2wd 1977 Blazer LS swap, mild drop….escalating

[Advanced Design]

I ordered the crush sleeve kit and since I hadn’t personally done a differential since about 1980, I viewed a couple good video’s to brush up, then dove in. The shim driver I fabricated made reinstalling the new shims simple.

Basically I tightened the pinion nut until the pinion had a rotational torque of 15 inch pounds on the used bearings, placed the same thickness new shims back in beside the gear carrier bearings and verified backlash.

Actually getting the pinion flange to tighten was a hurdle as there apparently was interference in the splines to the pinion gear splines. Multiple thorough cleaning and polishing with emory cloth resolved the issue.

[Advanced Design]

Threw the drum brakes back on, mounted the shop rollers and wife hit differential with a coat of paint.

I did explore using rear disc brakes from a late 2008ish Silverado. To make it work would require (I think) a new axle tube end and axle bearing flange in the tube….too involved for our timeframe. So I shelved that idea for another time or project.

Interesting was the leaf spring pin on the right side wasn’t seated in the saddle on the axle tube properly, probably from when new. Garth must have been dog legging a bit. I didn’t address the deformation as the lowering flip kit will put the spring under the axle tube.

[youngrodder]

Moving right along Doug. I can hear your AD Suburban swearing at you from here.

Marc

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Moving right along Doug. I can hear your AD Suburban swearing at you from here.

Marc

Yeah, he is pretty p.o.ed, especially since he was moved to cold storage for right now.

We cleaned up the trans and gave it a painting too.

[lower50's]

You guys work fast. Looking good, fresh painted parts a nice.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by lower50's

You guys work fast. Looking good, fresh painted parts a nice.

Thanks lower, this Blazer build is pretty much our day job, so we are getting a lot of shop time in on it. Clean, fresh parts are nice!

Wife is a great shop project partner. She likes things neat, organized and tidy which helps productivity. Parts ordering, receiving and verifying, storing and finding again can be challenging. She makes it easy. And she is really good with a wrench too.

The leaf spring shackle bushing has been difficult to find. The one that was closest to fitting had a split rubber bushing so I returned it……all taking extra time.

[Advanced Design]

We plan to have a rolling chassis by the end of this week.

[Advanced Design]

While I should have stayed with the factory ac system, I do like the clean look you can have with Vintage Air so we ordered the sure fit system. They make a great product, though I didn’t like the look of the plate that goes over the existing holes.

To avoid using the plate, I filled the holes with 19 gauge by butt weld and metal finishing the shrink as best as possible. It probably would have been cleaner to replace the firewall on that side and maybe less work.

I still need to drill for the ac and heater connections, fill small bolt holes and support the evap case under the dash by welding elevator bolts to the firewall.

Yeah, I should have stayed with the perfectly good factory system.

[mongocanfly]

Nice firewall work..!!

[youngrodder]

Doug

I stared with a VA sure fit for my Suburban but didn't care for out cluttered it looks coming out of the firewall. I modified my fittings to dump out of the side of the cab and I ran my hoses under the frame and up. It allowed me to really keep everything clean. I also modified my condenser brackets to avoid drilling thru the firewall to mount. I will say I'm not sure how your system is set up but don't be afraid to modify to taste.

[lolife99]

n2billet and Roger at RPL Customs used a non-A/C heater box (camaro I think)
to hide the firewall fittings on this squarebody 2wd blazer.
Looks clean and factory at the same time.

[PowerdbyChevy79]

Originally Posted by lolife99

n2billet and Roger at RPL Customs used a non-A/C heater box (camaro I think)
to hide the firewall fittings on this squarebody 2wd blazer.
Looks clean and factory at the same time.

This is really nice..

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Nice firewall work..!!

Thanks Greg, hopefully it will come out looking good!

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Doug

I stared with a VA sure fit for my Suburban but didn't care for out cluttered it looks coming out of the firewall. I modified my fittings to dump out of the side of the cab and I ran my hoses under the frame and up. It allowed me to really keep everything clean. I also modified my condenser brackets to avoid drilling thru the firewall to mount. I will say I'm not sure how your system is set up but don't be afraid to modify to taste.

Your Burb looks awesome and the firewall is so clean! That is the direction I’ve gone with the 48 Burb and will give more consideration on what I’m doing here with Garth. The fasteners will be mounted inside on the firewall is current plan.

Originally Posted by lolife99

n2billet and Roger at RPL Customs used a non-A/C heater box (camaro I think)
to hide the firewall fittings on this squarebody 2wd blazer.
Looks clean and factory at the same time.

Wow, that is well executed and looks really good! Gives me something to consider. Thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by PowerdbyChevy79

This is really nice..

Yeah, a couple great ideas shared right there…..that is why I appreciate this forum so much!

[mongocanfly]

Wow. The one Keith showed is really nice

[Advanced Design]

For the suspension components we started with a Bell Tech drop kit…I think it was called a 4 / 6…which included the usual….a flip kit for the rear, lower coil springs and drop spindles for the front.

The instructions, as hazy and copy degraded as they were, called for the rear springs to be re-arched 2” higher to offset too much drop from the flip kit. Instead, we opted for new springs with the additional 2 inches of arch from St. Louis spring company. The springs were ordered on Monday and they arrived at our shop on Wednesday. I am impressed with their speed of manufacture and the quality of the product.

While the Bell Tech instructions were difficult to see, a flip kit is pretty straight forward and the parts went together extremely well.

[Advanced Design]

About the time the Bell Tech package showed up, I stumbled across the C10 suspension components that Detroit Speed has developed and are producing. In my automotive hiatus, I missed what Kyle had been up to. Wow, talk about being like a kid looking at the Sears Christmas Wish book! For those of us old enough to remember, you know the feeling.

I looked at, studied, evaluated and dreamed about those parts. Bottom line, as cool as they are, I determined this build and intended purpose couldn’t justify the expense of the full DSE package.

However, low and behold I had ordered the wrong drop spindles from Bell Tech and I needed to send them back. And I wanted bigger front brakes than stock, which the DSE spindles would provide using factory Silverado calipers with the DSE rotors. And I needed drop spindles anyway, Holley was having 30% off sales, so…..

[lolife99]

So are the DSE spindles considered a drop spindle?
Or are they a 2019+ aftermarket drop spindle from another company?

[Advanced Design]

A few posts ago, I mentioned the original control arms were coated with a combination of tar and concrete. That changed my plans of rebuilding the factory control arms into just ordering new control arms.

I splurged and ordered the upper and lowers from RideTech. Wow are they nice!

Our goal was to have a roller by end of this week and we pretty well made it. The powder coat business was struggling with lack of help and they didn’t cover the threads for the upper control arm mounts. They coated them and we cleaned them up.

Front assembled nicely. RideTech parts were excellent and instructions were good.

Our front shop rollers using Garth’s wheels and new Walmart tires weren’t installed yet as the lug nuts we have wouldn’t work.

Still, a day in the shop with a sore old body beats any day I ever had in the office.

It was a good week.

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by lolife99

So are the DSE spindles considered a drop spindle?
Or are they a 2019+ aftermarket drop spindle from another company?

The Detroit Speed information states the spindles provide a 2.5” drop.

https://www.detroitspeed.com/product...parts/032090DS

[mongocanfly]

That's sure some disappointing instructions from belltech..even though it's not a technical deal to install,coming from them, you woulda thought they would be crystal clear
That's sure a good looking front setup.. and the brake upgrade....wow!!!!

[Corts60]

Very cool upgrades!

[Advanced Design]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

That's sure some disappointing instructions from belltech..even though it's not a technical deal to install,coming from them, you woulda thought they would be crystal clear
That's sure a good looking front setup.. and the brake upgrade....wow!!!!

Thanks Greg. And speaking of instructions being lacking, does anyone see an issue with installing the lower shock mount bolt? Bell Tech instructions, which I followed without thinking through (my bad) has the u-bolts and flip kit in place before mounting the shocks.

Originally Posted by Corts60

Very cool upgrades!

Thanks Corts. We hope they work well together.

[Advanced Design]

So, I can’t say enough positive about Mrs. Advanced Design being an awesome build partner on this one.

I’ve mentioned previously she organizes the myriad of parts and is good with a wrench. She has a work area set up where she has been detailing all the small parts and fasteners we are using, paints all the small parts and quickly dives in to help tighten fasteners or what ever is needing done.

A fabulous partner really helps on a build!

[lolife99]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Thanks Greg. And speaking of instructions being lacking, does anyone see an issue with installing the lower shock mount bolt? Bell Tech instructions, which I followed without thinking through (my bad) has the u-bolts and flip kit in place before mounting the shocks.



Thanks Corts. We hope they work well together.

You need a shock extension bracket.
Not only will it fix your bolt problem,… it will also stand the shock more vertical so it works better.

[mongocanfly]

That shock mount is a issue..I was gonna say move the mount, but what Keith showed would work just as good if not better