swathdiver
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Pull the motor and put it on a stand. It'll save your back and you can take your time with the motor and with the motor out, take care of the engine bay needs too.
2012 Yukon XL Denali 6.2L Cam Swap Thread
- Thread starter Geotrash
- Start date
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Pull the motor and put it on a stand. It'll save your back and you can take your time with the motor and with the motor out, take care of the engine bay needs too.
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I would if I had the space. My wife’s father moved in with us (he’s a fantastic guy), and he brought 74 years worth of accumulated stuff with him that he needs time to go through. So until that happens, I only have one garage stall to work with. Got the pan off no problem anyway.
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Got the heads all finished up tonight. Installed new dual springs and valve stem seals, and Brian Tooley trunnion upgrade on the rocker arms.
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I was on track to get everything buttoned up today, but hit a snag. One of the new lifters has a high spot on it somewhere and won’t slide into any of the lifter bores easily without being tapped with a mallet. Not going to risk that so I’ve asked Roger Vinci for a replacement, but I’m wondering if it would also be safe to replace just one lifter with a brand new one I just happen to have on hand made by Melling. Any thoughts?
What made you use a cathedral port cam on rectangle heads, or did they just send you a messed up sheet? Did Vinci say what kind of power gain you could expect when running it with stock manifolds and cats? Seems like it will choke out very early.
If it were me, I would go with a matched set. You’re this deep into it, don’t need it to get to work, and from what you’ve posted, you don’t like to take short cuts. It will always be in the back of your mind if you use the Melling lifter, “was that the right call?”
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An excellent question, thank you Brian. I saw that on the sheet, and assumed that it was alright but maybe shouldn’t have. I gave him the detailed specs on my truck, including the engine, and the way I use it, which is for both getting groceries and hauling a camper. I will send him a note now and just do a double check.
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Thank you, Wade. You’re right and that’s the kind of feedback I was looking for. I’ll wait for the matched lifter before I button it up. There’s indeed no rush. And it seems that you understand why I don’t like to cut corners!
Side note: the lifters Roger sent are otherwise flawless. The roller on each one is tight with no play but rolls easily and smoothly. The Melling has a tiny bit of side play in the roller.
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Roger’s personal touch to customer service is great. He already got back to me on the lifter, and has asked me to send it back so they can figure out what happened in QA. He runs 3 different inspections on each lifter, and was mortified that anything got through.
I took a micrometer to it this morning and there’s one spot above the roller shaft that measures about .006 proud of everything else around it. I can’t detect any other anomalies.
Update: Actually it looks like most of the lifter body above the roller shaft is .849 while the small portion that's below it is the standard .842. Roger's working theory is that inserting a slightly oversized plunger may have expanded the lifter during manufacture, but he seems intent on getting to the bottom of it, which is fabulous. I sent the lifter back to him this morning and he has a new one on the way. Meanwhile, he has people running through his warehouse doing spot checks as a result. Very happy with his support and that he took this seriously. I wouldn't hesitate to use Vinci again, and will when it's time to do the upgrades to our '07.
I took a micrometer to it this morning and there’s one spot above the roller shaft that measures about .006 proud of everything else around it. I can’t detect any other anomalies.
Update: Actually it looks like most of the lifter body above the roller shaft is .849 while the small portion that's below it is the standard .842. Roger's working theory is that inserting a slightly oversized plunger may have expanded the lifter during manufacture, but he seems intent on getting to the bottom of it, which is fabulous. I sent the lifter back to him this morning and he has a new one on the way. Meanwhile, he has people running through his warehouse doing spot checks as a result. Very happy with his support and that he took this seriously. I wouldn't hesitate to use Vinci again, and will when it's time to do the upgrades to our '07.
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Got the updated cam card from Roger today as well. This particular cam works in both cathedral and rectangular port applications. Here's the correct cam card. That said, I accept that the stock airflow components may hamper breathing. We'll see how it goes...if I need headers, I'll make the investment.
You will gain with a cam, even through stock manifolds. Depending on the use of the truck, headers may have big drawbacks.
-Ticking noise in the cabin
-High flow cats do not filter as well as factory cats
Everything has tradeoffs. I ran my old 99 vette with heads/cam/manifolds and it still trapped in the 120s.
I have headers on my Yukon and I flip back and forth all the time whether to take them off or not.
-Ticking noise in the cabin
-High flow cats do not filter as well as factory cats
Everything has tradeoffs. I ran my old 99 vette with heads/cam/manifolds and it still trapped in the 120s.
I have headers on my Yukon and I flip back and forth all the time whether to take them off or not.
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Thanks for the added perspective, Mike. That's one of the reasons I haven't considered headers or a modified exhaust. I also really like the sound of the stock exhaust system. My main objective for this cam upgrade was to improve towing power and long-term durability/reliability. I'm not looking for outsized performance gains - the 6.2 already satisfies.
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Minor update: Since I have a couple of extra days of waiting for parts, I decided to order a Trucool 40K trans cooler and will hook it up while I have the grille off and existing cooler lines detached. Should arrive today. I read the other threads on how to mount it (good stuff, thanks all!), and have decided to simply delete the factory cooler and plumb the 40K in its place.
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Made good progress today. Got the heads on, torqued down and all of the rocker arms installed. Drivers side exhaust manifold is on.
Lessons learned:
1/ Both timing marks need to be at 12:00 for the #1 piston to be at TDC on the compression stroke to start the torque sequencing on the rocker arms.
2/ A jack and a couple of steel punches are miracle workers for getting the exhaust manifolds to line up.
3/ The ARP head bolts need to be torqued with their special lube on the threads and between the bolt heads and the washer, but the bottom washer surface and the machined bolt surfaces on the heads need to be cleaned with brake parts cleaner and dry for proper torque values and clamping force. I’m glad I took the extra time to look up the procedure on their website because they did not include an instruction sheet with bolts.
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Lessons learned:
1/ Both timing marks need to be at 12:00 for the #1 piston to be at TDC on the compression stroke to start the torque sequencing on the rocker arms.
2/ A jack and a couple of steel punches are miracle workers for getting the exhaust manifolds to line up.
3/ The ARP head bolts need to be torqued with their special lube on the threads and between the bolt heads and the washer, but the bottom washer surface and the machined bolt surfaces on the heads need to be cleaned with brake parts cleaner and dry for proper torque values and clamping force. I’m glad I took the extra time to look up the procedure on their website because they did not include an instruction sheet with bolts.
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Finally finished the job today and it fired right up and ran great! Couple of concerns though: 1/ there’s quite a bit of valvetrain clatter. It’s not terrible but definitely noticeable. I’m hoping it will quiet down after running some more and getting those lifters well pressurized. Seem normal to y’all? 2/ oil pressure is 5-10 psi lower than it was before I started the job. I installed a new o-ring in the pickup tube and also installed a new oil pressure sensor, deleting the screen. Since I ended up deciding to keep the OEM oil pump in place, the only thing I can think of is that the cam bearings may be looser now, but I also put in conventional 5w-30 after the work was done to run it with, knowing I would soon be changing it again within 100 miles or so. Without the VLOM stuff, if anything I thought the pressure would go up. Anyway, I’ll finish butting everything up tomorrow and take it for a ride. Can’t wait to feel how the new cam performs! Has a nice subtle lope to it!
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So I fired it up this morning and it's definitely much quieter overall. However there's one lifter that was knocking loudly this morning and never fully settled down but got considerably quieter after running at 2500 RPM for a minute or so. I broke out my mechanic's stethoscope and it sounds like it's on the #3 cylinder. I'll get it out on the road today and see if some sustained driving will work it out.
Congrats, that is always satisfying doing that big a job and it starts right up.
First cold start post install will be noisy for a good 10 minutes, then will quiet down.
Aftermarket cam will always be noisier in general
Johnson 2110 lifters are slow leakdown, so will be a bit quieter than factory replacements.
My Morel LS7 replacements quieted down after a couple thousand miles. They're very quiet now, so I'd just give it some time.
First cold start post install will be noisy for a good 10 minutes, then will quiet down.
Aftermarket cam will always be noisier in general
Johnson 2110 lifters are slow leakdown, so will be a bit quieter than factory replacements.
My Morel LS7 replacements quieted down after a couple thousand miles. They're very quiet now, so I'd just give it some time.
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Thank you, Mike! Very helpful and reassuring - especially considering I've only run it for maybe a total of 20 minutes so far. I'll keep everyone posted.
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I didn't measure them but they're supposed to be 7.400". I ordered the cam, lifters, pushrods and springs as a set from Roger Vinci. Side note: I did *not* end up having the heads milled down by .0025 as originally planned and instead just had the machine shop clean them up, check the valves and seats, and make sure the mating surfaces were clean and smooth. It should be a pretty standard setup, so I'm at a loss for why it's so noisy.
I drove it for several miles on the highway this afternoon and then changed the oil before driving it some more. The valve train is still clattery - sounds like an old Dodge slant 6, with a couple of them louder than the others. Here's a video I made today to illustrate what I mean.
https://youtu.be/uD8emIEy6Ww
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