Qwank's 1999 2 door Blazer ZR2

[qwank]

So My current 2001 4 door Blazer plow truck/daily driver needs a ton of work.  It has over 243K on the clock, very low oil pressure, a leaky heater core, cracked windshield, and multiple emissions problems that I've been leaving unfixed because I don't care (EGR, Air pump, etc.). Oh, and lots and lots of rust. Did I mention it's a 4 door, I hate 4 doors.  

 

Anyways,  I saw a 1999 Two door ZR2 show up on Facebook Marketplace with 134K and an engine knock for $580 bucks with brand new tires so I immediately message the seller and went to look at it.  I talked him down to $500 and towed it back to my shop.  Oh, and it even had a full tank of gas. (bonus!)  

 

Sounds like a bad rod knock.  Will most likely need a crankshaft, rod and rebuild, but I might be able to find a cheap used engine.  

 

I already located the correct pushplates locally to mount the fisher plow, So I'll pick those up sometime this week (they are different plates than the standard Blazer takes). 

 

Tomorrow after work I will pull the oil pan and see what actually failed.  

 

So here's a pic of the truck:

 

 

and here's a picture of my current 2001 Blazer that is going to be retired (junk yard) after I keep it for a few months to rob any parts that I may need for the new one.  And my beat Fisher Plow:

 

 

 

[qwank]

I priced out parts to rebuild the engine and it was going to cost double the price plus time so I just ordered a used engine. It was delivered to my shop today so I started cleaning it up. I'll start the install tomorrow after work. This engine has 94K on it and a 6 month warranty. 

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by qwank

[qwank]

Made some progress on the engine swap after work tonight. 

[Nasty]

Im so glad it doesnt snow here

[qwank]

5 hours ago, Nasty said:

Im so glad it doesnt snow here

You're lucky.  

[qwank]

This swap is taking way longer than I thought, I'm wishing I went with a GM rebuild instead of used. It's sitting back in the truck at this point, just need to button it up

 

Edited July 30, 2018 by qwank

[qwank]

Got the engine swap done today

 

 

[qwank]

Got this thing buttoned up last Thursday and have about 200 miles on it. Runs good, seems to have a torque converter clutch issue but I'll deal with that later on. Picked up my pushplates today. I'll install them tomorrow after work. 

 

[qwank]

Push plates are on. 

 

[Red Rally 2]

In my younger days I used to do a lot of this type of work. Drive them for a while and then flip for a profit. Looks like fun and I enjoy watching along. Thanks for the updates.

[qwank]

Finally had our first snow storm and this thing plowed like a champ 

 

[Nasty]

Perfect opportunity for a mom joke

[ForestryGuy]

Nice blazer, I had a '00 non ZR2, 2 door, exterior tire. Pretty much turned it into a ZR2.  It was a great vehicle, took it beyond 150k before some electrical gremlins started appearing. There was a tendency for the 4x4 to turn itself on after a few hours of highway running, which was really odd. Either way great job on the swap and enjoy it. 

[qwank]

My muffler rotted off last week, so I installed a Flowmaster 44 that I had in the garage with a new Walker tailpipe from Rock Auto.  

 

[qwank]

Finally getting around to Audio in this thing. I'm not going anywhere near as crazy as I did in my Silverado

 

I installed a Double Din Alpine W650 today, because I wanted Android Auto.  I find it so convenient in my Silverado so I'll probably be installing it in all of my vehicles at some point. I also added a set of Alpine Type-S 6.5 components in the front.  I never use rear speakers, so there's nothing hooked up back there. 

 

Anyways, since my '99 Blazer came with a 1.5 din radio, I needed a couple of parts to convert to double din.  A double din radio bezel out of a '03+ S10 or Blazer, or Olds Bravada. and a radio bracket adapter out of the Olds Bravada.  I got lucky and found a Bravada at my local junk yard with everything I needed for $30.  

 

Here's the bracket you need installed in my truck:

 

 

and here's the radio in the bracket, it lines it up perfectly.

 

 

you need to do a little trimming to the dash support to get it to fit, i took a picture of the Bravada with the bracket removed for reference.

 

 

and everything installed with the new double din bezel.  I couldn't find one in light gray, but charcoal doesn't look bad with my interior either.  

 

 

 

And I swapped the Infinity basslink out of my old Blazer.  I got this thing for free years back, and it actually sounds decent.