I got my first car back on the road!
The first car I ever got was a 1990 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. My dad bought it new, kind of. It was purchased in fall 1991 after it had been sitting at the Chevy dealer for over a year. No one in Chicago wanted this S.U.V. and this was before they became mainstream.
When I was 16 it was my daily driver until I blew the engine less than a year later. Oil plan rusted though, oil leaked out and the engine froze up. It was rebuilt, but never quite right. Later I put in a Ram Jet 350 crate engine with EFI and it was great after that. After about 60,000 miles the trans went out and due to a major change in life, the truck had to sit.
For seven years it sat in storage. Nearly every one except my wife told me to junk it and throw the engine into something half the weight. Only about 2 people in my entire life understood the want to fix my first car, especially one that was purchased new. A few years back Eric (A Marauder owner near me) helped me pull the transmission. I had intention of putting in a junkyard one, but never made the time. Later, I realized if I wanted to do this properly, I better save my dollars and do it right. Get it rebuilt, new parts, TC, everything.
Well, due to horrible unexpected events this year I was forced to bring the truck out of storage. It was towed back to Chicago thanks to Eric again and brought into Chicago. After about a month of sitting in a body shop, it had to be moved again. I had it towed to my apartment and it sat in the street with no transmission attached. The transmission made it to a shop and gave me a huge discount for cash payment, plus being that I already removed it, zero cost on labor for install since I was doing it with assistance at home.
About a week went by and it was done. I was in a bit of a panic because I had never done anything like this before. I had a little help, but mainly for the heavy lifting (quite literally) and I was highly concerned for my safety due to the fact I was working on an uneven street with traffic going by. It's a one way and not a busy street, but I still needed help getting the trans in to balance it on the jack while tightening the bolts.
One night two guys came over to help get it up in the vehicle and another night another with the transfer case. I almost had to remove everything again because I noticed someone put in a torque converter bolt that was too long and the TC couldn't make a full rotation, getting the bolt out worked with extra long needle nose plyers and rubber bands for grip. No one told me to do it that way and a reliable source told me "The trans must come out."
So after that bolt was removed, proper one in I noticed the cross member was in 180ed. I corrected this. It was quite a learning experience due to 80% of the work was alone, in the street. The wife wasn't around to help and some of the people who were going to come over changed their minds. I don't like waiting for anything, so I decided to figure it out. I took it apart with guidance, why not give it a go?
I needed a project to keep my mind off of sorrow and this worked. As of yesterday I was driving down the street for the first time in seven years. I cannot express how rare this proud moment is and new confidence I have in working on cars. It's no special turbo project or upgrade, but to save $2,000 and get something rolling again is something that makes you feel good every time I put it in gear.
Final tuning will be done today due to the fact that it has the wrong TV cable, but I cannot believe I did this. I didn't have a book, nor did I really youtube anything other than how to install the TV cable, which I did correctly, but it's too tight. With a fresh transmission and a low mile 350, I'll be cruising all night. Maybe mudding for the first time ever, we will see.
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Originally Posted by Motorhead350
"Damned if I do, damned if I don't!"
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