New Mud Racer Project

[4bynut]

Well I'm new to the blazers, i usually mess with the 67-72 trucks. I've been working on a 70 chevy mud truck for sometime now. But mine still had a long way to go before it could go down the track. A buddy decided to sell his, this 70 blazer. He wanted to keep his motor, trans, and t-case, but i actually have that stuff so i bought it. He left me the complete ignition, fuel setup, cooling system, wiring setup, and gauges. I do have a few things to change to suit me. First thing is changing the yellow to red and adding a lift off fiberglass hood. I'm putting in my 511 BBC, TH400, 241, and my HP furd D60 front. It has a D44 front and furd 9" rear with 4.56 gears currently. He also keep his tires since i need to go bigger for the peat pit we have locally. He mostly run it in shallower clay pits. Well i'll have more updates later. Jason

 

[4bynut]

Here is a couple pics of it with buddy's tires and wheels on it. I'll run 38.5x11 boggers on the front and 44x18.5x15 boggers on the rear. In the pics he has 38.5x11 bogger fronts and 39.5 boggers on the rear. Jason

 

[Moody]

Nice truck.......I bet the half top helps keep the mud out of the cab!

 

[4bynut]

Nice truck.......I bet the half top helps keep the mud out of the cab!

Ya, someone chopped down a full top for that. There's no side windows so they have screen to keep the mud out. It has a roll cage so i'm considering using a bikini top and truck doors with lexan glass in them. I'm not sure if that will keep the mud out or not though. Thought i would lighten it up a little more and id like to have side windows. Jason

 

[chevy wrangler]

looks cool

 

[Yukon Jack]

Amazing what swapping rims and tires can do to the appearance of a vehicle. Looks so much tougher with the more proper size tires on it. Bet you will be having fun with this project.

 

[70jimmy]

Very cool rig!! Sounds like it will be a powerful beast with your drivetrain!

 

[bigbadchev84]

That is a really cool truck, How much lift is on it or how big are you gonna run on it?

I got 9" of suspension and when I tried to install my 465/208 set-up the angle on the driveline made it bind just trying to install it. I believe the 241 is close to identical to the 208 so just some food for thought

 

[4bynut]

That is a really cool truck, How much lift is on it or how big are you gonna run on it?

I got 9" of suspension and when I tried to install my 465/208 set-up the angle on the driveline made it bind just trying to install it. I believe the 241 is close to identical to the 208 so just some food for thought

It has about 4"-6" of lift and that's all i'll run. I'll cut out the fenders more if needed for the 44" boggers on the rear. Also i'm considering a SYE kit for the 241 to make it work, if it's to long. Thanks, Jason

 

[ChefBear]

Topless

You Oughta run that Topless! without a shirt too. Only the last couple rows in the bleachers would know...

 

[4bynut]

Well, I've got some of the parts to get my HP D60 in the front and fix the back suspension. I have the D60 disassembled and ready to rebuild. The rotors are turned down for the wilwood calipers. But i'm waiting on the caliper brackets which a friend is cutting out on his plasma table. The ORD shackle flips are to replace the stack of blocks on the rear axle. When i get them on i need to modify the brackets for the air bag so they reach the top of the leafs. So i just have a slight list of stuff getting ready to go in the blazer.

 

[4bynut]

Here's a pic of the motor for it. It's a full roller 511 tall deck chevy. And also a pic of the motor mounts a friend made for between the stock crossmember and motor. I cleaned the rubber off a stock set of mounts and he machined the insert block. I need to tig weld the blocks into the stock bracket and they'll be ready to bolt on. Jason

 

[4bynut]

Well, i'm going to get busey on getting the D60 gears and trac loc installed. But i didn't feal like crawling around to do it on my jack stands. So i dug out some 3x3 square tube i had and made this axle stand to make it easier. It's waist high and i made it with a smaller tube in the middle and set screws so i can use it for different width axles. I used 1x1 tubing to make a saddle for the axle to set in. Here's a couple pics with my D60 housing on it.

Jason

 

[bp71k5]

I like that idea.

 

[4bynut]

I like that idea.

Thanks. It's going to make it alot easier. Only bad thing i found is the cherry piker. I had to lift the axle with the picker and then assemble the stand under the picker. When i got the axle secure on the stand i just lifted the picker legs over it and moved the picker out of the way. A overhead hoist would be better. Two guys could pickup the bare axle housing also, but not fully assembled.

Thanks
Jason

 

[4bynut]

Here's some pics showing how it's looking so far. You can see the finished motor mounts. I fully tig welded them and then they got painted with the axle pieces. You can also see the new brake caliper brackets we made, they still need painted tho. The firewall is half done. I need to fit the motor before i finish it. I wasn't going to do anything to the firewall but the hack job they did just bothered me to much. There is also a pics of the 73-87 4" lift leaf hanging there with the heavier shackles. I moved the front perch 1.25"s ahead and gusseted the mount. I'll try and keep up better on pics as i go. Our first race is april 18th. so i need to keep busey. I want to do a full tilt front end also, but that may get done later in the year.

Jason

 

[4bynut]

A few more pics.

 

[4bynut]

Well haven't got to do much lately. I did get my ballistic high steer arms and painted them. I also got a pair of 44" bogger and mounted them on a friends aluminum beadlock rims. Pulled the 4" lift blocks out of the rear. When i pulled the rear axle to remove the lift blocks i found the axle was bowed and dented some. So i replaced it with a fresh axle housing, my 1" zero blocks, and new u-bolts. In order to clear the 44's with 1" of lift i had to open up the wheelwells. Hopefully some parts for the front suspension get here before the weekend so i can start putting that back together.

Here's a few pics of how it sits now.

Jason

 

[Greg72]

So what is the story behind the large rectangular hole in the firewall?

Is that for some sort of interior snorkel setup for the engine?

 

[4bynut]

So what is the story behind the large rectangular hole in the firewall?

Is that for some sort of interior snorkel setup for the engine?

No snorkle. The PO had moved the firewall back but did a terrible job. I started to fix it but left the middle open until i get the motor in and check clearance. I plan on moving the motor back some and want to make sure it will work.

Jason