1980 K5 blazer

[Irishmic]

Before I got her It had a LS 5.3 that got put in 3,000 miles ago. Other specs TH 350 transmission, headers with dual magnaflow, 6 inch lift on 35s, Texas speed 600 lift cam, roller rockers.
Breaks need to be redone. Engine is sluggish, power steering leaking. Also, back tailgate is needing love. Window not on the rails, held up by screws.
Will want to make it a daily driver, but to start just want to make it road ready. Not really set to drive around.
It is great to look out my house and see it. So many things but so much time.

Glad to have any and all thoughts, recommendations, ideas, advice or anything anybody has to offer. I have lots to learn and I habe very little knowledge for both what can be done and how to do things.

Going to try and tackle the back door/window first. The motor works, it's disconnected and have a new cable. The window needs to be reattached to the racking system. We will see.

 

[max 02]

Very cool!

 

[blackhemirt]

Sweet ride!

 

[flatland]

That looks nice!
Its hard for me to decide where to start sometimes as well, especially if I don't have a lot of time at the moment. Stick a list to the dash or in the console and note things to be done so you can pick an appropriate sized project when you have some time.
Looking forward to updates on this!

 

[Irishmic]

Truck has gotten some work. Replaced th rotors and breaks. It also needed wheel barrings as the front wheel was about to fall off. Had a lot of vibration at 30 MPH. Took it to a transmission shop. They were able to drop the cross member to help with the extreme angle of the driveshaft. This all worked out great and I have been able to enjoy driving it.

I need new tires at this point. The back window does not work so I can't even open the tailgate. So I want to try and replace the whole window assembly, window still good and moter works. Also have to pull out a bunch of wires for whatever soundsystem they had and the old amp etc. Worried it's still pulling power ad its connected to the battery still.

I have a 2003 rebuilt vortec 5.3 engine. When I turn it on it idles on the higher end but after a minute comes back down. Does anyone know why this is?

Last I need to change the shifter as its damaged and needs to be played with at times to get it to start/be fully in park.


So that's my update I think. We will see where it all takes me next.

 

[82355]

Dropping the transfer case is not really the correct way to fix that. More of a bandaid.

Martin

 

[Bent77]

What /\ said


On the 5.3 question, it’s the idle air controller. Once it starts to warm up the idle comes down

 

[Irishmic]

What /\ said


On the 5.3 question, it’s the idle air controller. Once it starts to warm up the idle comes down

Yes, that seems to be what happens. It will run high for a minute or so.

It stalled out on my yesterday. I had been driving it for about 30-40 minutes on country roads, so no stopping. Went into a store. When I came out the break lights were on, this is an issue to fix but thought it needed to be said. When I went to start it was hard to turn over, like a almost dead battery.

I just put it roght into reverse without sitting and as I backed out it stalled. Restarted it and it wanted to stall again so gave a bit of gas to keep ot going and was heading home as is.

So I don't understand I it just want to run for a bit to get going or is something else going on. Not really worried about the electric power in this situation, but it will need attention.

So if that all makes sense and you have any thoughts that's great.

 

[Irishmic]

Dropping the transfer case is not really the correct way to fix that. More of a bandaid.

Martin

What is a real solution to this issue?

With this being a bandaid fix, what problems can I expect going forward and what to look for?

Thank you for the information

 

[Bent77]

Yes, that seems to be what happens. It will run high for a minute or so.

It stalled out on my yesterday. I had been driving it for about 30-40 minutes on country roads, so no stopping. Went into a store. When I came out the break lights were on, this is an issue to fix but thought it needed to be said. When I went to start it was hard to turn over, like a almost dead battery.

I just put it roght into reverse without sitting and as I backed out it stalled. Restarted it and it wanted to stall again so gave a bit of gas to keep ot going and was heading home as is.

So I don't understand I it just want to run for a bit to get going or is something else going on. Not really worried about the electric power in this situation, but it will need attention.

So if that all makes sense and you have any thoughts that's great.

Your almost dead battery is an issue for sure. Sort out the brake lights and see if it’s charging properly, all of your electrical connections tight.
Fuel injection engines like proper voltage more so than early engines. If you lose power, most also lose whatever adjustments have been made on the base tuning

 

[82355]

What is a real solution to this issue?

With this being a bandaid fix, what problems can I expect going forward and what to look for?

Thank you for the information

Correcting driveline angles, which can get expensive. That’s why a lot of people lower the transfer case.

Does this one have a lift? I forget.

Martin

 

[Irishmic]

Correcting driveline angles, which can get expensive. That’s why a lot of people lower the transfer case.

Does this one have a lift? I forget.

Martin

Yes a 6" lift.

I took it over to a transmission shop after I got the breaks fixed. This was a fix he said we could try and see if it works. He seemed good and recommended with the lack of power I talked to him about to upgrade the torque converter.

If I plan on swapping the torque converter does that make it simpler to do any other work? He said he would be able to look better at the transmission and give me options if I wanted. I have a TH350 in it. I see this is a 3 gear transmission but I really think I count 4, last shifts in around 65. So that whole part confused me.

I know lots of stuff I'm dumping out

 

[Irishmic]

Your almost dead battery is an issue for sure. Sort out the brake lights and see if it’s charging properly, all of your electrical connections tight.
Fuel injection engines like proper voltage more so than early engines. If you lose power, most also lose whatever adjustments have been made on the base tuning

Yep I am concerned about the electrical and it has other things that make me feel the whole system may be messed up. People pulled the dash out and put it in wrong, lots of add on with the radio and stereo equipment that was put in. So I do not know the first thing about the electrical system. But I may have to start looking around and doing some learning.

 

[K85 Octane]

1) Is this still a FI engine? Or was it adapted to a carburetor?

2) Do you have an OBD port some place to read codes etc?

C) picture of how they dropped the T-case please. You can certainly rock a drop while working on other thing BUT it should be dropped properly.

V) picture of the trans will help identify if it’s actually a 350 or 700r4. If it’s a 350 that identifies as a 4 speed auto, there might be issues

 

[82355]

Yeah, post some pictures.

Martin

 

[Irishmic]

1 and 2. It is and had that run. Lady said Its a 2003 but she was having difficulty with it. It has LSx on the bottom of the engine, however i don't really think it's a racing engine.

Here are some pictures hopefully I took good enough to tell but I'm having trouble getting a good angle but if wrong I can always try again.

The picture with the drop, there are spacers that were under the bolt and he flipped them to the otherside to give it the drop. I drew a red line from were it was to where it is now.

I put pictures of the bottom of the engine. Quick note- the engine was put in about 3-4k ago. Top rebuilt has a stage 2 camshaft. It however takes time to get going.

Just let me know where I'm nkt making sense. This is all so helpful and I'm gaining a lot of information. Just still trying to get my basic understanding. This site is so great, thank you.

 

[82355]

Is it a TH350C?

That is the worst way to lower your transfer case.

Martin

 

[Irishmic]

I am told it is but I have not confirmed it 100% yet. It has the square oil pan with the corner cut out. It has the right number of bolts holding it on from what I see on line to identify it.

Any suggestion i should use to ID it?

 

[82355]

Yeah, it is a TH350. I am wondering if it is a TH350C, which is just a TH350 with a lockup torque converter.

Martin

 

[82355]

I don't see an electrical connector for the convertor. You should only feel it shift twice.

Martin