I'm in the process of rebuilding the Blazer I just purchased. I doubt any of this will be interesting to anyone else. This will just be my musings about various things I find interesting. A repository of info as a backup to my own memory. I bought this Blazer knowing full well that it was a project, this is not an indictment of the seller.
Blazer Timing Guide, for reference and part numbers [in brackets]: https://palmerspursuit.com/pages/timing-a-blazer
Part 1: Disassembly, AKA Don't Be an Idiot Like Me
Most of the disassembly is pretty straight forward. Start pulling screws out. Beware of the loctite. A spot of heat is your friend.
First thing I noticed was on the bolt, the Bolt Pin Retaining Screw [74] is AWOL. That will need to be replaced. The Bolt Pin Knob unscrews, but is blue? loctited on. Some heat and soft jaw pliers help.
Second thing noticed, the Velocity Cap Retaining Screw [21] is crooked. Looks like the thread in the Velocity Cap [20] doesn't quite line up with the hole in the body and the screw has gone in crooked and chewed up some threads. Fun.
The next interesting thing was the switch. It was assembled with a rubber gasket between the Switch Plug [6] and the first Outer Switch Cup [7] that is not shown on the PPS disassembly picture. The switch cups are interesting too. No two are alike. The two inner ones have different styles of notches in them (one has two small rectangular, the other has one large half round). Maybe there was a change over in design and the two versions were all thrown together in a bin? Shouldn't affect function, just interesting. The one outer cup has a step in the bore that will not allow the Switch Stem [11] to pass fully through, thus this cup must be the last cup in.
The last thing of minor note is the P-Block [30] is blue? loctited onto the Ram Piston Assembly [26]. A little heat and a padded grip on the ram shaft takes care of it.
And then we come to me being an idiot. The Rock disassembly. The Rock Cap [43] and Plunger Assembly [40] all come out, no problems. A coin in the slot and it unscrews. The Rock Valve Body [70] on the other hand... I made a mess of it. First of all, copious amounts of loctite. Heat loosened it, but the debris still gummed up in the threads bad. I started off using a nickel held with some pliers, but just ended up with a bent nickel and a really gouged up slot in the valve body. To the point that any further attempts to use a coin or washer just caused them to cam out like a badly stripped phillips head screw. I needed a solution because I had the valve body partially unscrewed so the o-rings might not seal, and I had applied a good amount of heat so they were probably cooked too. I decided to sleep on it, and in the morning I came up with an idea for a tool:
A 3/4" OD steel rod with a 5/16" pin centered, and protrusions hacksawed/filed to fit in the slot. The centering pin might not be strictly necessary, it fits in the 1/8" NPT threaded hole and helps keep everything centered. It is long enough that the rod sticks up past the end of the Blazer's body so you can get full rotation. Materials sourced from Lowes. My Lowes was out of 3/4" steel rods in the raw stock section, so I ended up using a "rebar pin": https://www.lowes.com/pd/Steel-Rebar...-18-in/4008133 This actually worked out well, comes painted for high speed low drag and has cross-drilled holes that you can insert a rod or hex key to get leverage. I used vice grips like an animal.
However, this tool alone still kept wanting to cam out. I had an epiphany to use a bar clamp to provide the downward force to keep the tool engaged. And finally I was able to remove the valve body. I seem to be lacking a picture of the valve body, but trust me, I did a number on it. It still functions, it just looks like a trained rat with a file went to town on the slot.
And with that, I have one completely disassembled Blazer. More to follow.
Blazer Timing Guide, for reference and part numbers [in brackets]: https://palmerspursuit.com/pages/timing-a-blazer
Part 1: Disassembly, AKA Don't Be an Idiot Like Me
Most of the disassembly is pretty straight forward. Start pulling screws out. Beware of the loctite. A spot of heat is your friend.
First thing I noticed was on the bolt, the Bolt Pin Retaining Screw [74] is AWOL. That will need to be replaced. The Bolt Pin Knob unscrews, but is blue? loctited on. Some heat and soft jaw pliers help.
Second thing noticed, the Velocity Cap Retaining Screw [21] is crooked. Looks like the thread in the Velocity Cap [20] doesn't quite line up with the hole in the body and the screw has gone in crooked and chewed up some threads. Fun.
The next interesting thing was the switch. It was assembled with a rubber gasket between the Switch Plug [6] and the first Outer Switch Cup [7] that is not shown on the PPS disassembly picture. The switch cups are interesting too. No two are alike. The two inner ones have different styles of notches in them (one has two small rectangular, the other has one large half round). Maybe there was a change over in design and the two versions were all thrown together in a bin? Shouldn't affect function, just interesting. The one outer cup has a step in the bore that will not allow the Switch Stem [11] to pass fully through, thus this cup must be the last cup in.
The last thing of minor note is the P-Block [30] is blue? loctited onto the Ram Piston Assembly [26]. A little heat and a padded grip on the ram shaft takes care of it.
And then we come to me being an idiot. The Rock disassembly. The Rock Cap [43] and Plunger Assembly [40] all come out, no problems. A coin in the slot and it unscrews. The Rock Valve Body [70] on the other hand... I made a mess of it. First of all, copious amounts of loctite. Heat loosened it, but the debris still gummed up in the threads bad. I started off using a nickel held with some pliers, but just ended up with a bent nickel and a really gouged up slot in the valve body. To the point that any further attempts to use a coin or washer just caused them to cam out like a badly stripped phillips head screw. I needed a solution because I had the valve body partially unscrewed so the o-rings might not seal, and I had applied a good amount of heat so they were probably cooked too. I decided to sleep on it, and in the morning I came up with an idea for a tool:
A 3/4" OD steel rod with a 5/16" pin centered, and protrusions hacksawed/filed to fit in the slot. The centering pin might not be strictly necessary, it fits in the 1/8" NPT threaded hole and helps keep everything centered. It is long enough that the rod sticks up past the end of the Blazer's body so you can get full rotation. Materials sourced from Lowes. My Lowes was out of 3/4" steel rods in the raw stock section, so I ended up using a "rebar pin": https://www.lowes.com/pd/Steel-Rebar...-18-in/4008133 This actually worked out well, comes painted for high speed low drag and has cross-drilled holes that you can insert a rod or hex key to get leverage. I used vice grips like an animal.
However, this tool alone still kept wanting to cam out. I had an epiphany to use a bar clamp to provide the downward force to keep the tool engaged. And finally I was able to remove the valve body. I seem to be lacking a picture of the valve body, but trust me, I did a number on it. It still functions, it just looks like a trained rat with a file went to town on the slot.
And with that, I have one completely disassembled Blazer. More to follow.
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