78 2wd Blazer - LS Swap and more..

[phillipm]

Out of the blue I was driving the Blazer home one night and bam, it wanted to die and was puffing plumes of smoke out the back. After making a U-Turn and finding a safe place to pull over I pulled out the laptop and started poking around in HP Tuners to see what was happening. Turned out the fuel trims were -25% which is basically pulling as much fuel as possible and it's still too rich. On the way home it died again and I had trouble getting it started. Had to give it about 1/2 throttle to get it running.

After doing some more research Dad and I realized it was possibly the carbon EVAP canister and system that were where the faults could be. Pulled the old canister out and turned it over, sure enough fuel rolled out of it! Well shoot, that's not good. A few things transpired from that. First we realized that I plumbed the system wrong. The neck vent should not have been teed into the EVAP supply line. It should of been plumbed to the fuel module liquid separator port. And two, where I had the canister guaranteed that if fuel did make it into the line it would roll all the way down to the canister.

So, after re-plumbing the neck vent we got to work remounting the canister in the rear of the truck just behind the drivers rear tire. I made a shelf that holds the back half of the canister and then riveted on a plate to the floor which included two TIG welded 3/8" studs to run flange nuts on to. Now the canister is just above the top of the tank and we should no longer have issues with the fuel, fingers crossed!

[SFBay69]

I just read every word and looked at every photo in this thread. Wow. Beautiful. You and your dad are truly talented. Great job.

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by SFBay69

I just read every word and looked at every photo in this thread. Wow. Beautiful. You and your dad are truly talented. Great job.

Appreciate the kind words!! I enjoy sharing our builds and I've learned a lot over the years. Hopefully some of this community can save some time and money by our mistakes over the years. Currently I'm putting a new rocker on my Dad's 71 C/10 so I've been a little quiet on the Blazer. However I've got plans to work on a rear lighting control mod so I can see when I'm putting gear in the back and some other upgrades. Stay tuned!

[buffydores]

Got to see this awesome rig in person. These 2wd K5s are so much fun on the road. The 6 speed auto is like magic sauce. Phillip and his father Paul were killer hosts. They have a drool-worthy collection of toys. And as always, Phillip taught me something new...freakin' door striker bushings!!!

[68Timber]

This is cool. You didn't get to drive your Blazer over?

[phillipm]

Such a good time! Really glad you guys popped in for a few. I love sharing knowledge and learning new stuff! I wish I had Buffy's face on video when he closed the doors on the blazer. Hehe Door striker bushings for the win.

[Zook75]

such a great thread. thanks for posting. would love to have a 2wd set up like this..

[LT7A]

Very cool build. I appreciated watching you work out all the details.

[OutlawDrifter]

phillipm, any updates on the upper door seals? Did they make any difference in wind noise?

I just got back into the K5 world with a 55K original mile 1989 Jimmy. Trying to decide whether to take the gamble on new weatherstripping on the cab, or just try the upper auxiliary door seals. It's tight for the most part, and only seems to make "extra" wind noise with a "crosswind".

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by OutlawDrifter

phillipm, any updates on the upper door seals? Did they make any difference in wind noise?

I just got back into the K5 world with a 55K original mile 1989 Jimmy. Trying to decide whether to take the gamble on new weatherstripping on the cab, or just try the upper auxiliary door seals. It's tight for the most part, and only seems to make "extra" wind noise with a "crosswind".

I would say they offered a 10% improvement. This was on top of brand new weather stripping in the entire truck. So if your other pieces are not in good condition I don’t think they’ll help all that much.
Posted via Mobile Device

[OutlawDrifter]

Originally Posted by phillipm

I would say they offered a 10% improvement. This was on top of brand new weather stripping in the entire truck. So if your other pieces are not in good condition I don’t think they’ll help all that much.
Posted via Mobile Device

Door seals are great, just seems like a crosswind causes the bulk of the issues.

Thank you for replying back!

[BlueJeep]

Sounds good! Looking into universal condensers, but I plan to run the largest one I can come up with. I'm also not above completely remaking the core support to allow something larger if needs be.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/A-C-Univers...wAAOSwQKdchroG

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by BlueJeep

Sounds good! Looking into universal condensers, but I plan to run the largest one I can come up with. I'm also not above completely remaking the core support to allow something larger if needs be.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/A-C-Univers...wAAOSwQKdchroG

Just run this then. It's a true 1" thick core. Don't be fooled by many MFG's who claim 1" thick. Including RestoMod. They're are only 3/4" and the tanks are 1". (I've bought from them before).

https://www.vintageair.com/accessori...er%20SuperFlow

[BlueJeep]

Will do! Are you running the 709 in the low mount position? Or did you have to move it up on the passenger side?

And I'll stop polluting your build thread with my questions, but your retrospectives have been extremely valuable to me as I'm sure it has been for others too. Thanks again!

[rodstored-72]

phillip,
I just happen to check out the blazer/sub builds on here and came across your build. you guys (you & dad) are very talented purposeful builders . It is nice to see another local builder. I am currently building a C10 (build thread on here). I am learning alot (1st time LS build) . I am struggling with the electrical...LOL!!. Please feel free to take a look at my thread & give me some pointers....

[rodstored-72]

phillip, I went to good guys, but I forgot to look for you... sorry I didn't - aarrggg. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was surprised by the lack of vendors though. my friend (who had never been to a show before) really enjoyed it & is now hooked!..LOL How is the blazer doing now with a few miles under it's belt?

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by rodstored-72

phillip, I went to good guys, but I forgot to look for you... sorry I didn't - aarrggg. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was surprised by the lack of vendors though. my friend (who had never been to a show before) really enjoyed it & is now hooked!..LOL How is the blazer doing now with a few miles under it's belt?

No worries. Yeah the Rona had a lot of vendors staying home, that's for sure. If your friend liked that show, he'll really like the fall one. Blazer is doing well. Just got it back together after rebuilding the 6L90e and adding a 1-off, rear AC system. Ready for summer now!

[phillipm]

Thought I'd take a moment to highlight a new upgrade. We started in 2019 planning out a rear a/c system for the blazer after my infant son was sweating beads and very unhappy in the back seat! Well, it took some time but it's now all in the truck and working. System is a Socoro and is plumbed in parallel with the front Vintage Air system. It's running a refrigerant solenoid for freeze protection on the rear and has it's own drier per V/As recommendation. I had to do a little trimming to the inside of my console but as you can see, my console was no show piece before with the bottom broken as it was. I'm running a Sanden sd7H15 compressor, a 16x26" condenser and dual CTS-V GM fans. Here are some pictures. I don't have any final photos with the wires all wrapped and cleaned up but you get the idea. Haha So far it's blowing high 40*s out of the rear and makes it much more comfortable in the back seat.

[OutlawDrifter]

Very cool idea! How is it for noise when running the unit?

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by OutlawDrifter

Very cool idea! How is it for noise when running the unit?

This unit is 2 speed. On low it's barely audible over the front a/c on medium or higher with the radio on. On high, it's a little louder but not obnoxious IMO. Again, going down the road with wind noise, front a/c, radio, and everything.. still not really adding much noise. But, I think all of that is personal preference. I'm used to my OBS Tahoe rear air and this is not as loud as that is.

[aggie91]

Very cool upgrade! (pun intended)

For that blower, where is it getting its intake air from outside the console? Is there openings that can't be seen after its all installed?

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by aggie91

Very cool upgrade! (pun intended)

For that blower, where is it getting its intake air from outside the console? Is there openings that can't be seen after its all installed?

Correct, I opened up the bottom of the console under the unit for pulling air in off the bottom side of the console..

[buffydores]

Show them a picture of the redyed dash, Phillip. Things are looking great.

[phillipm]

It's been a while, however I thought I'd post a couple pictures of the Blazer. We ended up moving to a Ridetech coil spring and a CPP modular spindle on the truck as well as installed some Slosh Tubz to make more room (gained almost 3" of clearance with those). I can say with the Ridetech spring the car came up about an inch vs the same drop McGauphy's spring and it rides much better because of that and now we've got a total of 5" of clearance from the top of the tire to the fender well making it much more enjoyable on uneven roads. We also installed some American Racing wheels and wider tires to compliment the new Baer 14" brakes up front and 13" in the rear. Here's a few photos of how she sits now as well as a shot from the most recent GoodGuys Hall of Fame Tour it was on. To date the truck has almost 50,000 miles on it since we've finished it and we've enjoyed everyone of them! (well, almost every one)

[buffydores]

Phillip: I so love your updates. I trashed my TH350 merging into traffic today. I think I'm finally gonna go with a 700R4. I hope you and the family are going well.