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Alice Hombre

32K views 324 replies 27 participants last post by  S10sanity 
#1 ·
For a backstory, one of my junior soldiers had a pos s10 blazer her wanted to get rid of because he just picked up an equally pos’d infinity. So I told him I’d take the blazer and in trade id ‘semi-gloss black’ his infinity to make it look better.

Long story short, I tinted all the infinity lights, sanded the car down, did some small body work, and sprayed on a few coats of semi-gloss black. The car looked pretty slick, I probably have a picture somewhere on my hard drive ill post up for reference.

I lost money on it, but I made a young soldier happy and to me that’s all that matters in the grand scheme of things.

So now I had a beat 4 door 2001 blazer.

Second part of this story is a friend says some guy on craigslist or facebook ads has a hombre they want to trade. I show him the blazer, tell him of its faults, but he is happy since the truck is too small. I reiterate the blazer is a pos, and still he says he is fine with it.

I load the blazer on the trailer, and head over and we swap titles. The guy didn’t tell me the axle in the hombre was toast, and a replacement junk yard piece was in the bed. This was fine by me, but I told him all about the blazer, and didn’t get that vital info back from him.

Anyways, I start and drive the hombre on the trailer, tie her all down and head home. The next day I check out the truck in the sunlight. The body was nearly perfect. A few dings here and there. Interior was what you’d expect for a nearly 25 year old throw away truck. The previous owner’s mom was driving the truck back and forth to work with cold AC. When the rear axle went out, she upgraded and the hombre just sat as an eye sore.

Anyways, it had a new clutch, new cylinder head, new battery, so in my opinion I was happy, as my job was about an hour away in rush hour traffic, so this little thing toted my big @ss to and from work with about 30 MPGs and nice cold AC.

A new set of seats out of a 2018 toyota got fabb’d in the truck, a nice custom behind the seat box that held a 10inch shallow fosgate woofer, and 2 amps, one for the woofer, and one for the mid/tweet combo in the doors and dash. So not only was I getting decent fuel mileage I could watch jenna jameson do her thing on the way and back from work on my double din head unit, and pumpin some good tunes at a respectable sound level.

That lasted about 7 months before the head gasket went out. Luckily the man above was watching me that day, because as soon as I felt the motor lock up, the freeway opened in such a way that I was able to cruise from the far left lane all the way across the freeway to a dirt section and not cause any hiccups or accidents or middle fingers thrown at me.

There I sat, called a few buddies and before I knew it, I was getting tugged home by a buddy who was laughing at the idea his ford was towing a Chevy home. Which I reminded him it was an Isuzu.

For the next 3 months or so I drove my balzer to work, which is fun in its right. The blazer has a custom chassis, and sits pretty low and tucks the 33x22 mickey T’s pretty far up inside the fender wells.. One day I though I'm not putting a dime into a 4cyl 2.2 engine. It already tossed a head gasket once, so I called a customer and asked to use his ‘core’ for my build. Next thing I am ordering swap parts to get this truck 5.3 bolted into the chassis. Once I was satisfied, or umm not really satisfied with how things fit after I mocked up the engine/rad/fans I decided to move the firewall back 3 inches for more overall clearances on everything under the hood.

Well, I'm a bit long winded here, so, in a nutshell, I’ve got about 8-10k miles on the truck now, and have started detailing some of the things I didn’t do in the first stages of test fitting and mock up. Then I left to do my service overseas. My truck is sitting at a buddy’s house, and plenty of more work is being done to it. For those whom ask, I'm 45 years old, and am an OG in the minitruck world. So, yes, I have that crap in my blood, and being an all makes, models, gear head, I tend to spend way too much money on vehicles. Sh*t, I've spent most my life possessed by the Demon Tweak, chasing horsepower and or parts for making stuff that eventually turns into horsepower. (demon tweak was a term hotrod magazine used in the 90s and it’s always stuck with me)

Enough with the BS, I’ll post up some pictures now.

It takes forever, because of where I'm at and internet speeds here rival dial up speeds of when I had a Commodore 64 as a kid..
 
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#75 ·
With my trip out to the tire shop, it was hot.
I mean 115 on the way home hot..the quick trip there and back turned out to be a bit of a fiasco, but I learned of a dangerous condition of the rear wheels, which, to me, made it all worth it.
But, on the way home I smelled coolant. And if you’re any type of a gear head, when you smell something odd, you check things right away.
I don’t have a dash, nor any gauges, but I do have an OBDii Bluetooth to my phone that currently acts as my gauge cluster. I quickly looked at it, and 128 degrees.
I remembered before I left, anything above 70 mph and the truck overheats. I slowed down, and the temps came down. I’m pretty sure all those ‘dumb’ looking plastic pieces around my hombre grill area behind the grill and bumper were actually quite vital to cooling.

So, a quick phone call to summit racing, and a new radiator and fans are on my doorstep the next day. I have been running the V6 s10 radiator and intrepid fan assembly, which has worked, but I have never been in the 118 degree heat, and with ac and the big transmission cooler, I didn’t want to have any cooling issues again.
I’ll be making some changes to my front end, and while everything is apart, I’ll install the new radiator/fan, A/C condenser, and move the trans cooler down lower to get incoming bumper opening air.

I’ll fabricate some aluminum ‘duct work’ to funnel the air from the grill area to the ac condenser and radiator. Also, I’ll make a ‘skid plate’ to cover the lower front frame rails to make sure there is no hot air from the radiator being recirculated back up into the radiator.

Also thinking of welding closed the radiator cap opening, and adding a surge tank to the core support or fender area and use that for the radiator cap location. This way the radiator can be sunk into the core support, and no cap opening will be needed.

Between these ‘updates’ the coolant temps should never be an issue again.
350753
 

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#81 ·
Dropped all 4 wheels/tires to the wheel shop to be straightened, and the rear wheels bore opened up to fit the bigger axle flange.
There is a 4th of july show in 10 days, i want to tackle the cooling issue, but, I don't want to get into something that causes me to miss the show.
I know, it's 10 days away, but I feel I'm opening a can of worms, and i want to make sure i have plenty of time. New cooling system equals new hoses, fans, wiring to new fan controller and fans, new AC condensor, new AC hoses, section/recharge, new dryer, it starts to add up real quickly.
 
#82 ·
Dropped all 4 wheels/tires to the wheel shop to be straightened, and the rear wheels bore opened up to fit the bigger axle flange.
wheels are back on the truck, and getting ready to start detailing the ole girl..
There is a 4th of july show in 10 days, i want to tackle the cooling issue, but, I don't want to get into something that causes me to miss the show.
the radiator is at the TIG shop, I’m having the radiator cap welded closed, and a new nipple put on it. Also they are making cooling fan mounts, so the rad/fan will be one assembly. The plan is to run an expansion tank on the fender and not have to worry about cutting a hole through the upper core support to gain access to the rad cap. This way, the expansion tank takes all the coolant and does double duty as the rad cap, just like the stock system did before.
New cooling system equals new hoses, fans, wiring to new fan controller and fans, new AC condenser, new AC hoses,
The ‘auto cool guy’ fan controller arrived, and after the 4th of July show, I’ll get the truck on the life and pull the front end apart. Theni can add the aluminum sheeting to direct as much front cool air through the rad as possible. I am going to move the transmission cooler into a different spot, maybe down into the bumper area.

Since I remembered I had a high-speed cooling problem, I want to rectify that and not have to worry about it again. The stock V6 radiator/intrepid fans worked just fine for a daily driver, but I push my truck hard, and it regularly sees the 7200 shift point, or when doing donuts/burning the tires.

So, I like to be cautious and make sure I can drive 10 hours somewhere and not have a thing to worry about, all while sitting inside at a comfy 68 degrees of AC cooled air..
 
#84 ·
351101






Trying to get ideas from my head onto ‘paper’..

Here you can see the AC vents, window switches, AC controls, double DIN head unit, 4 5.25s mid range, with 2 tweeters, and the gauges up to.

The lower pic is some expanded slot metal pressed to form the speaker covers. It’ll be painted the grey of the leather with a low gloss clear to match the sheen of the leather.

Nothing is really to scale/size, but needed a visual.

This will flow into a slim center console with floating arm rest. It will flip up to access other items such as USB chargers, ignition switch, and whatever else.
 
#85 ·
nice design- but- devils advocate here- you have to take your eyes off the road to see your gauges- would be cleaner and easier if you did mini gauges in an A pillar pod setup- leaving you able to raise the ent/info center upwards
 
#87 ·
nice design- but- devils advocate here- you have to take your eyes off the road to see your gauges-
eh, I do fine texting and drinking while driving, might as well add taking eyes off road to the list
would be cleaner and easier
please define cleaner
mini gauges in an A pillar pod setup-
im not even going to respond to this
leaving you able to raise the ent/info center upwards
the radio? You're right, if I raise it up much higher, it’ll be that much easier to watch TV while driving. I didn’t think of that, thank you. Drinking, driving, not watching the road, texting, and watching movies or tv. That will be perfect, thank you.
 
#88 ·
hell- if you gonna go hi-tech- do a heads up projector on the windshield- eliminate the gauges all together, and loose the wheel- go with a side stick and a trigger throttle in the center console- leaves you a free hand for those glass bottle arm curls.Ps- last Sheriff i ran into in Pima County didn't really like my Fosters and Heinken collection in the bed of my truck....need a can crusher with an ejector chute.
 
#92 ·
Saw the way the firewall is done in another thread.
I didn’t know there was another thread, any idea where?
Do you got any other pics of it being done?
I might have a few, is there anything in particular you are wanting to know?
Also how much room did you loose on the inside?
You don’t lose any room.
It does look different than most.
What looks different than most of what?
 
#93 ·
Had a custom aluminum radiator built, and using a dual shallow hayden fan set up controlled by a PWM controller from "the auto cool guy dot com"
I have had zero issues with cooling with my stock S10 radiator and interiped fans, but it didnt have the look i am going for on this build.
Will post pictures later.
 
#94 ·
Hmmm, so much to process in this picture..
Been pretty busy with work and customers cars, and my own stuff going on.
This week i need to remove the front end off the hombre to get ready to upgrade everything under the hood.
New CAI, recess the new radiator, move the AC condenser, relocate the trans cooler, start mocking up the custom grill, and the beginning of the inner panels/fender wells.
There are a few shows coming up, Alice might be going as under construction to them.. :sadface:


Tire Wheel Car Vehicle Automotive lighting
 
#97 ·
...front brakes locked up, (wish my truck had ABS at that pint) felt like nothing from the rear, slid about 30 feet into the back of a big truck with a work bed. Of course zero damage to his, but mine took it all.
Guy shook my hand, said no reason to call the police as i got the worst of it. We parted ways, I drove home. The major damage seems to be the drivers frame horn took the trailer hitch force and got pushed back 6 or so inches.
Things happen, no worries, no one's hurt, and I can now do some front end upgrades I wanted to do.
Wheel Car Tire Automotive parking light Land vehicle

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#101 ·
That definitely sucks but sounds like you're taking it all in stride. Glad the other dude was cool about it, too. You can see exactly where you hit the receiver of the guy you rear ended. Wish it didn't happen but look forward to seeing what upgrades you perform to fix it.
Oh man, thank goodness it was not worse. Looks like the hood did not get touched though and you are not injured.
Thanks guys. Yea it sucked, but oh-well that’s why their called accidents. From what it looks like my autozone master cylinder stopped pushing fluid out to the rear brakes. So I ‘panic stopped’ on the fronts only which is why they locked up and I just slid. Wish I had anti lock brakes on this truck..

I have ordered new headlights from Brazil, and yesterday my NOS replacement grill showed up from texazs.

As you guys know I am planning around January to take this truck apart for the graphics, and frame paint. So I am not too bummed this happened.

The front bumper mount on the frame bent back, I think I can straighten it, or if I can find a new one to weld on I will.

My rendering had a full phantom when I drew it up, I think I’m still going that route, but I have to weld on the hood to extend the edges down even with the rest of it.
 
#102 ·
I straightened the front frame rail/bumper mount some time ago now. I have been kicking around a few ideas for a new head light set up as I never really liked the look of the factory hombre lights when the markers are shaved.
So here in these pictures I am making a mold of the front section to do a bit of after hours research on it..
Car Vehicle registration plate Hood Motor vehicle Automotive tire

Automotive tire Hood Vehicle Automotive lighting Car
 
#103 ·
Didn't get everything completed like I wanted, but, I'll be at the BTN show tomorrow as I like seeing old friends and making new ones. Now it's time to clean. If you can tell, Alice got a shave and her eyebrows done. The new front end isn't completed, so I quickly mounted up this ill-fitted grill until the correct pieces are done. Got the mirrors mounted, but need to cut into the doors more to push them in another 3/4" so they sit flush. Yes, I left the damaged paint on the bumper from the trailer hitch that got me. This will probably be the last show before Alice goes in for full graphics.


May be an image of 1 person and car
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#105 ·
I thought i posted a rendering i drew some time ago, but going thorugh the pictures i dont see it. But here it is. I'm planning on a billet grill. This is just a digital drawing, and way before the hood mural was completed. But it can give you and idea of the outcome.

Car Vehicle Grille Plant Vehicle registration plate
 
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