Stink Ten Two. The second Blazer.

[HO455]

When removing and installing the wires I keep light tension on the slack line so if I detect any resistance on the line I'm pulling on I stop and reverse direction to hopefully prevent the wires from getting stuck in the middle of the column. The first photo shows the string all set up and ready to pull the new switch wires down the column.

Once the wires were pulled down the column I reassembled the column stopping before I reinstalled the lock plate. Getting the high beam linkage correctly installed and working smoothly took a couple tries. I made sure the moving pieces were all freshly greased.

At that point reconnected the battery and tested the high beam switch function as well as the turn signal function. Once I was satisfied with the operation of the mechanical linkages I reinstalled the pins into the wiper connector and plugged the two halves of the wiper connector back together and tested the wiper functions.

Now that everything had tested good I finished reassembling the column. At 3 & 1/2 hours I might of made flat rate. Much better than I did on the blower motor replacement.

As a side note I'll add that until several years ago I never knew there was a special tool to remove and install the lock plate. I've always used a clamp and two picks to remove ithe spring clip that holds the plate in place and a large washer with two small pry bars and the two picks again for installation.

The old switch was driving me crazy! Half the time when I touched the control arm the wipers would swipe. If I hit a harsh bump the wipers would swipe. It's so nice not to have that happening anymore. Plus with everything freshly lubricated the switch is so smooth and easy to use I want to change lines more just so I can use the switch more.

[HO455]

It was time for some M&R on the Blazer. The left front signal/marker light in the bumper wasn't working correctly. The marker light in the bumper had quit lighting up and the turn signal worked but it flashed at the same time as the marker light in the grill. Its supposed to flash opposite of it.

To start I swapped in a known good bulb. No easy cure today, so I pulled the lens out, so I could feed the socket out the front of the bumper, for more comfortable access. The older I get the more important that becomes.

Using a test light I confirmed that I had 12dc, to the contact tabs in the socket, when I was supposed to. Hooking the test light ground to the bulb's ground tab and testing revealed that the ground tab in the socket wasn't grounded. The wiring looked OK so pulled the ground wire out of the socket and found that it was broken.

The ground contact in the socket is a two piece affair. One part the bulb contact seems to be part of the socket and there is a separate piece that is crimped to the wire and slides in next to the first part making contact. The 2nd part has the locking tab on it to secure it in place.

I purchased a new socket from the local generic parts store and removed the pre-crimped wires it came with. By carefully using small side cutters and a pick I opened the crimps on each of the bulb contacts. Then I cut the old factory contacts off and installed the new ones. I was able to recrimp the tabs on to the insulated part of the contact but the tabs that crimp on to the wire didn't crimp in a way that made me feel confident it the electrical connection so I soldered those connections.

After reinstalling them in the new socket I tested it and all was good!

The marker light itself needed a good cleaning as it had a moss colony growing inside of it. The colony wasn't as well established as the ones that I found in the grill marker lights but still enough to degrade the light output.

Next up on the repair list was the bezel around the radio and dash vents, 3 of the 4 screws holes were stripped and it constantly rattled and squeaked. The mountig screws thread into other plastic parts of the dash so I mixed up some Quick Set JB Weld and filled the holes. And hour later I drilled them to the correct size for the screws and now I have one less annoying rattle.

Sorry I don't have photos for this but I left the camera in the wife's car and she went to work with it.

But later that night when I went for a drive the light failed again after a couple of miles. Grrr!

First thing in the morning I pulled the socket and inspected the ground tab. Once I pulled the rubber water stop on the wire clear, I was able to detect a slight bit of play between the two parts of the ground contact.

I then used my special GM tool #HO455 (Photo #1)to remove the contact from the socket. With 2 pairs of needle nose pliers I carefully bent the contact slightly in order to remove any play between the two pieces. My first try was too much of a bend as the contact didn't want to slide into the socket but the second try snapped in nicely with no play.

The 2nd picture is a poor photo of the socket and the ground tab ready to be reinstalled. You can barely see where I solder the wire.

At this point I'm not sure that my messing around with the wires caused the problem with the loose contacts on the ground. The overall quality of the aftermarket socket is poor and I believe this may have been an issue with the as provided wires. I found that the bulb doesn't fit well and the socket fits into the marker light housing poorlyas well. I fully expect it to fall out at some point. It has solved the problem for now, but I'm going to be looking for a GM replacement socket for peace of mind down the road.

I'm sure you have noticed my special tool for the contact removal is nothing more than an aluminum pop rivet that I have flattened with a hammer and the ground the end flat. I have found these to work well and I have made several versions that are different widths and thicknesses. I also pinch the actual rivet part in a vice to secure it as it makes a good place to grip the tool.

[HO455]

The clutch master cylinder had started leaking, so not only more M&R but I'm pretty sure there's going to be damage the paint on the firewall.

This repair started out with some re-engineering of the system. The clutch pedal is quite hard and I'm sure I can make it better than it is. Either by changing the master cylinder bore size or moving the post on the pedal that the master cylinder hooks on to.

Using a mirror I was able to determine the current master cylinder has a 0.81 bore size. I know the 1995 Camaro used a 0.75 bore master cylinder. So the PO made a choice to use a different size. I took some measurements of pedal movement and there is no limitation that would prevent me from going to a 0.75 bore. Going to the smaller bore should reduce the foot pressure needed to operate the clutch.

I obtained a clutch pedal from a new first generation S10 from the wrecking yard so I could modify it then just swap them with little down time. But now that it's leaking I will just dive in.

Removal of the bad cylinder was pretty straightforward and I had it out in about an hour. Once it was on the bench I noticed there were a lot of metallic particles in dust boot on the shaft. They must have come from wear on cylinder bore. Something investigate later.

Once I cleaned the firewall and frame my fears about the paint were confirmed the black paint the PO had used had bubbled and I was able to wipe it off. I cleaned it as well as I could and rattle canned it for the time being. It's going to take removal of the inner fender well and the brake booster to do it right.

Once that was done I bolted up the new master cylinder and dry tested the movement of the pedal. And here's where things took a turn to dark side. Ugggg. Another day not making flat rate.

The pedal and the master cylinder were not aligned up with each other. I had to pull the pedal actuator rod towards the drivers side about a 1/2 inch in order to hook it up to the post. This caused the rod to rub on the side of the mounting bracket. It contacted hard enough to cause the rod to bow when the pedal was depressed As a result of this rubbing the bracket, at the firewall, the rod side loaded the piston inside the master cylinder. This must have been the cause of all the metallic particles I observed earlier.

I decided that there should be enough room to move the master cylinder to to drivers side to solve the problem. Fast forward an hour with the Dremel and I had the mount bracket moved. The POs work on this part of the truck was definitely not as good as the other parts of the conversion. There was too much material removed, (Photo #3) although some of it must have been left over from the factory clutch mechanism removal. Another thing for another day.

Back at the task at hand, once I moved the master cylinder I discovered that all I had accomplished was to change when the rod contacted the bracket. Before it was during the bottom half of the pedal stroke. Now it was during the top half of the stroke. That was no better than before.

It was now time for dinner so I knocked off for the day. Food and rest and a fresh mind in the morning would be good.

[leegreen]

What is the pedal you started with from?
It sounds like maybe you need to swap to a OEM S10 pedal and duplicate the master mount location. Shame about the paint

FWIW, my '95 Sonoma with factory master pushing an internal slave into LS truck pressure plate works fine, nice light pedal. They changed clutch master location between 1st and 2nd gen s10s so they must have also changed pedal setup. Yours looks a lot like the master setup on 3rd gen Camaro. My son's LS swapped '91 Z28 using factory 3rd gen pedals & master, with a t56 and internal slave has a very heavy clutch pedal as well.

[HO455]

The next day after laying on my back looking at the situation for 15 or so minutes I decided to get a straight edge and hold it up to the side of the pedal. Doing this revealed the second part of the problem.

The pedal assembly in my Blazer is different than the S10 I obtained the spare pedal from. In the wrecking yard truck the bolt that the pedal swings from also has the brake pedal swinging from it. On my truck the pedals are on different bolts. And it appears that the clutch bolt is not 90 degrees to the driveline like the brake pedal is. This would explain the difficulty I am having getting a proper alignment.

I then started adding washers to the driver's side bolts to try and find the angle. After 4 tries I determined that 3/16" worth of washers would get me close the angle I needed. Then I made a crude shim for the bracket (Photo #1) out a piece of 3/16" flat bar. Once that was done and test fitted. It was close, but not perfect, but I decided it would work if opened up the slot in the mounting bracket a bit. (Photo #2).

At this point some issues with the new master cylinder became apparent. Every time I checked the angle by shimming it the washers meant bolting the cylinder and bracket in and removing them after checking. It was then I noticed the master cylinder mounting surface wasn't flat and the holes were not accurate. I flattened the surface with a file (Photo #3) and found some plastic I could use as bushings to keep the bolts centered in the holes. (Photos #4 & 5) Doing this gave me nice repeatable results each time I bolted back together.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by leegreen

What is the pedal you started with from?
It sounds like maybe you need to swap to a OEM S10 pedal and duplicate the master mount location. Shame about the paint

FWIW, my '95 Sonoma with factory master pushing an internal slave into LS truck pressure plate works fine, nice light pedal. They changed clutch master location between 1st and 2nd gen s10s so they must have also changed pedal setup. Yours looks a lot like the master setup on 3rd gen Camaro. My son's LS swapped '91 Z28 using factory 3rd gen pedals & master, with a t56 and internal slave has a very heavy clutch pedal as well.

Sorry I didn't notice your post showing up between my two. As far as I know the pedals are stock for the truck. The PO switched to the Wilwood when he installed the LT1 and T56. I don't know if he tried to use the stock master or not. The stock master cylinder is 11/16 or 0.687 which may not move enough fluid for a 1" slave. I'd need to do some more math on that.

Having completed the repair and driven the truck with the 0.75 master cylinder the clutch pedal is somewhat lighter, but it is much easier to feather the clutch on launch than before. A real improvement over the 0.81 master cylinder. That makes it seem lighter as I'm not having to try and move my foot in millimeter amounts when releasing the clutch.

The redo of the linkage has lowered the pedal about an 1 1/2" which means less foot movement so my shifts seem lightning fast now.

The 95 T56 still used the external slave which is always going to be stiffer than the internal slave the LS's got.

[HO455]

Cue Paul Harvey. Time for the rest of the repair.

First is another photo of the bracket and shim. I used the two studs to hold the shim in place every time I installed and removed the master cylinder and bracket.

If you look closely at the slot around the master cylinder push rod you can sort of see how little room there was for the push rod to move side to side.

The last thing I wanted to address was the pedal height. Previously the pedal was about 1 1/2" higher than the brake pedal, which meant that I really had to lift my leg up on every shift. There was plenty of adjustment in the actuator rod so I just shortened the rod with the lower coupling nut as the upper one was as short as it would go. Now I had two pedals that were the same height. All good until I pushed the pedal down. Then the upper coupling nut hit the clutch/starter safety switch. Now I know why the pedal was so high!

I ended up machining one side of the hex off of the upper coupling nut to make clearance around the switch. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that.

I noticed that the upper coupling nut was 3/8" NF thread for the heim joint and the other end was 5/16" NF thread for the all-thread. To do this the PO put a heli-coil in the 5/16" end to reduce the size from 3/8". Pretty clever I thought, as I would have gone through the work to make a custom one off coupling nut.

In the second photo you see the clutch actuator rod with the two coupling nuts. Unfortunately it's all right hand thread, so no nice turnbuckle action. The arrow points to the area I machined off to clear the switch.

The heim joint has been ground down on one side to make it narrow enough to fit on the post and have the keeper hold it in place. The odd part is that the keeper will only go on with the ground off part heim joint against the pedal and the keeper against the unmodified side.

The last photo shows it all back together and working nicely. I've got about 50 miles on it and no leaks.

[HO455]

I finally found time to install the shift light I got for the truck. I've been running around with no tachometer since I bought it. The PO said he had a tachometer in it but it started acting weird, so he removed it. So to start I located his old wiring and tested it with my multimeter.

It was a 4 wire plug so it was pretty straightforward. 12v positive, ground, tach signal, and a wire from the dash lights. Things seemed to check out with the meter except for I had 12.8 volts at the battery and only 10.8 at the tachometer plug. My multimeter will test frequency or hertz and putting it on that setting I was able to rev the engine and see the frequency change so I felt good about that.

However when I did a temporary hook up of the new tachometer it didn't work. So I dove into the wiring harness. Which meant taking the dash apart to get at it. (Photo #1) I couldn't be sure of any of the wires as it has two different harnesses blended together. Starting with the 12 volt positive wire I determined it was working as it should once I moved my ground lead to a good body ground. This led me to suspect the ground wire was the problem.

Tracing the ground wire back I found that it went to a bolt that is part of a support for the bottom of the dash in the middle. (Photo #2) When I checked continuity from the bolt head to my good body ground there was about 1.5 ohms of resistance. Not great but not terrible either. I removed the bolt and discovered the support rod was loose on the other end. When I wiggled the support the ohms jumped all over the place. Obviously over years the bouncing of the truck loosened the upper fastener. Ahh, the joys of a stiffly sprung vehicle. It's no wonder his tachometer was acting weird.

The other unknown was where the tachometer signal was coming from. Just to be sure I removed the Red connector from the PCM (Photo #5)and located pin 13. Which is where the interweb said the tach signal originates from. Using a tone signal tracer I was able to quickly prove the that the wire in the 4 prong plug I thought was the tach signal did in fact originate from the PCM.

Now I was sure of everything, I installed the tachometer. I moved the other ground wires that were connected to the dash strut to the new ground location.

Photos 3 & 4 show the finished installation. A link to the shift light.

https://youtu.be/cH9OWy59pyY?si=jMKHe4FzpCpp8cAo

[HO455]

In the previous post I mentioned using a tone signal tracer. If your not familiar with them they are usually used for telephone wire identification and tracing circuits in large buildings. They consist of a tone transmitter and a tone detector.

Basically you hook up the transmitter to the wire you want to trace and touch the detector to the outside of the wire your tracing. The detector will beep when it comes close to the wire hooked to the transmitter. The video in the link shows how it works.

https://youtu.be/Y0HjaR0tj7Q?si=CW6_VaClHT3cF62-

Photo #1 shows the tracer I used. I used a paper clip to connect the generator to the the pin in the PCM plug. Using this method saved me a bunch of work trying to trace the tach signal wire through the wiring harness.

[HO455]

Knocked out another project on the STII. I removed the 2 1/4" tail pipe and replaced it with a 3" tail pipe.

The PO had 3" exhaust all the way until he put the CalTracs on, then he had to get the tail pipe rerouted to clear them. Unfortunately the muffler shop he used, cut the 3" pipe off and replaced it with 2.25 non-mandrel bent tubing. The 2.25 measures about 2 inches on the bends. (Photo #1)

I bought mandrel bent 45's and 90 degree elbows from True Mandrel. Fortunately for me they are local so when I called them Saturday afternoon the owner said he was home but it would be no problem for him to run in and get me what I needed. And 90 minutes later I'm headed home with more tubing than I can carry. Since he came in I bought much more than I needed.



https://truemandrel.com/product-cate...mandrel-bends/

Cutting the old tail pipe off revealed the flow out of the muffler was further restricted by how the shop installed the tail pipe. The second photo kind of shows the issue. They used a reducer to drop from 3" ID to 2.25" OD. That wasn't terrible but they left the 2.25" tubing long, so long that it extended into the interior of the muffler about an inch basically making another baffle for the exhaust to worm around to get out.

By cutting and fitting the pieces I worked my way from the muffler back tacking each piece together. Once all the pieces were tacked together (Photo #3)and it cleared the frame, shock, and fuel tank I welded them together. (Photos #4) I did have to use bottle jack to separate the axle away from the frame to be able to fit the complete tail pipe in place.

After welding I put air pressure in the tubing and sprayed leak check to find any pinholes. I found two which I ground out and rewelded.

For pressure testing I don't have a regulator set up to regulate the air down to 2 to 5 psi for leak testing so I put a nitrile glove on one end of the pipe and slowly open the regulator until the glove inflates. That gives me enough pressure to find any leaks plus it also provides protection against over pressure in the tubing. (See photo #5)

[HO455]

Some more photos. I would have liked to of had the end of the pipe stick down another inch or two below the quarter panel but that's where the last 45 ended. I do like that it hides the exhaust size but with the 3 inch tail pipe it no longer sounds like a V6. It's not as stealthy as it was. I'm sure I will have to find an exhaust tip to lengthen it.

[leegreen]

nice work!

[HO455]

Thank you, sir.

[HO455]

Started more exhaust work. I purchased a set of Sanderson headers for the truck. I did a lot of research (Too much I think. )on S10 V8 headers and came to the conclusion that I could get a set of long tube headers that might fit. (There is no set reference as to how far forward or back a SBC engine should set so there is no header that is guaranteed to fit.) That combined with my wanting to maintain the single exhaust (single catalytic converter = less $) and more a sleeper aditude. Long tube headers would have made that a much bigger pain just due to the lack of real-estate underneath.

Once I actually had my hands on the headers it was apparent that there was definitely room for improvement of the Sanderson design which are mostly designed to fit any S10 with a SBC. ( Photo #1) Just looking into the collector it's pretty obvious things are cramped and exhaust flow at that point takes a back seat to packaging. So I did what any hotrodder would do, I cut them up!

Then I made a trip back to my friend's at True Mandrel and purchased a pair of longer collectors. (Photo #4) I will do some prep work on the collectors to get them close to a good fit on the headers. Only I once I have the headers in place I will finish the fit up prior to welding them up.

[HO455]

The tilt part of the steering column suddenly started getting loose over the last 100 miles or so. It had gotten to the point that the wheel had about a 1/4" of play in it. Something needed to be done. My earlier S10 had the same problem and then was the tilt mechanism pivot pins had worn out and needed replacing.

I spent an hour trying to find new ones locally to get it fixed quickly. Unfortunately i found that all parts for these steering columns have been deemed obsolete and no one carries parts for them anymore. Grrrrrr!

I tore the column apart so I could pull the pins out and make some new ones on the lathe. However once things were partly disassembled I realized my diagnosis was wrong! It was the 4 bolts that hold the tilt mechanism to the column and they had come loose. (See photos) This was a easier much problem to repair.

After removing the pivot pins I was able to access all 4 bolts. I did a quick check of the threads by tightening the bolts and found none were stripped. I cleaned the bolts and the holes with brake clean. After applying locktite I torqued torqued the bolts back down and was done.

Well not completely. When I removed the upper bearing the plastic cage for it came apart. Once again no parts availability, so this morning I ran to the wrecking yard and found an S10 with only 167k miles on the clock and no one had yet messed with it. Hooray! 15 minutes later I had a good replacement bearing. I poked around the yard for another hour picking up odd wiring bits and a pair of turn signal return springs. (Those have a limited life span and none of aftermarket ones work correctly.)

[HO455]

As a side note that may help others. When it comes to installing the new bearing I found that there is virtually no information on how to do it. Probably as most folks never have a need to. When I got the one from the wrecking yard I failed to notice that I wasn't symmetrical (Being covered in old grease is the excuse I'm going with. )

Notice in photo one the lip the arrow indicates. After staring at things for a while I decided that lip is supposed to snap into the groove in the housing just below the race. In the 3rd photo the arrow indicates a pick I have stuck in the groove.

Anyway the bearing goes in with lip on the bottom. It's a real pain to install as the ball bearings aren't captured so you have to rely on the grease to hold them in place while you distort the cage to get it to snap into place. It comes out much easier than it goes in.

[HO455]

I swapped out the Camaro seats for a pair of Trans Am seats. I wanted seats with taller backs and ones that matched the rear seat. The poor photo doesn't show the orange stitching.

Two additional upsides are that the seats don't get blistering hot and I stay more firmly planted on the cloth covers than the vinyl covers.

[caseyjones]

Saw you had it out the other day when you snapped a pic of my truck driving through Kenton.…looking good! Would have stopped but I was in a bit of a time crunch.

[HO455]

Originally Posted by caseyjones

Saw you had it out the other day when you snapped a pic of my truck driving through Kenton.…looking good! Would have stopped but I was in a bit of a time crunch.

Aren't we all! I thought the truck looked familiar.

[HO455]

Some time back I pulled a manifold off a Camaro at the wrecking yard. Finally over the last couple days I've been cleaning it up getting it ready to paint. I had a can of green that I bought for my Burban but, it didn't match. The photo makes the color look more blue than green.

[HO455]

Bad times for the Blazer. Something in the clutch or transmission has broken. The engine runs but I have no forward or reverse capabilities. The clutch feels normal and there isn't any bad noises or fluids coming from the transmission. I was zooming down an on ramp and when I tried to shift 2nd to 3rd at about 4500 rpm something failed and no more go go.

Tomorrow it's going up on jack stands and hopefully I will be able to determine what has failed.

[leegreen]

oof
I did the same thing to the T5 in my Sonoma, but it was 2nd to 3rd bouncing the 4.8 off the 6k rpm rev limiter. It made gravel in a blender noises that continued as I coasted to the side of the highway

Yours let go without noises? that is weird, cannot speculate on what that would be. Hope it is an easy fix

[HO455]

I got started on troubleshooting the problem this afternoon. (Later than I had hoped) I put the truck up on jack stands and as I drug the floor jack back into the garage one of the wheels broke off going over the expansion joint. Add that to the work list. At least I got the truck up safely before it broke. It's only 30 years old I just don't understand how it could have failed so soon.

I pulled the slave cylinder and unfortunately it wasn't stuck in the clutch disengaged position. (So much for the easy fix!) I unbolted the drive shaft from the pinon yoke. Turning the drive shaft with the transmission in neutral didn't reveal and bad sounds and I was able to turn the output shaft easily with my fingers.

Then I put the transmission in 1st and I turned the drive shaft about half a turn and it clicked into gear. I then shifted into 2nd and it was immediately in gear. I then shifted into 3rd and I could not get the transmission to engage. It also had a bit of a rattle when turning the drive shaft with it in 3rd. I then shifted back into first and I couldn't get it to engage.

I'm pretty sure my T56 is broken.

I will get it on the ground and out from under the truck tomorrow. Maybe something obvious will show. (Yeah right! ) I will say the bolts on the U-joints and the starter were WAY too tight. I had to get my bad boy 1/2" drive air impact out to get the starter bolts out and the U-joint bolts took all I could pull with a 20" 1/2" drive flex head. I'm betting tomorrow will be more of the same. Ugggg.

One upside I have noticed is compared to all the videos on "How to remove your 4th gen F-body transmission." the S10 has lots more room around the bellhousing to get at the bolts.

[leegreen]

that does sound broken

[HO455]

Two days later it's time for tears and carnage.

First the good news I now don't believe the transmission self destructed. But the input shaft is damaged where the pilot bearing rides. (Not really good news but, not the worst case scenario. See carnage photo #1) I was going to put the shifter back on the transmission to do more complete testing but now I know the input shaft has to be replaced I will have the transmission gone through completely.

The bad news is the clutch disintegrated. The drive hub has ripped off of the clutch disk. (Photo #2) In addition the pilot bearing is completely trashed with all of the needle bearings gone and only a few bits of the cage remained. (Photos #3 & 4) The outside of the pressure plate was rubbing on the clutch fork. (See the red arrows showing marks on fork and the silver circle on the red pressure plate. Photo #5) Oddly the throw out bearing is still in good shape.

I don't know if the clutch fork rubbing the pressure plate caused the pilot bearing to fail through side loading or if the bellhousing is not aligned properly to the crankshaft or maybe the pilot bearing was damaged when the transmission was last installed.

There is no nice center hole to check the bellhousing alignment so at present I'm at a loss as to what the process to check the alignment. Maybe the interweb will have the answer for me.