Cherryred98
I'm Awesome
So I bought this truck almost a year ago. October 24th of 2023 to be exact. I had a 2000 s10 that I traded for a s10 blazer that I bought for $400, had a blown headgasket, threw some blue devil in it and traded it for the s10 pickup, transmission blew so I swapped it for one from pick n pull that lasted about 2 weeks. When I started pulling the trans ( I was 17 still in high school at the time and this was my first project all on my own without any parental supervision of my father) I was having a bunch of issues, lack of knowledge and a bunch of others. Started pulling the trans, decided I should pull the front clip (to get the manifolds off because a nut was tripped on the manifold at the collector) you have to undo the engine mounts and move the engine forward 2 inches for the bellhousing bolts to clear the fire wall so I said screw it and pulled the engine as well, cleaned the engine, did all the gaskets, slapped it back in w the trans from pick and pull and all that. Like I said I drove it for about 2 weeks and it blew after 9 months of bull… (I forgot to mention the alignment pins that hold the bell housing to the block weren’t straight so I had to ratchet strap the trans off the block) trans popped I bought another used one and sold it for $3500 after putting about $1200 into it. And bought big red off som guy on fb market place for 3k… when I got it it had a misfire ( a obs chevy was my dream truck since I was 14. And this truck was super clean inside and out, body is straight paint is good (besides for the sunburn) engine bay was probably the cleanest I’ve ever seen for a truck with 220k miles (other than the s10) and he said he pressure washed under the engine bay and that’s why it was misfiring something about a plug wire getting wet… something something. It had “brand new” bfg km2 tires 33x12.5 and weld racing wheels, 4 inch pro comp lift. I was absolutely starry eyed especially because he came down from 5k down to 3k. He told me it had 2023 registration all I had to do was go to dmv and get it re registered… so I bought it thinking it was all good. I went to dmv it was a fake sticker, hadn’t been registered since 2019, they wanted like $1200 and I was pretty much broke at this point. I was crushed. They brought it down to $900, I worked for a couple months, paid it and still had to smog it but it had the misfire, I’m going through everything, plugs, cap, rotor, wires, fuel injectors (I upgraded to mpfi ingectors) ignition control module, and I couldn’t figure it out, so I drove it for a while the tires were brand new but old as in they guy put new tires on it but it sat and they dry rotted, one leaked through the dry rot cracks and luckily I had a friend who’s dad had a couple squarebody blazers and he sold me a set of 35’s for $100 and they had good tread and stuff, and a couple days after the rear diff popped ( I figured I was getting rid of the old tires so I would have a little fun and burn em off…) luckily my uncle had a 94 z71 he was parting out because he bought a new truck so I came and got the front and rear axles off it (it was a upgrade because it’s a 14 bolt semi float 6 lug) swapped it and the trans went out two days after I swapped it. Took me 2 months to get the money together for a brand new trans from monster (I was NOT getting a used one and shops wanted about the same price to bench rebuild one as monster wanted and I can’t trust a shop to do anything for whatever reason) so it sat for 3 months. During that time I pulled my uncles transmission and transfer case he said I could have it for free and the transmission didn’t work in my truck because the electronics are different. The monster transmission came and it’s working fine, I got a stage 1 (it’s rated for 50hp more than my stock engine) I talked to the builder told him how I was going to drive it (burnouts, wot, towing, off-roading) the gear ratios and tire size (I know you can’t gear these transmissions but the Speedo reads right some how)
Back to the mystery misfire, did a compression test because that’s the only thing left at this point and it also had a blown headgasket, I plan on keeping this truck so I did it as properly as my wallet allowed I went and got heads off another truck with 140k miles got a fel pro head gasket kit, new head bolts, lifters (because I’m in there), changed the valve seals, cleaned the heads, changed all the other gaskets (lower intake, exhaust, distributor ect) did my drive cycles and it passed smog exceptionally well. And finally I was able to drive it and it be reliable, till the power steering pump went out, went to o Reilly and got one with warranty and the steering servo electric sensor bs bypass, that one went about about a month later, changed it again and we’re good for now (reman pumps aren’t the best)
I think the previous owner put bars leak in to try and fix the head gasket as it’s all over the rad cap and it gets a little hot if it’s over 80 degrees outside ( a little hot as in running about 240) so I put a 170 thermostat in it and I’m planning on getting a aluminum radiator with e fans (thinking the one that is in it is partially clogged) but now it’s cooling off and it doesn’t get over 180f, I don’t mind I wear a jacket in the morning anyway. I’m just waiting on money for the radiator.
Oh yeah those tires I got from my friends dad. Well I had to crank the t bars a little so the didn’t rub when I turn and it messed up my alignment so they wore on the outside and are now half bald as in the outside is bald and the inside is the same as the rear.
I have a mystery transmission fluid Houdini, I’ll fill it up to the proper mark on the dipstick (when it’s hot) drive it for a week and it will only read about an 1/8th of a inch on the dipstick, I have pressure washed under the truck and I have no leaks, I think it’s all going into the Tcase or… I don’t know. But it will give me that same reading till I top it off again ( I tried diving it for a month checking every other day and it would stay the same) I top it off and a week later it’s low.
My other issue, sometimes it just won’t start, I have to cycle the key, try again and it’ll start and throw a icm code, but it goes away and won’t do it again.
I want this truck to be as reliable as I can get it for an old truck. I want to be able to take it on road trips and not have to worry about something going bad, I mean cross country type road trips as I live in cali so I’m trying to get it perfectly sound
I regret not making a build thread when I got the truck because now I have this long post, enough with my rambling here are some pics
Back to the mystery misfire, did a compression test because that’s the only thing left at this point and it also had a blown headgasket, I plan on keeping this truck so I did it as properly as my wallet allowed I went and got heads off another truck with 140k miles got a fel pro head gasket kit, new head bolts, lifters (because I’m in there), changed the valve seals, cleaned the heads, changed all the other gaskets (lower intake, exhaust, distributor ect) did my drive cycles and it passed smog exceptionally well. And finally I was able to drive it and it be reliable, till the power steering pump went out, went to o Reilly and got one with warranty and the steering servo electric sensor bs bypass, that one went about about a month later, changed it again and we’re good for now (reman pumps aren’t the best)
I think the previous owner put bars leak in to try and fix the head gasket as it’s all over the rad cap and it gets a little hot if it’s over 80 degrees outside ( a little hot as in running about 240) so I put a 170 thermostat in it and I’m planning on getting a aluminum radiator with e fans (thinking the one that is in it is partially clogged) but now it’s cooling off and it doesn’t get over 180f, I don’t mind I wear a jacket in the morning anyway. I’m just waiting on money for the radiator.
Oh yeah those tires I got from my friends dad. Well I had to crank the t bars a little so the didn’t rub when I turn and it messed up my alignment so they wore on the outside and are now half bald as in the outside is bald and the inside is the same as the rear.
I have a mystery transmission fluid Houdini, I’ll fill it up to the proper mark on the dipstick (when it’s hot) drive it for a week and it will only read about an 1/8th of a inch on the dipstick, I have pressure washed under the truck and I have no leaks, I think it’s all going into the Tcase or… I don’t know. But it will give me that same reading till I top it off again ( I tried diving it for a month checking every other day and it would stay the same) I top it off and a week later it’s low.
My other issue, sometimes it just won’t start, I have to cycle the key, try again and it’ll start and throw a icm code, but it goes away and won’t do it again.
I want this truck to be as reliable as I can get it for an old truck. I want to be able to take it on road trips and not have to worry about something going bad, I mean cross country type road trips as I live in cali so I’m trying to get it perfectly sound
I regret not making a build thread when I got the truck because now I have this long post, enough with my rambling here are some pics
