seat. I'm pretty sure with a helmet it will be tight to the headliner. I'm pretty sure if I don't recline the seat a click or two I may touch without the helmet, but I also have a tall torso even though I tend to have plenty of headroom in S trucks.

The brackets did turn out as well as I had hoped. It's all tacked in for now. I'll finish it up with the TIG once I have the passenger seat done too. Hopefully I can get the rails off track for ease of welding and painting. Seems like there are a couple of tabs I can hit with a punch to have it slide apart.





This bracket took me quite some time.





It had quite the ways to go from the mounting stud, so I tried to box it in as best I could.



All the bolts are accessible like factory by moving the seat fore & aft.





Also spent some time working through the body harness. After I get the passenger seat mocked up it is ready to be laid out in the truck again and finalized. I'll get the PCM and fuse block mounted up to the transmission tunnel while I'm in the middle of that.

sad to hear it's still high
good work though!