99 Denali

[Snowbound]

I don't see anywhere to post a build thread and I have some drivetrain upgrades coming so I'm gonna go thru what I've got, what I've done and what's coming here. If there is a better place to post this, mods feel free to move it or let me know where I should move it. Thanks in advance.

I've always been a GM guy. I acquired this 99 Denali back in 2010 when we as a family were planning on going to Branson MO and I refused to pay $600 to rent a suburban for the week. I came across this one in autotrader from a dealer about an hour north of me.



It needed some love. The drivers side mirror was broke. I took the mirror off my 97 K1500 since I had tow mirrors for it. The entire front end needed to be gone thru. It was loose. It needed tires and to be cleaned inside and out really bad. So I picked up some paint and painted mirror to match. Then I replaced everything on the front end. Tie rods inner and outer, adjusting sleeves, pitman arm, idler arm, ball joints upper and lower, sway bar end links, CV shafts, hub bearings and powerstop brakes.



Then did a full tune up, oil change, diff fluids, t-case oil, coolant flush and dual red top batteries. Then I pulled the factory radio and installed a flip out DVD player so the kids could watch movies while we drive from Chicago to Branson.



Truck did very well on the trip. AC had a slow leak and I had to put 3 cans of freon in it the week we were down there to keep us cool.

 

[Snowbound]

After we made our trip I drove this thing for a few weeks then got lazy and had Walmart change my oil. I was using Mobile1 and they had a sale for cheaper than I could change it for so I had them change it while I did my grocery shopping. I didn't notice anything that day but the next day when I started it for work it sounded strange when it fired. Only way I can describe it is like a pulley rattle or like something barely touched the fan. It was faint and didn't drive any different but I had it in the back of my head for the next 2 days. That third day I loaded up the truck for a trip up north. Heading down the highway we had AC going but my window was down a little. Every time I got near a concrete barrier wall in the left lane I could hear a noise. At first I thought it was the truck next to us but after we passed it I still heard it. Seemed like every time I'd turn the radio down and listen we weren't next to a barrier so I didn't hear anything. Made it into Wisconsin and decided I was going to check it out at the rest area just over the border. On the exit ramp I let off the throttle and the engine died. Pulled into parking lot and tried to start it back up but it would only start with some throttle like it was under a heavy load. My mind was racing and I'm thinking maybe that noise I heard three days prior was a pulley so I pulled the belt and tried to start. Same thing. Threw the belt back on and said we're going to turn around and see how far we can make it home before it grenades, I knew it was gonna. Made it 8 miles back into Illinois and BOOM!! She went. Blew a rod right thru the block and oil pan. Called for a tow and a cab. An hour later we're in Rockford with the truck on a side street and a buddy coming to get us. Made it home, grabbed truck and a trailer and drove back and towed Denali back home. It wasn't a big deal. I knew I wasn't going to use the 350 that was in my 97 so I pulled that and threw it in Denali, I was back up and running the next weekend.

By this time my temp plates were about to expire and I never received my plates and title. I called the dealer and he said call back on Friday because that's when they should have it. It was Wednesday. Friday I called back and got no answer. I drove to the dealership and son of a *****, they were out of business. I had to go to the Secretary of State Police and file a report. They gave me another temp plate and told me I wasn't the first person that dealer did this to. Long story short, the dealer never had the title to this vehicle. There was a lien on the title. The SSP prosecuted the business and got me the title and plates. I was also reimbursed $800 from the court. I was trying to get my money back and I would have thrown the blown engine back in it. But whatever, everything was worked out.

3 months later I went back up north for a snowmobiling trip and the next morning I drove the truck 40 miles to town for groceries and as I was getting into town I lost all oil pressure. Parked the truck in the parking lot, checked the oil and it was good. Not low or dirty or anything. After we got groceries I started the truck and oil pressure was back. Drove home 40 miles and half way lost pressure again. I would shut engine off and coast as far as I could then restart and get to speed then do it again. Made it back to the house that way and called my brother in law to come up 6 hrs and get us. Left the truck there all winter and in the spring hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge and checked pressure, same thing. Once warm it lost pressure. Brought it back home on a trailer. Got a lot of slack for this Denali from my dad telling me my GM product couldn't make the trip up north. So now I made up my mind to build an engine for it. And this is where it starts to get good.

 

[Snowbound]

Right now the truck starts and runs. No oil pressure once it warms up but at least I can move it around. So I didn't want to pull engine until I got the new one done. I had a 350 4 bolt main sitting in garage from an old square body dump truck I bought for the axles. Brought that to the machine shop and had it dipped, magna-fluxed, bored, cam bearings replaced, lined bored, decked, boss' drilled and tapped for roller cam, clearanced for stroker crank and freeze plugs replaced.





Next I started ordering parts. **** steel crank, H-beam rods,speed pro Pistons with Teflon coated skirts, all ARP hardware and had the rotating assembly balanced.




And yes, incase your wondering, I did build this engine in my living room.

 

[Snowbound]

First I mic'd all my journals and checked clearances, installed crank, pistons and rods, torqued and checked side clearances.




Called Comp Cams and talked to one of their techs and told them what I was building and what it was going in and they gave me their opinion on which cam to use. After about half hour on the phone I decided on a custom grind cam, the cost was less than $50 from an off the shelf unit. I was limited by computer on my choices but we compromised. That arrived 9 days later and went in. Degree'd the cam and installed timing chain, a gear drive would interfere with the knock sensors so I couldn't use it, installed new timing cover with hole for crank sensor.



Always hated the plastic distributors in these Vortec engines. I found an aluminum unit that came complete.




Next came the heads. Went down to the local speed shop and talked to the owner. He called Edelbrock and we discussed which set of heads to use. He had a set of 190's that another guy ordered but never picked up, could have got a good deal on them, but after discussing what I have we concluded that the 170's would be a better option due to the fuel system on the Vortec.

 

[Snowbound]

As you can see in the above pic, I decided to go with Comp Cams gold rockers in a 1.5 ratio.



The pushrods may have worked in stock length but I installed my pushrod length gauge and decided to go with ons that were .020" longer. Gave me a better pattern on the valve stem. Kinda hard to tell from pic but the extra length centered the roller on the valve stem better than stock through its cycle.



For injectors I ditched the sequential fuel injection and upgraded to multiport which moved the injectors down into intake runners as oppose to the poppet style that always seemed to carbon up and fail.

 

[Snowbound]

First road block was with the rockers. I couldn't use the center bolt valve covers because they aren't tall enough to clear. Sounds simple enough, right? Yeah, I found a set of Edelbrock covers and luckily the heads have provisions for center bolt or perimeter bolt. Same with intake, there's holes for vortec manifold and regular. Makes it nice for if I decide to go with a different intake. The real issue is with the serpentine brackets. The AC bracket hangs over the valve cover on the drivers side. So my new valve covers fit over the rockers but not under the bracket.






my cure was to remove the rear outside mounting hole.

 

[Snowbound]

Now that the engine is almost complete, it was time to remove the old engine, originally from my 97.







Now that that's out of the way, I can finally do what I wanted to do the first time I replaced the engine, clean it and paint it.

 

[Snowbound]

I cleaned up a lot of the wiring and spent a good 5 hrs washing, wire brushing and wiping down the frame.





Fresh coat of POR15.





Looks so much better after it cures.

 

[Snowbound]

I pulled the clam shell engine mounts apart and found this.





Time for some new poly mounts.







Before I drop engine I had to address the trans. It's a 4L60E, not my first choice but if I wanted it to have any chance in hell to survive, I needed to upgrade. Fist I replaced the trans lines and added a cooler. Next I dropped the pan and installed a shift improver kit and changed the filter. Friend of mine gave me a name and number to a company in Cali that builds torque convertors. The TCI unit I was looking at was very expensive compared to what I paid to have one built. Again, I discussed with this guy on the phone what I have done and what vehicle it goes in and we agreed that a 2300 stall would be good for my application. When that came in I put some fresh ATF in it and threw it on the trans. Ended up going with Mobil1 synthetic ATF. Sorry, no pics. Photobucket dropped them somehow.

 

[Snowbound]

Time to drop this baby in.







Still running into an interference with them valve covers. The AC compressor would not fit down onto the bracket. Time to improvise again. What I did was make a few spacers and got longer bolts so the AC was 3/4in above the bracket. Had to go to a longer belt to make it work but it works, that's all that matters.