Fluid Film might slow the spread of further rust, but if the car doesn’t get driven in rain/salt, I’d say the better course of action would be to try to grind/blast rust off and repaint.

I’ve never ran it through a paint gun/compressor actually, I tried a few times to run it through a hand-pump weed sprayer back before I had air tools, I’d heat the stuff in a old pot on a camp stove in the garage while stirring it, just a big smelly mess.  I’ve switched to buying the $60 six pack of aerosol cans on…

Common thing back in the day, I tried it myself, and it was a horrible smelly, drippy mess.  For $60, Fluid Film does a vastly better job with less dripping and less of a smell (though it has its own wool sock scent).

For $130 or even their $150 regular price, for how thorough it looks like they went at it (this is the biggest variable with having someone else do it), I’d say you got a steal of a deal. I DIY it with Fluid Film and/or WoolWax (both cost $40-60 to do the underside of an SUV), but if I had those guys nearby, I’d…

Yeah but you kept mentioning “reliability” as a supposed virtue of these UAZes and I’m here to tell you that they are not that, not in any normal sense of the word lol. They are repairable

As a function of people valuing their affordability and repairability (with cheap available parts, in the field), more than anything else. A modern Western consumer would be aghast.

Absolutely wild.  I vaguely remember this being mentioned in a few car magazines at the time.  In Russia the final Okas got Chinese built copies of Toyota 1.1L(?) liquid cooled three cylinder engines and some nasty looking interior/exterior updates.  The OG cars are actually pretty well designed in the sense of a…

Took the words out of my mouth.  I’d rather they sell a stripped down basic 469 in the same way as Roxor, than the Patriot, which with its latest additions of electronic frippery, when coupled to traditionally laughable UAZ build quality, and a $26k pricetag... leave me scratching my head.  I’d just buy a used Xterra…

UAZ/GAZ is historically notably worse than Lada.

That’s a fair point about fire hazards. But I’ve used white lithium grease specifically in these types of applications for a long time and that dryer pulley was silent for the next three years we had the machine.

My bro rescued a junkyard-bound ‘92 Silhouette with 212k miles a few years ago, bad trans slip and a misfire, fixed with a few drain/fills of Maxlife ATF and some fresh plugs/wires/coils. It’s needed a bunch of other small neglected maintenance type of stuff but that old Series I 3800 (cast manifold that avoids a lot…

When we bought our old house I went to the used appliance store and got a 15yr old Maytag washer and dryer for about $400 for the pair to stick in the unfinished basement. Plain old relays and turn-knob based timers, nothing to break. In four years the only issue was a noisy pulley on the dryer, solved with a bit of…

I think in regards to corrosion they are actually very similar: 3rd gen 4Runners AND these 95+ S10 Blazers were a notable improvement in terms of rust resistance on sheetmetal over their immediate predecessors, I assume due to use of galvanization(?), but both can get in the situation where a clean looking truck is…

Within the modern context of GM’s current crappy quality coupled to increasingly complex and frustrating systems and drivetrains, a stupid simple 90s Blazer with the 4.3L and 4L60E looks increasingly enticing.

The number of these still trolling urban and rural America with well over 200k, and even still managing to look half-decent in terms of not rusting horribly like similar age Durangos and Explorers, speaks well to their durability IMO. the 4.3L is a tank, the 4L60E lasts just fine in this lighter, non-V8 application.…

What exactly makes you “fall asleep?”  Do you need a 10 inch touchscreen to keep you busy?  A soft padded dash to stroke?

Capable offroad, capable of lasting 20 years with fairly modest upkeep.  And these did infact get very reasonable fuel economy for the era, rated 18/24 under the old system and they can in fact easily knock down 22ish mpg highway, mid-high teens city/mixed

There’s some of that going on, but IMO throughout the years these have been very UNDERrated by most.  It’s not the most offroad capable, but it’s sort of a goldilocks of having a good solid drivetrain that manages half-decent mpg on the highway, easily usable size, enough capability for some towing and offroad use…

I’d actually argue the bodies on these GMT360s hold up surprisingly well, on the 4 doors. The 2 doors have some kind of dirt trap in front of the rear wheels that rots them out bad. But I see a ton of these things around here with barely a sign of any real rust on the rockers or fenders, which is amazing considering…

I’ve bought a number of older used cars that absolutely immediately needed the struts replaced, these things were just crashing over the smallest bumps/expansion joints.  I’m baffled how some people can drive like this.