1947 S10 4x4 Blazer swap

[msaintg]

It RUNS, it RUNS!! Almost 9 months to the day since I brought it home. It fired right up, first try. I could not have asked for anything better. It has a small water leak at the thermostat where I cut and welded the inlet and an oil leak at the oil filter (I don't have the right fittings yet). I still need to clean up the huge wiring mess, but woo hoo!, it runs. Wow, what a HUGE releaf.

[shok]

Nice job!
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[rgunlock]

Congratulations - preparation paid off!

[88Lt1wagon]

Awesome work, that is really cool

[cleanshaven84]

Congrats! I know that has to be a great feeling.

[msaintg]

thanks. there were a hundred things that could have gone wrong. I pushed it out of the garage and had my wife standing there with a garden hose, just in case. I jumped when all the lights on the dash came on and heard the fuel pump making noise. Now I have to decide what my next step is.... probably clean up engine compartment. mike

[jed971959]

nice work looking good don't know if this will help
on my truck I used the housing for the thermostat
from a 93 astro van it came straight up from eng
on the hoses for the oil cooler I removed the check valve
in the housing and tap the holes for plugs

[Chevette]

I really like the bed. Looks great!

[msaintg]

thanks,
JED971959, thanks, I will try the Astro van inlet if I can't get my welds to stop leaking. As far as the oil line, I don't know about any check valve. Is you oil filter remote like mine?.... under the radiator. Did you plug off the lines going to the oil cooler/ radiator? Mine had 1/2" diameter hard lines going from the oil filter to the old radiator. Since my new radiator does not have these connections, I bought an external oil cooler, that I now need to splice into the lines. I ordered a 'compression fitting to barb fitting' online. So hopefully in a week or so, I will have it connected.

[BlueJeep]

Originally Posted by msaintg

thanks,
JED971959, thanks, I will try the Astro van inlet if I can't get my welds to stop leaking. As far as the oil line, I don't know about any check valve. Is you oil filter remote like mine?.... under the radiator. Did you plug off the lines going to the oil cooler/ radiator? Mine had 1/2" diameter hard lines going from the oil filter to the old radiator. Since my new radiator does not have these connections, I bought an external oil cooler, that I now need to splice into the lines. I ordered a 'compression fitting to barb fitting' online. So hopefully in a week or so, I will have it connected.

You can also buy a fitting from GM, around $15, and screw your oil filter directly onto the block. This will allow you to throw away the entire oil cooler setup, I've done this for years on 4.3's out of s10's.

[msaintg]

I don't know why, but I thought I needed to keep the cooling. I even kept the cooling lines on the power steering. I like the oil filter up front for easy access, but I like the idea of plugging it off there. Oh well, my coupling have arrived, I will try to use the oil cooler.

[msaintg]

Well, I got my water and oil cooler leaks fixed. Put a new battery in it and ran it for about 5 min. Now the tranny line is leaking at the radiator..... argh! Oh well, to be expected.

[chevyboy73]

get that front end on! nice work!

[Rods57]

Looks great, what is the color and paint brand, i am thinking of making my 57 the same

[msaintg]

thanks, It is going to take some time before the front end is done though. Lots of bodywork to do on the fenders and hood. But I get your point

As far as the paint, it is 'Almond' color. It is Rustoleum paint from Lowes. That color only comes in a quart size. Very simple to use, just have to reduce it a little bit with acetone so that it will go through the spray gun. I didn't even measure it when I reduced it. It drys a little slow, but I still didn't get much dust settling in it before it dried, and my shop was very, very dirty when I sprayed.

Today I bled my brakes and changed the engine oil. then I drove it up and down my street. Sounded good, but it wouldn't shift out of 1st gear. I still have not hooked up the speed sensor for the speedometer, so I hope that is all it is. If not, I have no idea where to look for the problem.

[msaintg]

week 39 - Spent a lot of time chasing oil leaks, bleeding the brakes and cleaning up the electrical harness under the hood. Here is pic of the big connectors that I had to remove to clean it all up. Then an after pic of the electrical (still not done)

Then I moved on to more body work. I cleaned and undercoated that piece that goes behind the grill down at the bottom and then I worked on the front fenders. I should have them done tomorrow, but here is a teaser pic.

[msaintg]

week 39 continued - I got the fenders painted and the backsides undercoated. I started to clean the 8 layers of 'paint' off of the grill, but not done yet. Then I went ahead and test fit everything.

[cleanshaven84]

It's coming together. It's getting to the point now that each little bit you finish makes it look more and more like a truck. I'm glad it's coming together good for ya.

[98layinframe]

Trucks coming along nicely and looks like its very close to drivable! Are you going to run 2wd s10 offset wheels to widen the track width any?
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[msaintg]

I can't go any wider (different offset) with the front wheels (they only clear by 1/2" when the wheels are turned), but I want to go to a more neutral offset with the back wheels to move them out about 2" more on each side. I didn't think I would have to change the offset on the backwheels because it has the 4x4 rearend in it. I have to figure out my transmission problems before it will be driveable. The tranny looks like it is leaking out of the front main seal and it won't shift out of 1st gear. I learned that the speedometer sensor (that went from the transfer case to the anti-lock brake unit) needs to be hooked up or it won't shift. Since I don't have either one of those pieces anymore, I don't know where to hook up the speedometer sensor.

[Daze57]

v v nice AD you have there.

[98layinframe]

Where do they have the sensors on the stock 2wd s10 trucks? Is there a blocked off plug on the tranny, or mayve its in a different style tail housing?
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[msaintg]

The problem is not at the tranny. There is an adapter plate (instead of the talestock) between the transmission and the transfer case (see pic on posting #12). The 4x4 gets the speedometer input from the transfer case. Now that I have a 2x4 tranny (see pic on posting #83) the sensor is on the tailstock. The problem is both go to the antilock brakes. From there the wires change color and go so some test plug (I think). I have not had time to study the 50 pages of transmission data that I have colected to figure out where I need to connect these wires. The scary thing is that these transmissions have FOUR other sensors in order to shift up and down. I hope I didn't inadvertently disconnect any of those. From what little I have read so far, the lights for the gear select (P,N,R,D,D,2,1) will light up or go off depending on what code the system is reading. I am really fealing over my head here, but I think I can do it with a lot of patience. fingers crossed, kiss the cross, etc.

[msaintg]

week 40 - I started out this week putting the windshield and back window in. I tried to get them professionally installed, but either they would not touch it or they wanted over $300 to do it. So I did some research and did it myself. The front windshield was actually pretty straight forward, but I had a devil of a time getting the back window in. I ended up chewing up the top of the back window seal, but nothing too noticeable. I still need to install the center rope (I had to order the tool) on the back window, but at least it is in.

[jed971959]

if you send me your email address I will try and send you the wiring diagram
of the eng &tranny it's 4 pages
what year of blazer did you use
you must have a speed sensor reading at the computer for it to shift
I don't have criuse or abs on my truck and it shifts
Jim