99 Denali

[Snowbound]

I did miss a lot of BS in the build. I'll throw out some random pics here with short description that I have on my photobucket account.

Parts as they were coming in. I really enjoyed building this thing in the house. Spent some quality time with GF watching girly movies while blueprinting engine.

Got rid of plastic grille

Few shots while it was sitting at work. The rig was pretty straight when I got it in '10 and only had 123k on the clock. I think I'm at 144k now.

 

[Snowbound]

Somewhere around 2014, it was cold, not quite winter but prob November. I started the truck and noticed some whitish smoke. Seen other vehicles with steam coming from their tail pipe so I didn't think too much about it. Still ran good. Drove to work and parked inside in the heated building. After 12hr shift I started the truck and it was smoking again. White smoke and didn't seem to clear up any. Time to tear back into it and see what happened now.

Pulled valve cover and found this. Both sides.

Next pulled upper intake and found more coolant.

off came lower intake and then heads.

so I found out what the issue was. Using aluminum heads on a cast iron block needs MLS head gaskets. That's multi-layer stainless steel head gaskets. The Felpro gaskets couldn't handle the different rates of expansion and contraction. Went back to speed shop in town and he said they had them, $75. That's not bad, $75 a set? No, $75 each. Ouch!! They come in different thickness' so I had to measure piston quench or piston to head clearance. For a more efficient burn which translates to most effective power you want as little quench as possible. With my Felpro gaskets I was at .046in with gasket crush. With my new MLS head gaskets I got down to .038in. With aluminum rods you want a little looser because the heat on aluminum allows rods to expand and could cause issues. I'm running steel rods so I stayed tight. I brought the heads to machine shop and had them pressure checked and milled. Most aftermarket MLS gaskets can handle surface finishes as rough as 60 to 70 Ra microinches, but some specify a smoother finish of 30 to 50 Ra. Smoother is always better, and if you can get the finish down to the low teens or even single digit, great! But for most applications, a surface finish in the 20 to 30 Ra range is more than smooth enough for a performance MLS gasket. I ended up being right at 20 Ra after they were done.

This was pretty much my only issue with rig. I don't drive it every day but for a back up vehicle it has really served me well.

 

[Snowbound]

I did have to put a AC compressor on to solve my slow leak. Also changed receiver/dryer and orifice tube while I was at it. Worked great all summer of '11 and then in summer of '12 it started acting up on me again. Didn't drive it much that summer. Found out it was the heater control board. Wiggle the board or play with the AC button and it would work. Ordered another one of those and put it in. Expensive little bastards. Hard to find the one with rear defrost on it. Think I got it from Amazon. Now heat and AC kick ass. Even the rear AC works and it'll freeze you out in no time. I'm not sure if the rear seat heaters work any longer. They are run off rocker switches on the rear of the center console and they are usually bumped and left on by the kids. I have to look into that soon, it's getting colder. Also I busted the pull cable to flip up the drivers side rear seat bottom to lay rear seats flat for hauling crap. Part is discontinued but I did find one but they want $70 for it plus shipping. Yeah, I'll be coming up with my own inner cable and soldering on ends.

Also I picked up a 50" curved CREE light bar that I really didn't think I would win the auction on Fleabay. But I did and for $50, I can't beat it. Was originally bidding to put it on my K5 but after I got it I set it on top the Denali and tested it, I really think I might mount it on here. Thing works awesome. Hopefully this video loads.

 

[95escahoe]

Great build I love the first gen Esky/Denali


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[1992rs]

Sub'd. Great build. Love me a hot rod truck [emoji1360]


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[Carpenter2361]

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.

Sexy parts

 

[Tonyrodz]

With the all those goodies, how does it run?

 

[Snowbound]

With the all those goodies, how does it run?

Runs great. Little sluggish off the line but when it hits 2200 RPM it comes alive and scoots. I have a stall but never done a stalled launch because of this 4L60 trans. It's on borrowed time along with the 10 bolt. That's the reason I have a 4L80/14 bolt on garage floor. Still collecting parts for the swaps. I'm also doing an upgrade to the intake and injection system along with a cam change but I'll get into that here in a little bit. I never dyno'd the engine but I'm guessing it should be about 440 in both hp and tq. The bottom end is built like a brick shit house but I cannot get enough fuel due to injection system and limited by operating system of black box ECM. This is all gonna be changed in near future.

 

[Snowbound]

I was gonna wait to post any of this but since Tonyrodz got me thinking about it again I might as well throw it up here.

I've been looking at what I need to do to get the 4L80E in along with 0411 PCM. I'm gonna need to have this thing dyno tuned and I think if I'm going all in, I need to go ALL in. I located a Mercruiser marine intake. It's a direct bolt on to a L31 truck engine but has true MPFI. These things are hard to find and when you do look at spending close to a G to get it. There's a few things that need to be addressed with the swap. With the upgraded intake I can change out the cam which I'll most likely go to a Edelbrock custom grind roller cam. Issues are gonna be getting it tuned by the right person, I might even buy the software and licensing to do it myself. And torque converter. My flexplate is balanced to the engine, the 4L80 uses 6 bolts on the TC. Looks like I'll have to use a different flexplate and possibly a spacer to get starter engagement correct. The 241 will need a input swap but from what I've read, they are all the same size just different spline count. The rear driveshaft will need to be shortened due to a longer trans and replacing axle with the 14. The front driveshaft will need to be lengthened as well. I'm working on getting things together, this is gonna cost more than I really wanted to spend right now but it should run a lot stronger and not tear things up as much with the added power.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I know me and the other guys on here can't wait to see how you do!! We love this $hit dude!!!

 

[Snowbound]

Included injectors are Delphi EV6 24lbs/hr. @ 43.5psi. units with USCAR connectors. They work out to about 27lbs/hr. at this fuel pressures of about 53psi. These connectors are used on some Ford SVT models and the LS2 and LS7 engines. They are high impedance (~14ohm) and the same physical dimensions from o-ring to o-ring as standard Bosch type injectors. Anything blown or having more cubic inches will want more of an upgrade in flow than the OEM Marine injectors can provide. (The whole point of this swap is that be able to put any size injectors in there you want!)
Standard EV1 injectors will also fit the rails and a harness must be made anyway. Connectors for the "oval" USCAR connectors are available.

The Marine Intake Manifold has no provision for a thermostat bypass like the stock manifold.

The manifold casting does have the appropriate internal structure and enough metal to drill through. Some creative use of cold weld or epoxy is required inside to make sure the tapped hole is a sealed passageway through and into the internal structure.

There is no hole for the temp sensor but the boss is there. That needs to be drilled and tapped as well.

Pics won't load. I'll put them up when I can.

 

[Snowbound]

As far as axle, I'm going with a 14bolt semi floater 9.5" ring gear because it's a 6 lug and it already has 4.56 gears and a posi.

I'm not sure why I cannot load pics. They will not upload for some reason. I'll have to work on that.

Anyway, I got the axle all cleaned up and I'm sourcing disk brake conversion for it. I heard I can steal rear disks and all associated brackets off like a 04 Tahoe with a 10 bolt but I need a 60mm spacer to get caliper bracket in the correct location. I called a company that makes 20mm spacers for $50 and they quoted me $200 to make them in 60mm. I said forget it, I'll cut flange off axle and move it outward 3/4" before spending $200 just for a spacer. More to come on that.

I have a matching front axle from my 97 that also has the 4.56 gear set. That axle has the thermal actuator and my Denali has the motor actuator. Dorman sells a harness for this type of conversion (part# 600-600)but the proper wiring is already there, I just need the slug/spacer for the actuator. I have an email out to Dorman about buying just the spacer from them. The kit is only like $35 so if I have to buy the kit I will. Still waiting to hear back from them. I'm gonna rebuild the front axle, it needs to be resealed at the very least but I'll go ahead and do the bearings while I'm at it.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Might be easier and cheaper in the long run to spend the $200 for the 60 mm spacer. Instead of dealing with all the associated be that entails cutting, welding etc.

 

[bde269]

great build

 

[Snowbound]

Might be easier and cheaper in the long run to spend the $200 for the 60 mm spacer. Instead of dealing with all the associated be that entails cutting, welding etc.

What I don't understand is if they sell 20mm spacers for $50, and they want $200 for a 60mm spacer, why wouldn't I just but 3 pairs of the 20mm and stack them for $150? I couldn't wrap my brain around that.
It'll literally take me 20 minutes to cut off the backing plate flanges and clean the axle tubes for welding. I'll have to mock up the brakes to get the rotor sitting in the middle of the caliper and then tack weld before disassembly and final welding. I'm thinking at least this way I can clock the caliper anywhere I need it so I don't have to get fancy with making a bracket for the parking brake and to get around any possible interference I may encounter. All I need is to grab the backing plates, brackets, parking brake cables and calipers to use as cores from junkyard, all the maintenance parts will be going on new. Also I need proportioning valve for rear disk. I'll prob grab this stuff this coming week and order parts to rebuild the front axle. Still no word from Dorman, prob not until Monday.

 

[Snowbound]

This morning I decided I'm tired of adding air to the left rear and right front tires, I have a slow leak, no puncture anywhere it's coming from the valve stems. These tires are pretty worn, they've been on here since '10 and 22k miles. I've been rotating but having a little power with applied force to the skinny pedal it doesn't take long to burn thru a set of rubbers. Besides that, they weren't new when I put them on and they're E rated which I don't need on this rig. They came off another truck I had but they weren't even 1/4 worn. They are Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo tires and I loved these tires so much that they are on my Dmax and I just recently put the Duelers on the Equinox, but the H/L series.

Anyway, I was going to Firestone to get a new set but had to stop by Sears to order a new horizontal band saw and I noticed they had a sale on tires. I picked up a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires. Got one free and free financing on my Sears card, couldn't pass it up.

So I came home and put the truck up on stands. Before I put tires on anything I always check the front end so there's no surprises during alignment. All the parts on front are new, I say new but they were put on in '10 when I bought truck only 22k miles since then. I found slight play in passenger outer tie rod and drivers side inner. Everything else was good until I got to the passenger side upper ball joint. It's loose which explains why I had a shimmy at 76mph, I thought it was the tires. So now I'm in the process of tearing the front end apart. I'll swap the tires and be able to get my alignment next week. I know I need front shocks, rear was just changed 2 weeks ago when I did brake line and master, but I'm contemplating something else for front suspension. Updates coming later. Not sure if I can warranty these AC Delco parts thru Rockauto or if I'll just run and grab some Moog replacements. Don't think I wanna wait.

 

[95escahoe]

This morning I decided I'm tired of adding air to the left rear and right front tires, I have a slow leak, no puncture anywhere it's coming from the valve stems. These tires are pretty worn, they've been on here since '10 and 22k miles. I've been rotating but having a little power with applied force to the skinny pedal it doesn't take long to burn thru a set of rubbers. Besides that, they weren't new when I put them on and they're E rated which I don't need on this rig. They came off another truck I had but they weren't even 1/4 worn. They are Bridgestone Dueler A/T Revo tires and I loved these tires so much that they are on my Dmax and I just recently put the Duelers on the Equinox, but the H/L series.

View attachment 70031

Anyway, I was going to Firestone to get a new set but had to stop by Sears to order a new horizontal band saw and I noticed they had a sale on tires. I picked up a set of Cooper Discoverer AT3 tires. Got one free and free financing on my Sears card, couldn't pass it up.

View attachment 70032

So I came home and put the truck up on stands. Before I put tires on anything I always check the front end so there's no surprises during alignment. All the parts on front are new, I say new but they were put on in '10 when I bought truck only 22k miles since then. I found slight play in passenger outer tie rod and drivers side inner. Everything else was good until I got to the passenger side upper ball joint. It's loose which explains why I had a shimmy at 76mph, I thought it was the tires. So now I'm in the process of tearing the front end apart. I'll swap the tires and be able to get my alignment next week. I know I need front shocks, rear was just changed 2 weeks ago when I did brake line and master, but I'm contemplating something else for front suspension. Updates coming later. Not sure if I can warranty these AC Delco parts thru Rockauto or if I'll just run and grab some Moog replacements. Don't think I wanna wait.

You'll love those tires I have them on my 03 Silverado


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[Snowbound]

You'll love those tires I have them on my 03 Silverado

Good to know. Thanks. I read some reviews while I was looking at tires and these seemed to be a good tire at a reasonable price. I don't really need A/T tires for this but I do run this truck up north for snowmobiling. My sleds are up there already but it's not uncommon to throw them on trailer and head another 85 miles to the U.P. Nothing worse than no traction in snow, hoping these will do the job.

 

[Tonyrodz]

I really like Cooper tires. Had them on my stock 03 rims. Cooper Discoverer HT's. Great tires.

 

[Snowbound]

Well, if your gonna dive in, might as well make it a belly flop. I ordered the entire front end again minus CV's and hub bearings. Probably get some POR slapped on here too. Looking bad.

All this might be warranty. Gonna contact Rockauto on Monday but I have to find my paperwork in my file. Can't go back that far on their site. Brakes are about half way, I'll hold off on that. Time to rip apart other side. Parts will be here Wednesday, tires will be on rims Tuesday and alignment on Thursday hopefully. I'm leaving Friday night to head north to get sleds ready for season and then I have Toys for Totts ride Sunday morning and I still need to do something about rear brakes dragging on bike. No rest for me this week.