Chassis Build Up & Design

Alright. Well now that I have another 6000 miles on this truck I thought I'd sit down and make an update meaning this is the first time I've sat down with WiFi since I hit the road a few weeks back.

I think I left off with the broken electric fan and brake booster.  To get the electric fan off the radiator I ended up having to pull the whole front end because of the way I mounted the radiator in the core support. Having the driver fender off gave better access to the brake booster, but I also had to pull the dash to remove the bolts. While I was in there I fixed some wiring behind the dash I had not originally thought out correctly.  Gotta love unwrapping harnesses I taped up less than a couple months prior.

Tore it down this far OK maybe it wasn't so bad, but didn't feel great at the time.





Added in a relay for the rear fogs as I unknowingly used an existing relay that was tied into the courtesy lighting. Whoops.



If you didn't know the flasher socket behind the glovebox of an S10/Blazer works well as a standalone relay holder for the typical unsealed OEM relays.



Replacement booster and electric fan did the trick and those are working as they should now. If I didn't say it before I regret not testing that fan and it didn't take much if any effort to do.

While I had the cooling system apart for a chemical flush (not sure how I would have done this on the stand, but would have been a good idea to get the block cleaned out before dropping it in the truck. yay clogged brand new heater core) I rerouted the heater hoses like Ryo suggested along the intake and down the front of the block with the 90 degree hoses.  I actually found quite the selection in the gates catalog for several different lengths in different diameters. It is a great resource and I ended up taking it a step further to find an offset hose (Gates 19843) that fits between the 3/4" T I used off the water pump outlet and the coolant reservoir. It all looks like factory hoses now and so much cleaner, but somehow I've yet to get a good picture or the new routing/underhood pic.



Gates Catalogs

Click on the Molded Coolant Hose Identification Guide and page 214 has the right angle hoses. I went with the Dayco version of Gates 28472. The 52" length was plenty and the 40" should have been enough, but I shopped around the different lengths between the 2 brands to find the best deal. And honestly the longer right angle hoses are the best deal that can be found on lengths of high quality heater hose. $11 for 4 ft in my case.  If I break open the coolant system again I'll probably order up a 3/4" version to replace the straight section of flimsy parts store generic brand hose I have now.

I got a kick out of the ghetto flushing rig I eventually got slapped together.



Made a new mount for the hose bracket too. It bolts in with the front fuel rail mount.







Here are a few more pictures of the airbox assembled. I did end up finishing the top piece that bolts in to secure the top of the intake tube, but again no pictures of that. I'll have to remember to grab some underhood pictures one of these days when the sun is out. It looks good and if I grab the bracket from the junkyard I'm pretty sure I can squeeze the truck engine cover under the hood too.





Had another persistent drip once the coolant system was flushed and back together. Finally chased it down to this minute crack in the thermostat housing water neck. I bought the engine from a truck with a front end collision, so I'm guessing this happened then. The coolant was appearing out of the middle of the part with only that slight indication of a crack, but swapping in a spare housing fixed the issue.



I got the truck back on the road and still had the cylinder misfire issue. It actually hopped around to a couple other cylinders while I was at it, but those ended up being loose crimps on the fuel injector connectors. Cylinder 6 stuck around even after going through all of the connectors and making sure the terminals were solidly crimped on. I was pulling the spark plugs to actually record the compression numbers this time and something looked off on the cylinder 6 plug. Turns out the inner ceramic was loose and it would slide up and down the inner electrode. Just as a confirmation I briefly swapped cylinder 4 & 6 plugs and the misfire followed.  With a new plug I've had no issues since and 6000 miles without a CEL. I don't think words can describe how happy I am about that after banging my head on that particular wall for a month.



Not sure if anyone noticed the last little cosmetic modification I made to the truck before hitting the road. It's now the third C6 Z06 part to end up on my truck haha



This was my mockup.



With the switch back parking/turn LED bulbs I'm trying to use I wasn't able to get the corner lights to work with the factory wiring and Al convinced me to split the turn function into a Euro style side marker. We were looking at the export Blazer marker at first, but when he threw me a picture of Corvette version I was sold.

I first did a mockup in scrap metal using the hole template Al and I came up with.



Transferred the same shape onto the fender after outlining the cardboard I had found a good location with. I literally stuck the lamp through the paper hole I cut out and trimmed the outline on the template, so I could match to what was drawn on the fender exactly.



After drilling the hole, carefully cutting most of the slot with the grinder, and spending some time finessing with files I had the hole to size. I took another sheet of paper with the hole cut out and traced the fender lines to mirror to the other side.



It took some eyeballing, but I got it pretty close on the other side based off the traced template.



I didn't have the second housing yet, so I tied a string to the wiring and taped it to the fender because I was driving the truck around at the time.



I really like how this turned out. Probably my second favorite visual modification on the truck behind the yellow corvette calipers up front.

And that pretty much brings the progress up to date. Al has done some great stuff on the tuning side bringing together tables from several different vehicles to get the idle and several other things working well.

I was visiting a friend up in Bay City after getting it together and a light dusting of snow was a sign that I needed to head south to be able to actually enjoy this truck this time of year. With all the snow I've seen Michigan get I don't think I could have left any later and got out.



I ended up going through Bowling Green, KY on my way to the Southwest.



There's more history to this picture than meets the eye. I was working at the Corvette plant, which is pretty much across the street from the Museum when I bought the truck back in 2006. I flew down to Jacksonville, FL and brought it back to Bowling Green over a weekend.  Add in the fact that the transmission internals came from a 2006 Z06 as well as the Calipers and corner lights, it was a pretty cool convergence to have my route just happen to pass by that place nearly 12 years later, so I stopped for a photo op.

Here's the Blazer in my apartment's parking lot just down the highway from the museum and plant not long after I bought it. It's come a long way since then. Just looking at the picture reminds me of the Florida smell it used to have.



Or how about the picture of how I picked it up 



Kept going and ended up in Tennessee.



Stayed overnight in a Western Texas rest area.



Stopped in Southern New Mexico and saw a friend from my time hiking.



My first long term destination was LA after seeing another friend in Yuma, AZ.



Swung down to San Diego and then up to San Francisco. Took Highway 1 down the coast until I hit a mudslide closure south of Big Sur. Fun even if rough roads and grand views the whole way.













I've started back East and now am in Houston, but stopped in Carefree, AZ for about 24 hours too. The Blazer really seems to fit in the desert.





No major issues have arisen. I've rinsed and washed the truck once each. Just did an oil change a few hours ago. Not really touched anything otherwise.

The clutch doesn't seem to be fully engaging. It typically shifts with 0 issues, but sometimes can't get into second when downshifting and from a stop, starting with the pedal up I'm having to use the synchros in 1st or second to slow/stop the input shaft before sliding it into gear. My leading theory is a bit of air in the remote bleeder hose as the transmission, slave, pressure plate, flywheel, etc. are all setup as the would have been from the factory on a Camaro. I really should just grab a friend and a wrench and confirm/fix that.

Even after replacing every piece of the steering I have lots of slop. I can deal with it, but driving straight down the highway is actually borderline sketchy. I'd say there's more slop in the steering than I had in the Isuzu. Although tearing up canyon/coast roads I don't notice it and am quite comfortable driving 70-80% I want to blame the steering box even though I replaced it right before I left with a reman, but again need to grab a friend to sit in the driver seat and help me actually confirm where the slop is coming from. Everything else is either proforged or heim joints, so... shrug?...    The other factor may be the steering pump seems to be leaking. I haven't found where it is coming from; everywhere I touch is dry, but it does seem to leak down until the level of the pump shaft and I had seen fluid directly underneath that in the initial 500 miles of driving.

I'm also wondering if the engine is providing enough vacuum for the brake booster in all circumstances. The pedal typically has good feel, but there are certain situations - just off highway cruising and less often off heavy throttle - that it's soft up top in the pedal travel and I have to get through that to the firm pedal I'm used to. It's never not, eventually, given me the strong braking it has, but it certainly gives me a momentary fright when it decides to be soft. I know some of the Full Size trucks of that era use a supplemental electrical vacuum pump, so it has me wondering.

Other than that there are a few squeaks and rattles I know I could fix if I weren't on the road. The passenger door pins definitely need to be replaced and I have the parts to do both doors.

I also want to get the fuel gauge dialed in better. The current setup doesn't show completely full and filling up at a quarter tank is about 11 gallons on a 18 gallon tank. I messed with those tables so much before trying to get the fuel cell working that I don't know if the baseline Al and I had was the original Blazer. Ryo do you have the original cal file from your Blazer? I was hoping I could get a copy of your fuel level tables at some point.

Epic update!

Im going to break replies up by topic. First one is the aux brake booster pump.

it would be nice to know what the vacuum was in the brake booster while youre driving around, see if it is getting low during your fright brake events. Is the replacement booster also a junkyard part? That might be called into question first. The aux pump has its vacuum sensor internal, but maybe we can add a MAP sensor to your booster and log it using an open PCM pin for EVAP pressure or similar.

IF you do decide to go with the silverado part its all self contained, which is nice. Info copied and pasted below.

Supplemental Brake Assist
The Supplemental Brake Assist (SBA) unit creates vacuum for the brake booster in case of a vacuum loss or low vacuum to the brake booster. The SBA consists of

The sensor circuit board and pressure sensor
The check valve manifold
The vacuum pump
The motor
When the vehicle is keyed ON, the SBA performs a self test by toggling the Supplemental Brake Assist Signal Circuit low for one second. The instrument panel cluster (IPC) recognizes this as an indication that the SBA is functional. If the IPC does not see this signal for five consecutive ignition cycles the Service Brake Booster Message is displayed. The SBA performs diagnostics at 16 Km/h (10 mph) under normal conditions, and before 16 Km/h (10 mph) if a low vacuum condition exists. The SBA then spins the motor and runs diagnostics to determine if the pump is operating and the SBA is functional. The SERVICE BRAKE BOOSTER message will display until the next ignition cycle if the unit is unable to maintain reduced power brake levels.

The SBA unit utilizes the ignition on signal from the generator to determine the engine is running and monitors speed using an input from the vehicle speed sensor. It also has an internal pressure sensor that compares the pressure inside the booster to the ambient pressure. If the vacuum drops below 18 cm/Hg (7 in/Hg) the REDUCED BRAKE POWER message is displayed and a 5 second timer is started. If the vacuum stays below 18 cm/Hg (7 in/Hg) for 5 seconds the SBA starts the pump. If the vacuum drops below 15 cm/Hg (6 in/Hg) the pump comes on immediately. Once the vacuum level increases to 23 cm/Hg (9 in/Hg) The pump shuts off. The REDUCED BRAKE POWER message continues to be displayed until the vacuum level reaches 25 cm/Hg (10 in/Hg). If the pump runs for one minute without the vacuum reaching 23 cm/Hg (9 in/Hg) the pump shuts off and the SERVICE BRAKE BOOSTER message is displayed.

The SBA assembly operates in two modes.

Low Vacuum Mode — The low vacuum mode can occur with the engine ON or OFF. The SBA determines the ON/OFF status by monitoring the regulator output on the engine ON circuit. This mode involves SBA pump activation and deactivation due to changes in vacuum detected by the pressure sensor.
Low Vacuum Engine ON Mode — The SBA will operate in reaction to changes to brake booster vacuum as monitored by the pressure sensor. This mode is normally active on power up if a valid engine ON signal is detected and a low vacuum condition is indicated for more than 5 seconds.
Reduced Brake Power Mode — When the booster vacuum drops below 18 cm/Hg (7 in/Hg) the SBA will start a 5 second timer. If the vacuum exceeds 18 cm/Hg (7 in/Hg) the timer stops and resets. After 5 seconds the pump activates and the REDUCED BRAKE POWER message is displayed.
Immediate Pump Activation Mode — When the booster vacuum drops below 15 cm/Hg (6 in/Hg) the REDUCED BRAKE POWER message is displayed and the pump is turned on.
Pump Deactivation Mode — The pump will be turned off when the booster vacuum exceeds 23 cm/Hg (9 in/Hg). The SBA will continue to display REDUCED BRAKE POWER until the booster vacuum exceeds 25 cm/Hg (10 in/Hg).
Low Vacuum Engine Off — The SBA will monitor the vacuum when the vehicle is above 8 Km/h (5 mph) and an engine OFF condition is detected. If the vehicle is below 8 Km/h (5 mph) and an engine OFF condition is detected the SBA will monitor the vacuum for 60 seconds
Vacuum Augment (Engine OFF) Mode — If the engine ON state changes to OFF after reaching 8 Km/h (5 mph) the SBA activates the pump for up to 60 seconds. After 60 seconds the pump shuts off and the SERVICE BRAKE BOOSTER message is displayed. If the engine ON signal is detected or the vehicle slows to below 8 Km/h (5 mph) before the pump times out. The pump shuts off and no message is displayed.

good point on flushing the engine coolant, i should do that too... adding to my to-do list.
same with the e-fan, I need to test that too

heater hoses look good in that one picture!

good find on the crack in the t-stat housing. that's not a noticeable crack.
I'm happy it wasnt in your modified water pump!

yay for figuring out the misfire issue! did you never swap plugs previously?


Really happy to see this truck driving around and being enjoyed!!! it's about time... or rather it's way overdue, but glad you made it this far without getting discouraged!

Congratulations!!!

clutch: i think you meant to say it isnt fully DISengaging.
As for that issue, I have a feeling the stock s10 clutch master/pedal system doesn't have quite the travel it "should" have from a mechanical design perspective.
with the 2 clutch swaps (3 if you count re-doing it once with the same parts) I'm convinced that a brand new clutch is going to drag for the first several hundred miles of "wear" which knocks down the high points on the friction disk
(i had the same issue every time, regardless of how much bleeding and stackup measurements i did, but it eventually fixed itself (i think from wear as mentioned))

I'm sad to hear the new steering box (i'm assuming) has slop too.
one day one of us will find a solution for sloppy boxes!

as for lack of vacuum for the brake booster, maybe check the condition of the check valve/vacuum canister? a temporary vacuum gauge might be an easy $30 tool to watch too. I would be surprised if it needs a supplemental vacuum pump, although im curious to why the fullsize trucks might have needed one... that's definitely news to me. do you know what option combination lead to that?
edit - Al's reply sort of answers part of that. interesting topic I should dig into for various other vacuum source projects in the future

Al asked about the blazer cal files, he should have them already but if he doesn't I can either pass him the pcm or I can download a stock generic blazer file from HPTuners online tune repository and look at that.

Thanks guys. It is great to be enjoying this truck even if it is well overdue. Definitely a few times I wanted to set it on fire and roll it into a lake. Just getting it driving makes fixing things much more palatable as it isn't a setback to having it on the road.

Al mentioned the check valve too in a text and that makes some sense. I'm wondering if it is sticking open in the situations I have the soft pedal, but it's certainly doing its job at idle. I've stopped the truck and popped the valve out of the the booster to have all urge air rush in, so it seals in some instances. Al is there a part number for just the valve?

Definitely flush the block and test the fan! I knew better and even thought of it, but for whatever reason didn't.

I swore I had swapped the plugs. I pulled them before, but maybe didn't move them?

Yup. Not fully disengaging. Sometimes just writing my thoughts down has me thinking through it more. The pedal is firm, so a bad bleed doesn't really line up. Leaves,  I figure,  a master that doesn't push enough like you said or a slave that needs to be shimmed, but with all the s truck clutch disengagement issues I have run across or heard of I'm leaning toward the master. Al and I discussed running some numbers comparing to the other cars that use this slave.

I'm 6000 miles in on this clutch and it hasn't gotten better. Matter of fact it got worse from the beginning and settled in where it is now, which is why I was thinking it was a bleeding issue.

I've found a couple companies that blueprint steering boxes, but we're  talking at the bare minimum $500 and more like 7 or 800 to purchase. At that point I start thinking about scrapping the front suspension and insert snowball to avalanche.

My experience with a t56 swapped blazer is also a firm clutch pedal and a 2nd gear that grinds more with time. On mine i had to cut out the firewall for the stock s10 master, since it was also an auto to manual swap. Im interested in running the numbers on the clutch system to see how much force, pressure, throw we're expecting.

Will look up the brake check valve for you. Im calling your booster into question as well if its a junkyard part. As for why some fullsize trucks had the aux pump, im going to guess it allows for a higher gvw rating in some engine stalled or back to back brake apply test. Total guess there.


We must have a pile of steering boxes on the shelf. Take one apart when you get back and re-engineer it to be what you want.

Ryo, i looled for that file, but it must be on an old pc or something. Ill look you up one day to scan your pcm.

2nd seems to be the most unhappy, but I get 1st and 3rd problems too. Anything 4th or above has shown no signs of an issue yet.

I want to say the booster is fine, but the first one I had was bum too. I don't think I'll like the price new, but look up the booster number too while you're at it. Like I said the valve and booster hold vacuum after shutting down the truck and I've even come back 20-30 minutes later or more and it was still holding a vacuum. But that's not the circumstance I'm having the issue, so can't directly correlate the two and say it is fine. Yes it is another junkyard booster, but I can't recall ever hearing of anyone on any car having persistent vac booster problems. I always had the impression the super durable.

I could certainly tear a steering box down and I may out of curiosity, but don't think I have the know how or the tools to effectively rebuild it from the browsing I've done through the steering gear manual I found awhile back.  Apparently the professional rebuilders aren't able to either., so I may have nothing to lose trying.

hmmm 6k miles should have worn down any high spots for sure.

I'm curious on the fluid volume displacement compared to other cars too. the blazer definitely has the heaviest stock clutch pedal in any cars ive ever driven, which backs up the theory that there wasn't enough pedal stroke room to the floor/firewall to start with.

as hard as it is to trust a junkyard part, a bum booster isn't particularly common from my forum browsing too.
i still vote for tossing on a vacuum gauge to figure that out.

another idea i could think of is pad knockback.
you have a pretty big fixed rotor on there with fixed calipers, so any compliance in the upright/bearing stackup is going to cause the rotor to push the pistons back "more" than a stock setup.
i wouldn't be surprised if an aftermarket drop spindle isn't as stiff as a corvette upright.
here's a good quick whitepaper
http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/pad-knockback

I agree you should take the sloppiest steer box you can find and see what you can do to make it better.

Al, you have an email with a table incoming

Great to see this truck on the road!

As usual, I have little of value to add on the technical side of things other than to say that I've also been fighting occasional brake issues similar to what you're describing. It usually happens when I shift out of reverse into drive after a hard auto-x run - the pedal will drop for an instant and needs a quick pump to come back to normal. It's been bled a number of times and I've changed the check valve at the booster twice (I wasn't sure about the used one I tried 1st). I'll try changing the booster at some point. I don't know if it has anything to do with my ABS module being unplugged.

Pad knockback has some merit. It does happen most often after long highway stretches.  Although it is interesting that rentedmule is seeing something similar on his floating calipers. I couldn't say if it's the abs module or not, but mine is long gone.

The engine side of the booster is easy to take apart especially with the factory braided lines to the master. The service manual says you can remove the booster nuts on the interior without pulling the dash, but between molesting the dash insulator and how cramped it was I don't think I'd do it without pulling the dash even with how much work it is. Good time to change your heater core too?

From the parts catalog request list

15234951 - 98-05 blazer booster
18022219 - 95-05 blazer check valve kit, includes grommet

not sure why the booster PN changed in 98, I'll dig on that another day.


On the thought of blazer drop spindle rigidity- one of the hub to spindle bolts is purposfully undersized on the belltech spindles.  You can see it on this first picture I found from google, the top most bolt of the triangle pattern isnt through the spindle into the threaded hub, but now a smaller bolt through the hub into the spindle.



Second point of suspicion would be the caliper mounting brackets. Looking back in time, even C3 vettes had this issue, and added a fat cast bracket to hold their calipers in place.



Third suspect point, are you running wheel spacers on the front? are they still tight?

How high of a cornering load are you seeing leading up to this? IF its lighter forces can we simulate this with low speed maneuvers sideways on a loading ramp or inclined drive and reproduce the problem? or even measure whats deflecting?


Ryo, table received. Thanks. If you have the whole file as a .BIN I can import that directly, and would like it for reference.

Hey wait, youve got fixies on your rear end too. Those axles for sure are sliding in and out against the limits of the c clips or the pad to rotors, whichever comes first.

Hey wait, youve got fixies on your rear end too. Those axles for sure are sliding in and out against the limits of the c clips or the pad to rotors, whichever comes first.

time for floating rotors!

also Al, sorry no .bin export option on hpt
https://www.hptuners.com/forum/showthread.php?44865-Why-can-t-we-export-a-tune-file-as-a-bin-file

as for thoughts on the booster change in 98, is that when the blazers started to get the 4piston fronts instead of the 2 piston?

I've been back in Michigan for a couple weeks now.  Blazer has about 11,000 miles on the swap now. Didn't take as many pictures on the second half of the trip. I ended up heading back West after shooting up to Denver where the snow chased me south again.



While the rest of the country was seeing temperatures below 40 or much more I hung out in the California Desert.







Click here for a 360 view of the grafitti.

Ended up hiking about 100 miles along the PCT with a friend of mine and then shot straight back to Michigan via Oklahoma City. Got caught up in an ugly snow storm coming through Indiana unfortunately and had to wait it out for an afternoon while the snow crews did their work. It definitely got real sketchy before I called it. Not super happy I pressed on into the storm, but my sleepy brain thought I could get ahead of it.











Averaged 18-19 mpg and that was with plenty of fun too. I never did really find the sweet spot for highway driving. Got up to 22mpg on a couple tanks, but could never replicate it. That is likely the effect of enjoying the throttle pedal.



Overall I'm super impressed with the truck. It's seen some shit and survived over 10,000 miles without much complaint. I had to replace the battery on my way to OKC and both low beams burned out eventually, but all of those things were something like 10 years old. And another thing to the headlight's credit my wiring had them on with the DRL circuit, so always lit up at full power. On the battery side it appears that my alternator is weak, but I want to double check the output myself the next time I'm out at the shop.

The wheels and tires took the biggest beating. There are many many crappy roads outside of Michigan - shocker; California, of all the places, definitely did not live up to the expectations of a state with a thriving car culture and high taxes. There was one point coming through Indiana I hit a gap between a bridge and the road that I was sure launched the truck off the ground, but all the tires still had air afterward and I've yet to find any marks on the wheels. Truck still drives straight and no new vibrations from the violence. I've run over boards, taken the tires down what was essentially a deteriorated, rocky 2 track, drove in cold rain, subfreezing temperatures, and they kept kicking. Aside from actual snow buildup on the road I had very few real traction issues. These NT-01 tires say 'recommended for track use only' on the sidewall. Needless to say I'm impressed with how well they handled the situations I found myself in.

On a similar note, I quickly began fantasizing of adjustable shocks on the rear. The Xtreme shocks are a good, affordable, off the shelf option, but after tuning in the compression for a nice ride up front I was longing to do the same for the rear axle. I can easily tell a sharp difference in how well the front and rear responds to road imperfections.

Steering

I did check the steering fluid and it was holding steady without any noticeable leaks. I can grab the steering shaft above the steering box and move it by hand without much if any deflection in the steering linkage below. So definitely a steering box issue. Other than seeing what I can do by tearing down my own boxes I kept dreaming about what I could improve with an entire front clip upgrade rather than spending the coin on a blueprinted box.

Cultch

Al and I did some clutch Master Cylinder comparisons. Didn't worry about the rest of the system as it is identical to the T56 Camaro including the clutch on my truck. S10 Master has 18mm bore with 35.9mm stroke. Camaro is 19/36, so the S10 doesn't push as much volume as the Camaro. The internet says the 7/8" bore aftermarket slaves are popular; 19mm is essentially 3/4", but have to find another solution for the clutch start and cruise switches on the factory master. Any other GM masters that fit the square hole are the same part number as the S10. Al did some internet sleuthing and looks like a 94-97 Ram may have a square attachment hole too with a larger bore, so hopefully I can find the right combo in the yard to test fit.

Another thought floated was to extend the master push rod. Both Al and I are shoving the pedal all the way to the floor to catch the start switch on our respective T56 swaps. It's so far down both of us ditched floor mats independently, so it might be a matter of not enough travel available for the pedal. Or it's just another result of the smaller volume available.

We didn't jump into the slave cylinder side of the equation. The internal style slave uses a hollow tube of fluid instead of a solid cylinder like a push rod style, so it's not as easy to find dimensions for. I have an extra slave on the shelf and might have one in the scrap bin too that I will try and get measurements for. I know that the Gen 1 CTS V owners often uses later slave cylinders on clutch/flywheel swaps (C6 vette slaves for example), so there might be something bolt in out there for the slave side of the equation.


I keep kicking around the idea of writing up a few condensed posts on the 5.3 swap. Part numbers, costs, tools, techniques, etc. I've got most of the info on my coolant system pulled together. Trying to decide if and how to integrate with the Budget 5.3 thread. Any opinions out there? My motivation to write or spend time in front of the computer has been really crap as it seems to take me forever to pull my thoughts together lately, but if there's solid interest I'm more than willing to work through that.

welcome back! Good to hear everything went well!
the NT01s have pretty stiff sidewalls so that probably helps keep your wheels round. unlike the snow tires I have on the miata where I cracked a wheel and tore a sidewall this winter on I-75

I have several alternators and probably slave cylinders too if you need more selections.

how about moving the clutch MC pushrod pivot on the clutch pedal down a touch? i don't know where in the misalignment the pushrod is sitting stock, but maybe moving it down 1/4" would be enough to get you more stroke and possibly retain the start safety switch? (this is assuming the pedal touching carpet/mat/floor is the stroke limitation and not the MC bottoming. I cut away my mat and my carpet is worn pretty much all the way through under the clutch pedal which makes me think the MC may not be getting full stroke.

interesting to hear the gen1V owners use something different for the slave.
I know the ls1/6 vs the ls2/3 have different flywheel/clutch geometries so i wonder if they changed the PP spring rates and stroke required too.
I never had an issue on the rx7 running the ls2/3/7 style clutch/flywheel with the ls1 t56 slave, but then again i was running a totally different MC/pedal setup too.

Take your time with the updating of your gained knowledge to share, doesn't seem like anyone is really doing much on this forum this winter anyways! i know i havent!

Isn't moving the pivot point up what we want? Goal would be to move the pedal further from the floor/firewall to gain more clearance for more stroke.  Sounds like you're in the same boat as both Al and I with the clutch to the floor.

I keep reading about shims or shimming slave cylinders, different torque values for pressure plates affecting where the spring fingers are located, as well as some sort of difference between the C6 slave cylinder and earlier applications with the T56.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/cadillac-cts-v-2004-2007-gen-i/1642218-cts-v-ls7-clutch-upgrade-how-confused-read.html

This thread has a bunch of info for the LS7 clutch into a gen1V that may or may not be related or helpful. I'm definitely curious what the dimensional differences are between the 2 slaves and if it may be another solution path. The fact that the 2 options for the V are the earlier slave + spacer vs C6 slave makes me think the C6 is longer or has more travel or something along those lines.

If you have any other slave options than the NV3500 or T56 I'm interested in what you have. Also interested if you have any non-squeaky alternators that might work. Autozone said mine was completely bad, but for whatever reason I just didn't get the warm fuzzy feeling of confidence in their work. It still seems to put out voltage, but maybe not enough? I haven't written off my wiring either, so wanting to confirm for myself. All I know is the issue likely killed my old battery and the gauge shows in the 12V range rather than the 14+ I'm used to seeing on the gauge.

moving the pedal pivot point upward (longer pedal) would also work, but i was originally saying moving the pushrod point on the pedal lower. (longer pushrod stroke per pedal face stroke)

I did all the reading and measuring on the shimming of slaves (nv3500, stock setup) and i was definitely in the correct spot. I'd be hesitant to shim it because you might lose out on full clamp force if you go too far.

didn't really read the ls1tech link yet, maybe later.

i only have nv3500 slaves, sorry.
i grabbed the least-squeaky alternators the junkyard had, plus the one that came off the blazer, i dont remember off the top of my head which i have mounted to the 5.3 now, but i have some selection for sure.

No, I wasn't talking about the pedal pivot, but I was also wrong in my thinking in my last post.

Moving the master pushrod down on the pedal shortens the pedal stroke for the same master stroke. I think we're on the same page there, now. Drawback will be more force required to move the pedal.

There's a ton of information and probably misinformation to sort through in that thread. To start out with I want to get the pedal out of carpet at full stroke and play with the pedal ratio, master size and/or slave size from there. I'm with you on the shimming, at least on the T56 I'm setup exactly as the LS1 Camaro would have been from the factory using all factory or factory replacement parts.

I need to sit in the truck and actuate the pedal again as well as look under the dash. I keep thinking I'd prefer lengthening the pushrod or the more attractive option of moving the pushrod mounting point on the pedal forward in vehicle. I've got a bracket design in my head that seems pretty simple to do without chopping up the pedal and could even add in extra holes to adjust the point up/down for pedal feel/travel preference. It would however bring the pedal position toward the driver and I'm not sure how that would feel in real world driving.

Did a big scrap run yesterday, but while I was at the shop tried to get some better engine bay pictures and even threw on the truck engine cover to see how that cleans things up. It doesn't quite fit underhood, but I think there are a few things I can do to lower the front of it down.





















A couple interior shots too. I realized the other day I didn't have any pictures with the interior complete.





I also took a few minutes to do a video walk around of the engine bay. Turned out better than I thought even though I turned on the camera without a real plan.

https://youtu.be/MD9CaAaKmkE

Looking at the rear is amazing !!   I want fat tires on the rear of my Blazer so bad.

The motor swap as awesome as well & I know you are enjoying the LS power.

Its probably in your thread but how did you get the heater hose's to hook up with the truck intake ??