The Official "GMC INDY HAULER" build thread (Page 16/26) motoracer838 FEB 09, 01:25 PM Reality check time, jeez I can be my own worst enemy. By the time I've done either the Ramjet Vortec or the LS-1 the cost and complexity have gotten totally out of control, this is to be a daily driver, and needs to be done in a reasonable amount of time. So, back to the TBI 350, I really do have enough to do on the truck with what it'll take to get the truck at the ride height shown above without killing off suspension travel and ride quality. So getting back to the job at hand, here's what I've run into with lowering the truck, in their infinite wisdom, it seems that GM decided that the 2wd blazer needed to set at the same nosebleed height that the 4wd blazer's set. To do this they designed the frame with a lower position for the crossmember and suspension mounting points than they did with the 2wd p-u 2wd P-U frame rail 2wd blazer frame rail, notice the difference where the bumper brace is in relation to the top of the frame rail. What happens is that by the time I have the truck at the ride height that I want, in spite of the 2" drop that the Corvette spindles give me, I have almost no suspension travel left!!! To solve this problem, the truck is going to have to "go under the knife", I'm going to graft in a 2wd S-10 P-U front frame section from just behind the front cab mounts forward. (Yeah I know that it's a lot of work, it's that or cutting the existing frame behind the core support mounts and in front of the front cab mounts and moving the section up and gusseting everything up, even more work that doing the 2wd P-U frame section) What was I saying about being my own worst enemy?!? Joe motoracer838 FEB 28, 08:55 PM Moving on to the frame work. here's the frame section from the victim, err ah I mean doner '86 S-10 p-u I started buy building a fixture to locate the mounting points for the core support Before I continue, I want to take a moment to talk about safety. It is critical that in a project like this, that you make absolutly sure that you go out of your way to properly support what your working on!!! To this end I built some screw jacks to support the body. Moving on, lowering the frame. Something is missing. Am I near the point of no return??? Cheers Beers n Gearz. Joe motoracer838 MAR 10, 08:24 PM Surgery continues, Inside left framerail, early fitup. Outside right, before slipping the two together. Getting ready to bring the frame back up to the fixture. Leftside And rightside ready for weldout. A perfect fit in the fixture, the patient looks to be coming out of sedation soon. I expect to be done with the welding by the end of the weekend. Has anybody out there got a 15' GT wheel they can measure the diameter of the center cap for me, the Fiero store has smooth center caps that would be perfect for my wheels, if they are the right diameter. Cheers Beers n Gearz. Joe Christine MAR 11, 12:47 AM Looking good Joe, I can't wait to see it up and running. motoracer838 MAR 13, 10:00 PM It's been a good week in the shop. The frame is tacked up and ready to weld. A shot of how the Blazer frame blends with the p-u frame. The weldout on the top of the frame before raising the back up for the last time. A couple of shots of the welding. Free of the fixture, this is definantly a turning point. The fixture, having done it's job, is now scrap. Cheers Beers n Gearz. Joe psychosurfer MAR 13, 10:21 PM This is a great thread! I have just talked the wife into doing a pick-up Indy hauler build (we need a truck again anyway...) motoracer838 MAR 13, 10:34 PM Thanks, we'll have to get them together along with an Indy for a photo shoot. Joe psychosurfer MAR 13, 10:44 PM Oh, that WOULD be cool... Recreate the original photo! motoracer838 MAR 15, 04:19 PM quote Originally posted by Christine: Looking good Joe, I can't wait to see it up and running. Thanks, me too. Joe motoracer838 JUL 03, 10:36 PM Umm, where was I, oh yeah that's right, I was working on the hauler, wow where did the last 3 1/2 months go??? It's about time that I got back to work on this, now on to the latest update. The Corvette spindles that I'm using on the front, created a unique problem that I don't think I've seen before, every other spindle that I've seen has the axle centerline based on the steering axis inclination. (that's a line drawn through the upper and lower ball joints, when viewed from the side, represents the caster angle.) On the C-4 Corvette spindle it is back more than 3/4", this was really noticeable when I mocked up the truck at ride height and set the wheels straight ahead, with the wheels set way back in the wheel opening. to fix this I had to move the balljoints forward relative to the wheel opening, the lower was easy modifying the lower mount holes to swing the a-arm forward a bit, the upper was another story, I thought I would be able to cut and reweld the a-arm, but that wasn't to be, before I could do anything I needed to determine where the balljoint needed to be, that led me to build this. The turnbuckles allowed me to dial in the caster and camber using my digital level. Once I found what I felt was the sweet spot. I built another fixture off it. This picks up the cross shaft and balljoint locations, from there I could determine how to build the a-arms I had the machine shop that I use from time to time make the ends that the bushings will go into, a local race car shop bent the 1"X1/8" dom tubing to patterns that I provided and combined the with the balljoint mounts that I fabed up. Almost done, I need to add another cross bar to mount the top out bumpstop. Other progress, I scored a set of Vortec heads at a local wecking yard for cheap, then won a GM performance parts Vortec/tbi manifold with a bored 50mm throttle body, on ebay as well as getting a chip for the combo from TBI chips.com, all that's left for the engine ,is to order the Comp Cams 12-402 cam. It won't be a Ramjet or an LS, but it'll run strong. Cheers Beers n Gearz. Joe