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First Car, have some questions | 1989 K5 Blazer

I really don’t want to drive this car in the Minnesota salt but some days it might be my only option when we can’t use the farm truck to get to school, work etc.

What’s the best way to rust proof the car? Best places near the Minneapolis area to do it?
 
My buddies sister moved out East with a rust free 80's GM, and she (apparently) rinsed it pretty religiously after having driven it in the salt. Seemed to have worked pretty well for the time she had the car, which was a few years IIRC.
 
coleman23 said:
I really don’t want to drive this car in the Minnesota salt but some days it might be my only option when we can’t use the farm truck to get to school, work etc.

What’s the best way to rust proof the car? Best places near the Minneapolis area to do it?
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Fluid film, dont waste money on the hard bedliner-type undercoats, all they do is trap the salt/moisture underneath it
 
After a day in the mud I have been known to park on a lawn sprinkler for a while. Might not be very practical in the winter.
 
Talon762 said:
Fluid film, dont waste money on the hard bedliner-type undercoats, all they do is trap the salt/moisture underneath it
Click to expand...

When I lived in the north east we had a few cars undercoated. I remember the "Rusty Jones" sticker on the windows marking that rustproofing had been applied. They rusted out like anything else. Salt and humidity are killers, not a lot you can do but keep them clean underneath.
 
Many of the "Rusty Jones" treated vehicles I saw seemed to rust from the outside in,instead of from the inside of the door bottoms and rockers--I think the waxy stuff they sprayed inside the doors,rockers and other areas helped prevent rusting there,but did nothing to keep stone chips and bare spots from rusting externally..

When car makers started putting that clear wrinkly film around wheel arches and dog legs,it seemed to help stop stone chips from starting rot,but then the moisture trapped inside the panel rusted it out from the inside..

Only old vehicles up here that survived well despite being driven year round, were the ones that had used crankcase oil sprayed underneath on everything--diesel engine oil works best,the soot makes it tougher to wash off..
Many of the old time service stations did this for two reasons--to get rid of the used oil for free,and they knew it'd help preserve the undercarriage...washing the vehicle often never hurt either,especially after the roads had been salted..
Some guys use linseed oil to keep rust at bay,or fluid film,some even "paint" their frames and underbody sheet metal with gear lube or chassis grease ,it does work,but makes for very messy working conditions when it's time to do any repairs--but I'd rather get greasy and have all the bolts come off without snapping,than deal with extracting broken bolts and studs..
 
Pam non stick cooking spray applied to wheel wells before a mud run works well.
Helps mud removal from the corners afterward too.
 
Would mudflaps or something help stop the salt from getting onto the body?
 
Sure they would. The real problem is underneath. I was working under mine last night changing out a trans and found lots of hidden dirt. I live in a dry climate and haven't been mudding and there is still hidden crud under there. The underside will rust out before the visible sheet metal. Keep it clean and enjoy it. Its no fun just looking at it.
 
I wish someone would mold plastic "strips" that went from the rear bumper to at least to the rear of the front wheel well opening, minimally the width between the exterior lower edge of the body to the frame. There appears to be plenty of space to me, and as mentioned, even without salt, dirt/mud gets up into every nook and cranny down there, even up into the tail lights. I made inner-fender "mud flaps" to protect the areas directly in front and rear of the rear wheel, but they only do so much, because they don't hang down below the bottom edge of the exterior sheetmetal. If someone formed plastic, the inside part of the rear wheelwell could be dropped down, which would keep a lot of junk off of the underside of the body.
 
The only sure-fire solution is to not drive it in the salt. A fully rust-proofed, fluid-filmed, frequently washed, etc. salt-driven body still has a much shorter life than a summer-only one. You can't get from the car wash to home without seeing salt, so you have to wash it at home. Will you do that every time it's driven, even when it's below freezing out? You will never wash all of it off anyway. Punish something else instead, like a $800 Civic.

A TBI 350 has all the torque of a 5.3 off the line. Gears are probably more important at this point than adding power. What you haven't told us yet is what gears are in the axles. Are those 31" tires? It could have 3.08 gears which will make it feel super slow. Dropping to 4.10 is 33% more torque to the tire. With the 0.7 overdrive, the highway revs are still reasonable and you can actually use the cruise control. This is a purely invisible mod so you keep the stock appeal and drive-ability. Even if you're going to a 5.3 someday, that engine will also benefit a lot from the lower gearing since it likes to rev.
 
Ill try to get our farm truck running or take the bus :(

Im not sure what gears are in it. Any way to check without taking the diff apart?
 
At most there were only two ratios offered that year (assuming someone didn't swap axles or gears between then and now).

Otherwise you can jack it up and spin the tire and count.
 
Yep, just count the tire rotations and driveshaft rotations. Just a hair over 3 driveshaft spins per one tire rotation will net you 3.08. About 3.5 rotations is 3.42 and so on.
 
I only see one with G and it says GU6
What ratio is it?
 
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