Jeep Trailblazer SS

[Palf70Step]

Very Nice!

[fear_nothing]

Man that came out real nice. Wolf hiding in sheep's clothing

[61_FL_Apache]

Nice work! Fun project to watch!

[67C10Step]

Very nice! I love the projects that when I see them on the road my brain first says, "Nice!" and then a second later says, "Wait a minute, there's been some work done on that one." Subtle is often more work than brash but stays cool forever.

[KShortell]

Wow!

[gottattooz]

Well, no progress on the Jeep. I'm still collecting parts to swap the engine and three gear sets
But i did put her through the paces

A friend of mine posted a 1979 Jeep Cherokee chief wide track for sale. He gave me a friendship price that i couldn't pass up. That was Monday.

On Tuesday, dad and i found a gut selling a 1958 short wheel base Chevy panel truck. Included in the purchase was a 2002 Chevy suburban 2500 with a 6.0l, 4l80e, 14-bolt rear with hydroboost.

The toy box is officially full.

-Josh

[Madkidd007]

Josh will be on my **** list about this
,josh

Originally Posted by gottattooz

Well, no progress on the Jeep. I'm still collecting parts to swap the engine and three gear sets
But i did put her through the paces

A friend of mine posted a 1979 Jeep Cherokee chief wide track for sale. He gave me a friendship price that i couldn't pass up. That was Monday.

On Tuesday, dad and i found a gut selling a 1958 short wheel base Chevy panel truck. Included in the purchase was a 2002 Chevy suburban 2500 with a 6.0l, 4l80e, 14-bolt rear with hydroboost.

The toy box is officially full.

-Josh

[HAULIN' IT]

Josh, Something I see there in your photos concern me & feel its best to mention it. That is, how far back you have those vehicles on the trailer. That is looking for trouble! When you are towing with something "under-sized" (as in, not a Suburban, 1 ton truck or bigger) compared to what you are towing...things can get hairy REAL quick. The problem is you can go along just fine & then you come across the wrong dip/ripple or wet road & the backend gets light & its real hard to "catch it". Especially without a weight distribution hitch set-up & sway bar, the placement needs to be carefully considered.
The old saying: "Tail wagging the dog" comes to mind. If you look at the photo of the panel truck...your Jeep backend is actually UP in the air due to the amount of weight behind the trailer axle. Just My Thoughts, Lorne

[Ol Blue K20]

A full toy box is a good thing. I've always liked the Cherokee's!

[Palf70Step]

Love the panel and the 2door Cherokee

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by HAULIN' IT

Josh, Something I see there in your photos concern me & feel its best to mention it. That is, how far back you have those vehicles on the trailer. That is looking for trouble! When you are towing with something "under-sized" (as in, not a Suburban, 1 ton truck or bigger) compared to what you are towing...things can get hairy REAL quick. The problem is you can go along just fine & then you come across the wrong dip/ripple or wet road & the backend gets light & its real hard to "catch it". Especially without a weight distribution hitch set-up & sway bar, the placement needs to be carefully considered.
The old saying: "Tail wagging the dog" comes to mind. If you look at the photo of the panel truck...your Jeep backend is actually UP in the air due to the amount of weight behind the trailer axle. Just My Thoughts, Lorne

Let me be that guy since I know how that jeep sits normally. It is not sitting high in the rear compared to normal. And do any of us know if that Carryall or jeep even have a drivetrain in them? Hmmmmm I wonder

[regan wilson]

That Panel is friggin Cool.

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by HAULIN' IT

Josh, Something I see there in your photos concern me & feel its best to mention it. That is, how far back you have those vehicles on the trailer. That is looking for trouble! When you are towing with something "under-sized" (as in, not a Suburban, 1 ton truck or bigger) compared to what you are towing...things can get hairy REAL quick. The problem is you can go along just fine & then you come across the wrong dip/ripple or wet road & the backend gets light & its real hard to "catch it". Especially without a weight distribution hitch set-up & sway bar, the placement needs to be carefully considered.
The old saying: "Tail wagging the dog" comes to mind. If you look at the photo of the panel truck...your Jeep backend is actually UP in the air due to the amount of weight behind the trailer axle. Just My Thoughts, Lorne

Here's what it looked like when i first hooked up to the trailer. The Jeep has a full drive train. If i ran over a crack in the asphalt, the rear tires rubbed. The air suspension wouldn't go Any higher. I made it about a mile away before i pulled into a well lit parking lot. I rolled it back about a foot and Got 2 more inches of clearance. I also towed it home, across Atlanta around midnight at 45 mph. I can assure your i was in no hurry to jackknife and be on the news.

The panel truck is just a roller. I tried to center the load around the wheels. It took me 90 minutes to go 45 miles getting it home. We talked about towing it home with the suburban that came with it. We learned that it only had a hitch receiver attached to the bumper, not the frame. Plus is has 5 year old gasoline in the tank alpine with a bottle of seafoam and sta-bil. Dad said it felt like it Was running on 4 cylinders and it wouldn't have gotten out of the guy's yard with a loaded trailer.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by Madkidd007

Josh will be on my **** list about this
,josh

Calm down, Josh. I'll make you a killer package deal on everything you need to make it a sweet ride.

I might even take your Saab as partial trade so i can cut it up for the panel truck swap.

- Josh

[67C10Step]

Man, what a haul! Love the Cherokee and the '58 panel is beyond cool. Get the suburban running good enough to haul the others around and you got it covered. That panel though, I'd be hard pressed not to jump into it with both feet right off.

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by 67C10Step

Man, what a haul! Love the Cherokee and the '58 panel is beyond cool. Get the suburban running good enough to haul the others around and you got it covered. That panel though, I'd be hard pressed not to jump into it with both feet right off.

Believe me. I'm drooling to get busy on the panel truck. But there's no room to move in the shop. The Cherokee and the suburban are currently outside the shop. My dad wants to throw a drive train in the panel "real quick" so he can drive it. I don't feel like doing the job twice. All in good time.

-Josh

[Madkidd007]

Look at her posing

[gottattooz]

So i have been collecting parts for the engine swap. I replaced the camshaft, lifters, lifter trays, timing chain and gears and a new melling oil pump. I installed an Ls2 timing cover and cam sensor. I'm at a stand still until i pull the engine because I'm using the Ls2 heads and oil pan. It's amazing how simple the ls engine is to build.

I love the hand written receipt from the guy i bought the cam kit from.

- Josh

[lunatic1968]

awesome project man, subscribed.

[gottattooz]

Well I'm back at it. I finally finished swapping dad's differential in his 59 pickup, so i can now use the 2-post lift to swap the engine and gear ratios in the Jeep. MadKidd warned me that you've got to remove the front suspension to remove the CV axles to pull the engine out of an awd trailblazer, so that's what i did. I gutted the front suspension, googled a video on how to remove the cv axles because they didn't want to come out. My plan is to pull the heads off in the engine compartment to make the bell housing bolts more easily accessible. I'm fighting with the front drive shaft to remove the left header and i remembered having to lift the body off the frame to install the right header. But I'm making progress.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

Just because, here's what we did with dad's 59 pickup. Swapped out a 1987 GTA 9 bolt rear end with a 3.27 gear for a Moser 9 inch setup with 3.55 gears. Installed with 4 link parallel bars, new sleeve type air bags with a leveling valve off a Kenworth and mounted the sway bar on top of the frame connecting to the 4 link bracket welded to the rear end housing.

The posi stopped working in the GTA rear. Dad found out that they use some kind of friction cones that wear out and aren't serviceable. Instead of buying a new setup from Australia for $1700 shipped, he is going to be in it for about $4k after buying new rear rims to clear the c5 corvette brakes on the Moser housing. But as you can see while running front brakes only, he's enjoying power braking up and down the driveway.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I got the Ls2 out today. Had to mount the knock sensors to the back of the motor mount brackets and then installed the LQ4 with all new seals and gaskets. I'm not swapping gear set at this time. I found out the front differential is a 3.73 instead of a 3.42. So I'll swap that out when i source the parts later on. I broke a knock sensor plug trying to remove it, so I've got to wait until that gets here, but the swap wasn't horrible.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I can't express enough how good it feels to have friends with knowledge. Josh (MadKidd) works at summit racing. I went there to pickup a torque wrench and a valve spring compressor. We were just catching up really when i mentioned an issue i noticed with the set of head bolts that came with my gasket kit. Turns out i had the wrong kit. I ordered a kit for the Ls2, not the LQ4. Apparently the head bolts are specific to the block and not the heads.

I got home, started swapping out valve springs and seals and torquing things down. I got a lot done in a short time.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

So apparently i pot in the wrong valve guide seals. The guy i bought the cam kit from sent me a box of parts. Conversely, i had a master felpro gasket kit. I replaced the valve guide seals with what was on there from the felpro kit. Those seals were meant for beehive springs. I'm using dual springs with the new cam. Thankfully, Roger Vinci himself (vincihighperformance.com) called me to explain that i needed to change the seals, or I'd break the inner springs. Unfortunately, i had already installed the cylinder heads before he called. So i bought a compression gauge kit, cut the hose off and barbed it with an air fitting to pressurized the cylinders and swap seals.

After i put the radiator back in and primed the oil system, I've got no oil pressure. I tried 3 different times. I cranked it with the injectors and coil packs disconnected and the oil psi gauge didn't move. I reprimed the oil system 2 more times. Even replaced and filled the oil filter. I ran out of patience and closed the garage for the day.

-Josh

[biketopia]

Are you checking on an analog gauge or the sending unit. It's very easy to crack that sensor behind the intake, or mess up the wiring. Did you remove the pump, if so did you get the right o ring on the pick up and get it seated all the way? I didn't get any oil pressure after my cam swap in my 08 just cranking, put the coil and injector fuse in and fired it up, had oil pressure in a few seconds.