Another 6.2 for 5.3 swap going on.

[Tonyrodz]

Made some progress yesterday. First some mundane things to deal with;

Broken exhaust bolt standing up for easy removal. Heat, penetrating oil, and a couple smacks with a hammer had this one ready to just pull out with vice grips.

This one was flush with the deck and had to be drilled, heated, penetrated, hammered, and finally extracted with a screw extractor.

Oddly I wasn't prepared for how light these cylinder heads are.

Block is nearly ready for final cleaning and then assembly. I managed to pull the harmonic balancer with an antique two jaw puller by using a combination of flat pry bars for the jaws to latch onto behind the pulley.

And finally the AFM oil towers plugged.

My oil pan is nasty and will take some cleaning. Oil on the outside, sludge piled up inside. I didn't get a perfect clean used engine. I wish I could afford to fix this thing up good as new so for now I'll have to follow the old programming adage: never test for an error condition you don't know how to handle.

While you're down this far maybe check bearings for wear and replace. Possibly rings too.

 

[PatDTN]

It rotates smoothly. If the bearings are shot I'm just screwed as I'm beyond broke.

 

[RobsFreeland]

Hey pat. I’m also thinking new motor from a 5.3 to ? Just trying to figure options. Why did you decide for the 6 and not rebuild the 5.3?

 

[PatDTN]

I need to keep using my Tahoe even running badly. Add thT my motor is 221k miles with unknown service history and I might have gotten in and had to do all this.

Shopping motors the 5.3 is popular but demand is high. The 6.2 was only a couple hundred more so I went this way.

I was planning on retaining AFM until these guys convinced me otherwise so I bought a motor with and I'm spending more to remove it.

 

[jsmith564]

AFM is responsible for needing to tear down a perfectly good motor down to the short block. The lifter collapsed, turned on the cam and tore the lobe up.

Stupid $10 part cost $4,000 in parts and labor for basically a top end rebuild that it otherwise didn’t need.

 

[bacon612]

This is a fantastic thread. @PatDTN good luck with your job. Thanks for sharing those pics. Looks like you're off to a great start.

I drive a '14 Suburban as a daily with 100k miles on it. Bought it with 70k and no clear history and for now it runs fine. I am about to tune out the AFM.

Apologies for hijacking but is the consensus that the AFM delete (just a tune) in my situation that it's not enough to drive this truck reliably for the next ten years? My last truck was a 99 Denali (350, obs) and I sold it with 335k miles and I think it's still on the road.

Sent from my IN2025 using Tapatalk

 

[PatDTN]

After seeing those funky lifters and all the associated hardware I'm glad I'm in a position to replace everything inside. Dunno what your answer is.

Started reassembling this morning. LS9 cam and lifters in. Waiting on valve stem seals and my fancy valve spring compressor to get here so I can put the new valve springs in.

Oddly my used engine already has a spray guard on the oil pressure relief valve.

 

[iamdub]

Apologies for hijacking but is the consensus that the AFM delete (just a tune) in my situation that it's not enough to drive this truck reliably for the next ten years?

Disabling will certainly help. All those moving parts in the lifters, as Pat described, will last much longer if they're not moving. I still don't believe it's a foolproof method. Another ten years? I wouldn't bank on it, but I can't say that it won't. Maybe if you don't drive 1,000,000 miles over the next ten years or don't run it hard. I'd consider it more of a comfortable way to kick the can down the road until you're ready to delete it.

 

[PatDTN]

Started putting this thing back together and running into little roadblocks here and there. I can't use my vvt timing cover because the sensor will be too far away from the timing gear. I can't yank the non vvt cover off my 5.3 yet because I still need to drive it some.

My oil pump pickup tube fell on and rattled around at the pump. New O-ring later and it's a snug fit again. The old ring was just smoothly compressed and hardened.

The last time I rebuilt an engine I could reach down the distributor hole and spin the oil pump to prime the system. What do I do with an LS motor?

I won't be putting the intake on until I get this bolted into the truck. Of course the valley pan has a riser right in front of one transmission bolt so I'll have to see how accessible that bolt is with the pan on. I'll probably end up taping a sheet of heavy plastic across the whole open top of my engine during assembly.

I have a friend with a lift which would be nice but I'm afraid I'd run into problems and tie up his shop for too long so I'll have to do this on my back. Yuck. At least my garage is warm.

When it's time to make the swap it sure would be nice to have some extra hands. Anyone near White Pine TN want to help and learn (or teach) some stuff?

 

[iamdub]

The last time I rebuilt an engine I could reach down the distributor hole and spin the oil pump to prime the system. What do I do with an LS motor?

For about $50-$60 in materials, you can either make a primer that uses compressed air or one that uses an electric motor. I made one out of 6" PVC pipe and a short air hose and fittings from Harbor Freight. You'll also need an adapter fitting that screws into the side of the oil pump to convert that thread size to the size that a male 1/4" NPT air barb fitting can screw in to. I'm currently on my work laptop so I can't look up my Amazon history to get you a link to that oil pump fitting. It's really simple- you fill up the reservoir (6" PVC with caps on each end) with 5-6 quarts of oil, connect your air supply, open the valve a little to pressurize the tank, and rotate the crank both directions while the oil is pushed through the system. When you first hear the sputtering from the reservoir going empty, drain the oil out of the oil pan and pour it back into the reservoir to repeat the process. I repeat this 2-3 times until I see oil come out of all the rockers from the tips of the push rods.

A friend made his from an electric motor. I think his screws into the oil pan drain hole and into the oil pump, and he just pours about 6 quarts into the engine and lets it run while he turns the crank. I really like his way better, but I had already made mine a long time ago.

 

[PatDTN]

Awesome. Thanks iamdub. I'll figure this out from what you've told me. I was hoping it was going to be pouring oil in somewhere.

 

[iamdub]

Awesome. Thanks iamdub. I'll figure this out from what you've told me. I was hoping it was going to be pouring oil in somewhere.

Having that first start fire up instantly and quietly like it was never opened up is very satisfying.

 

[Geotrash]

Awesome. Thanks iamdub. I'll figure this out from what you've told me. I was hoping it was going to be pouring oil in somewhere.

Chris' approach is the right way to go for making sure the whole lubrication system is functioning prior to first startup. That said, if all you want to do is prime the pump, this is the simpler process for that:

 

[PatDTN]

Geotrash, thanks.

I was just down looking at those oil cooler lines. I'm pretty sure I can do something with those to force oil throughout the engine. Need to spend some time figuring out how but I suspect PVC pipe and air pressure are involved.

 

[kbuskill]

Geotrash, thanks.

I was just down looking at those oil cooler lines. I'm pretty sure I can do something with those to force oil throughout the engine. Need to spend some time figuring out how but I suspect PVC pipe and air pressure are involved.

Just thinking out loud here... couldn't you also insert a fitting in place of the oil pressure sending unit a the back of the engine and force feed it from up top a lot easier?

 

[donjetman]

Disconnect the fuel injection harness(es) or ignition harness(es) and crank it over with the starter until you see oil pressuere. You could also remove the spark plugs too.

 

[smokymtn65]

Disconnect the fuel injection harness(es) or ignition harness(es) and crank it over with the starter until you see oil pressuere. You could also remove the spark plugs too.

That's a lot of cranking... Ask how I know. LOL

 

[PatDTN]

Yeah, this oil pump has a lot of open space in it ti fill. I don't think I'm comfortable with that method. I'll do it after I get it pumping some oil though.

I got my valve stem seals last night as well as my cool valve spring tool. Unfortunately I was called out to a brush fire and was hauling butt out of the house when I saw the packages on my porch. Too worn out when I got home.

This morning I'm popping the old springs and seals out, giving the valves a quick inspection, popping in New seals and new springs, and dropping the heads back on. Pictures to come soon. This valve spring tool is awesome.

 

[PatDTN]

Funny. Doing this write-up is more work than changing the springs and seals. Here we go.

Head on my bench ready. (I actually already did the first cylinder.)

First I screw down that plate finger tight so it'll move around pretty easily.

Then add the part that presses the valve springs and the bolt. I did some reading and a lot of folks stripped/galled the tension bolt so it's coated with anti seize. You want to wiggle things around so the tension bolt is centered between the valve springs and the plate is centered onto the caps. Then tighten down the mount part.

As I started compressing the first one I realized it was a little tight. I tapped the caps just lightly and the keepers popped loose. Then I finished cranking down the tension nut to get the keepers out. On the first couple I would run the tension bolt well down through the tool then turn the nut on the shaft with my ratchet box. I figured out they gave me a couple extra nuts and a lock washer so I figured out where I wanted it and double nutted the tension tool so I just turned it from the top of the bolt. Did I mention all this goes VERY easily?

Keepers off. Ready to unload the springs and pull those and the seals.

Seals exposed and ready to pop out. If I was worried about slipping and scoring the valve stem I could slide them out at this point since I'm on the bench. Note the tool base is still there.

Seals off and the area wiped down some.

Fel-Pro includes these cute little straws to slip over the valve stem to keep the keeper groove from cutting the new seals. I added a tiny wipe of assembly lube on the top before putting the seals on. With the seals in place and pushed down I found a 15/16" deep well socket was just the ticket for snapping the in place. Just a tap with the heal of my hand did it.

This is the tool I used. It has just enough flexibility to let me easily put the new springs in and center things up so the keepers drop in place.

 

[Geotrash]

Nice. I'll be doing the same job this weekend. Thanks for the pics!