Extremely Clean Military CUCV lifted 33 inch tires upgraded stereo/alarm system

Description for Chevrolet Blazer 1986

Thanks for looking at my 1986 Military M1009 CUCV Blazer. There is a lengthy description below. but the highlights: NEW:PAINT2. 5 INCH ORD LIFT WITH STEERING BOX BRACEWRANGLER DURA TRAC 33" TIRES HIGH END STEREOALARM HEATED SEATSPOWER LOCKS STUD GIRDLE KIT OIL PUMP STARTERALTERNATORBATTERYFRONT AND REAR SEALS HARMONIC BALANCER GLOW PLUGSMOTOR MOUNTS REAR BRAKESAND MANY MORE PARTS. This vehicle makes an excellent Bug Out Vehicle. as its electronics system is prehistoric and it should continue to run come hell or high water. In addition. the Military grade injection pump on the 6. 2 Detroit Diesel brings the meager HP from a horrific 135HP to a still terrible but less so 155 HP. I have been told that it also allows the vehicle to run on a slightly broader array (and quality) of fuel. FULL DESCRIPTION:BACKGROUND:I bought this CUCV as alternative to driving a big benz sedan in the snow. The last two photos above are how it arrived to me off of the transport truck. I wanted something that I didn't see every day. as the majority of these have rusted out and are no longer populating the roads in the Northeast. I also wanted something durable as hell. tough as an anvil. that I could customize to make my own. To that end. I sought the most rust free vehicle I could find. After searching countless government auction listings and visiting every CUCV I could find within a 100 mile radius. I realized that I was going to have to import one from somewhere dry to find the chassis I was looking for. I purchased this from Motorsource Inc. in Chicago. which at the time was focused on finding clean CUCVs from down south or out west. When I purchased this one. it was the nicest one that they had seen. having come off of a National Guard Base in Arizona. It appeared to be a Officers CUCV. as it had a number of upgrades. including a Tach. Water Temp. and Oil Pressure Gauge. In addition. only the drivers seat had appreciable wear. Although the odometer is only 5 digits. the truck was so clean that it appeared the mileage was original. It had 62. 5k at the time. I have driven the car approximately 6k miles in the past 4 years. This mileage is probably 5-10% higher than actual. because the speedometer read about 10% optimistic when I purchased the truck. but after going from 31's to Wrangler Duratrac 33's it is now closer to 5% optimistic. 75 on the speedo is actually about 71. BODYWORK:When I acquired the truck. it was Desert Camo (Tan). I brought the truck to a local CUCV specialist who began eying my truck as if it was fresh meat in a prison yard. All around his shop were typical used up North East M1008's and M1009s. He wanted me to leave the truck for "a few days" so he could "go over" it. as he licked his chops. The owner of the shop was playing it cool. but his son was kind of freaking out. I had visions of returning to find my car stripped of all of its ultra-clean parts. as his son literally crawled over and under the truck saying things like "DAD. HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ONE THIS CLEAN DAD??!!!" It creeped me out like some weird bad horror movie. This was my confirmation that I had a good one. Anyway. I got the heck out of there. and brought it to a good. honest mechanic who does great work but was not looking to make my truck an organ donor. But more on the mechanicals in a little bit. First- the body. The first thing I added was a lighted rear license plate. yup. the military doesn't require one. I decided to switch to a matte gun smoke metallic with black trim. This is obviously not a stock military color. but I think it suits the vehicle very well; it gets complements everywhere I drive it. With most of the CUCVs you will find. the body is a bit banged up. This is for a number of reasons. Of course. it is a military vehicle and they are probably not driven with an eye on watching out for door dings. In addition. while on bases. the military has been known to move them around with a forklift rather that going through the process of starting and moving the vehicle. To that end. most CUCVs have fairly banged up doors. I have had mine straightened - and not just with bondo. The body guy painstakingly pulled the dents before skimming. Also. CUCVs roofs were typically stood on by soldiers to acquire a better view. I had my body guy painstakingly remove the tin panning from the roof as well. On most CUCVs the camouflage covers the dents. all dents have been corrected on this vehicle. Also spent the time to add a pin kit to the doors and line them up correctly. There was no rust on the truck to remove. All told. I think I spent around 4k on getting rid of all the dents and getting the paint right. but it's not perfect - those jobs cost 10k plus. It is two stage. and there is some ghosting in the flattened clear which we could not get out - you can see it in the first video below. It was a good solid truck grade paint job. better than most would have done. Since I do drive it in the winter. I have had the truck professionally sprayed with a lanolin based oil underneath to avoid undercarriage rust. You can see this coating in the pictures. as well as some water as I drove the truck through a car wash right before taking the photos. While taking photos today. I POR 15'd a tiny bit of surface rust near the drivers side footwell in the cabin. I have included a photo of this. Link to bodywork thread can be found HERE. INTERIOR:When I first drove the vehicle. it was so loud that you could not actually have a conversation in the truck on the highway. I added an under hood insulation kit. and when I had the stereo installed I also had sound deadening material added in the doors and on the floors. I show this in one of the interior photos. I also added a full interior rug kit from LMC truck. It is still loud as hell. but a lot better. I also added a few additional features. I added an alarm system and power door locks. activated either by a pushbutton remote or by a toggle switch on the dash. I added a center console to put stuff. a fire extinguisher. and heated seats. both low and high. for passenger and driver. This was in a vain attempt to get my wife to drive in the truck. something that I can occasionally accomplish. but it takes some work. The stereo is an Alpine head unit with XM and a Massive Audio Nano NX5 5 channel amp which produces about 1200 watts of power depending how you set it up. with about 400 watts of that going to the Alpine 12 inch sub. I also used a nice Soundstream speaker that was very highly rated. with 6 inch up front and 6x9's out back in separate boxes. All in. I probably spent 2200 dollars on the stereo. alarm. sound insulation. and install. I had the interior redone in a leather look vinyl. black with gray piping. I spent another 1700 or so for the interior redo including the heated seats. reupholster. and rugs. There is a small rip on the back of the rear drivers seat. caused by a 2x4 one weekend during a dump run. The windows also have a light metallic tint in the front sides and the rear is a darker metallic tint. I recently had the drivers window replaced. so that window is awaiting a re-tint. LIFT/WHEELS:I ordered a 2. 5 inch lift kit from Off Road Design. as well as a steering box brace. I only went 2. 5 inches because I wanted to keep the highway stability and after doing a bunch of research. this is the minimum lift necessary to accommodate 33x12. 5x15 inch tires. I chose the Wrangler Duratrac's because they offer the best all around compromise for snow and dirt traction with a nice look. I thought about 35's. but the 10 bolt axles start to become stressed at 35 inch wheels. and I was interested in long term drivability. I used pro comp wheels. model 52. but the original wheels come with the truck. From the photos. it is apparent that I included a full size spare. but that is on a factory rim. I added black chrome exhaust tips. professionally installed. after the addition of the lift. repiping the exhaust so it exited in the proper location. This was another 2. 5-3k worth of lift. shocks. accessories. wheels. tires. and labor. MAINTENANCE/MECHANICALS:Back to the mechanicals. So the good honest mechanic did the lift install. but he also did all of the mechanical work. The first thing I did after acquiring the truck was address any deferred maintenance. Rear main seals on these trucks are a very common failure. so I replaced that. While in there. I had him do the oil pump (it didn't need one. but while it was open I think it was an additional 129 dollars. so I figured why not put in a fresh one. I also added a DSG stud girdle kit in anticipation of some day installing a turbo off of a 6. 5 (I bought a used one but have not done the install. if my price is met you can have the various parts I have assembled but you still need shorter injectors. a waste gate. and a pyrometer). I was pleasantly surprised by how clean the inside of the motor looked; there was no spiderweb cracking at all. another reason I think the odometer has never rolled. There is a picture of the open bottom of the motor above. I also installed a plug in type block heater and front wheel bearings. I have these receipts. Next up I installed the aforementioned lift kit and steering bracket. also fixed the blinkers and replaced the CDR valve. I also rewired the fog lamps. I added wheel spacers to the rear axle. as these trucks came with a rather knock kneed stance. I have also done the rear axle seals. replaced the left rear wheel brake cylinder. replaced the harmonic balancer (26 years in desert dries out rubber) and front seal. did the motor mounts (same dried rubber) and replaced the alternator with a fresh military alternator. One of the universal joints got a case of the clangs. straightened that out as well. I replaced the starter motor. I have replaced all of the glow plugs. and have done the Doghead Relay conversion (google that one). The car is still running a 24v-12v hybrid GM system. which gives my mechanic a headache. Oh. and the horn. For some reason. the military horn never sounded right. much like a little "meep meep". Maybe they were worried about scaring terrorists. I dunno. I replaced it with an LMC chevy horn. Still not quite right. but closer. All told. I spent about 1500 getting the truck caught up on maintenance through the shop. and then another 1500k or so just getting it as close to right as a 29 year old truck can be over the course of the past 3. 5 years. MISCELLANEOUS:I have a new military fuel filter that I have not installed. and I am sure I am forgetting a ton of stuff. I am not a dealer. this is not an overly restored museum piece. it is a rugged driver that looks clean and runs well. All maintenance is up to date. including stuff that has been ignored on almost all of these trucks countrywide. If you are looking for safe and reliable transportation for your teenage son. stop right now and go look at a used Toyota Prius. It will have anti-lock brakes and big rubber balloons that blow up when he drives into other cars. It will prevent him from coming home with women covered in tattoos. In fact. it will probably prevent him from coming home with women of any kind. This truck. on the other hand. will attract all sorts of attention. Some from the police. Some from the wrong(right?) kind of women. Some from random dudes in parking lots who want to talk. almost exclusively. about "how they wish they still had their blazer and how much do you want for it oh i wish I could afford that. " Many of them will get down on their hands and knees and look under it. I am not kidding. This happens all of the time. Women. however. do not seem to exhibit this behavior. Many of the nicer women I know won't even look at me in the truck unless I honk wildly and yell out the window. Much of the time. this does not help the situation. This truck will have as many things go wrong with it in a year as a Prius has in 5 years. It will need random things. This is because it is a)old and b) a mid 80's GM product. It shifts into both four low and four high correctly. but not without the occasional clunk and clank which I believe is standard op procedure - once again - for a mid 80's blazer. If you have read this far. you probably know what you are getting yourself into. but a few more caveats. The military. in their desire for uniformity in their motor pool. specified the same motor and transmission as was installed in the Hummer back in 86. As such. it has a th400 transmission. Strong as heck. but a 3 speed. For the military. this was fine. as most of their time was spent convoying at 40mph. I tell you this because if you are planning on commuting in this vehicle. it may be a bit uncomfortable unless you keep it to 70mph or below. The truck will do it. it just will make sure you know it doesn't like it. The 33's actually help a lot. bringing the revs down quite a bit on the highway. At 2500 rpm. you are going about 71. the motor only tachs to about 3400. so it is not really designed to cruise above that speed. It does run a 3. 08 rear gear and a gov-loc rear differential. The 3. 08 makes the M1009 a much better highway choice than its cousin. the M1008 which sports a 4. 56 rear gear and 14 bolt axles. This makes the M1008 a much better choice for towing. while the M1009 is a better people carrier and cruiser. By the way. a lot of guys put the 37's from hummers on their M1009s. This is a recipe for disaster if you are still running the 3. 08 gear and the 10 bolt axles. the axles will not handle that for long. The 37s work great. however. on the M1008. They improve the highway cruise on the 4. 56 rear gear dramatically and the 14 bolts will handle the twist better. This truck also does not have most modern conveniences. like AC. It does achieve something like 23 MPG on the highway. shocking for such an un-aerodynamic lump. If you have further questions. shoot me an email at zax1@comcast. net or try six-oh-3 four nine 8 fourteen84. VIDEO:link to 1st-3rd shift: link to offroad: You are not going to believe this. but I only went offroading 3 times and then I got annoyed at the pin striping on my new paint. so I had the truck reshot in a mildly different metallic flattened 2 stage and have not taken it off road since. I do not include the cost of this additional respray in my bodywork quote since it was my own neurosis that made me repaint. but the second job was a much simpler one and was only 2500. It was completed last summer. TWO ADDITIONAL SIDE NOTES: This is my wife's ebay account. so please disregard the feedback related to random children's clothing and perfume and handbag purchases. I don't have my own ebay account. so I occasionally use hers. but frankly its a bit embarrassing to be selling a BadA$$ military blazer with feedback like "little Debbie just loved her beautiful slippers! A++ seller!!!" but what are you going to do. Also. you can learn more about this and all military vehicles by searching Steel Soldiers dot com. an excellent source of info on this vehicle. As a side note. I would only use the Autocheck report offered by Ebay as a rough guide. as on all of the CUCVs I have cross shopped. the report fails to notice that these vehicles were all "Government Owned". Also. they all seem to spring to life from the auto check report coincidentally when they leave military service. Thanks again for looking!