Which vehicle do I go with?

[ecameron87]

We have recently purchased a Mini-Van to take the place of my wife's 1992 S15 Jimmy 4x4. I also own a 1972 K5 blazer that is my daily driver, off road vehicle, and I use it for work as well. Now I have a choice.....keep the K5 or the stock S-15. The K5 has everything new under the hood including the tranny. It also has four wheel disc brakes, 4" lift, 35" tires, rear locker, and a 38 gallon tank. If I keep the Jimmy, I would put in a Solid axle up front and probably 35" tires.
I need help deciding. Here are my Pros and Cons of each vehicle.

K5 Pros
Great off-road (High ground clearance, lots of power)
It is reliable (Newer engine/tranny)
Having the top off can be fun.
Looks good

K5 Cons
It is too big / wide
No A/C It gets very hot here.
No Soft Top (It is either no top and die of heat....or hard top and die of more heat)
Long off-road trips get old quick with the heat and the wind.
It is Carburated
4Low sucks (NP205 T-Case)
No overdrive (Still does fine on highway with 35's and 3.73 gears)
8-10 mpg..ouch
I am sick of hitting my head against the hard top that is mounted to the roof of my garage.
It is hard to lock up. I always worry about it getting stolen.

S15 Pros
It is Fuel Injected
Has Overdrive
Has A/C
4low is better than K5
Strong engine (4.3L Vortec)
More Comfortable to drive.
A lifted S15 with a Solid Axle Swap (SAS) will be original and cool looking.
It is narrower for the trails.

S15 Cons
Lift is expensive for IFS (And it is weak)
SAS can get expensive (And I am having a hard time finding axles)
Will have to buy tires after the lift.
Don't have a welder for a SAS to fab the hangers.(Might be able to borrow one)

Now, I do have to sell one of them to help pay off the van. My wife will allow me a small amount to put towards the Jimmy if I keep it. The K5 is worth a lot more (It is in good shape) and will allow more to be paid off on the van and I will get some money to put into the Jimmy. If I sell the Jimmy, all of the money will be going towards the VAN. There won't be enough money to upgrade the K5 (Was hoping for A/C and a soft top). The wife thinks I have already put too much money into the K5.

I guess I just needed to type this out for therapy reasons and to vent a little. I don't know what to do. I am not a hard core rockclimber, but I have been known to hit some 3-4 rated trails that require lift, lockers, and body armor. I would love to keep the K5 if it had A/C and a soft top but on the other hand getting the Jimmy to be trail worthy will require a lot as well. Do I just stop being a weanie and put up with no A/C until I can afford it, or go for the S-15 Jimmy.

What would you do?

Any input would be appreciated.

Sorry this is so long!

 

[3 on the tree]

I see the K5 as an investment. Properly cared for, it will ALWAYS e worth more than the S-10. That being said, I would keep the K5 and sell the other. 5 years from now, the S-10 will be worth 1/3 of what the Blazer is worth now.

 

[fordeater]

i agree, keep the K5

 

[Burt4x4]

Get yer self a nice ice chest fill it with ice and bottled water and then Keep the K5, now you won't be so hot. Hey you could even were a big hat...just KEEP THE K5

 

[Boondocks]

3 dittos...

 

[Larry_in_Tx]

Keep the K5! Driving that thing on the street or the trail has a thousand times the originality than a S15 with a solid axle swap.

If the heat up there is really killing you, keep an eye out in the for sale section. I’m just about to put mine up out of my ’72 that’ll drop right in the K5.

 

[ecameron87]

I'm a weanie

Thanks for the advice.

OK, the truth comes. I have just been through a bad month with the Blazer. Since I installed aftermarket headers I started to have heat soak problems with my starter. I had it checked and it was fine. Reinstalled it with a heat sheild and It would still never start up after it got hot. I would have to "Jump start" the starter to get it going again. Then when it hit 105-110 Degrees outside, the blazer would vapor lock on me on the way home from work. It would shut down whenever I was stuck at a light idleing for a while. I rerouted the fuel line using rubber fuel hose(Which I don't like to use) just to fix the problem. Next, After a 14hr day of fourwheeling, about a mile from my house coming home, it dies on me. I have to jump start the starter again to get it going. The next few weeks the engine started cutting out on me more often, driving at high speeds was leading to a big backfire....I was losing elect. power going to the HEI. I found out that it was my ignition switch that was causing the problem. I also found that my rotor under the cap was broken at the spring (It was replaced only 6months ago) but it somehow kept running. I also replaced and beefed up the wire going to the starter and that, so far, has fixed the starter problems. I will probably do a remote solenoid to keep the starter from clicking six times before it works.

I do have a lot of money invested in it, but more so I have time invested as well. I have just run out of money to do the things I would like with it (ie, 6pt cage, custom bumpers, A/C, soft top, 2 more inches of lift, etc.) Instead I put all my money towards things I have to fix to keep it reliable. That is frustrating.

SO....the truth comes out that I am frustrated with the Blazer. I didn't mean to turn my back on it and threaten to get rid of it. I'm sorry......

 

[Burt4x4]

We are here to help you get it fixed
So I will tell you how to cure that hot starter issue.

Remove your current batt cable to starter.

Go get a ford starter silliniod and mount it to your fender well on the pass side. Buy some batt cable about 5'
Now move the S wire from your GM Silly and attach it to the Ferd 'trigger' post.

Build a 2" jumper wire and attach the wire to the S terminal and to the + terminal on the GM silly.
From the + terminal on the GM silly run a batt cable to the OUTPUT side of the Ferd silly. Run another batt cable from the INPUT side to the + on your batt.

What you end up with is NO voltage down to your GM silly until you 'trigger' the Ferd silly with the turn of the key, then BAM! the gate opens and all that wonderful juice flows down to the GM silly, the lil jumper trigers the silly and now you have freash voltage turning your starter.

Why this works?
It has to do with the build up of resistance that HEAT creates.
A hot or live cable has no current flow just sitting there but the heat gets all the lil atoms excited and resestance begans to form and when current starts to flow(you turn the key) all the lil atoms are so mixed up from the heat they don't travel well.
Now a dead cable all the atoms are well sleeping, so all that heat does not build up resesance due to the nap the atoms are taking. As soon as you trip that Ferd silly BAM full power to the starter regardless how hot it is

Hope this makes sence. A ferd silly is about 16bucks and the cable another 10 so fer 30 bucks yer fixed
Burt

 

[ecameron87]

Yeah, I have a f**d solenoid laying around from when I had a Samurai (This was a common upgrade.)
Will this fix the clicking that I get before it starts?(click, click, click....vvroom)
Isn't there a diagram somewhere on this board on how to wire it up?
What Gauge would you go with?
I have a fat welding cable I am using right now. It is long enough that I can split it if I can find ends to put on it.

BTW, Burt4x4, that is a sweet ride you got there. I have learned a lot from you and this forum over the years. Thanks for the help and for not flaming me for being so hard on my blazer!

 

[Burt4x4]

hahaha Thanks and no flaming from me I live a Positive life
I would guess it would, useually the clicking is not enough current for the silly to trip fully..bad cable, loose connection, corroded connections, etc..??
I wired mine up with 2gage batt cable. Don't remember were the digram is or was but I do seam to recal someone wrote one up??
Not sure if welding cable is a good batt cable or not, sounds like it should be fine?? Duno?
Burt

 

[Greg72]

If you're too burned out on trucks to fix a simple "heat soak" problem (or broken rotor problem) on a K5, I don't see how you'll have the motivation to do an SAS conversion on the S-15.


The K5 is a superior platform and infinitely "cooler" than anything you can do to the S-15.



This 1st Gen crowd is a fanatical bunch....if you want a little support along the way (when the truck seems to be getting the best of you) we'll be here to cheer you on. But if you don't seem to ever have a good reason to keep it....then sell it to an owner someone who appreciates it for what it is and will carry the 1st Gen torch!

 

[mr_blasto]

We are here to help you get it fixed
So I will tell you how to cure that hot starter issue...

Wow, I am impressed. Of course I am a total noob, but knowledgable people like Burt are what make this place awesome. For some reason that little "tip" made an impression on me

The K5 is a superior platform and infinitely "cooler" than anything!!!

This is not an accurate quote. I modified it to better suit my views. I hope nobody takes offense to my alterations.

I couldn't shed any more light on the situation than others already have. I can however reinforce it. K5 is much cooler. K5 is going to hold it's value much better. K5 is much cooler. Being forced to drive with the top off is a blessing in disguise because it is much cooler to drive with the top off than with the top on (no pun intended, honestly). K5 is much more manly than an S15. K5 is much cooler.

Keep it.

 

[vtblazer]

ecameron87, look at it this way...the grass is always greener blah/blah/blah...

Meaning the S/10 may sound good right now because your having issue's with your K5 but in reality (I'd bet) when/if you sell the K5 and get the S/10 going, you'll finds lots of issue's with it also.

I feel your pain, I drive these old trucks as daily's myself.
They always seem to need this fixed or that repaired...believe me, I know.

Keep the K5, you've got alot of the issue's taken care of. Why start all over?

If getting a soft top makes the difference, shoot me a pm and I'll give you a smokin' deal on an extra one I have.

 

[ecameron87]

Thanks

Thanks guys. I knew I can count on you to keep me going when I get down. You are right. My K5 is one of a very few that I have seen driving around town. I just have to be patient with it. I feel like I have replaced just about everything in it and did it all myself, so it should be a reliable vehicle. It did have the "Knee Knocker" under dash unit A/C when I bought it, but it didn't work so I ripped it out. Would it be worth it to rebuild this system? I'm sure it will be a cheaper way to go, I just don't know if it will cool good enough. Is there any way to check the compressor to see if it is any good?

Thanks again for all the help. This truely is a great board!