02 blazer build

[Madax92]

hey everyone im miles im new here but i figured id start a build thead for my rig my goal for it is to keep as much stock parts on it as posiable while still being capiable so here it is gonna try to have alot of pictures but i get sucked into working on it and forget ive done mainly maintenance items with a little ajustments for the better so ill try to start at the beginning to were im at now

rig details
2002 chevy blazer 4 door
engine: 4.3 v6
trans: 4l60e


ok to start off I picked up the blazer form a local little car lot at 120*** for 2500 and it was in dire need of some work but was nice to start with lower miles.

When i first got it the rear calipers were locking up along with the front suspension and tires. So I started to pick up the parts for it and decide on tires.

Once I got the thing tore down found that some of the bjs were held in by zip ties some were factory and one had a finish nail being used as a cotter pin.

So I put brand new balljoint and tie rods on and i did a ball joint flip which puts the upper balljoint below the control arm instead of above to help with suspension geometry. I cranked my torsion bars and put some lift shakles on at the same time. I found a set of tires I really liked and the price was right they are Achilles desert hawk XMT there very aggressive but they wear great for mud terrians . ive put around 30k miles on them and there still decent. so I will be ordering a new set soon but in a 31/10.5 .

a few days after I got the tires put on I decided I should test them out so went to a little local place about 1 miles from my house to test them it had been raining a lot like flooding rains and I wasn't thinking I ended up going through a hole that is normally shallow so long story short I covered my hood and I sucked water into my intake and stalled out in the middle of the hole. after about 45ish mins of me drying my maf and dumping water out of my intake tube it fired up the tires grabbed and pulled me right out.

when I got home I decided i needed a snokel as a just incase so i ordered a snorkel for a jeep xj i mounted the snorkel but it didn't quit fit right but it was functional. shortly after that my cv axles went out and took my wheel bearings with them so I replaced the wheel bearings and pulled the cvs because I didn't have the money to get both and then ive been procrastinating ever since about putting the new cvs lol so 2wd for the win atm

we picked up another blazer for the wife and im slowly building it so she can ride with me and have her own space

ive had to replace the lower intake gaskets water pump thermostat and radiator all this year along with little things so every time I have any extra cash to put into it I have to fix something so its been a slow build

ok time some updates every one

i built a flat roof rack for the blazer out of a trifold atv ramp i still have some work to do with it im not completly happy with how i have it mounted so i want to change that and a few minor tweaks hear and there

i put a winch bumper and winch on the front end the bumper came from affordable offroad and im completly happy with it i do need to pull it back off and raptor line it
the winch i got is a badlands 12k
i ended up ordering a rough county 6 inch lift for it i couldnt talk the wife into letting my truck be down for awhile to do a solid axle swap so ifs it is lol im ordered a set of 31s for it i think i need to go to 33s not sure yet gonna run these for awhile
i had the trans rebuilt with a vette servo and upgraded sunshell thats about it for now

also the last pic is me and my daughter on fathers day had a nice relaxing ride


my goals for this year are

*raptor line the truck

*marine intake

*build rock sliders

*get a zr2 tire carrier for my spare

 

[reaver]

Welcome!

I have a soft spot for second gen Blazers....

But, I'm going to have to be a bit of a Grammer nazi here. Is there any chance you could break your post up with periods and paragraphs? It makes it REALLY hard to read.

I'd love to provide you some feedback and tips, but just can't get through the initial post.

Much appreciated!

 

[Madax92]

yea i can try dint think it through just typed lol

 

[Madax92]

is that better

 

[reaver]

is that better

Much better! Thank you!

As for the rig, looks pretty clean, with the obvious exceptions. At least you don't need to worry about drilling out the rivets of a stock ball joints.

Lower intake manifold is a pretty common issue in the blazers.

There's lots of common little things that pop up with these rigs. None of them are anything major, just mostly comfort issues.

The whole vacuum actuator system tends to dry-rot itself apart. The transfer case is vacuum actuated, as is the vent control.

Heaters cores tend to go pretty regularly as well. It got to the point where I could do it by myself in about 4 hours, without taking the dash off.

Any vehicle running the 4l60e transmission will benefit from an auxiliary transmission cooler.

The last thing to keep an eye on are your oil cooler lines. The stock ones tend to fail at the crimps.

Also, avoid ANYTHING made by Dorman.

That's about it. They're solid, reliable rigs, if you maintain them. Parts are cheap, and even with poor maintenance, mine lasted 278k.

 

[Madax92]

thank you and yea i know ive had a few s series in the past 2 blazers and 2 nomas but this is the first one that im building for wheeling
and as the aux cooler goes thats gonna be done in a few weeks i also have hp tuners so im gonna adjust the shifts and fluid pressure to help it out
my oil cooler lines are leaking a little atm so those are in a cart waiting to be ordered my vac lines are new also did that first thing ive been stuck before in one of my other blazers because of the front diff not engaging so i made that a priority

 

[diabetiktaco]

I had a 1995 LT I drove for like 6 years. Main issues were the spider injectors going bad. Then EGR issues. HOWEVER, it never left me stranded. I traded it at 168,000 hard miles. I was college age and didn't have a penny to maintain it.

Sadly, this is the only pic I have of it.

 

[Madax92]

Looked like it was in decent shape and the marine intake gets rid of the spiders and mines a non egr model

 

[reaver]

I never had a problem with my injectors. I bought mine with 70k on the clock, and it finally died 200k later.

Things I had go wrong were the transmission in the first year, then the heater core (4x), water pump (x2) fuel pump, oil cooler lines, intake manifold gasket, thermostat, and the ac system (never did get that one fixed before it died, but the last part was the evaporator core).

Rancho makes a 6" lift for these now that's a grand. Seems like a decent kit too. Other than a torsion bar crank, and sas, I think that's really the only way to lift it.

I'd have kept it, but it needed a TON of work. I needed to rebuild the ENTIRE front end, probably a new transmission, and maybe an engine rebuild. I didn't feel that it was worth the time to rebuild.

As far as the vacuum actuated transfer case, there's actually a mod you can do to covert it to cable actuated, and bypass the vacuum system. I believe there's a write up on blazerforums for the mod.

Also, if you want a rear locker, you can swap in a zr2 rear axle with a g80. I'm not sure about the front diff though. I think the manual blazers had a cast iron front diff, while the autos had an aluminum version, so you may be able to source one for a front locker as well.

 

[Madax92]

mine is a factory g80 also i like the ride height thats ive got if i do decide to lift it more im gonna sas it and be done

 

[Madax92]

so i finally got a few parts in that i ordered and got them on today

 

[Madax92]

sorry i havnt updated in awhile my trans decided that it didnt want to do its job any more and i just got it back from the trans shop hopfully ill have some updates and pictures soon

 

[13ADVXterra]

that bumper is tough! I'd love to hear your opinion on the harbor freight winch? I'm seeing them pop up a lot more on peoples rigs.

 

[reaver]

sorry i havnt updated in awhile my trans decided that it didnt want to do its job any more and i just got it back from the trans shop hopfully ill have some updates and pictures soon

Do you have a secondary transmission cooler for it? If not, you may want to think about adding one. They're relatively inexpensive, and heat is the fastest killer of transmissions.

 

[Madax92]

hello everyone how are you today and no i havnt go a secodary one yet but i will soon its on my todo list also ii havnt had the chance to use the winch yet

 

[Madax92]

also im gonna try to just keep updating the top post to keep everything together thanks all

 

[M Rose]

I love your roof rack... same brand I have on my FSB

 

[tjZ06]

You don't see a lot of the mid-size Blazer builds. Bummer on the trans. A SAS would be cool... and obv I'm a solid axle fan (WJ myself) but I suppose it depends on how you intend to use it...

-TJ

 

[z06jeff]

Cool rig! I played with s-series trucks for the better part of a decade. Had a 1st gen Blazer that I did a 3.4 swap in, a 96 2nd gen Jimmy (attached), and a 98 2wd S10 with ZQ8 sport suspension. I miss them all.
I've done all the repairs that reaver mentioned and more. Eventually, rust was taking over so I let it go. I do miss the torque of that 4.3 though.
Oh, one more thing about the transmission... My 96 had a column shift, and on the indicator, overdrive was the D with a circle around it, and regular drive was just a D. I never used overdrive unless I was on the interstate. It had over 180k when I sold it, and the trans was as good as new. I do remember the output seal of the trans was failing, and the trans fluid would migrate back to the transfer case and overfill it. Every oil change I would pull the fill plug on the transfer case to drain a qt of fluid. You might want to check on that.

 

[hadyss]

I love building the blazer up. This is mine and I’ve done a ton of work had it for 5 years and too much to list