It didn't take long to work out in my head the vision I wanted to go after and finally got to knocking out a rendering for it.
A bunch of this build is using some spare parts I have in the garage, some I'll get new.
Engine/Trans:
About 10 years ago I had a 400 SBC rebuilt for a '73 Nova resto-mod project. That's on the way back burner so I pulled the short block out of storage for the Blazer. It's got fresh eutectic flat tops, 5.7 rods, and ARP bolts. The heads are factory 400 heads with my DIY head porting/ blending in the bowls, stream lining the valve guides and gasket matching the ports. At this point I'm considering the Comp Xtreme 4x4 268 cam. I have a generic Performer RPM style intake and a Holley Avenger 650 vac carb to top it off. Up front I'll be using a factory serpentine drive to keep it looking like it belongs there. Out back I'll retain the 5 speed action, either using a Camaro T-5 I have or maybe I'll pick up a little stronger NV3500 from a Chevy truck, whichever makes more $ sense.
Suspension:
When I first built Pumkinator I bought a pair of DJM 2" drop spindles for my G-body (same suspension as S10) but they had clearance issues with my 5.5" BS wheels so I never used them, they'll be perfect for the Blazer. Factory S10 springs are 590 lb spring rate so I'll keep and cut those for now and the S10 guys suggest the Bell Tech lowered shocks. I have Viking full coilovers on Pumkinator and have had great success with them, Viking's full bolt-in hybrid design coilover conversion is awfully tempting, and I believe they have one specifically for lowered S10s, so that may be in the mix.
Most guys drop the back with 4" blocks and remove a leaf. I'm not a big fan of really tall lowering blocks and weakening the payload capability so Bell Tech 2" rear springs and tuning ride height with shorter blocks is in order. The Blazer has a decent sized front sway bar but a bigger one is something I want to check into. I planned to run Speedtech control arms up front but they were on way back order before I left working there so we'll see what other options are out there.
Brakes:
I want to keep this build fast and simple so I can get to driving it sooner rather than later, so a simple brake upgrade is using 98-02 LS Camaro 12" brakes with dual piston calipers is on the game plan. I did this conversion on Pumkinator and it was 100X better than the factory brakes, so those will get swapped over to the Blazer and bigger brakes will come for Pumk. In the mean time I'll keep an eye out for a rear disc conversion from a junkyard Camaro or Xtreme S10.
Wheels and Tires:
My first stage of Puminator's build included some early 90's 16x8 Trans Am GTA wheels, so they're now fitted with BFG Sport Comp tires in 255-50-16 for the Blazer.
Body Mods:
I ordered a cowl induction hood from Car parts Wholesale, plus some ebay fender vents for a Kia Optima and ebay 6.7L emblems to push it to a little more aggressive visuals. The name Jimbo comes from the GMC Jimmy, which I like the look of better as I fell in love with the Syclone and Typhoon back in the day, and from one of my favorite Disney movies, Treasure Planet (yes I have kids and enjoy Disney flicks, lol). I ended up locally buying a '93 Jimmy parts truck for the later 1st gen GMC conversion, and my son will be scrounging a bunch of parts for his S10 build as well. I'll be keeping the later radiator core support, the GMC grill, bumpers, factory fender flares and Jimmy emblems.
Colors:
The original charcoal gray paint on the sides is old and a bit faded but I'll try buffing it out. The roof paint is pretty sun baked and needs replacing. I've wanted to try my hand at wrapping a vehicle for a while so I picked up some 3M G227 Metallic Blue wrap and some supplies from Regional Supply up in Salt Lake City. This color has some serious metallic in it and gives off a really nice highlight. Needing a 3rd design element to waken it up and after playing with some color options in the rendering I decided on yellow for the body line stripe. I'll prolly just rattle can that for now.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. More coming soon...