Pro-Touring Blazer

oldeerslayer said:

Very nice!

Not too often we see one completed to be actually capable of comfortably traveling cross county. Good job.

Any plans for the battery?

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I had to keep reminding myself of how well and how far it was driving whenever I'd start griping about the little things wrong with it. Plenty of things to improve, but the only complete casualties in those 11k miles were the battery and 2 headlamp bulbs. All of those probably being 10 years old, now. The alternator is showing signs of being weak, which I'm assuming was the reason for the batteries demise, but it worked well enough to get me around and back.

Battery is mounted in a tray that holds it in at the base. It's designed specifically for Optimas, which kind of sucks when it unexpectedly dies. It was over $200 and that's for the baby Honda size I'm running. I like the 25lb weight, though.



Please disregard the stained nasty original carpet I've replaced already.

I made up an aluminum bracket under the carpet to take the weight and the clamping force of the bolts instead of deforming the floor between the ribs. I did it without before and not a huge fan of deforming sheet metal like that. Oddly enough I have no pictures of that bracket and I take pictures of everything.

I also made a bracket for the main fuse and remote starter solenoid that bolts under the battery tray. Don't want all that length of wiring without some safety measures.







A battery box of some sort should be in the future and an external shut off switch would be nice too, but not sure how I'll implement either yet.

Watthour said:

Nice work. Obviously there are a lot of hours of engineering and fabrication for which the photos do little justice in the eyes of the casual observer.

Incidentally, do I see a notchback Trans Am there in the background?

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I think you're looking at the Fiero. Not mine, but quite the piece of engineering itself. It has the same powertrain under the hood as the electric S10 behind it :haha:

You can read through about the last 10 years of progress in a 20 page thread over on Pro-TouringS10, but if there are any pictures anyone would like to see or some part of the truck you want me to go into detail on let me know. The more I talk about it the more I think about how I can do it better next time. I also keep meaning to do a picture or video tour underhood, but the lighting in the shop isn't great with the barn doors closed. I still haven't gotten a picture that shows how clean it is underhood.

http://www.pro-tourings10.com/index.php?topic=87.0

Mostizzle said:

Good to see you psting again, Harley.

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Thanks Mo. After I left my job at the end of September to focus on the Blazer as much as possible, I didn't really make time to hop on the forum. I'm finally collecting myself after that adventure and beyond haha

rentedmule said:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who runs into this problem. the door on my barn also warps so badly on sunny cold days that it can't open - I need to make sure I get the truck out early on those days.

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And it's the best source of light around haha but I shouldn't complain too much. The Blazer wouldn't be what it is without that barn.

Mostizzle said:

It looks like a factory install but better.....if that makes sense. lol

You going to Autorama, Harley?

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Makes perfect sense. It was what I was going for.

My friend, Al, has been trying to convince me to enter the Blazer, but I don't know if I'll be in the country or not. If I do end up being here I'd like to go.

98Sonosls said:

What size rubber do you have the wheels wrapped in?

Nice video, kind of freaky sounds like I am listening to myself on someone's voicemail... we talk very similar.

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Doesn't surprise me, actually. From what I can tell we're both very detailed people.

Tires are 315/35R18 on 18x10 wheels. A bit of a squeeze for the 10" width, but my friend got them on there with all his tricks, he said.