Making the last push

[NW_Ryker]

Hey all. its been a while. School is coming around next week and the Blazer needs to be finished. It hasn't had much done to it over the summer and I just keep finding more problems. I wanted to drive to and from the pass and school about twice a week, but the leaks and thirsty 350 aren't making it easy. Finally, I've come to an ultimatum. I need to finish it. From there, it will be sold or, if i can iron out some of the problems, keep it. So I guess this will be the build thread from here on out. I'll post up the to-do list tomorrow, hopefully that will get me motivated to finish the damn thing. For now, I have a question. Sell and buy something more fuel efficient, or run it? Keep in mind that I'm in high school and would only be working part time.

[Tom Vogel]

Im going to say something here that will probably get me flamed but...

If you were my son I would tell you to sell it and get a fuel efficient car for school. That is unless your father has the money to fund the restoration and feels the need to do it. These trucks are fun toys, but they are thirsty and expensive to build. JMTC
OK...Flame away..

[fun in dirt]

I'm with Tom...sell it!
I've been in your position before myself...had a '85 Jimmy on 35s for a dailydriver that was killing me - in both gas $ and parts keeping it running (but I was also driving it 120 miles round trip every day). I sold it & easily made the payments on a clean, used '95 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 with the $ I was saving on gas alone. Several years later I was able to buy the '72 I now have, but for a fun-time toy instead of daily driver.
Just because you get rid this one now, doesn't mean you can't get another one later!

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

Im going to say something here that will probably get me flamed but...

If you were my son I would tell you to sell it and get a fuel efficient car for school. That is unless your father has the money to fund the restoration and feels the need to do it. These trucks are fun toys, but they are thirsty and expensive to build. JMTC
OK...Flame away..

Not to knock what your saying. I partly agree with you. However, when I was in high school my old man said the same thing to me. I chose to get a part time job just so I could keep my truck. It wasn't easy, but I kept my grades up and kept the truck. I still have the truck, and a ton of memories.
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[Firebirdjones]

Everyone has their own situations so I can't speak for you.

Personally I am a die hard gear head, and have driven classic stuff all my life, through school and part time jobs and in between. Even when I didn't have money, I never jumped on the fuel efficient econobox bandwagon and still refuse to do that to this day.

With that said I was determined to just make what I had as fuel efficient as possible. I found that if I kept the engine and the rest of the vehicle in a good state of tune, and drove sensibly, these old cars really aren't that bad on gas. I figured going out and spending $30k on a new econobox would actually cost me more in the long run. $500 a month car payments don't interest me either. I could buy alot of gas with that money and just keep what I have.

I've got big block vehicles here with no overdrives that do just as well as most new fuel injected overdriven SUV's on the roads today. I'm okay with that. But that's just me.

Then again, your situation may require something different. If at all possible, if your vehicle is nice and worth keeping, it might make more sense to park it until you can afford to do something with it. However long it takes, and in the mean time buy a beater that is more friendly on the wallet.
I've found when it came to classic muscle cars, (which is what I drive most of the time) it was better for me to tuck them away (some as long as 25 years) rather than sell them. Because they were getting harder to find. It's easy to sell them,,,but it's much harder to find another one and buy it. Just my experience.

[Firebirdjones]

Case in point with me.
I had been driving my 72 4x4 blazer every day for the last 2-3 years and finding myself tucking the muscle cars away more and more for fear of theft and accidents etc...

With the old 350/4barrel and 350 turbo trans, it got 13 mpg around town and a best of 16 mpg highway. Not that bad considering. I was content with that since that's what most modern SUV's are getting.

The trans starting slipping and was on the way out this past year. I had to make a decision, so I decided to take the plung and go with an LS swap and overdrive rather than buy a newer vehicle.
It was actually much cheaper to fix what I had.
couldn't be happier, now I'm getting 16 mpg city, and 20 mpg highway.

[K5Danny]

I'm jumping in with the guys on the idea of parking it and finding something cheap and efficient for the meantime. I'm considering an LS swap myself. I little cruise downtown and back is taking half of a tank of gas in my old rust bucket.

[NW_Ryker]

Parking it and buying something else would be ideal, but I need the 4WD and refuse to buy any foreign econoboxes. Looking into Jeep YJ's, but they aren't much better. I think I might have topless fever.

[Ridnhi]

Originally Posted by NW_Ryker

I think I might have topless fever.

I think most guys do =)..jk, I picked up a nice ranger to save miles and fuel cost on my DD. It gets 24 mpg and I still have my 4x4 for whatever I need. I say if you love the blazer you will find a way to keep it, if you really don't care then maybe sell it and wait until you can buy another and maybe you will love that one.
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[suspectdon]

I also suggest parking it and coming back to it later when time and funds align. I've had my blazer for 10 years and sitting for the last 5 years. I just found time and a bit of money to start the project back up again. I almost sold it a couple times and I am really glad I didn't do that!
I know you said you don't like foreign econo-boxes, but.....flame on..this is only a suggestion, a good car to look for is a 3rd gen 84-94 subaru loyale with a high/low 4 wheel drive dual transfer case. You can have two wheel high front drive or four wheel high or four wheel low. With a manual you can get about 20 mpg or better and you can fit 30" tires with a 2" lift.

-Richard

[rickjames]

Ahhh, my account finally got activated, so here goes post #1. Don't fall for the econobox hype, like it's been said the car payments and comprehensive insurance (if you finance it) are going to offset any potential gas savings. Chevy trucks are dirt cheap to fix, dead nuts reliable, and not that incredibly bad on gas. If you need inexpensive parts, go on rockauto.com. I'm not sure what your setup is, but if you're running a quadrajet rebuild it, change the air filter, and keep your foot out of it and your gas mileage will improve significantly. If you're running a holley, carter, edelbrock, etc etc carb, ditch it and get a quadrajet. Fix the problems in an organized fashion, replace the vacuum lines, plugs, cap and rotor, wires and tune it up, and you'll be suprised what kind of mileage you can get.

Worst mistake I ever made was getting rid of my first blazer. I parted it out to pay payments on my tahoe. Moral of the story, I'm now 12 years behind on building a blazer.



If you're really that strapped, go get a motorcycle to commute on, at least the gas savings will actually be significant that way.

[NW_Ryker]

As of right now, I get maybe 10 miles a gallon, and its ridiculously slow. I guess I should mention that the reason I even need to make this decision is that the motor is in need of a rebuild. There's a lot to do on the truck, and at this point, I don't have time/not willing/don't know how to fix it.

[4oldcars]

You can buy a motor a lot cheaper than you can buy some Japanese car. You'll never reget drivin a classic. You'll always regret selling it.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by 4oldcars

You can buy a motor a lot cheaper than you can buy some Japanese car. You'll never reget drivin a classic. You'll always regret selling it.

My thoughts exactly.

[Firebirdjones]

Originally Posted by NW_Ryker

As of right now, I get maybe 10 miles a gallon, and its ridiculously slow. I guess I should mention that the reason I even need to make this decision is that the motor is in need of a rebuild. There's a lot to do on the truck, and at this point, I don't have time/not willing/don't know how to fix it.

Well the issue with not having time/not willing/or don't know how to fix it does pose a problem. 10 mpg is a little hard to swallow too for a daily driver. It was easier 30 years ago when gas was a little cheaper I'm betting with some tweaking and some other tricks you could find 2-3 mpg in there somewhere.

If you really like it, and it's a solid piece to start with, I'd still suggest keeping it, park it if you have to. Then when time allows, after school, house, kids etc....use it as a learning curve for body work and mechanicals. You have to learn on something at some point.

[Sillyoldman]

Originally Posted by rickjames

Ahhh, my account finally got activated, so here goes post #1. Don't fall for the econobox hype, like it's been said the car payments and comprehensive insurance (if you finance it) are going to offset any potential gas savings. Chevy trucks are dirt cheap to fix, dead nuts reliable, and not that incredibly bad on gas. If you need inexpensive parts, go on rockauto.com. I'm not sure what your setup is, but if you're running a quadrajet rebuild it, change the air filter, and keep your foot out of it and your gas mileage will improve significantly. If you're running a holley, carter, edelbrock, etc etc carb, ditch it and get a quadrajet. Fix the problems in an organized fashion, replace the vacuum lines, plugs, cap and rotor, wires and tune it up, and you'll be suprised what kind of mileage you can get.

Worst mistake I ever made was getting rid of my first blazer. I parted it out to pay payments on my tahoe. Moral of the story, I'm now 12 years behind on building a blazer.



If you're really that strapped, go get a motorcycle to commute on, at least the gas savings will actually be significant that way.

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[leddzepp]

Sell it and buy something more fuel efficient/economical for now. I did just that when I was at the end of high school and going in to college. After I graduated, got a decent job and some cash, I started buying and driving classics again. Now when something needs to be fixed, I have the money to do it and another rig to chase parts as well.

[SamMargritz00]

in my opinion, if you have time switch out the engine for a fuel injected motor. i got a chevy 5.3 out of a 2001 pickup for cheap to put in my 72. and the install wasnt all that bad either.

[NW_Ryker]

An engine swap would be nice, but I don't have the money or time to put into it. It's either sell it and use the money to buy something else or fix it up and drive it.