Picked up the window guides, serpentine belt, hinge bushings last night on way home. Installed guides (broke one before I remembered to WARM THE PLASTIC UP! (10°F is too cold), then discovered that I had another problem. The Window Channels are worn so badly that the guides still do not work. A set of window channels for 2 doors is $160 from LMC Truck, so that will have to wait. For now, the windows are back on track and rolled up. Also discovered that there is a guide at the front of the window also, so there are two guides per window.
If you hold on to the window as you lower and raise it (so it doesn't fall off the track) you can open and close them, but that requires both hands. Not too big of a deal right now, don't usually drive around opening and closing the windows at this time of year, but need to fix before summer.
The windows on the back door (which were also down) were just sticky, a little lube in the channels went a long way to freeing them up. When we get a warmer weekend I may open those doors up and clean and lube the mechanism, but not right now.
The inner door panels use plastic "christmas tree" clips. In this cold weather they do not come out or go back in without breaking. I will need to get a bunch of clips, but I'm going to wait. The panels are held on (for now) by the two screws in the handles. When/if I get new doors I'll worry about the clips. Maybe just put a couple of sheet metal screws around the edges and call it good enough. I'm not after pretty right now, I'm after usable.
I'm holding off on the serpentine belt for a bit. The AC clutch is howling, and the AC compressor is seized. The belt is available AC or non-AC; if the non-AC belt will work to bypass the compressor I will do that and return the AC belt. First, I need to figure out if that will work. Life was simpler back when the AC had a separate belt, but I really would rather change a serpentine belt than have to replace the inner of four belts (changing all four because, as long as ya got them all off you may as well!).
I've ordered a door hinge spring compressor and door hinge pin press from Eastwood Co. I have (and have had) multiple uses for them, so they will be a good addition to the toolbox.
The bushings I bought last night were generic bushings. I think I will order new pins with brass bushings from Amazon; they should arrive about the same time the tools do. For some reason, even though they are Dorman parts and O'Reilly's sells Dorman, O'Reilly's does not sell the part numbers I need for the Blazer. The set of 4 pins for the two front doors cost more than the tools do.
Dried out the front passenger door and used gorilla tape and foam to seal the bottom. Time will tell, but the gorilla tape IS super sticky. Will save the drivers door for when we do the hinge pins.
Gonna pick up an air filter and oil filter on way home today and change the oil tonight. The air filter is solid black, can't see ANY light thru it, I don't think I've ever seen one so plugged. Should make the engine run much better. I've 6 quarts of Wal-Mart SuperTech 5w-30 conventional oil on hand, I'll use that for now and then change in a week or so to a new filter and synthetic oil. It probably will do it good to flush some of the crap out before putting synthetic oil in. I'm going to use O'Reilly's "MicroGard" line of filters; they are well spoken of as cheap but good filters in several forums on the 'net.
Probably do the temp sensor this weekend. I see that whoever replaced it last used a liberal amount of Teflon Tape on it. The manual says "no sealer", I seem to recall that sealer is a no-no because you do NOT want it insulated from the engine. I think I will pick up a thermostat, gasket, radiator cap, and two gallons of antifreeze and drain the cooling system this weekend. I'm pretty certain that it is a couple of years overdue for that service.
I see I forgot a repair on my previous post. On Saturday, the day after we got it home, I went out to find the left rear tire flat. Discovered a 10p nail in it, pulled it out and plugged it with one on my on-hand flat repair kits. Seems to be holding air to date.
Project costs to date:
Tax/Title/License $90
Tools:
Door hinge spring compressor $20
Door hinge pin press $35
Blow dryer $8
Parts:
Gorilla tape $3
minimal expanding foam 2 cans at $4ea
Hinge bushings 383742 $5
Window guides 45330 2 pr at $5ea
Window crank 76947 $13
Serpentine Belt (AC) K060956 $16
Temp sensor WT3000 $12
Fuse assortment kit $5
Pair 2057 Taillight bulbs $5
Door handle 77112 $19
Rod clip assortment 75450 $4
Fuel Filter 33481 $7
Fuel line repair kit 2 at $16ea
Keys $10
Current total including tools, parts, tax, license: $300
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