My new daily driver...

Well, I got it. 2006 Trailblazer SS!

Black with dark gray interior.
49k
All options except Nav, including dvd-player w/wireless headsets and remote.
AWD
17,995

I went down on Tuesday, when it was still listed for 18,995. I knew it was a hair out of my price range so I talked him down to 18,295 over the phone before I even made the trek down below Pottstown.

So, I get there and the place was packed. I was given a plate and keys and was told to have fun. I drove about 10 miles on the country roads and learned how it handled, what kind of braking/acceleration it had, etc. Brought it back, looked over it from bumper to bumper, floor to roof. The engine bay is a little dirty, but no big deal. I told the sales guy I was interested but I want to talk to the bank first.

Wednesday rolls around and I call the bank, insurance company, and put $250 down to hold the thing for me so no one else picks it up. Thursday (yesterday), me and my Dad went down and got it.

When we got back home I showed some of my family and friends, and just could not get enough of it. The little guy watched like an hour of Star Wars on DVD in the back haha.

It's under 400/month, insurance is now up to like $200/month with all four cars (I brought up all the premiums on everything too).




These are dealer pics...

http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...8_z1293.02.jpg

Big gay cover
http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...7_z1293.13.jpg

The picture is actually extremely crisp, and the headphones kick ass.
http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...0_z1293.05.jpg

255/50/20 Goodyear Eagles.
http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...6_z1293.12.jpg

http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...8_z1293.14.jpg

http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...2_z1293.07.jpg

If I had to pick, I'd take nav over a DVD player any day. But, I couldn't pass this up.
http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...0_z1293.04.jpg

The imperfection: There's a slight tear on the pocket on passenger side seat. It looks like the previous owner had a kid (judging by how broken in the leather is in the back) that liked to pull on it. Oh well!
http://www.chrisharner.com/joomla/im...1_z1293.06.jpg

Very nice looking ride Harner. As for the leather seats, have fun this winter!

They're heated :) Thanks

Ive seen a Trailblazer SS run mid 10's before.

Maybe you should look into that. :)

I don't want to make the Mustang guys any more jealous of GM. lol

The thing with LSx stuff is its so pricey. A dual exhaust catback alone from SLP is $1100. You could do a lot with that money. It'll stay stock until the drivetrain warranty runs out. Well, stockish.

What is the mpg on that unit?

13 in the city and 18 in the city. I'm sure it'll go up a few with a better intake and exhaust setup. I'm not really concerned. It's about the same as my Iroc and I drove that for the past 3 or 4 months. Now I drive less then 10 miles to work, as opposed to 80.

Now you can go Trailblazin'.

Seriously, though, I haven't seen any Supersports around here. Plenty of Trailblazers, though. Seems a great deal and a very nice SUV.

I never liked the SS. I'd rather have luxury.

The Trailblazer is on its way out, anyways, but I guess enjoy it while it lasts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Atmosfear

I never liked the SS. I'd rather have luxury.

The Trailblazer is on its way out, anyways, but I guess enjoy it while it lasts.

---

Yes, I believe 2009 is its last year. And honestly, it is very comfortable to drive and it has plenty of options. It rides much nicer than the Lexus and Mercedes SUV's. Both of which I have rode in before. It's just a little quicker then most of the others :D

My girlfriend has an Envoy SLT and I much prefer my sister's X5 or the Lexus RX to it. It's just not a luxury SUV. Truthfully I preferred the Tahoes from those years to the Trailblazer platform.

BUMP

Got some exhaust work done :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ikKoYj8oHc

Taking it to the track on Saturday and hoping to get better times than Anony D's mustang. :lol:

Goog luck with that. lol

What does your Mustang run these days? A year or so ago you were in the mid 14s. Get any faster?

The TBSS's are supposed to run mid 14s stock. Not bad for a 4800lb AWD SUV.

i wish i could get a place to let me drag my RV :(

Nice. My brother was driving a Trail Blazer like this just not quite as nice. It was a pretty good ride till he wrecked in.

You say you're near Pottstown? Where exactly if you don't mind me asking. I'm living in Reading which, if my geography is right, is near Pottstown.

I'm in Pottsville. It's about an hour north of Reading.

I'm pretty familiar with Reading. It's the closest place around with good restaurants and malls. Schuylkill County is full of nothing.

Thanks :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harner

BUMP

Got some exhaust work done :) YouTube - 2006 Trailblazer SS - Pypes Exhaust

Taking it to the track on Saturday and hoping to get better times than Anony D's mustang. :lol:

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I didn't laugh until you went 80 or so through that 40

nice vid lol

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Harner

What does your Mustang run these days? A year or so ago you were in the mid 14s. Get any faster?

The TBSS's are supposed to run mid 14s stock. Not bad for a 4800lb AWD SUV.

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Wouldnt be surprised if it beat me. Fastest I got on my drag radials with my gears was a 14.1 @ like 97 or so.

I was hoping for high 14s, but after 3 passes it got rained out. My best was a 15.1 @ 92-93 w/a 2.2 60'. I lowered my 60' by .2 from the first to last pass. My r/t was still shitty though. I know there's more in it.

3rd gear falls on its face for the most part.

that is badass.. i like that shit alot.
do you enjoy driving it more than your iroc?
whats the flip ratio on one of those?
a bro of mine has a 98. its so topheavy .. kinda scary to drive around corners.

I wouldn't say I enjoy it more than the Iroc, since it's just two different animals. I'm very used to driving both regularly. At the moment, I'm stuck driving the Iroc as a DD since the g/f's Neon is fucked up and likes to spit spark plugs out of the head.

I don't know the actual flip ratio, but I can tell you the TBSS sits much lower than a regular Trailblazer, and it has a "sport suspension" so it handles really well. Also, since it's AWD it can really plant the power to the ground. My goal is to make it chirp first with a few more bolt ons and a tune.

Then long tubes and a y-pipe, baby cam, 3200 stall, and a small shot of nitrous. Then it will be the perfect DD in my opinion.

lolol.. awesome dude.
keep sharing.

Another bump.

The LS2 bottom end shit the bed. The dealer tried to tell me it was low on oil, which it wasn't, just to push me out of warranty. When i took it to another dealer, the place put me down as negligence in the GM records and since I don't have official oil logs (change it myself), I'm fucked.

It had a lifter tap for a couple months, and I just figured I'd ride it out until I did a cam swap this winter. Well one lucky day a few weeks ago (Friday afternoon actually), I left work and I lost a lot of power and the motor sounded like a washing machine. I'm not 100% sure what let go, if it dropped a valve or broke a rod or what. All I know is it's going to be a fortune to fix.

So, the TBSS is at a local speed shop (the same place who did my exhaust work). Since I have no lift, I'm not attempting to do this myself. The labor won't be much, either. The motor is getting pulled and shipped out to a machine shop known having some amazing, record-breaking shop cars. Assuming the block and crank are okay, they will clean up the bottom end, bore it maybe 0.010" and balance/blueprint it. I am going with forged rods and pistons, as well. The heads will get cleaned up a little with a 3 or 5 angle valve job and new, beefier valvetrain. I'm unsure what cam to go with yet, possibly a custom grind. It's getting a 3000-3200 stall, tune, and some other stuff like a Jetttstream CAI, external trans cooler, and Badlandz electric cutout.

I'm not worried about LT's and a Y pipe, since they are over a grand and only come in stainless. Screw that. With the forged pistons I can throw on a little spray down the road if I want to. This should be plenty of power for now, regardless. The stock LS manifolds flow pretty damn good for what they are.

So, yeah. I'm hoping for the arrival of this thing in about a month (Thanksgiving-ish). I'll be sure to post a new vid then.



On a sidenote, I just got my ported and polished heads back for my Trans Am so that's just about ready to go back together. My Iroc is torn down for a tranny swap. Just need hardware and that'll be just about done. I love being single with a disposable income!

Here's a pic of it from earlier this year.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/982...4125bf629b.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harner

Another bump.

The LS2 bottom end shit the bed. The dealer tried to tell me it was low on oil, which it wasn't, just to push me out of warranty. When i took it to another dealer, the place put me down as negligence in the GM records and since I don't have official oil logs (change it myself), I'm fucked.

It had a lifter tap for a couple months, and I just figured I'd ride it out until I did a cam swap this winter. Well one lucky day a few weeks ago (Friday afternoon actually), I left work and I lost a lot of power and the motor sounded like a washing machine. I'm not 100% sure what let go, if it dropped a valve or broke a rod or what. All I know is it's going to be a fortune to fix.

So, the TBSS is at a local speed shop (the same place who did my exhaust work). Since I have no lift, I'm not attempting to do this myself. The labor won't be much, either. The motor is getting pulled and shipped out to a machine shop known having some amazing, record-breaking shop cars. Assuming the block and crank are okay, they will clean up the bottom end, bore it maybe 0.010" and balance/blueprint it. I am going with forged rods and pistons, as well. The heads will get cleaned up a little with a 3 or 5 angle valve job and new, beefier valvetrain. I'm unsure what cam to go with yet, possibly a custom grind. It's getting a 3000-3200 stall, tune, and some other stuff like a Jetttstream CAI, external trans cooler, and Badlandz electric cutout.

I'm not worried about LT's and a Y pipe, since they are over a grand and only come in stainless. Screw that. With the forged pistons I can throw on a little spray down the road if I want to. This should be plenty of power for now, regardless. The stock LS manifolds flow pretty damn good for what they are.

So, yeah. I'm hoping for the arrival of this thing in about a month (Thanksgiving-ish). I'll be sure to post a new vid then.



On a sidenote, I just got my ported and polished heads back for my Trans Am so that's just about ready to go back together. My Iroc is torn down for a tranny swap. Just need hardware and that'll be just about done. I love being single with a disposable income!

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Gotta love the mentality of the dealer. I don't know what your local dealer does, but the Cadillac dealership I used to work at only did engine swaps so far as I know; no major internal work was done. Even if the dealer wasn't trying to sell you a new engine, they were trying to do everything they could to avoid warranty service.

I change my own oil and do my own maintenance as well and wonder what exactly would happen if I ever needed to show records. I keep the log in the owner's manual and am still a GM trained technician despite the fact that over ten years have passed since I worked at the dealership. I pulled my training records a few months ago, and amazingly they showed credits I received as late as December 2009. I guess those were annual training requirements that were automatically updated or something. It's a Catch-22, though. Save money and ensure the job is done right and you are punished. Take it to the dealer, pay twice as much and have some half trained nitwit do the job and you are covered.

FM, you're right. They don't call them Stealerships for nothing. They are all sheisters and it's hard for me to instill trust into them after this. I'm better off getting a loan through my bank if I want to buy a car from here on out.

So, I caved and bought polished stainless long tubes and a catted Y-pipe. I've also been buying a bunch of other stuff for it. The well is running dry so I just need some decent rotors and thinking about doing an electric fan conversion (from an LS1 car).

Good times.

This is my new daily driver:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4...55r300x400.jpg

(I don't really get to wear them every day but I would if they could they are much higher quality than my old Cole Haan drivers.)

Enjoy.

Closed cutout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-ulnSTnbgc

Open Cutout
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l364Geo5uW4

Drive By
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYIgMdXqn5c