First off I want to thank everyone here in advance for their help. I'm a long time lurker and finally registered because I made the leap and got what I would call a "real" 4x4. It's tuesday so we all know what that means....stupid questions time. I'll try not to write a novel.
I recently aquired an '87 K5 Blazer that seems to of had some work done. I'm not totally new to the game, my last truck was a lifted Avalanche but I traded it in for a new Jeep for the wife. I bought this truck because I only needed a daily driver for 6 months. I'm constantly overseas and will be back in a week only to be back in 4-6 months. I plan on keeping it as a toy when I buy a real DD. My questions are what do I need to watch out for? Any weak points that I need to go ahead and address? I'm talking short and long term, within the next 6 months and then later. To better give you guys an idea of what I'm working with I copied and pasted a bit from the for sale ad....
It has a 383 stroker equipped with a 4 bolt main, forged pistons (8:1 runs on 87 octane or you could put a blower on it), forged crank, H beam rods, Edelbrock Performer aluminum heads and intake, Edelbrock headers, dual high flow cats with Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers, dual electric fans, 46mm throttle body, oversized injectors, custom chip from TBI Chips, and an 18psi TBI regulator spring. It has a 4" Superlift (no blocks) that still has the stickers on it. The tires are 35" Pro Comp MTs on Eagle Alloy wheels. The paint is dark orange metallic. It has an STC soft top with tinted windows. The interior has been stripped and the floor and rear area has been Herculined. It has a removable Grant steering wheel that fits inside a heavy duty steel Tuffy console. The front seats are suspension seats/racing seats. The door panels and armrests are new reproductions from LMC. It has 6.5" marine speakers in the kick panels and 6x9s for the rear but no stereo. I put the speakers in and of course the head unit went out. The exhaust sounds better than the radio anyway. Dash, seatbelts and rear seat are still blue. The bumpers are custom built by DIY4x and the rear has a swing out spare tire carrier. It also has rock sliders by DPI and is has some blinding bright Hella headlights. The paint is well done but has a few chips and scratches. It looks awesome from a few feet away. There are a couple small rust spots on the rear passenger fender (pictured) but thats all the rust. It was a TX truck. It has been kept in covered parking and out of the elements since restoration. It has not been driven much at all since the rebuild. I lived in Key West a couple years after the rebuild and mainly just cruised it around town and I drove it to work once a week. It sat under the carport while my new car sat in the sun/rain. The odometer reads 086xx. The motor and trans were replaced within 2k miles of turnover but I I dont remember if it was on 98k or 2k so they has between 6-10k on them. The trans is a Bowtie Overdrives stage 2 with a 2000rpm B&M torque convertor. All of the work was done in 2005-07, I have all of the reciepts. The transfer case has a small leak from the rear seal and the rear pinion seal leaks a little as well. 3.42 gears.
So first thing's are the leaking seals. I've already gotten in touch with someone that will help me fix these. I've been told they're fairly quick and easy fixes. After that I will install a new head unit which isn't a big deal and can do myself. I plan on doing a good once over with someone who knows much more than I do. To be honest I know little about nothing. Just wanted some insight from more experienced wheelers on what the next steps to ensure this will be a reliable DD would be. Finally, pics of said truck....
I recently aquired an '87 K5 Blazer that seems to of had some work done. I'm not totally new to the game, my last truck was a lifted Avalanche but I traded it in for a new Jeep for the wife. I bought this truck because I only needed a daily driver for 6 months. I'm constantly overseas and will be back in a week only to be back in 4-6 months. I plan on keeping it as a toy when I buy a real DD. My questions are what do I need to watch out for? Any weak points that I need to go ahead and address? I'm talking short and long term, within the next 6 months and then later. To better give you guys an idea of what I'm working with I copied and pasted a bit from the for sale ad....
It has a 383 stroker equipped with a 4 bolt main, forged pistons (8:1 runs on 87 octane or you could put a blower on it), forged crank, H beam rods, Edelbrock Performer aluminum heads and intake, Edelbrock headers, dual high flow cats with Flowmaster 40 Series mufflers, dual electric fans, 46mm throttle body, oversized injectors, custom chip from TBI Chips, and an 18psi TBI regulator spring. It has a 4" Superlift (no blocks) that still has the stickers on it. The tires are 35" Pro Comp MTs on Eagle Alloy wheels. The paint is dark orange metallic. It has an STC soft top with tinted windows. The interior has been stripped and the floor and rear area has been Herculined. It has a removable Grant steering wheel that fits inside a heavy duty steel Tuffy console. The front seats are suspension seats/racing seats. The door panels and armrests are new reproductions from LMC. It has 6.5" marine speakers in the kick panels and 6x9s for the rear but no stereo. I put the speakers in and of course the head unit went out. The exhaust sounds better than the radio anyway. Dash, seatbelts and rear seat are still blue. The bumpers are custom built by DIY4x and the rear has a swing out spare tire carrier. It also has rock sliders by DPI and is has some blinding bright Hella headlights. The paint is well done but has a few chips and scratches. It looks awesome from a few feet away. There are a couple small rust spots on the rear passenger fender (pictured) but thats all the rust. It was a TX truck. It has been kept in covered parking and out of the elements since restoration. It has not been driven much at all since the rebuild. I lived in Key West a couple years after the rebuild and mainly just cruised it around town and I drove it to work once a week. It sat under the carport while my new car sat in the sun/rain. The odometer reads 086xx. The motor and trans were replaced within 2k miles of turnover but I I dont remember if it was on 98k or 2k so they has between 6-10k on them. The trans is a Bowtie Overdrives stage 2 with a 2000rpm B&M torque convertor. All of the work was done in 2005-07, I have all of the reciepts. The transfer case has a small leak from the rear seal and the rear pinion seal leaks a little as well. 3.42 gears.
So first thing's are the leaking seals. I've already gotten in touch with someone that will help me fix these. I've been told they're fairly quick and easy fixes. After that I will install a new head unit which isn't a big deal and can do myself. I plan on doing a good once over with someone who knows much more than I do. To be honest I know little about nothing. Just wanted some insight from more experienced wheelers on what the next steps to ensure this will be a reliable DD would be. Finally, pics of said truck....