1991 Oldsmobile Bravada

Well upon closer inspection, what I thought was a hole is in fact NOT a hole. So I technically wasted $100 and a trip to Nashville on those parts. BUT I now know that the 2000 Blazer hub assemblies do in fact bolt onto 1991 Bravada spindles, this also means that 4wd offset wheels will still fit, as will 4th gen f-body and C4 Corvette wheels.

Well this is the last week of the semester, so I took all of next week off so I could go to New York to grab a DSM. I've been talking with the current owner of that car and plans and changed a bit, so now I have a week of free time that I don't know what to do with.

New plan. I want this thing sitting on all 4s with a small block bolted to it before the weeks over. I did some google-fu and found that at least some GMT400 trucks used an exhaust manifold on the 305 and 350 that looks just like my 4.3 manifolds on the drivers side. If I do a whole lot of assuming, I come to the conclusion that I just found the cheapest and easiest way to get the exhaust out of my engine bay. I maybe could have even kept the stock exhaust, but that was terrible so I don't feel too bad about the fact that I already cut it to pieces.

For version one of the cooling system, I'm going to use the free approach, which is put pretty much all of the cooling system from the 4.3 on the 350, trim hoses as needed, see what happens. I'm fairly certain the clutch fan from the 4.3 isn't going to fit between the 350 and the radiator. But I have a few electric fans sitting around I can try. I don't expect the stock radiator to do a brilliant job, but I'm going to give it the chance to surprise me.

The frame is ready to take the engine, the engine is ready to go in. We're going to put the transmission on the engine then try sticking them both into the frame tomorrow. I've got new ball joints and brake pads on the way. After further thought on the GMT400 manifold option, I'm back to waffling. I assume it will be easier to make a decision when the engine is in it's home and I see how much room I actually have. I'll remember to actually take pics instead of continuing this threads boring wall of text theme.

I hope it all lands in there as planned.

also, Yes. We like pics

The square peg.

The square peg almost in the round hole.

How far is the square peg is from actually fitting in the round hole.

So tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, it's coming back out so I can massage the firewall a bit.

So after some thinking. I think the problem may be the transmission. This particular TH350, for some strange reason I can't figure out, has both the Chevy and BOP bell housing bolt patterns. This means the bell housing is thicker around the top. I also have a normal Chevy TH350, but it came out of my Firebird and I was told by the previous owner of that car that it has no reverse. So now I'm trying to decide if I continue trying to force this transmission in, or see if the other fits easier and then rebuild it if it does. Or forget the whole thing and go looking for a 700R4.

Im a 700r4 fan.

But get it together with what you have on hand. You can swap trans or rebuild trans later.

It's officially bolted in.

Ignore the bottom bolt on the passenger side, I was trying to beat rain, lost the one that goes there, so I stock that one in there to locate it while I got the other 2 tight.

I test fit the driver's side manifold that came out of the Firebird and it looks like it'll fit here too after clearancing the mount a bit. So the motor may come back out again, but oh well, at least I know how to put it back in now.

Responded to a craigslist ad and ended up with exhaust manifolds that will fit after I figure out what to do about the wiring the collector on the passenger side hits, and a 2101 Performer intake.

Instead of doing important stuff like modifying the transmission crossmember so I could take the transmission jack out from under the truck or swapping out the ball joints so I could put the front wheels back on....

I swapped on the new hotness.

Which is mostly just jewelry on this turd if I'm honest.

While I was doing that, I saw that I did indeed have an interference problem with the heater box, but it self clearanced during installation.

I was close to just ignoring this until I thought for 2 seconds about where this hole is in relation to the exhaust manifold. This will make the heater much more effective, but it will also pipe exhaust fumes straight into the cabin in the event of that manifold leaking. So yeah, my plan is to make a patch panel for that hole that is shaped around the valve cover. I'll patch that other hole in the firewall while I'm at it.

I also mocked up the front dress and realized my original plan of just leaving off the AC bracket isn't going to work. The idler and tensioner are mounted to that bracket. So the new plan is to take the ac compressor off, replace the smoother idler pulley with a grooved one, get a shorter belt and re-route accordingly.

The front accessories are all in place now, new water pump and idler pulley. The rest is reused from the 4.3. The alternator is going to replaced because I know it has a dead voltage regulator in it. Also that belt is obviously at least 10" too long, so I returned it when I went to get more bolts. I'll get some string out and measure for a new one next time I work on it. The power steering pulley is just balancing on the end of the shaft in this picture, I forgot to take another picture after I installed it for real. There are now 4 new bolts holding the water pump pulley on as well.

Also, I've been sitting the hood back on it every time I get done since I'm doing all this work outside. After this time I checked and it looks like the hood clearance situation is a bit snug, but I think the stock hood will still close.

Not seen are new fittings in place for the heater hoses and where I may have to take the intake back off to fix the threads on one of the water neck bolts.

I ran into an old former coworker the other night. Short conversation led to us realizing that he has a Camaro drag car project he wants to try a TH350C on, and a 700R4 will mean less work in the Bravada. So we decided to trade even as soon as we get our respective transmissions removed from our respective terrible projects. (his is much less terrible than mine in my opinion).

Now I realize I need to go get the column shifter linkage out of the scrap pile and straighten it back out from the original 4.3 removal incident. Also the related wiring and cooler lines probably get to go right back where they came from.

Well the D350 sold and I'm looking at what I want to do next. My sketchy V8 build itch still hasn't been scratched but I don't think this is how I want to move forward. I was going to piece this back together good enough and sell it for whatever I could get and move on. The more I think about it, the more I think I should use my resources better here. Instead of cobbling this thing together and having an ugly truck that's not much good at anything, I may look for another S10 and use this for parts. What I do have here is a 3.42 ratio limited slip diff, a stiffer leaf spring pack that may work in a normal S10, clean leather interior parts to work with, all the power window parts should I need them, plus all the V8 swap related parts I've acquired.

I need to check some rules but I believe a square body 2wd S10 gets to play in CAM, and if I ditch my torsion bar frame it opens up suspension options that allows my pile of parts to work in something that does something other than go not that fast in a straight line. I was about to abandon this, but I think I'm going to do some more thinking and research and use this stuff in another way.

So, what is becoming of this? I think you've said somewhere that you're going to give up on it, but im not sure.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

I haven't fully decided. The GTA is definitely a higher priority at the moment. My current plan is to try to clean up the heads I got the with the GTA and put them on the short block that was destined for this. The 700R4 going in that car is also the one I was planning on using in this. So at the very least I'm going to have to come up with a new drivetrain. So I'm going to let it sit around until I come up with a better idea. I might try something like a turbo 3800 instead of another V8. Either way I'm going to clean up the garage and then get the GTA driving before I touch it again.

Cool. I began hunting bravadas on Craigslist and thought of you. Figured id check in.

In reply to Dusterbd13:

You can have this one cheap if you want to come get it.