2013 Escalade ESV DOD full delete becoming rebuild

[rdezs]

Nice even wear without exposing the next layer of material in the bearing. Pick up a boroscope on Amazon, they're fairly inexpensive and quite useful.

Versatile Teslong endoscope camera

That will let you inspect all the bearings. Usually the first bearing has the worst wear. Sometimes it's the second bearing, you'll see when you pull your camshaft out there's a wide groove in the journal oils by the variable valve timing actuator. This effectively reduces the bearing surface area on the journal.

If the engine has had regular oil changes, the camshaft bearings tend to be just fine. I see more wear on the camshaft bearings in engines where people waited for the display to tell them to change the oil. That can be 7 or 8,000 miles. You're far better off to change it before it hits 5,000 miles.

 

[rdezs]

.... Do keep in mind that the factory line bored the cam bearings after installation. It's not unheard of for the factory to go into the next layer of bearing material. You'll have to carefully look at the wear for any grooves in case you run into that, to see if it was produced that way for if it is excess wear. Measuring with a bore gauge will help.

 

[skpyle]

Dead Thread Revival! I'm back with updates. The past 6 months have been typical for me: spurts of progress, considerable money spent, numerous mistakes made, one colossal mistake that was expensive to fix, and a bunch of stuff getting in the way.

The 6.2L engine has been overhauled and now has a GM L9H camshaft with matching lifters. The engine is full of GM, Fel-Pro, Cloyes, Melling, Silvolite, Hastings, Durabond, King, ARP, Mahle, BTR, Texas Speed, and Michigan Motorsports parts.

The 6L80 transmission has been overhauled, as well. It is full of Sonnax, Transtar, Transgo, Raybestos, and GM parts. A local transmission shop overhauled it for me. I have installed a CVC BU60HD remanufactured torque converter with billet cover and a thicker lockup clutch facing.

I have been off work the past week, and have been working to make as much progress as I could. Engine is finally assembled, and today I installed it back in my Escalade.

I still have to install the transmission, replace the seals in the transfer case, replace the U-joints in the drive shafts, and button up all the little details. As well as update the Blackbear tunes in the ECM and TCM.

I will try to catch up details on what I have done and will keep updating on what I am doing.

Overhauled engine in all its glory.

 

[skpyle]

Engine bay pressure washed and prepared for engine installation. New transmission cooling lines have been laid in place.

Now or never!

Engine back in its home.

Notice the nose of the Escalade looked a little stubby in the engine install photo? Because I took the nose off. Easiest way to gain access to the external transmission cooler to replace the lines.

Last thing for today was reinstalling the crank pulley. Last time I did this, I was laying on my back. It was a bear to pull the torque wrench to 125 degrees for the last step. This time, I did it standing on ramps at the driver's side fender. It worked better overall. Though, the pull was still great. And I felt the sheet metal of the fender bow a bit. It popped back out.




My goal is to have the transmission installed and the various wiring and such underneath done by Friday.

 

[rdezs]

Good luck on replacing the front drive shaft u-joint. I ended up replacing the whole drive shaft, the front yoke is pretty thin and distorted on me. Rear drive shaft was a breeze.

 

[skpyle]

Good luck on replacing the front drive shaft u-joint. I ended up replacing the whole drive shaft, the front yoke is pretty thin and distorted on me. Rear drive shaft was a breeze.

Oh no!!! Thanks for the heads-up. I will look closer at mine and decide if I want to proceed.

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

Removed the transfer case.

Transmission came down. We won’t talk about the one bellhousing bolt I forgot to remove.

Transmission had to come out through the front wheel well.

Plucking the engine out. The flexplate just cleared the cowl and the crankshaft snout just cleared the core support.

And finally on the stand. I later swapped the stand head around so the engine tilted up.

More later...

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

Obligatory ruined shift cable bushing from transmission removal.

Transmission on the nifty engine stand adapter I found.

The infamous 6L80 JMBX lock-up torque converter.

Fluid was still cherry red and no sludge in the pan.

Overhauled transmission on the engine stand adapter. Note the new bellhousing.


More later...

 

[rdezs]

Not a great picture, but ditch the OEM shift bushing. With a grinder and then a punch, remove the protruding finger that normally goes through the OEM grommet. Cut a bolt the right length to fit through the hole where the grommet fits, drill a spot for a cotter pin. Permanent fix. Shift cables are known to fall off at the worst possible time because that rubber grommet.

You'll need to weld the proper size bolt that's cut to length

 

[skpyle]

Not a great picture, but ditch the OEM shift bushing. With a grinder and then a punch, remove the protruding finger that normally goes through the OEM grommet. Cut a bolt the right length to fit through the hole where the grommet fits, drill a spot for a cotter pin. Permanent fix. Shift cables are known to fall off at the worst possible time because that rubber grommet.

You'll need to weld the proper size bolt that's cut to length

View attachment 482645

Excellent! Thank you for the idea.

 

[rdezs]

I've got a couple metal lathes, so turned down a stainless steel bolt to fit perfect. I like to think it's better than factory....

 

[skpyle]

Soooo...I did get the transmission installed Thursday night, and most of the details buttoned up Friday afternoon. Didn't get as far as I wanted, but that is par for the course sometimes.
No photos yet, as I haven't downloaded them from my camera.

Will be back at it hard next weekend! (am at work all this weekend)

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

I left the oil cooler lines bolted to the engine block during removal because I could not reach the bolt that secures the lines' bracket to the block in front of the engine mount down low. Meaning I could not reach the bolt while leaning over the core support.

Driver's side motor mount up.

Driver's side motor mount down.

It was wasted.

Inside the oil pan was not super awful, but had more oil varnish than I wanted to see.







More later...

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Either delete the oil pressure relief valve in the oil pan, or install a deflector attachment on it.

 

[skpyle]

Either delete the oil pressure relief valve in the oil pan, or install a deflector attachment on it.

Handled!
Michigan Motorsports AFM relief valve plug kit.

Old relief valve had the OEM deflector on it. All have been discarded.

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

There was some sludge in the very bottom of the oil pan, though nothing metallic.

Windage tray and oil pickup tube had a considerable amount of oil varnish to the point of coked oil.

Buildup on the oil pickup tube.

Only a little bit of sludge in the oil pickup, right in the center. Granted, ANY sludge in the pickup is too much.

Pickup tube O-ring is past its due date.




More later...

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

Bottom end covered in same oil varnish. Which, honestly, I think is normal-ish.

I did see identifying markings on the connecting rod big ends. And more oil varnish.

Undersides of pistons are not super heavily varnished, but they are varnished.

#3 connecting rod cap bearing is not as nice as I had hoped.

Neither is #3 connecting rod journal.




More later...

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

#3 piston, not awful. Coating is worn through on the skirts, and there are some scratches. But no gouges or scoring.
Some carbon on the ring lands.
Oil control rings are not all coked up.
Some light carbon on the crown.



More later...

 

[skpyle]

CATCH UP:

For what it is worth, I have the complete set of 8 pistons, pins, and 16 circlips for sale in the 'For Sale' section. I am loathe to just discard these. Someone may have use for them.

#2 main cap bearing was not as nice as I had hoped.

Neither was #2 crankshaft main journal.

Oil pump had no awful wear inside.

Timing chain tensioner spring and pad were not broken.



More later...

 

[rdezs]

Ideally the whole inside will be covered with a gold hue ... Which is normal. Sludge is from extended oil changes, as well as excess blow by.... Also frequent short trips without letting the oil heat up contributes. Hard to completely avoid it.