1985 S-Blazer in Az

[IIGW]

I don’t like new vehicles. I’d much rather put a new drivetrain into an older vehicle and drive it until the wheels fall off.

During my second afghan tour, I wanted to get into something with that pro-street look and feel. I had a small budget and wanted something I could drive across country, or to the local hang out and have a cool looking ride.

Now I’m not new into customs, or radical toys, but on this build I wanted something mild mannered, but looked like it was able to pull off an 8 sec quarter mile time. Something I could cruise across country or the wife could drive it to the grocery store.

So after my budget was set, I needed a good complete, very minor body work needed, vehicle to build.

So after my missions and on down time I scoured craigslist. I love me some old cars, the older the better, but that wouldn’t fit right into my budget. Most old cars are 4 lug, or drum brakes, or rusty, front ends need rebuilt, the list goes on and on and really soaks up lots of money in the end.

Then one day, I saw it, a 100% complete 1985 S-Blazer, for a mere $200 dollars. I got on the phone and called the owner right away, waking him up at about 3 am due to me not thinking of the time change being on the other side of the world. Of course I apologized, and told him I’d be back in the usa in less than 45 days and id paypal him the cash, and get it towed from his place. He told me no one has even called on it, and he’d keep it at his place until I came home and bought it from him. So one day I pulled up to his house with a trailer, and he had the title signed and he gave me the truck for no money. He said selling a truck to a service member while overseas and then meeting that person in person was the coolest thing he’s ever had happen.

That being said, I’d like to introduce my little s-blazer.

[IIGW]

The day we brought it home.

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Nice non-rusty Az steel..

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Above the fuel tank was some good ole' Az pack-rats storing cactus, poop, and other amazing items..

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The next day was tear down of all interior and removal of all windows. In this pic the windshield is cut out, it’s just sitting there to keep some dirt/water out of the interior....and then got to work hitting the blue paint with 80 grit DA to get the severely cracked paint removed, and the truck down to the original primer/bare metal. Then we sprayed on etching primer, and high build primer you see in the pics. After the truck was primered, it was blocked, and then any low spots or body work needed was fixed. During this time new door pins/bushings were installed. Once the body work was all complete, the truck was sprayed in primer again and then wet sanded.

[IIGW]

New wheels mounted, will need to be lowered.. a lot!
Doors off, new door pins/bushings, and body work.. the only custom thing to the body was the ‘shaving’ of the fender emblems.

[IIGW]

Body work, and final primer..

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Here is the first ‘rendering’ I drew up, trying to get ideas of where I want to go.

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And here is another take, just trying to get the colors decided on. That’s the nice thing about photoshop, a few clicks and you can change the entire look.

[IIGW]

And after many trials and tribulations I have settled on this design.

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So in keeping up with the reliability, different, and drivability, I decided to use a Colorado 3.5 liter inline 5 cylinder motor and 4l60E trans and all the wiring to make it work.

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We didn’t lay out the flames on this go around, as we like to ‘double clear’ black for that super flat look. So we based out the red and black two-tone, and added 3 wet coats of clear.

After a few days we sanded the clear to get ready for the flames. After the flames were sprayed, the entire truck was cleared again.

After the truck was out of the booth, we let it dry for about 2 weeks before we started any wet sanding.

This gave us time to get the lowering kit installed, send the computer out for the tune, install the custom built header, and install the new larger throttle body.

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Here is the completed paint job, minus the hood, still deciding on a hood to order.

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And then I got to burn the tires a bit before I had to go on my 3rd tour back to afghan..

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And now here I sit close to Kandahar, afg. And think of my family and friends back home.
I ordered some mirrors, and a hood, and my friend installed them for me.

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Here is how the truck currently looks as it gets ready to go to my buddies shop to get the rear end tubbed. The front wheel in this pic has been photoshopped to be black. It’s till polished aluminum, but the front and rear wheels will be painted black. I’m not a fan of black wheels, but the more I keep looking at them, the black fits this build really well.

Will post more pics as time goes on...

[IIGW]

testing sig

[IIGW]

67 views and not one comment? I guess this isn’t the place to post things, or people here don’t like it..

[BlackedOut67shorty]

Crap how the hell did i miss this one, i dont come on here as often as i used to but man that is a sick paint job you layed on there, so how much power is being pushed out on that inline and are you gonna plan on power adders, turbo, nitro, supercharger? with the prostreet look i would never think someone would choose an inline 5 over a v8 like most people do. Sorry i didnt comment sooner

[BlackedOut67shorty]

I have to admit the s10 part of this forum is veryyyyyyyyy slowww, not alot of people come on here, when i still had my blazer i dabbed on here and the blazerforum but now it seems like that one is kinda on its way to dieing out, The s10 forum is more of an outlaw style forum were mostly anything goes... Ive seen some pretty brutal threads there..

[IIGW]

Originally Posted by BlackedOut67shorty

how much power is being pushed out on that inline

no clue, they are good torquey motors. I think stock is 240ish, and this has some stuff done to it, but nothing internal..yet

Originally Posted by BlackedOut67shorty

you gonna plan on power adders, turbo, nitro, supercharger?

turbo. There are several videos of these motors turbo’d and making decent numbers for what they are. The turbo would be more for the look as well, im not looking to go ¼ mile racing, just a cool little toy that I can drive cross country, not worry about breaking down, and be reliable while doing it.

Originally Posted by BlackedOut67shorty

with the prostreet look i would never think someone would choose an inline 5 over a v8

everyone does a v8. I think im the only person with this drivetrain in one of the 1st gens..just really wanted the look, and be able to drive anywhere and have a good time doing it. And if the daughter wants to take it to school, it wouldn’t be too much for her to handle.

Originally Posted by BlackedOut67shorty

I have to admit the s10 part of this forum is veryyyyyyyyy slowww,..

yes it is. Seems all the websites have been really slow lately.

[BlackedOut67shorty]

Being 30 horsepower over CPI 4.3 I wonder if you get some pretty good mileage to boot. Plus I think having the black rims on it would look slick as hell, you should post a vid of it doing a burnout, love to hear how the inline five would sound ��

[sierragrande71]

It's cool I dig it and thank you sir for your service to our country!

[IIGW]

Originally Posted by BlackedOut67shorty

post a vid of it doing a burnout, love to hear how the inline five would sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9KRYHmTrp4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34SKiiajHLw


did the burn-out about 3 days before i left for duty. just needed to heat up the 14 year old rear tires...

[Woogeroo]

interesting project... thanks for sharing.

-W