Hey guys!

Hey guys. Just signed up here. My name is Larry from North Dakota. (Yes, there are people actually living way out here.) I've been a mechanic of one sort or another for over 25 years, speciallizing in GMs (mostly Oldsmobiles and F-bodies). I've been a long time S-10 lover and owner. Worked on many of them over the years for people doing everything from simple maintenance to engine swaps. I bought my first one back in NH in October of 2000. It was (is) a black on black '93 ext. cab 2wd with the TBI 4.3. That truck took everything I could throw at it, hauling well over it's rated limit. It finally lost the fight with the NH salt and gave in to rust, so I sold the still strong engine and tranny last year. I still have what's left and plan on using the frame for a future project.

Then last April I bought a blue '94 Blazer 4wd 4dr with the W code Vortec 4.3. Got what I thought was a great deal. Only $1k being told that it needed a head gasket. Forgetting everything I knew and being pressed for time to get something running to drive (as well as being on a tight budget) I went ahead with the head gaskets without having anything else checked out. Needless to say, it has never run well. I found out later that both heads are cracked and I'm also losing compression past the rings in one cyl. Unfortunately I have no choice but to drive it around town. (Luckily it's a small town. lol)

So last week while looking for a replacement engine, I came across (dang near tripped over) another '94 Blazer originally identicle to the first with the exception of the color (this one is black). And I was not really happy with myself when I heard the price. Only $500 This time I'm not taking any chances and plan on rebuilding the engine completely. I'll make some changes to it while I'm at it with cam and exhaust too.


This is my '93 when I first bought it minus the bed cap. I loved this truck.


Here you can see the kind of abuse the poor girl had to endure. That is everything I owned when I moved from NH to ND. 2000 miles in 3 days with more than the truck's own weight behind it. (yes that is a home made trailer with probably almost 2000 lbs of cargo mounted on the bumper hitch. ) You can see the rust on the lower parts of the body, and the metal patch I had to make one day quick to pass inspection.


This is how she sits now. No front clip, no engine or tranny. You can see what another two years has done to the body (behind the door). Most of the lower half of the sheet metal is like paper that has sat outside for years.


This is the 1st Blazer. It gets me to work and around doing errands. But over heats the minute I take it up on the highway. It's really only running on 3 cylinders and I actually had to remove one spark plug to keep it from blowing all the coolant out the overflow. (Sounds really funny with the compression gauge hose exhausting out the passenger's side wheel whell. lol)


And here is the newest one. Just getting ready to be pulled apart. Just need to find the parts I need for the rebuild.

fixed your images for you - hillbilly
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Welcome to the site!

yeppers, welcome to the fam!

Welcome, glad to have another that is well knowleged in the word of the General.

welcome!!