Jeep Trailblazer SS

[Ziegelsteinfaust]

Why not get some rolled sheet metal, and make all new rockers?

This way you can set the height to what you need, and hide the sins under a new full length body panel.

Also as a tall guy your supposed to buy small vehicles, and wedge yourself in. Your breaking the rules.

[Madkidd007]

This is only making me want to cut mine up too since it is an ideal drivetrain and all for the crew

[67ChevyRedneck]

Tack it down and do some donuts.

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Tack it down and do some donuts.

It's all-wheel drive. Maybe in the winter I'll find an icy parking lot and try it.

-Josh

[HAULIN' IT]

Just me, but those wheels do NOTHING for that vehicle & appear to be making your track width worse...maybe it just the style the way the center is compared to the wheel lip?

I think 4 of the Trailblazer steel wheels painted off-white & either those stock hubcaps or some a little smaller from another jeep would look killer. Even the stock Trailblazer wheels look somewhat like Jeeps used over the years & kinda "fit" to me.

Also it may be worth looking at the firewall & see if you could take it loose from the floor & drop it down an inch of so. Likewise I know you said you are a tall guy, maybe the seat mounts have an inch before everything starts "crashing" into the framework?

In projects like that...several areas of small amounts are quite often the way to get best results. Yes it can be more work, but in the end...you got where you need/want to be.

Should make for a really neat piece when you're done!

My Two Cents, Lorne

[Madkidd007]

What’s really nice is when you lower the body the rest of the way, the dash will be above the window like and your defrost vents will hit the side windows like designed.

[gottattooz]

I cut the dash pad and trimmed the pillar posts and lowered the front at the windshield 3 inches.

With the front where I wanted it, I figured out the height I wanted for the rear. I decided to keep the floor pan flush. The problem was that I cut out the entire rear floor. I took the old floor and welded in a 6 inch section to set on top of the trailblazer floor and butt up to the factory carpet edge.

-Josh

[Palf70Step]

The one picture with it aired up reminds me of the 70's with our air shocked rides. It is looking good.

[gottattooz]

I cut 10 inches off the front of the frame, drilled new holes to mount the radiator core support and actually used the trailblazer mount pads. With the front clip bolted in place I know I'll need 2 inch strut spacers to lift the front end for better fender clearance.

I want to drive it down the road so badly! I'm entertaining the idea of side pipe exhaust to hide the trailblazer rockers below the Jeep rockers.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

It's looking good!! Keep plugging away, I think you got it nailed.

[makman1297]

Josh,

Nice work, those old jeeps are pretty cool, but will be even better with a newer drivetrain.

I saw some cars at a car show in Sevierville, we had to evacuate Beaufort SC because of hurricane Dorian, anyways there were a few there with the side pipes like you are saying. I haven't seen those in a quite some time.

Keep up the good work!

[gottattooz]

The good and bad of living close to a summit racing store. . the good is the side pipes i wanted were in stock and they offer a military discount on top of a $20 off coupon code. The bad is that I just impulse bought exhaust pipes when that's so far down the road in the build. I held the heat shield up and it's more than enough to cover the excess rocker hanging down. I'm still excited with my purchase.

-Josh

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

The good and bad of living close to a summit racing store. . the good is the side pipes i wanted were in stock and they offer a military discount on top of a $20 off coupon code. The bad is that I just impulse bought exhaust pipes when that's so far down the road in the build. I held the heat shield up and it's more than enough to cover the excess rocker hanging down. I'm still excited with my purchase.

-Josh

How about that made me just realize you live in Hampton. You think you have it bad, I worked there back before they went to the single counter. Talk about way too easy to spend money then. Getting close and should be fun to launch on a poor little mustang and make them rethink life choices.

[gottattooz]

Well the 2 inch leveling kit turned intro a front suspension rebuild. All the bushings, ball joints and tie rods were wasted. I ordered a 16-piece kit that camewith new upper and lower control arms, struts and springs, tie rod ends and sway bar end links.

I pulled it out for a picture and I think the stance is perfect. It definitely needs an alignment, but I'm happy with the progress and results.

-Josh

[dug224]

Shaping up....you are almost there. Cool project.

[Ol Blue K20]

Iike the new stance. You're making great headway. Keep up the good work.

[gottattooz]

After several trips back and forth to home depot, the defrost is finished. I had to use a "t" fitting for the middle and passenger side vents, so they blow half a hard as the driver's side vent, but it all works. I used a partial "L" bracket to hold the Feed tube onto the air box.

Then I picked up my shorty headers from summit racing.

-Josh

[Overdriven]

If you’re not sold on the side exhaust, how about some sort of tube step bar? Paint the SS rocker black and the tube step bar will be the first thing you’d eye is drawn to just like the exhaust. Something I was thinking as I was catching up on the thread.

[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