AK49BWL
GMT400 Forever!
I guess since I've made mention of it a few times, I may as well give it its own thread.
This truck was basically just a means to an end... I wanted something that would get better mileage than my GMT400 on a 75-mile round trip job commute, but I was not going to buy a car. I'd had a 4-door 4x4 Blazer previously and kinda missed it, so I went looking for another. I wanted something cheap, but in "decent" condition... Looked at probably 6 other Blazers before finding this one in Fort Worth, TX on October 29,2017.
2003 Chevy Blazer, 2 door, 2wd, 4.3 v6 auto, power everything, floor shift console, power driver seat, no rust, few dents, paint in fair shape, 152k miles...... $1000. I bought it for the great body and frame pretty much....
It came with a destroyed dash and center console, shifter boot was broken and shredding, nasty mildewed carpet, faded away headlights, the engine had blown head gaskets on both sides and oil/coolant everywhere that either could go (but I didn't know that yet), cat was plugged up with holes drilled into the pre-cat so it would move under its own power.... barely. Transmission worked okay, except the 1-2 shift would kill you because it hesitated so bad.
The guy who was selling it wasn't even the last driver... His neighbor had sold or given it to him and moved out, and he just let it sit for a month or so before trying to get rid of it. I figured what the heck. All my other leads had come up empty so I'm taking this truck. In the background of the second pic, you can see my dad's 2003 Silverado we came in.. He followed me back to Longview in that truck while I drove the Blazer as fast as it could go................about 55 mph down I-20 with the plugged up spluttering catalytic converter LOL. Surprisingly enough though, it did manage to get 20mpg on the trip! Sierra hadn't managed to quite hit that number yet, so things were looking good already. Little did I know I was going to have to almost literally rebuild the entire truck from the ground up lol.
Sadly I never did get pictures of the drilled pre-cat... In fact I didn't take many pics of this truck at all, at least not really... Wish I had. Oh well. A week or so went by of me working, had a shop weld a new cat in, then tore the whole front-end off.
Idler, ball joints, tie rods, center link, steering gearbox, wheel bearings, A-arm bushings, sway bar bushings, shocks, brake pads, ALL replaced. Brake rotors turned, still good thankfully. Parking brake adjusted, as it didn't work at all previously. Right rear brake caliper also got done as it was seized.
While I had it apart in there, I threw in my old 2007 Sony 4x6s in the dash and Sony 6.5s in the front doors. I knew I'd kept those around for so long for some reason
Later, I bought Pioneer 6x9s for the rear panels.
Stock head for now, but I drilled a hole in the empty space where a tape deck would be, and popped in a stereo jack wired to the CD player audio lines.
That did me nicely, until I recently decided... That's no longer good enough. But we'll get to that later lol.
You know me. I had to LED.
I was going to go with all red, but at that time I didn't have 6 reds! So I popped in a pair of blues on the sides. Loved it, so it's still that way to this day lol. Cool thing is, when the fuel gauge starts getting closer to empty, it turns more red
Went back and forth to work in the Sierra some more, because I still don't quite trust the Blazer yet... Steering's still really loose, and it drinks coolant. Figured I would have to do lower intake manifold gaskets, so I didn't drive it.
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This truck was basically just a means to an end... I wanted something that would get better mileage than my GMT400 on a 75-mile round trip job commute, but I was not going to buy a car. I'd had a 4-door 4x4 Blazer previously and kinda missed it, so I went looking for another. I wanted something cheap, but in "decent" condition... Looked at probably 6 other Blazers before finding this one in Fort Worth, TX on October 29,2017.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
2003 Chevy Blazer, 2 door, 2wd, 4.3 v6 auto, power everything, floor shift console, power driver seat, no rust, few dents, paint in fair shape, 152k miles...... $1000. I bought it for the great body and frame pretty much....
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
It came with a destroyed dash and center console, shifter boot was broken and shredding, nasty mildewed carpet, faded away headlights, the engine had blown head gaskets on both sides and oil/coolant everywhere that either could go (but I didn't know that yet), cat was plugged up with holes drilled into the pre-cat so it would move under its own power.... barely. Transmission worked okay, except the 1-2 shift would kill you because it hesitated so bad.
The guy who was selling it wasn't even the last driver... His neighbor had sold or given it to him and moved out, and he just let it sit for a month or so before trying to get rid of it. I figured what the heck. All my other leads had come up empty so I'm taking this truck. In the background of the second pic, you can see my dad's 2003 Silverado we came in.. He followed me back to Longview in that truck while I drove the Blazer as fast as it could go................about 55 mph down I-20 with the plugged up spluttering catalytic converter LOL. Surprisingly enough though, it did manage to get 20mpg on the trip! Sierra hadn't managed to quite hit that number yet, so things were looking good already. Little did I know I was going to have to almost literally rebuild the entire truck from the ground up lol.
Sadly I never did get pictures of the drilled pre-cat... In fact I didn't take many pics of this truck at all, at least not really... Wish I had. Oh well. A week or so went by of me working, had a shop weld a new cat in, then tore the whole front-end off.
You must be registered for see images attach
Idler, ball joints, tie rods, center link, steering gearbox, wheel bearings, A-arm bushings, sway bar bushings, shocks, brake pads, ALL replaced. Brake rotors turned, still good thankfully. Parking brake adjusted, as it didn't work at all previously. Right rear brake caliper also got done as it was seized.
While I had it apart in there, I threw in my old 2007 Sony 4x6s in the dash and Sony 6.5s in the front doors. I knew I'd kept those around for so long for some reason
Later, I bought Pioneer 6x9s for the rear panels.
You must be registered for see images attach
Stock head for now, but I drilled a hole in the empty space where a tape deck would be, and popped in a stereo jack wired to the CD player audio lines.
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
That did me nicely, until I recently decided... That's no longer good enough. But we'll get to that later lol.
You know me. I had to LED.
You must be registered for see images attach
I was going to go with all red, but at that time I didn't have 6 reds! So I popped in a pair of blues on the sides. Loved it, so it's still that way to this day lol. Cool thing is, when the fuel gauge starts getting closer to empty, it turns more red
Went back and forth to work in the Sierra some more, because I still don't quite trust the Blazer yet... Steering's still really loose, and it drinks coolant. Figured I would have to do lower intake manifold gaskets, so I didn't drive it.
