Drag Blazer

[ROCKZILLA]

So I picked up this 1989 S10 Blazer cheap and my son and I are going to build a little drag toy out of it. I have a 389 Stroker with aluminum heads and a ton of other goodies, T400 transmission with a 3,000-3,500 stall converter and a 250 shot cheater nitrous kit. I've been gathering parts and I'm picking up the tubing to build a cage this week and should have it ready to do some test hits in about a month. Here are a few pictures.

[ROCKZILLA]

We got the engine and transmission installed and got it fired up last night. It sounds wicked! I picked up the tubing Friday and we will start on the cage this weekend.

[elmh]

Cool

[ROCKZILLA]

We have been pretty busy building this and have been able to make some great progress. The cage is just about completed, the fuel system along with cooling system is complete. We are just going down the to do list and checking things off as we go. The last big ticket item I need is the rear differential as we are going with a full float 9 inch. Here are a couple pictures of the progress.

[JYD]

 

[ROCKZILLA]

Well after a two week pause in building this I'm back at it trying to hurry up and get it done. More progress pictures of the new tires, wheels, rear leaf springs, CalTrac traction system, new 9 inch Ford based Grand National floater rear end, front bumper and air dam...yeah I've been busy. I need to finish the front loop and tie it into the cage, mount the shifter, and build the drive shaft to do a test run before painting it.

[ROCKZILLA]

So this project has kicked my butt a little as I have now broke two transmissions at the bell housing. I broke one on the jack stands while breaking in the gears then I replaced the case and rebuilt the transmission and got 3 test hits with low fuel supply and 1 full test hit and broke another case. I was having low fuel supply so we drilled the fuel tank and put -8AN fitting in the tank sump and ran new 1/2 fuel lines from the tank to the front. I'm running one Holley Blue pump for the main fuel supply and 1 Holley Blue pump for the nitrous system.  The cage due to moisture was starting to rust so we primered it. We got almost all of the wiring tied up except the nitrous system, the line lock is set up with the button at the shifter. So I think I'm going to try to put a midplate on the engine to better support the rear of the engine so that all the stress is not on the transmission. After that we'll see what it does.

[ZJ Guy]

  That looks scary fast.

[ROCKZILLA]

That looks scary fast.

I haven’t even got it dialed in yet or touched the nitrous but by 1/4 mile I have marked out and a stop watch it’s right at 10 seconds. After FF I’m gonna get back on this to get it done.

[ROCKZILLA]

Well after breaking two transmission bellhousings I have the new transmission ready to go ion. I’m going to make it solid mount and add the mid engine plate to eliminate any movement. I pulled the trigger on a 4,100 stall to help get off the line and accept the 200+ shot of nitrous it’s going to get. So look for some updates on this soon.

[ROCKZILLA]

I finally got back to this project. I put the new transmission in and added the midplate, found out the driveshaft was out quite a bit so I took it back in to be fixed. I’ve been trying to decide where I want to mount the nitrous bottle, so while I thought about it I painted it blue again instead of the orange I had originally planned. I also
added a two inch carb spacer on top of the nitrous plate. I made one pass on it since putting it back together and spun 20 feet off the line and by stopwatch we are looking at 10 seconds on engine only.

[JYD]

I finally got back to this project. I put the new transmission in and added the midplate, found out the driveshaft was out quite a bit so I took it back in to be fixed. I’ve been trying to decide where I want to mount the nitrous bottle, so while I thought about it I painted it blue again instead of the orange I had originally planned. I also
added a two inch carb spacer on top of the nitrous plate. I made one pass on it since putting it back together and spun 20 feet off the line and by stopwatch we are looking at 10 seconds on engine only.

[ROCKZILLA]

I put an engine evacuation kit on it today, that pulls the oil vapors out the valve covers and puts it into the exhaust to keep the crankcase from building up pressure. I also wrapped the headers near the radiator to keep them from getting the cooling system too hot. I think tomorrow I’ll get the nitrous system mounted and wired.

[ROCKZILLA]

So we got it all set up and did a couple test passes on the road and with the new 4,100 stall and nitrous it's not getting much traction off the line.... yeah who would've guessed that right? So 1/4 mile marked off on the road and stop watch shows at 9.30 time with 180 shot of nitrous. Working with a few different traction aids(burn out liquids) to get better traction and I'm thinking about bumping up the nitrous jet to a 200 shot. I'm hoping the tracks will open back up so I can run it on the track to get some time slips and then sell it.

[ZJ Guy]

 

[ROCKZILLA]

So it’s been to the track twice now. The first time I had brake issues and got that resolved and the second time out the carburetor was giving me fits. I ordered a new carburetor and hopefully will be able to get it back on the track soon.

[ROCKZILLA]

We got the new carburetor and intake on and it runs much better! Nowhere to take it as all the tacks are closed due to the Covid shut downs.  It looks cool and is fun to run up and down the road though. It's for sake as I'm bored with it.

[ROCKZILLA]

So we took it out one more time with no tuning at the track as the line was ridiculously long. Foot brake take off and a 12.2 was the best time. Sold it the following day.