1978 Russet Metallic 4x4

[aggie91]

I understand as I have 3 kids myself. C10's in the Park is a great family friendly one day event. We just chilled out and talked with a bunch of old and new friends.

[buffydores]

OK Folks: Working on some new additions. I currently have the rims in for powdercoat. The painted silver was already showing some rust. No bueno.

I just ordered some Sunflower Yellow Pinstriping Vinyl in 1/4" and 3/8" sizes to change the trim from black to sunflower yellow. By the way Phillip, I "am" using some of the factory pins on my trim. Brain fart there. I'm still using all the hex nut attachments.

I also ordered some 1/4" Orange HDPE to fabricate a tailgate guard to end the inevitable scratches when it's down.

I went ahead and ordered a B&M 12-Bolt Cover to increase the volume of fluid for the gears. My pinion angle is sitting at 14.5 degrees, so it was making me a hair nervous. Probably overkill.

Ordered a ARB Power Port for the back to run my ARB Cooler. Also purchased the Dorman Parts to run it as a standard Cigarette Lighter Power Port.

Finally, I'm upgrading the factory AC with a kit from Original Air.

I'll add pictures as things are installed.

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by buffydores

OK Folks: Working on some new additions. I currently have the rims in for powdercoat. The painted silver was already showing some rust. No bueno.

I just ordered some Sunflower Yellow Pinstriping Vinyl in 1/4" and 3/8" sizes to change the trim from black to sunflower yellow. By the way Philip, I "am" using some of the factory pins on my trim. Brain fart there. I'm still using all the hex nut attachments.

I also ordered some 1/4" Orange HDPE to fabricate a tailgate guard to end the inevitable scratches when it's down.

I went ahead and ordered a B&M 12-Bolt Cover to increase the volume of fluid for the gears. My pinion angle is sitting at 14.5 degrees, so it was making me a hair nervous. Probably overkill.

Ordered a ARB Power Port for the back to run my ARB Cooler. Also purchased the Dorman Parts to run it as a standard Cigarette Lighter Power Port.

Finally, I'm upgrading the factory AC with a kit from Original Air.

I'll add pictures as things are installed.

Are you replacing the entire HVAC system with a new evaporator and everything? I've never used anything from Original Air and I wasn't really able to see what they have to offer other than a compressor kit.

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by phillipm

Are you replacing the entire HVAC system with a new evaporator and everything? I've never used anything from Original Air and I wasn't really able to see what they have to offer other than a compressor kit.

Not a bunch to it. The big weak point is the factory fin and tube condenser. This kit will come with a parallel flow condensor, a Sanden compressor + hoses and brackets. I currently have a pancake compressor, and it sucks. I'm having my AC guy pull the evaporator apart to clean that up. Might check the fan too. Seems pretty weak.

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by buffydores

Not a bunch to it. The big weak point is the factory fin and tube condenser. This kit will come with a parallel flow condensor, a Sanden compressor + hoses and brackets. I currently have a pancake compressor, and it sucks. I'm having my AC guy pull the evaporator apart to clean that up. Might check the fan too. Seems pretty weak.

Gotcha. Those are all of the same things I had going on. Barely any air flow and it was cool but not cold. Even with a parallel condenser. New Vintage Air Magnum kit blows 2x the air! It's crazy how much more it can move. Really interested to hear the outcome!

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by phillipm

Gotcha. Those are all of the same things I had going on. Barely any air flow and it was cool but not cold. Even with a parallel condenser. New Vintage Air Magnum kit blows 2x the air! It's crazy how much more it can move. Really interested to hear the outcome!

I think the mixing baffles may be jacked. We'll see.

[buffydores]

Looks real sharp.



Had the guys at TIDWELL Tire road force balance the wheels and tires and do an alignment. Wow. This sucker rolls down the road fabulous.

Also, finally ran down some NOS wheel caps.

[phillipm]

That's awesome, they look killer! Question about the 16". Did you send them yours and they just rehooped them to 16's? Do you have more clearance inside, or does it not really lip up to 16" till the very edge?

I've got a set of those for my 2wd as well and was just interested in the process.

[buffydores]

Phillip: Here's the back.



Looks to be about 1-1/2" of clearance. Looks like it's actual clearance and not a lip-up. The squeeze looks to be at the face.

[phillipm]

You did have to send your wheels to them correct??

[buffydores]

They will acquire the wheels for you, but you'll have to wait for them to collect them. Our original white rims were long gone. I actually got impatient and gave them the greenlight to grab some on ebay.

[buffydores]

So here's a scary story. On Wednesday, I brought the Blazer home to do the wheel swap the next day. After parking it in the garage I went inside a bit before coming back out to discover a gas line with a pin hole jetting my hot exhaust with fuel. Could have been a disaster film. I pulled it out and hosed the exhaust. The problem was a very old rubber line between the hardlines and the inline fuel pump they added with the Ramjet a decade ago. About 6" of line. I replaced the line with a 200# fuel line and then wrapped that line with a bigger split rubber line that would direct any leaks down instead of at anything hot.

Oh and it was hailing on me when I was hosing the exhaust off with water. Hail hurts.

The Original Air Kit and the ARB Kit arrived today. I'm heading to Italy for a week, but after that, we'll get back to adding.

[phillipm]

Oh man, that was close. I like to use Gates Green Stripe for my fuel injection hose.

[buffydores]

Alright. Making a little progress.

Installed a pure sine wave inverter. It get's covered up nice with my carpet cover. The old one produced a square wave that just didn't work with anything useful.


Installed the Sanden compressor and parellel flow condensor. Big, big improvement. It's icy cold.


Replaced the factory chrome trim around the instrument bezel. This bigger stuff looks better than the original stuff. Super easy to apply.

[SilverMiner]

Please tell me more about your chrome trim solution - it looks fantastic, and I'd like to do it to mine as well.

Where or who did you get the trim from? What adhesive did you use to attach the new trim?

Originally Posted by buffydores

Replaced the factory chrome trim around the instrument bezel. This bigger stuff looks better than the original stuff. Super easy to apply.

[aggie91]

Originally Posted by buffydores

Alright. Making a little progress....
Installed the Sanden compressor and parellel flow condensor. Big, big improvement. It's icy cold.
...

Can you tell me which parallel flow condenser you used? Part Number?

I have an '84 that was upgraded to the Sanden compressor and R134a, but they used the stock condenser.

[phillipm]

Glad to hear the AC is working nicely for you!!

[buffydores]

We used a UAC CN20008 Unit. The condenser is the limiting factor. Factory unit is not efficient enough.

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by SilverMiner

Where or who did you get the trim from? What adhesive did you use to attach the new trim?

Behold. Comes with 3M backing: http://www.brandsport.com/trmg-m301-05.html

[buffydores]

Originally Posted by phillipm

Glad to hear the AC is working nicely for you!!

Thanks Phillip. I'm definitely satisfied.

[SilverMiner]

Originally Posted by buffydores

Behold. Comes with 3M backing: http://www.brandsport.com/trmg-m301-05.html

That is fantastic - thanks for the response AND link!

[phillipm]

Originally Posted by buffydores

We used a UAC CN20008 Unit. The condenser is the limiting factor. Factory unit is not efficient enough.

True statement here. I cannot believe how much more efficient the GenIV Vintage Air kit is.

[buffydores]

Spent the evening replacing the fluids in the transfer case (Valvoline Non-Detergent Gasoline Engine Oil: 30 SAE Grade + Lucas oil stabilizer[30%]) and the differentials (Redline 75W90 NS [No Friction Modifiers{running a TrueTrac back there}] + Lucas oil stabilizer[40%]). I still can't do it without making a mess.

Installed the Stage 8 Fasteners so I don't have to re-tighten these collector flanges anymore:



Here's something cool. Ordered up some high density polyethylene (HDPE) in orange. I used a little jigsaw to cut this piece out. Then I used slightly longer screws and button washers to fasten using the factory panel holes (panel still in place). Now I have a good, low-friction work surface with no more scratches to the tailgate. It's kitchen safe and UV stable. Anybody want me to filet their catfish real quick?



You can see the little tire hump box I'm about to mount for storage and also to provide a clean mounting spot for the ARB auxilary power port. This was in there before I began working on it two years ago. It was installed 20 years ago the last time Dad spent money upgrading the Blazer. I pulled it out and kept it in case I found a reason to use it. I'm gonna use it to store jumper cables and a few essentials that don't make sense in the center console.

[buffydores]

Next piece. I installed the wheel hump storage box and installed the ARB auxiliary port for my fridge freezer. Surprisingly frustrating endeavor.







I used some more of those nice stainless button washers and stainless sheet metal screws to dress it up. Holes were still there from the original installation. I smothered some RTV around the holes for a good seal.

[buffydores]

Remember the creeping mirror problem I was having. Here's the next solution I'm gonna attempt:

http://www.allelectronics.com/item/s...%3A1%3BN%3B%7D

This stuff is grippy.

The completed rear compartment. Plastic looks kinda red in this shot.