1985 V8-S10 Blazer

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TireSmoker
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

The crank is damaged too. There's no just popping a new bearing in there. Trying to decide how I want to go forward.

Option 1:
Fix what I have. The biggest issue is there is a lot of metal in the oil pan, more than I first realized. Not sure how much is in the rest of the engine. It needs the crank replaced or machined at bare minimum. I'm afraid I'd end up with spiraling costs where I wished I would've just gone with option 3.

Option 2:
I have a complete, old-school GM 350 crate engine in the garage that was purchased in the early/mid 80s by my uncle. The truck it was in was junked after about 20,000 miles. Allegedly. Tony and I fired it up a few years ago for like maybe a minute in a very embarrassingly hillbilly fashion (there's video). But the dipstick tube is broken off in the block. I likely need to pull the oil pan to fix that. After fixing the dipstick tube, I'd probably put it in as-is.** This option is potentially most cost-effective.

Option 3:
I can buy a new-style short block (factory roller cam) for $1400 and top it with my new Summit heads. Got two different roller cams available in inventory:
*) Tony's Lunati, 219/227 .515/.530 lift
*) GM ZZ383, 222/230 .509/.528 (bought it before I got my ZZ383 engine)
But both cam have slightly more lift than what the Summit heads are rated for -- .520. It's a very small difference, but not sure if I'd need to replace the springs? Not a huge problem, I suppose. This is the most expensive, but would probably yield best end-result.

I'll chew on it this week.

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

After further thought, I'm going to go with option 2, but add my cam and heads. This thing has been taking up space in my garage for years and it's time to use it. Best case, I got an engine for free and I gain floor space. Worst case, it breaks and I'm only out the time it took to swap the parts.

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by Basement Paul »

Good call.

-BP
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by Fred32v »

I also like option #2. Instead of one of those monster cams,
I'd be temped to get the best Summit cam that goes with your Summit heads.
Just my two cents.
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

It's not a monster cam at all. It's the same cam that got me halfway to Carlisle :-)

http://www.lunatipower.com/Product.aspx?id=2324
Lunati Cams wrote: Hydraulic. Mid-level performance street cam with excellent drivability. Exceptional replacement for muscle car type cams with automatic transmissions. Works well with stock type exhaust manifolds and dual plane intake with mild 4 bbl carb. This is an Awesome 4X4 and performance marine cam.

Advertised Duration (Int/Exh): 262/268
Duration @ .050 (Int/Exh): 219/227
Gross Valve Lift (Int/Exh): .468/.489
LSA/ICL: 112/108
Valve Lash (Int/Exh): Hyd/Hyd
RPM Range: 1400-5800
Includes: Cam & Lifters (#71817PR-16)

Part Number: 10120702LK
The Summit heads are good for .520 lift, so I'm well within that spec.

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

I haven't been posting, but I've been slowly working on this thing. I ended up going with option 2, to pull my uncle's old 350 out of the corner and add my Lunati cam and Summit heads to it. 3 days after my prior post, on July 15th, Uncle Bill passed away after 76 years. He'd be pleased that I was putting his old engine to use.

After some degreasing of the block, I sprayed on some traditional Chevy orange paint. The existing heads, timing cover, and balancer were left on to provide some masking.
20170716_113623.jpg
The story was that he bought this Goodwrench crate motor in the 80s to replace the original engine in his '78 Chevy K10. The truck ended up getting scrapped 20k miles later, but that the engine was pulled before sending it off. It sat in my grandmother's garage in Lyndhurst for 20+ years, and was later moved out to my house. I don't even remember when my cousin and I brought it out here, maybe in 2010? Definitely before Tiresmoke Central was built (2013). I was always a little dubious about the 20k claim, figuring that after such a long time, memories were a little fuzzy.

After pulling the pan, I think I can believe it. Everything was very clean, and none of the usual discoloring you normally see on the crankshaft. I was pleasantly surprised that it's a 4-bolt. I did not pull any rod or main bearing caps. I cleaned some carbon crud off the top of the pistons. I bought a new Summit oil pan and timing cover, and transferred my nice balancer over to it.
20170722_155227.jpg
20170723_001451.jpg
Tonight, Chris came over and motivated/supervised me putting the balancer on, adjusting the valves, and bolting down the intake. It's now ready to go back in the truck. I'm going racing tomorrow and going to a wake on Thursday for a Penske employee who passed away on Sunday. (eek, too much death in this post!) With a little luck, I'll get it set in place on Friday night.
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And finally, I had a little encouragement from my Holley dolly, and her pal Sadie who we are watching this week while Dave & Lori Speece are in Vegas.
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-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by Basement Paul »

Chris looks like he's praying over your small block.

-BP
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

Well, I was all ready to fire it up tonight -- except the battery is dead. I thought I was having a wiring issue until I measured the battery itself -- -6 volts. I think I left the key on the other day. :oops: So the charger is on it, which means it should be ready to fire up as soon as I get home from work tomorrow. Fingers crossed that everything works out.

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by Blue_69_malibu »

Well, that motor sure doesn't like the rusty POS that we've been moving around.....since you lived on Haverford, I believe. :mrgreen:
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

Chris praying over the motor in the previous pics apparently worked! With the freshly charged battery and the float bowls manually filled up, it fired up immediately without any issues! We put the hood back on and let it warm up a bit, and then took it for a pretty good drive. We even took my Holley dolly with us. I'm officially back to where I was in April.. :lol:

It's running really good, maybe even a little better than it was before. I might still make it Woodward with it in two weeks!

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by Basement Paul »

I'm going to assume this short block has more compression than the old one. Certainly couldn't have any less. Can wait to hear it run and see it in action.

-BP
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

I was out in the garage last night, and I decided to try and adjust the throttle cable one more time. This time was successful! I must not have had the cable pulled all the way through the first time when I tightened down the set screw. I pulled it through, had to trim to some excess length and re-tightened the set screw on the Lokar cable. The gas pedal was noticeably further off the floor, giving me more travel. This is exactly what I needed.

I was by myself, so couldn't really check WOT visually, but it passed the butt-dyno on the test drive! I can feel the secondaries opening, and the motor has good pull when it shifts at 4500. I bought a B&M Governor recalibration kit a few days back, and I think making some changes here will let me get to 5000-5500 rpm. https://www.summitracing.com/parts/bmm-20248/overview/ The shifter won't reach into 2 or 1, so I can't hold the gears manually. The recalibration kit was less expensive than a new shifter. I've never done one of these before, but the concept seems simple enough. Just some trial and error to get it right.

I feel very confidant that I can now handily beat the Saturn or Kurt's Impala at the dragstrip. It's a low bar, but one step at a time.. :-)

I put some miles on it today, drove it down to Andy's to help swap the trans on the Saturn after the failure at VIR, then to Fred's to drop off a couple items from Andy, then into Chardon, and then home. Probably at least 100 miles. There's still some vibration that I believe is driveline-angle related. It's fine under 60mh, but over that it starts to get noticable. I need to get under it with the suspension loaded so I can get some measurements. JagsThatRun sell some angled shims to go under the lowering blocks to adjust the pinion angle (if needed), and I need to also resolve the way the trans sits on the crossmember. I believe the trans need to sit lower. It doesn't sit properly on the pad of the crossmember. I either need to move the crossmember back, or I need to cut out a section in the middle of the crossmember. Looking at the frame of the truck, I don't have much room to move it back and drill holes without it looking all hacked up.

I'd rather modify/change the crossmember. I've been looking on craigslist and ebay to find an extra, but they're hard to find. The Blazer crossmember is different than the S10 truck crossmember. Trans-Dapt sells one that is for a TH400 in the trucks, and it's relatively cheap at $60, but based on the lengths from the bellhousing to the trans-mount listed here, http://www.tciauto.com/tc/trans-dim/ the Trans-Dapt might be too far back. But it might be easier to modify than the stock one. I was going to buy it today from Summit after leaving Andy's, but the work took longer than expected and I needed to get home.

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by MostMint »

TireSmoker wrote: I feel very confidant that I can now handily beat the Saturn or Kurt's Impala at the dragstrip. It's a low bar, but one step at a time.. :-)
Probable - but need some timeslips
[quote="Basement Paul"]Is that a mint rocketship on the hood?? :shock:
-BP[/quote]
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

So I had a successful day with the Blazer yesterday.

I found/removed a blocking pin inside the shifter that was preventing me from getting into "2". This will finally let me get into the upper RPMs at bit, where I hope this thing makes some decent power.

And secondly, I installed Tony's old Street Avenger 670, replacing the #1850 single feed 600 cfm. I only took a short test drive to get gas, but it feels better. Whatever that's worth.

-Dave
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Re: 1985 V8-S10 Blazer

Post by TireSmoker »

So, I hopped in the truck on Sunday with Gwen and Holley and took a cruise. We got near a friend's place and txted to see if they were home, but they were camping up in Erie, PA. They said "come on up!" and after pondering it a minute, why not... So I got a good chance to put some miles on it.

Tony's carb made a huge improvement. It idles better, drives, better, has better power. One of the vibrations I was having when I drove it to Andy's a couple weeks back was apparently fueling related (too lean?) because it was gone.

So after changing the rear springs this past year, the new ones are hitting the tailpipes where the pipes pass through. The vibrating and squeaking is getting old fast. Something will have to be done there.

Near the end of the trip, it seemed to blow out the header gasket on the passenger side, it has a tick-tick-tick sound over there. I had double-gasketed it, because that's the way I found it when I first bought it. This is the 2nd time it has happened on that side. (center pipes, 4/6). Minor, annoying, but easy to fix. I may try Paul's method of using copper RTV next, if I can convince myself it won't be coming off for a while.

It's nice to get some drive-time after all of the work this past year. I even did a little bit of a burnout with it, just because I could. I've certainly upgraded the performance compared to when I got it in in Oct '15.

-Dave
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