Jeep Trailblazer SS

[gottattooz]

I'm sold on the side pipes. I already bought them and the shorty headers. I'll run flex pipe to get it to the exhaust shop to put an actual pipe in.

I made body mounts for the rear out of air suspension brackets to take tension off the floor pan. It was bowing up at the corners with the weight of the body.

Then I started making templates to make panels to fill in the gaps between the inner and outer fender wells.

I put in an order for a custom double cross-flow aluminum radiator made specifically for jeeps with LS engines.

I also pulled the trigger on some LED headlights.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I was messing around with the side pipes and was curious. I wanted the tips of the pipes straight out. My dad says I should angle them at 45 degrees down. I took some pictures for reference.
-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

I like the look of the 45* but but straight out would create less dust when off road.

[JMac11]

Ai them t blow the dirt of the road so it hooks up.... OOOPPPS - street racing technology

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by JMac11

Ai them t blow the dirt of the road so it hooks up.... OOOPPPS - street racing technology

It's all-wheel drive. It'll hook up

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I transferred my card board templates to sheet metal today. The wiper cowl delete, cowl-to-cowl cover and the left and right rear fender well filler panels are ready for trimming and shaping.

The wiper cowl delete panel is pretty simple as it's just a flat panel that will cover the vent holes under the finned cover.

The cowl to cowl panel has a curved radius, so i had to make relief cuts to allow the metal to bend across the top. Now that they're secured in place with self-tapping screws, I'll tack weld the bottoms and remove it to fill in the seams of the relief cuts.

I haven't fitted the rear fender well panels yet.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

The boss called as I was leaving for work and asked if I'd stay home today as we're slow at work. So I got to tinker with the Jeep again.

I cut out the fuel filler door of the trailblazer and transferred it to the side of the Jeep. I'm stoked that it went as smoothly as it did. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with it.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good.

[Palf70Step]

Nice work on the filler. Enjoying watching you go thru this. Did you get it so the anti-theft would let it start again yet?

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Nice work on the filler. Enjoying watching you go thru this. Did you get it so the anti-theft would let it start again yet?

Not yet. I pulled out all of the computers and ecus while I'm welding so I don't burn anything up. I think it's a little more in depth than just cycling the key. I lost power to the front seats and everything. It might be a ground issue.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

My new aluminum double cross flow radiator came in today. If you'll notice the inlet and outlet are on the same size. Novak-adapters.com makes radiators for jeeps with ls conversions. Coolant goes from right to left in the top half, trickles down the left side and them goes left to right on the bottom half. And they make brackets so it fits in the factory Jeep location.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

Well the new radiator didn't fit. It's 2 inches too wide. I was trying to mock everything up to see how close the radiator is to the water pump and go from there, but that's on the back burner for now.

Instead, I welded up the wiper cowl panel and painted it.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Sucks about the radiator but the cowl is looking good.

[gottattooz]

Well, novak admitted they sent me the wrong radiator and stepped up. They sent me a return label to ship back the wrong one, and then sent me the correct one very quickly. It's so pretty!

I finally got motivated enough to make another cowl to cowl cover. I took my time this time and did hundreds of tack welded to keep the warping to a minimum.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

There were a couple spots around the windshield frame that were rotted away, so I did my best to patch and repair those sections.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I mounted the dash speakers. I used a hole saw just a little bigger than the magnet, plugged it in and secured it through the pad into the bottom plastic support of the dash pad. I also mounted the drl light sensor between the defrost vents.

I had to cut of the Mount tabs on the back of the wiper cowl grille because i had to weld up the holes. So I made new mounts to maintain the proper mounted height of the grille.

I squared the body up where I wanted it and I welded the cowl to cowl panel in permanently. We have a few tubes of Sikaflex sealant left over from building the garages, so I used it to seal the seams where I welded the covers. I thought the sealant was black, but it's very gray. I'll paint it black later.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

It's coming together!! Looking good.

[gottattooz]

I painted the cowl cover with epoxy paint. Then it's on to the inner rocker panels.

But first, i had to get the Jeep out from between the posts of the lift. I couldn't open the back doors but a few inches. I can't put the transmission in neutral without battery power, and I've got the ecm and tcm out So I don't fry anything when I'm welding. So, summit racing to the rescue. I bought a set of wheel dollies to push it around the shop.

I drilled holes in the lip of the top off the rocker panel so I could weld the inner and outer panels together. I got the top rail and the bottom of the rocker welded up on the driver's side. I need to weld the floor Pan to the rocker and then repeat the same oh the passenger side.

-Josh

[Scott2]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

I painted the cowl cover with epoxy paint. Then it's on to the inner rocker panels.

But first, i had to get the Jeep out from between the posts of the lift. I couldn't open the back doors but a few inches. I can't put the transmission in neutral without battery power, and I've got the ecm and tcm out So I don't fry anything when I'm welding. So, summit racing to the rescue. I bought a set of wheel dollies to push it around the shop.

I drilled holes in the lip of the top off the rocker panel so I could weld the inner and outer panels together. I got the top rail and the bottom of the rocker welded up on the driver's side. I need to weld the floor Pan to the rocker and then repeat the same oh the passenger side.



-Josh

If you can get underneath you should be able to disconnect the shift cable and shift your trans manually? I’ve done it on my 4l80e and you probably have a 4l60e which should be the same.

This is a cool project! I’m doing an LS swap into a ‘79 J10.

Question - the cowl is farther forward - firewall too? How does everything fit at the radiator and grill then? Seems like things are pushed forward a lot but probably I’m not understanding it all yet. Regardless, impressive work!

[Madkidd007]

Technically it’s a 4l70e but all the same geometry. As far as not being able to get it out of park. It’s just the interlock mechanism locking the shifter itself, pop the trim around the shifter up and there is a button beside the shifter itself you can press and it will release the shifter as long as you are pressing the plastic button. I’m sure you can YouTube it.

[gottattooz]

Thanks for the transmission cable info. My other issue is that the front wheels point outward after replacing the front suspension. I can roll it about 2 feet and it'll roll back a foot when I let go. I was going to loosen the lower control arms and use a ratchet strap to pull the front of the wheels in a little to correct the alignment, but I haven't gotten to it yet. But I am stoked about the progress once been making.

-Josh

[Scott2]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

I painted the cowl cover with epoxy paint. Then it's on to the inner rocker panels.

But first, i had to get the Jeep out from between the posts of the lift. I couldn't open the back doors but a few inches. I can't put the transmission in neutral without battery power, and I've got the ecm and tcm out So I don't fry anything when I'm welding. So, summit racing to the rescue. I bought a set of wheel dollies to push it around the shop.

I drilled holes in the lip of the top off the rocker panel so I could weld the inner and outer panels together. I got the top rail and the bottom of the rocker welded up on the driver's side. I need to weld the floor Pan to the rocker and then repeat the same oh the passenger side.

-Josh

Duplicate

[gottattooz]

[QUOTEQuestion - the cowl is farther forward - firewall too? How does everything fit at the radiator and grill then? Seems like things are pushed forward a lot but probably I’m not understanding it all yet. Regardless, impressive work![/QUOTE]

The trailblazer cowl actually hangs over the back of the engine. It's not wide open like on the older cars. I lined up the wheels in the front fender well and I was amazed that the front seam of the front door openings lined up perfectly.

After cutting the front core support for the trailblazer off, i had to trim back the inner fenders about 2 inches to fit the Jeep core support. I haven't fitted the front end with the new radiator yet, so I don't know the specifics of upper and lower hose lengths or how close the radiator will be to the snout on the water pump, but I'll make those adjustments when I get there. It's definitely a lot tighter than the trailblazer core support.i cut off a few inches of the front frame so it wouldn't stick out past the grille. I'll post my findings and solutions when I get there.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

The Inner and outer rocker panels and the floor pan are all one piece now.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good!