03 Trailblazer Build.

Vbb199 said:

The other day i took the instrument panel apart, as nothing was functional on it, did some inspection to find all the solders were ok, so i deduced the stepper motors were probably bad.

I ordered 6 new stepper motors and de-soldered the old ones, soldered new in with my little helper looking on, laid the instrument panel in the dash and turned it on, and thankfully, its working!


Earlier this week i also went to the junkyard and got a metal bumper off a junker for it.
So now all thats missing is the plastic bumper cover...
Curse these plastic cars

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Wow, he is really growing up Vince!!

Vbb199 said:

For those of you who do not know much about the 4200, the earlier 02-05 crankshafts are proven to last to 800-900 WHEEL horsepower, the stock cams stop flowing around 4-500whp, and the stock pistons really need to be upgraded after 700whp

This is an all aluminum motor thats a BEAST and has the same specifications roughly as a 2JZ

Heres a cool website worth browsing on the 4200-

Vortec4200wiki - Dimensions

Info provided by Calvin of the Nivlac57 Youtube Channel, Jeremy of Lime-Swap, and 3258 of TrailVoy Forum

sites.google.com

They are fkn beasts hidden in plain sight for less than 1000$ usually

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I never knew!

Been a while since ive touched this one. I was making slow and steady progress, then i hit a roadblock and parked it for a while.

I believe i mightve said earlier i built a decent 60e for my TB. I think i didnt include i was having a binding in reverse smh

I thought it to be wheel related, and alas it wasnt, after laying on the gas, it spat the servo and snapring out the side of the case LOL

So i figured i fudged the trans build, and said F it, i'll deal with it later. I had been working on my house and all the projects had to sit.

Last weekend i put a stock servo back in it. I had previously put a used corvette servo in it, and i recall checking and setting band clearance when i had the trans apart... no idea why it was grabbing so hard in reverse, but putting a stock servo assembly back in solved that. Reverse is nice and free again lol


So i moved on to the next phase. Putting some old hardware from the turbo lumina on.

My AEM wideband o2 sensor which i'll patch into Hptuners so i can tune my fuel tables, as well as a fuel pressure sensor.


Yesterday i got the instrument panel calibrated to the PCM's measurements additionally. (I had them apart earlier to replace the motors)

The misses also helped me bleed the brakes out on all 4 corners.


Im hoping maybe next week i can get it all legal and on the road and begin tuning and fiddling.

Maybe i can put a set of cams in later this year or early next year.

I drove one of those for a while and it was snappy for sure in stock form.
Being fully built and then boosted would be awesome.

Took it on its first drive on the road with my 10 day tag

Front drivers caliper seems to be stuck clamped, and the passenger side is also mildly grabbing.

It was smoking like hell by the time i arrived at the gas station.


I got it out on a straight and laid on it. Man that thing really rips. And it shifts real firmly at WOT.

Im excited to see what it does with a little tuning.

well, yesterday i took the front wheels off to find both calipers seized down on my rotors. STUCK lol



Each brake caliper assembly is 120$ each!!! WTF

I went ahead and replaced both brake rubber lines, and both calipers.

20$ a line... not bad

At oreilly, i turned in both calipers as cores (80$ off the 240$) , turned in 2 batteries, a 30$ gift card, and used my commercial account and left with those calipers for 58$ lol


Got those on, had the wife help me bleed them again, then took it for another spin. Man that thing REALLY moves now that the wheels arent locked down haha!

Then a new issue arose. Raw gas leaking from atop the tank... smh

I intially thought it was the bs EVAP system because i could remove the gas cap and it'd stop ... but after some deductive reasoning, and just the sheer volume it came out, i forcefully pulled the FULL TANK out.

Low and behold, i guess while installing the whole fuel pump assembly, i rolled the seal between the locking ring and the tank, causing a massive leak there. SMH

It was bad enough i could tip the tank and it'd pour out lol

Got that fixed, got the tank BACK in the damn thing, and now its purring nicely.

Washed it up real good , gonna drive it around town this week.... tuesday the wideband o2 sensor comes, i'll wire it into my AEM gauge, then i can patch it thru the laptop, and play some.

I forgot to include these pics of just how hot those pads got lol

Ohhh yeah. I remember those tanks now. Iirc, the fuel pump opening has a steel ring made into it and they end up cracking and splitting there. Probably just an issue in the rust belt though.

Craig Nedrow said:

I'll take that 502 off your hands Vince!!

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You and me both man!!

bucket said:

Ohhh yeah. I remember those tanks now. Iirc, the fuel pump opening has a steel ring made into it and they end up cracking and splitting there. Probably just an issue in the rust belt though.

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Yea, it does, but that wasnt my issue, thankfully this one doesnt appear to have a lick of rust anywhere on it, ive been all up and down and under the truck with pulling the trans, tank, oil pan, front diff, etc

This time it was just negligence on my part, i let the rubber seal get folded under the pump lol

78C10BigTen said:

You and me both man!!

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I'll get back to the c10 sometime soon. Maybe over the winter...

With my son being born, my entire summer being spent on working on the house, alot of my $$$ going to various bills and supplies, its been hard to justify working on that c10.

It needs new drag radials on the back, a new alternator, and maybe it can be driveable again.
Seems silly, i know.... but when you pour your heart and soul and bank account into a truck, you can FINALLY drive it trouble free, and just had just spent weeks fixing all the little issues it had and then it kicks an alternator pulley off.......

It was too much man. Which is why i parked it.

Same thing with the TB. I had no expenses spared, tried to take my time on it, and then it had the reverse issue... i was almost about to send the TB to the crusher after that

Changed my back brakes this morning.... they were .... worn lol


After work i began wiring up the wideband sensor, as cleanly as i could....

I pulled the kick panel back from the center console, and drilled a hole im the floor, and dropped the o2 in from there, right on top /along the transmission , and then replaced the secondary OEM o2 sensor that measures catalytic converter efficiency.... since.... well... the cat is.... missing.... we wont be needing that anyways.


I dropped the panel below the steering wheel, where i had access to a bunch of various power wires from the ignition and such, and tapped in an soldered in my power and ground wires.... keyed on, and it works...

@bucket my post apparently needs moderator approval smh

Vbb199 said:

@bucket my post apparently needs moderator approval smh

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Got it. The computer nanny must have thought your fingers were a bunch of ding dongs or something, lol.

bucket said:

Got it. The computer nanny must have thought your fingers were a bunch of ding dongs or something, lol.

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HAHA thats what i thought too