04 blazer project

Yeah but the weight distribution front/rear is in supercar territory!

Yeah but the weight distribution front/rear is in supercar territory!

Nah, more like 370z territory where i can market 50/50 under acceleration *rolls eyes*

Pretty sure more supercars are running a higher rear bias

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9UDUX8GWsQ&feature=youtu.be

Had some fun on the rocks today, first time I've ever been able to make it over them.
I didn't take an overall picture, but here's the rock pile (from google searching)


It was extremely muddy today so it took a while to scrape the mud off the tires and get any grip.




nothing broke this time, managed to get enough mud stuck up in my t case shifter area that i had to drop the skid plate and manually shift out of 4 low later though.

my assumption of a jammed up shifter was correct.

forgot to take pics but i clearanced everything more to let rocks fall out and not stay in there (hopefully)
but i did lose the socket drive function as a result. hope the cable actuation stays working!
I also added a significant extension to the shift lever to reduce force required to shift.
looks goofy now though. no pics since the paint is drying on it now

Went offroading over the weekend, got stuck, no big deal, I'll winch off a tree straight in front of me.

dropped the tree on my truck.
luckily it seems to have bounced off the roof rack/shovel (shovel head left a nice dent in the roof) but it took out the quarter glass and crunched the door at the a pillar quite a bit.

Definitely won't ever do that again. tie up to a tree further away and still check for deadness.
I knew it was a dead tree but it was about a foot in diameter so i tied up as low as i could and thought i could get away with it.

Separate from that incident I got in a pretty tight spot and had to use a tree to clearance the B/C pillar area (luckily there was no more glass there anymore)







Last night i got new glass and a door, so no big deal (dark green for a GMC doesn't match a dark green on a chevy apparently....)


Buuuut it's time I start thinking about more armor. I've always known i need to make a front bumper, just havent gotten to it. Finished up the rear bumper last fall


i also did this over the weekend


and added some pretty hefty rock sliders too, but i need more protection.
I know I've seen pictures of a 1st gen 4runner in the past where they had tubes frenched into their panels, so no dumb exo cage to snag on everything, but basically a slider at body-height.

Anyone ever seen that or something like that I can use for brainstorming?

This is still a street driven (currently a daily actually) truck so I can't go too crazy though.

today i cleaned up some "new" headlights
gross yellow and peeling clearcoat/uv protectant stuff as bought


sanded it flat


all a good consistent grit


aaand now with clear

This seems to imply a sonoma/jimmy front end swap unless I'm missing something

This seems to imply a sonoma/jimmy front end swap unless I'm missing something

Yup, less protrudey plastic grill under the headlights, no grill that needs to clip into a now-lightly tweaked core support, and a big wide opening in the middle to move the winch above the frame rails so i can get better approach angles.
I'm surprised every off-road s10 doesn't wear gmc headlights

When i started down that thought train i ended up with 7" sealed beam buckets on the shelf. If youre going to have just headlights hanging off the front then they might as well be good ones.

When i started down that thought train i ended up with 7" sealed beam buckets on the shelf. If youre going to have just headlights hanging off the front then they might as well be good ones.

wait are you saying you prefer the sealed beam over the composites?

When i started down that thought train i ended up with 7" sealed beam buckets on the shelf. If youre going to have just headlights hanging off the front then they might as well be good ones.

wait are you saying you prefer the sealed beam over the composites?

Yes, you can get euro spec high output sealed beam housings that will outperform any stock s10 headlight.

And I meant round 7" housings from the junkyard. Once you delete the grill and have a flat core support you can hang pretty much anything off the front of it.

are these the wrangler sized ones?
hmm.... i may need to consider this, although after rewiring the harness and running HIR bulbs i've been pretty happy with the chevy composite lights

The euro spec housings are rather nice. The long bed has a set and they're the best headlights I've had aside from maybe the HIDs in the Cadillacs.

tossed them on for now while i prepare (wait for warm weather) to make a front bumper.

anyone know why they look like they have bad fitment compared to the hoodline?
I'm pretty sure they are in the slots in the core support correctly... (I'll check again later)

Usually when they're crooked like that it's because the tabs on the housing are not fully seated in the core support. I had to use a pry bar to 'adjust' the slots in my core support to get mine back in after they were first removed.

turns out there is enough "slop" in the assembly that after I confirmed the tabs were in the core support slots, I just twisted the lense and it changed the angles significantly.
Looks pretty level now.

Are the adjusters stripped? Can't say I've ever laid eyes on GMC headlights, so not sure if they have similar adjustments as the S10, but I've stripped Isuzu and Audi adjusters enough to know that can make for similar outcomes.

Are the adjusters stripped? Can't say I've ever laid eyes on GMC headlights, so not sure if they have similar adjustments as the S10, but I've stripped Isuzu and Audi adjusters enough to know that can make for similar outcomes.

nope, they are the same as the chevy ones, but the left/right adjuster is lower down and has a longer adjuster "knob-shaft".
I actually replaced the seized one on the new GMC ones from the blazer one.

I got them adjusted to exactly where the blazer's were aimed, and im very happy with the output. slightly different beam pattern from the chevy ones but equivalent quality.

i moved the winch plate up and on top of the frame rails for better approach angle.


I was able to move the PS cooler enough to clear the winch but unfortunately the stock hood latch has no chance at fitting.
I ordered hood pins.... Hope I never forget to put the pins in before driving :/

current setup sure looks good

Looks good. I'll probably end up doing hood pins on mine too since I want to ditch the latch stuff when I put the intercooler on.