GREAT NEWS GUYS

[HenryMac]

I cant stand GMC, but man those things are cool....

SAY WHAT? jk

My first new vehicle was an '85 S15... great little truck. A bit anemic with the 2.3 V6, but the 5 speed manual made up for that.

 

[Snoranger]

SAY WHAT? jk

My first new vehicle was an '85 S15... great little truck. A bit anemic with the 2.8 V6, but the 5 speed manual made up for that.

View attachment 46944

FIFY

 

[racsan]

gonna say, there was a gm 2.8 V6 but ive never heard of a 2.3 V6. Drove a early S-blazer with a 2.8 once, total dog. the 4.3 was a big improvement, even the early 175hp ones with throttle body fuel injection. When gm went to multiport efi and it became a 200 hp motor it was a real boost. I can imagine a S-10 was a real rocket with a 4.3 or at least a good tire-burner.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

My grandpa had a '89 S-10 with a 5 speed. It ran really good.

 

[Snoranger]

My buddy had an ‘85 s-10 Blazer 2.8l in high school. His father bought it new and rolled it when it was 6 months old. Insurance fixed it. He got as his first vehicle in ‘95 ( most of the paint was gone and you could see where the new roof was spliced in.) with 486K miles on it... still had the original clutch. I did the clutch in ‘05 @ just over 550k miles and it became his spare vehicle.

 

[Bgunner]

I've owned 2 different S-10's in the past. An '83 2.8 built, high lift cam bored over with carb, with 5 speed manual, 3" body, 3" Bushwacker cut out fender fares, on 32-11.50's with deep Outlaw II rims. Black w/Red interior. Still a nut-less thing but would shoot blue flames out the tail pipe when revved high. This was my first vehicle I owned and found it in the back row of a dealership. Parents brought it home and on my first ride in it, it blew a break line and leaked gas so it turned into my first experience with a money pit.

After a year or two I found a '90 S-10 Baja edition, Black w/Red interior, 4.3 TBI, installed headers and glass pack, 3" Body lift on 31-10.50's. Now that truck was a tiny power house for a 4.3 non-forced induction. This one got totaled by a friend I let borrow it.

Shortly after it was totaled I found a GMC Syclone at a local dealer but as I was waiting on the bank to get back to me it got sold so I just missed out on owning one. All S series trucks ate up ball joints like crazy though. I put 2 sets in my '90 in just 30 days so I speak from experience. It's a good thing they are only held in by 3 small bolts so the job is quick and relatively painless. As for normal cost of running them the S series weren't to bad as long as you knew to keep an eye on the the front ends, heater cores and fuel pumps.

 

[racsan]

... and intake manifold gaskets on the 4.3’s. I will say the ball joints were super easy to change, esp if they had been done once and didnt have factory rivits but bolts instead. Seems like gm has a problem with not having heavy enough front end parts, the vehicle that replaced the S-blazer (trailblazer) was horrible about front end parts too. I ruined one 4.3, was driving it hard and it didnt shift out of 1st. I think it pumped all the oil to the top of the engine and ran itself dry. Locked it up. I got it freed but it sounded like a diesel and got hot fast. spun every rod bearing and mains were wiped. Thats not a easy motor to change out.

 

[HenryMac]

FIFY

Yep.. guilty as charged. Thanks!

 

[HenryMac]

All S series trucks ate up ball joints like crazy though.

Really? We had over 130,000 miles on ours. No issues whatsoever. But I did oil change and lubrication myself.

 

[sgtsandman]

From what I remember of the original S-10s before the big remodel, they held up pretty well. The models that got the rounded aerodynamic treatment never seemed to have held up as well as the earlier models. Chevy did never seem to get the front end issues figured out on their trucks but as long as they last long enough to get through the warranty and any bumper-to-bumper warranty one may pick up, why would they care, right?

 

[Bgunner]

Really? We had over 130,000 miles on ours. No issues whatsoever. But I did oil change and lubrication myself.

I did a set of ball joints on a, I believe it was a '98, Bravada at 180k that were stock. It is rare but they do pop up from time to time but few and far between. I have also done them with 30K on them also.

 

[Ranger850]

I did a set of ball joints on a, I believe it was a '98, Bravada at 180k that were stock. It is rare but they do pop up from time to time but few and far between. I have also done them with 30K on them also.

Yeah, the BrAvada was Buick's Blazer. I've seen a few s-10's with the Bravada grills.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Bravada was an Oldsmobile... just saying

 

[Ranger850]

Bravada was an Oldsmobile... just saying

OH yeah, that's right. There wasn't much difference in Olds and Buick anyways. RIP Oldsmobile.

 

[Bgunner]

Bravada was an Oldsmobile... just saying

Yes. The Bravada is an Oldsmobile but still based off the S series platform. Slightly different interior and different nose on them but the rest was the same as the GMC Jimmy / Chevy Blazer.

EDIT: there was another difference in the one I built, It was AWD and not 4WD making the transfer cases an issue at higher mileage due to being chain driven. The chain would stretch and when you let off the throttle it would slap around in the case and make the vehicle jerk as it was slowing down. This one got a reman'd transfer case installed.