1985 V8-S10 Blazer

[TireSmoker]

The bellhousing bolt is still pretty difficult, even with the head off. A correctly-bent custom wrench may do the job, but because it's near the transition from vertical to horizontal at the firewall/trans-tunnel, I don't think a hole would work very good. I haven't investigated what's on the inside of the vehicle there, either.

Pulling the trans out with the engine -- in theory, that would be the way to go, but Paul seemed to think that might be difficult with the space involved, especially since he just went through that on his S10. I am not willing to remove the core-support/front-end. Maybe if I remove the water pump and balancer, it could work. Neither would be difficult. My other thought was to just remove the trans-mount and engine mounts, slide the whole asembly forward, and then I could get the bolt pretty easy.

I was originally just planning on doing the head swap since it's literally free. But you're right John, it'd be a pisser to do all that work and end up realizing I needed to swap the cam. That's when I started contemplating the cam swap, because even if I buy cam/lifters/timing chain, I'm probably under $200. I don't mind putting the time into it to get the result. With the Chevelle running so well this year, I didn't spend much time in the garage, so I'm not burned out. I purposely waited till this point in the year to take it apart so that I wouldn't be in a rush to get it back together. I don't wanna drive it in the snow/salt. Got caught in freak storm last fall on I-77, and it was terrible in the snow anyway.

It's not that I need it to be really fast, but I can't be getting blown out by a Saturn or V6 impala, either. Not with deck stripes, a cowl hood and 350 badges on it. That's just embarrassing. 14.0s or high 13s @ 100+ should be pretty easy. I'm thinking a 214/224 Summit cam would probably run pretty nice, or maybe even a 219/227 Lunati like Tony has in his car. I still have my 11" TCI converter from the Chevelle to help add a little stall.

Beyond that, I know of 3.42 posi rearend that will be getting removed from a S10 soon that could be had for very reasonable money. (current rear is non-posi 2.73) There's a guy in Norwalk selling rebuilt 700R4s that can handle up to 450hp with a 2yr warranty for $500. If I wanted to spend money, that's where I'd spend it. Could enhance performance all-around with that setup. With my Lyndhurst house now long in the rearview mirror, I have more discretionary income available. Maybe I need to head back to Presque Isle and cash in a few more poker tournaments to pay for this... That would be a win/win!

-Dave

[Basement Paul]

I can tell you from experience, you can't pull the engine and trans together. There's not enough room vertically, the bell housing hits the firewall and the engine pan hits the crossmember at the same time. But it looks close enough to where pulling one or the other wouldn't be that big of a deal. April is a long way off.

-BP

[MostMint]

I like Dave's idea of sliding it forward to remove the bolt.

Also Dave has a lift so technically the engine/trans could go out the bottom and avoid the clearance issues BP described - no?

And if you are worried about being shown up by a Saturn or V6 Impala that's easy - just race the Chevelle. I mean you're not racing the white truck. It will be cool if it's faster don't get me wrong, and maybe when you bought it you wanted another 13 second vehicle - I can't recall. It's fine by me either way the only reason I'm bringing it up is be careful how many race cars you build as they all take time.

Also the better heads are not likely to affect mileage but bigger cams rarely end up creating better mileage - if that is even a consideration.

[GMJohnny]

Not that a cam swap will make a vehicle undependable, but
turn-key is good. Right now you have a truck you can start and
take anywhere. The more you rip a vehicle apart and customize
it, the more you run the risk of having to re-do or re-engineer
a project.

GM

[TireSmoker]

Not that a cam swap will make a vehicle undependable, but
turn-key is good. Right now you have a truck you can start and
take anywhere. The more you rip a vehicle apart and customize
it, the more you run the risk of having to re-do or re-engineer
a project.

GM

Better check out the pictures again. I *had* a turn-key vehicle!

I'm pretty confident with what I have planned. The true re-engineering will be limited to radiator/cooling fan, and whatever part of the exhaust I decide to change (if at all). The rest of it just small-block/auto-trans stuff that I've dealt with for years between my Chevelle, Tony's Chevelle and the Corvette.

To Andy's point -- engine won't come out through the bottom. Trans would. Just consider it like any other 70s/80s RWD platform. I think my best avenue for success is to just slide the whole assembly forward for easier access to the bellhousing bolt. I'm thinking it'll cost me some pizza or BBQ for a couple helpers on a weekend to make it easier.

This was the ideal project vehicle for me, since it already looks nice and just needs some mechanical upgrades with the engineering of the V8 swap already completed. I've got time to get it all completed before the spring barring any major disasters.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

Made a lot of progress on the Blazer today. The engine and trans are ready to come out. I bought a wrench set at Turney's the other day, it was a collection of box end wrenches. There was 1/2-916 combo, and 9/16-5/8 combo, so for $15 I had 2 chances to bend a good wrench. I heated them up till glowing red and used channel locks to bend them. Worked really good, but ultimately, still can't get the bolt loose.

I txted Chris to see if he wanted to come over later afternoon and pull the engine. I thought I was almost ready to pull it out, and that the remaining tasks wouldn't take very long. Well they took longer than expected, so by the time he had to leave, it wasn't quite ready. After dinner, I was able to get the last little bit done, and the engine is now connected to the hoist, and just needs to be lifted/maneuvered out.

One small problem, was that the legs of my hoist hit the suspension, so I have to have it up either on the lift/jackstands, whatever. But right now, it's backwards on the lift (front pointing out) and there's probably not enough concrete floor to roll the hoist back when removing it. So, I need to set it down, and get the truck turned around in the garage before I can go further.

-Dave


Time to make a decision on a cam real soon. I'm thinking a Summit K-1103, 214/224, 444/467 lift Hyd Flat Tappet. $104 cam and lifters, and I can probably use stock valve springs. GM used a 196/206 .431/.451 roller cam in the RamJet 350 (9:1 Vortec head) and made 350hp/400tq. I'd like to be similar to that.

-Dave

[Basement Paul]

Looks like real progress. And I like your cam choice. For what you're doing, more torque will make that a real enjoyable ride and still give you a ton more power than leaving stock in there. Then throw a 3.42 locking differential at it and it'll really be a runner.

-BP

[TireSmoker]

So my custom wrenches turned out pretty good, but ultimately, I couldn't get that bellhousing bolt un-done.

Last night's project was getting the truck turned around.

Tonight, Chris came over again, and we got it out. Not without spilling a ton of trans fluid in the process, but otherwise fairly easy. We did get it out as a unit and then split them on the garage floor. Time to clean some parts.

-Dave

[GMJohnny]

I know that these are really pictures of Dave's garage, but, the two
classic cars in the background, coupled with an engine block on a stand,
a trans on the floor and cylinder heads by the garage door make me
think this is kind of how "The Basement" looks!! NICE!!!

GM

[TireSmoker]

Many years ago, when The Basement burned down, I was quick to salvage as many of its fabled artifacts as I could.

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

So, lots of progress recently. I got the engine fully torn down to the short block, removed the old cam and installed the new cam. Everything is scraped, ran a thread chaser threw all the head-bolts holes, and all the exhaust/end-mounting holes on the cylinder heads. I have a coat of paint on the block and heads, and even a little polishing on the cast aluminum oil and and timing cover that I previously had on the Chevelle's 406. I also pulled my Weiand aluminum water pump off the shelf. This thing should look pretty nice.

So the good news is, it's a 4 bolt block. That's nice, I guess, if un-needed. The other news is thing was rebuilt by someone else. I had my suspicions when I found paint coming off of the chrome timing cover. But the writing on the rod caps spells it out. I still think this is a solid short block.

I bought a Lunati HFT 219/227 468/489 lift cam -- basically the HFT version of the cam in Tony's car. It cost more than Summit cam I was planning on buying, but I think it will run pretty well. I also bought a set of springs for the Vortec heads. I went to degree the cam and I'm getting some incorrect numbers. Intake valve opening 4 degrees too late, and max lift is off by a bit. Not sure what to do there yet. I'll measure a couple other lobes first and see how they stack up. I may swap the cam at Summit for another if that's what it takes.

-Dave

[Basement Paul]

Is the timing gear setup adjustable? I know sometimes you can advance or retard them 4 deg. I've run into issues like this in the past, but it's been so long, I can't remember the solution. That thing should run real sweet when it's done though. I think you'll be so much happier driving it now and happy you went through the effort.

-BP

[TireSmoker]

So, after making a proper piston stop for re-setting TDC using cylinder number 3, I got the correct opening and closing numbers for the cam. The lift numbers are a little short (.303 vs expected .312), but it was consistent on between #1 and #3. I'm calling it good and moving on.

Next step will be putting on the timing cover and oil pan. I have some nice polished aluminum pieces from inventory that I'm gonna throw on, plus I grabbed my aluminum water pump off the shelf.

-Dave

[Basement Paul]

You must have a big BASEMENT full of inventory!

-BP

[GMJohnny]

Does Dave's uncle know that he's stealing all these parts from his basement??

GM