Got the New Mud Racer Home Sunday

[4bynut]

Well I'm new to the blazers, i usually mess with the 67-72 trucks. I've been working on a 70 chevy mud truck for sometime now. But mine still had a long way to go before it could go down the track. A buddy decided to sell his, this 70 blazer. He wanted to keep his motor, trans, and t-case, but i actually have that stuff so i bought it. He left me the complete ignition, fuel setup, cooling system, wiring setup, and gauges. I do have a few things to change to suit me. First thing is changing the yellow to red and adding a lift off fiberglass hood. I'm putting in my 511 BBC, TH400, 241, and my HP furd D60 front. It has a D44 front and furd 9" rear with 4.56 gears currently. He also keep his tires since i need to go bigger for the peat pit we have locally. He mostly run it in shallower clay pits. Well i'll have more updates later. Jason

[Yukon Jack]

Interesting. Will be fun to watch your progress on the changes. Will a short wheelbase be a benefit?

[70rs/ss]

I'd think the Blazer shorter frame would be rough and bouncy, but less likely to high center since the rears are so close to the fronts?? Looks cool, have fun!

[4bynut]

Thanks guys. The blazers seem to do really well. They transfer the weight better when you take off. Since i'm in the salt belt alot of guys use the blazer frames with S10 bodies on them. They are also alot lighter with the S10 body, but this blazer is really gutted for weight reduction. Like everyone else here the 67-72 body styles is my favorite no matter if it's a truck or blazer. Jason

[4bynut]

Here is a couple pics of it with buddy's tires and wheels on it. I'll run 38.5x11 boggers on the front and 44x18.5x15 boggers on the rear. In the pics he has 38.5x11 bogger fronts and 39.5 boggers on the rear. Jason

[vtblazer]

What's not to love about a 'purpose' built blazer?

Welcome to the other side.

Any vid of it doing it's thing?

[FRENCHBLUE72]

Very nice..

[4bynut]

Thanks. I haven't had a chance to really do anything with it since i helped roof a place for my dad. That kept me busy thur-sun.. I did get PO stickers removed last night with a heat gun but some are cleared over so i'll have to sand them off. I'll atleast rough it all before i paint it anyway. I think i'm going to pull the top off and redo some of the cage. I also want to add a bikini top with truck doors so i can use lexan in them. Maybe i can stay dry then. The original top is pulling apart in a few spot and cracking pretty bad anyway.

VTBlazer - I'll have to see if my buddy ever had any vids of it racing. I go to youtube a bit because some of the local racers post vids of the races there. Alot of good footage but haven't seen it there. Jason

[4bynut]

Well, I've got some of the parts to get my HP D60 in the front and fix the back suspension. I have the D60 disassembled and ready to rebuild. The rotors are turned down for the wilwood calipers. But i'm waiting on the caliper brackets which a friend is cutting out on his plasma table. The ORD shackle flips are to replace the stack of blocks on the rear axle. When i get them on i need to modify the brackets for the air bag so they reach the top of the leafs. So i just have a slight list of stuff getting ready to go in the blazer.

[4bynut]

Here's a pic of the motor for it. It's a full roller 511 tall deck chevy. And also a pic of the motor mounts a friend made for between the stock crossmember and motor. I cleaned the rubber off a stock set of mounts and he machined the insert block. I need to tig weld the blocks into the stock bracket and they'll be ready to bolt on. Jason

[LUV2XCLR8]

Sweet, your buddy did a nice job on the mounts

[72BlckButy]

What a fun looking project, good luck with the build!

[4bynut]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

Sweet, your buddy did a nice job on the mounts

Thanks, I was real impressed too when he dropped them off. He machined them with a raised area that seats in the original center hole. That way i can't mess them up when i weld them. They are machined out of 4150 material which is a better grade. I'll post more pics as we get things together. Jason

[jaros44sr]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

Sweet, your buddy did a nice job on the mounts

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

What a fun looking project, good luck with the build!

I agree

[Jtrux]

That's one hell of a motor. I do have one question. Lately it seems there has been a lot of comparison between the ORD shackle flip and the DIY shackle flip. Why did you choose the ORD?

[4bynut]

Originally Posted by Jtrux

That's one hell of a motor. I do have one question. Lately it seems there has been a lot of comparison between the ORD shackle flip and the DIY shackle flip. Why did you choose the ORD?

I went with ORD because i found a set that someone bought and never used. So i got a better deal on them. I also think they are lighter which matters with this build. I have bought stuff from Kurt (DIY4X) and been very happy with quality though. Like i said though, weight is a big deal with this truck. I'd love to run aluminum heads to lighten the front end, but it would put me in a higher class then what i want. So IMO both companys make great stuff. Thanks, Jason

[Jtrux]

Originally Posted by 4bynut

I went with ORD because i found a set that someone bought and never used. So i got a better deal on them. I also think they are lighter which matters with this build. I have bought stuff from Kurt (DIY4X) and been very happy with quality though. Like i said though, weight is a big deal with this truck. I'd love to run aluminum heads to lighten the front end, but it would put me in a higher class then what i want. So IMO both companys make great stuff. Thanks, Jason

Makes sense, are you gonna run stock shackles on the rear too since they're pretty light or are you gonna run something a little heavier for strength?

[4bynut]

Originally Posted by Jtrux

Makes sense, are you gonna run stock shackles on the rear too since they're pretty light or are you gonna run something a little heavier for strength?

I'll just run the stock ones. They are stong enough for this. They get abused, but i've never seen anyone break them.

Jason

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by 4bynut

Here's a pic of the motor for it. It's a full roller 511 tall deck chevy.

Want sound clip!!

[4bynut]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

Want sound clip!!

Maybe in a month or so. I have a few things to buy yet so it'll run. Hoping to get the D60 swapped in the next week. But i keep having other peoples projects to get done first. I want to get the rear suspension done also before i really get to the motor. It's a good thing i have 4 months before racing season starts. Jason

[4bynut]

Well, i'm going to get busey on getting the D60 gears and trac loc installed. But i didn't feal like crawling around to do it on my jack stands. So i dug out some 3x3 square tube i had and made this axle stand to make it easier. It's waist high and i made it with a smaller tube in the middle and set screws so i can use it for different width axles. I used 1x1 tubing to make a saddle for the axle to set in. Here's a couple pics with my D60 housing on it.

Jason

[CTENTA1]

Cool Blazer,
sounds and looks like you've done this before.
keep the pics coming...........

[vtblazer]

Great idea, pulls apart for storage to.

What gears are you going to run?

Doing the shafts while your in there?

[4bynut]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

Great idea, pulls apart for storage to.

What gears are you going to run?

Doing the shafts while your in there?

Thanks, I made it so it would break down for storage and for hauling it. It will be a community one anyway. A few friends may use it that's why it needed to adjustable for width.

The front will be 3.54 w/trac loc and the rear has 4.56 w/spool. It comes out good for the 44" rear tires and 38.5" front tires. I'll be running low range. We like a little more wheel speed in the front to keep it lite and on top of the mud. I'm not sure how the gears will work at one or two clubs i can run one more class if i put 38.5 on the rear which basiclly changes my rear ratio. If it don't work tho i'll just run one class there with the 44's and 38.5's.

The front axle is getting a complete rebuild, but i'm keeping the stock shafts for now. The stock D60 shafts seem to hold up good for what we do. Alot of guys break the D44 outer shafts tho.

Thanks
Jason

[4bynut]

Well it must be common with ballistic to take their time on orders. They put their high steer arms on sale 2 weeks ago and i decide to order a kit for my D60. I ordered the kit and the guy who took the order explained they were moving equipment at the time. They had everything except the left arm and the machine they make it on wasn't able to run. Well i ordered on 2/6/09 and he figured 1.5 weeks to get the machine up and running again. Anyway i called today and they hope to start making them sometime this week. They have around 30 on back order because of this. Just sounds like bad planning to put them on sale and them move machines around. Sorry for the rant. I just remember vtblazer having to wait for his too.

I do need to get some new pics up here to tho. i've been real busey getting things done to the blazer. The gears and trac loc are installed in the D60. It's all cleaned and painted also. I welded the chevy shock mounts on the d60 and i'm just waiting on the ballistic arms to assemble the outers. Motor mounts are welded and painted. Pulled the front clip and the d44. Also pulled the front leafs and moved the perches forward to be able to use 73-87 lift leafs.