Just Fishing's 09 Tahoe Build thread

[Just Fishing]

welp, i just cc'd my heads.
64cc confirmed!


once my new oil pump gets here, i'll be ready to button the bottom end up.
then it's confirm pushrod height is good, and verify valve clearance.

From there i'm clear to toss the bottom end in the tahoe!
then decide what i'm going to do with the heads.

According to the calculator i have, it says i'm @ 11.36 static compression ratio

 

[pwtr02ss]

Git-r-done!

 

[Just Fishing]

getting ready to test clearances and confirm lifter preload.
Found my old 5.3 head gasket is exactly .030 when i removed the top and bottom layers.
And it's a 4in bore.

Fantastic for my next plan, to increase the chamber size to bring down that static compression.

(the separated head gasket is laying on top of the head)

So the plan is to drink lots of energy drinks, and to polish the chambers and remove some material.
then using my cylinder head cc kit, confirm balance and try and get a target chamber size of at least 67cc.

Found its easiest to use a little plastic syringe to fill the chamber until the glass shows full.
then use another plastic syringe with some shrink tube on the end (to allow it in the little hole) to suck up the fluid.
then put the fluid into the beaker to see how many cc's it took.

doing this last night, it seemed pretty painless to do it that way.

 

[Just Fishing]

spent a bunch of time today on a cylinder head.
Cleaned up the chamber pretty well and got it shiny thinking i'm probably up to 67cc.
measured and it came out to 65cc...


so out came the serious porting tools.
spent a bunch of time last night watching "head flow clinic" on youtube.
Has a whole series on the 799 heads
apparently these things have some material to work with.
but there are thin spots to watch out for.

One thing he was big on, "flowing the valves" on the side of the chambers.
where you pretty much open the sides up and create a slight roll to help flow in and out.
looking in the head, there is a big thick wall there, and it goes down!

so digging into the side, your just working with a bunch of material.


so what i did was to roll the sides.
Used the old head gasket that's exactly 4" bore as a guide
I opened the sides up to that gasket and did some rolling, and some deepening of the chamber.
working to not touch the quench area or to change the general shape of the chamber.

as i worked i used the untouched chamber next to it as a guide as to not change much of the design.
then once i had a good chamber i ran with that.

this is still somewhat rough, i need to do more cleanup and balance the combustion chambers so they all match up.
but so far this is about 68cc.

I think by the time i'm done, it will be real close to 69cc.

I'm also tempted to "raise the roof" of the exhaust port.
there was a few videos that covered that.

 

[Just Fishing]

Few of my favorite tools for porting and polishing.
3M cross buffs!
I found an ebay seller that has an awesome assortment of them
He has sizes from Giant 2", down to 1/2in.
(Summit sells just the 3/4in from what i have found so far)
Box has an assortment of all sizes and grits.
(the red ones make things very shiny!)

Then sandpaper rolls, i get these from Summit

Also in the picture, my long shaft cross buff tool
I love this thing, it's super beefy!

then a small assortment of aluminum shredding bits.
Easy to control as long as you keep everything lubed up.


and the die grinder is an old Lowes Kobalt special.
My first entry into air tools, from a little kit I got for Christmas years ago.

Super old and very abused.
I'm surprised it still works, but i did have to fix it once.
parts started breaking off inside and it clogged it self up.

Remove broken parts, and I was back in business!

 

[Just Fishing]

Here is something i did yesterday.
my ears were ringing from the die grinder screaming in my ear.

got the idea from a little air dremel tool i have.
uses some plastic tubing as a muffler.

so i made this out of gorilla tape and masking tape after i decided i needed it longer.

works great, makes the tool super quiet, and i no longer have the exhaust blowing stuff off of the table.

 

[Just Fishing]

And here is the mostly completed 69cc head

i'll do some more mild clean up and straightening of lines before the final "done"

the other head is at 68cc on 3 chambers and one at 67.



back to work!

 

[Tonyrodz]

And here is the mostly completed 69cc head

View attachment 280702


i'll do some more mild clean up and straightening of lines before the final "done"

the other head is at 68cc on 3 chambers and one at 67.



back to work!

Looks good.

 

[Just Fishing]

Looks good.

This is some pretty scary stuff.
Originally i thought a little bit out of a corner or something would do it.


Assuming the head doesn't fail, it should flow better through the valves.
While doing this I'm focused on not changing the overall design, and then imagining how flow works when the fuel air gets squished by the quench...


overall, I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong.




Just like that one time i took the "easy" way out and thought "hey, I'll just copy a factory gm config!!"
And then i was all like "oh fk, my compression ratio is how high?"
Then i was like "dynamic compression is nearly 10?!"
Then it was like "GM used how thick of a headgasket??! Oh Hell no!!!"


good times.

 

[pwtr02ss]

heads look great. I'm sure they'll be fine

 

[Just Fishing]

Got pretty much done with the chambers last night.
didn't measure the final cc number, but I'm hoping I'll end up close to 70cc.

i used that old 4in 5.3 gasket as a general template and to keep tools off of the sealing surface.
I did slip a few times and got the valve seats lightly.
so now i get to reseat the valves and then confirm that i don't need a machine shop.
before i do that, i need to tape up the valve stems, and pass the valves through my bead blasting cabinet for a final cleaning and polishing.

Once seated, I'll do one more cc check, but this time using something like rubbing alcohol, or even get some "water wetter".
I had some issues with bubbles in the fluid, and i heard that alcohol or water wetter helps.
I used antifreeze to color the water, and that worked ok for the most part.
I also used the same set of valves for each chamber, my thoughts were to keep it as constant as possible.
and acknowledging that i needed to really clean up carbon buildup on some of the valves.

Last time i did this, I completed one head. And then got the bright idea to try the bead blaster for the other side.
Bead blaster = bees knees!

I also didn't like how much carbon the valves and heads picked up for the short drive run after i deleted DOD back in Dec.
so i'll be focused on getting those valves a mirror polish in hopes to prevent future build up.

I'm thinking i'll have a machine shop check the surface anyways, maybe even a light milling to ensure everything is perfect before the final install.

right now i just need to get one set of actual valve springs installed so i can compress a lifter in order to confirm pushrod height, and then from there i'm good with the install of the short block into the truck!

my hope is not this weekend, but the following weekend!

 

[Just Fishing]

And i'm still working to learn about this "installed height" thing for the valve springs.
I believe it's something i can measure for with out new tools using my dial indicator and my calipers.

Then it's about finding these "shims" to correct it.


And thoughts about replacing the valve keepers, and maybe the spring retainers?
keeping the original valves, so I'm thinking I'm probably better off just keeping the same old retainers with the same valves?
I am replacing the springs, since the originals have high miles, it's probably a good idea + i can confirm they support the lift I'm tossing at this engine (.550).

 

[Just Fishing]

Supposed to be near 100 this weekend!
I was planning to have this done before summer, but that long machine shop wait really screwed me.

So last night, i finally decided to toss an old AC unit into the garage window.
I still need to seal it up better, but for now it's a proof of concept.

I'm not sure if it can handle the garage, but it is a "large room" unit.
I taped it up with masking tape around the seal area for now to see if it can do it.

I'm sure I'll need to foam the window/ac unit in, so i'll try and get that done this weekend for max cool.

 

[Just Fishing]

welp, running all day and it's ok in the garage
not great.
I still break a sweat.
lame!

so i think i need a few hundred bucks worth of foam and start lining the walls!
make it look like a pretty reflective freezer.

yes this is what i need.
Moar foam!

 

[Just Fishing]

I got the front cover on and the oil pickup tube last night.

I was about to start with the oil pan, when i noticed that the oil feed holes that match up to the block are much smaller in the pan vs the block.
I also noticed some hard angles down at the bottom of those oil feed holes.

So I'm thinking while I'm in there and have the tools out, I might as well do a little opening and blending in the pan.


I also did the same in the block while i had it stripped.
Mostly around the oil feed that mates the pump to the block.

On my 5.3 i noticed how rough it was on that lip, but I was not about to mess with an assembled engine.
but with the new block, figured I might as well!
I didn't get pictures apparently, but i ended up with a nicely blended and polished opening to feed oil into the block.

When installing the pump, i also confirmed that the pumps outlet perfectly matched the blocks inlet.
(Did that before and after the centering of the pump housing)

This weekend i also have plans to get equipment out of the way of my sand blasting cabinet.
Currently it's loaded with well used glass beads.
I'll get those valves spotless!
afterwards, i get to start seating the valves.


The plan is to have this mostly figured out this weekend, and next weekend i have help coming over for the engine install.

 

[pwtr02ss]

Moving right along. You'll be doing burnouts before you know it

 

[Just Fishing]

Used a piece of hose to protect the valve stems, and got that damn carbon off of the valves the express route!
Bead blasting ftw!

Trying to decide if i want to polish the cleaned areas, or leave as is.

At a minimum, i guess i should polish the exhaust valves...
And maybe the combustion chamber facing part of the intake valves.

 

[Just Fishing]

The Loctite in the picture is the stuff that ARP recommends.
Red bottle, but it's blue Loctite.

I'm using it on most of the bolts as i assemble everything.

 

[Just Fishing]

I did some light polishing last night, I'll probably touch it up a tad today.
At this point i move away from the die grinder and go to the air Dremel since i have much better polishing pads for it.

Started with medium crossbuffs, then fine.
then broke out the wool/felt bits with polishing compound (harborfrieght).

All I'm really trying to do here is to prevent carbon build up and prevent pre detonation.

I did a little lapping of valves last night, but i kept feeling grit in the valve guide.
so i need to go over the heads once more and scrub them really well before i try again.

 

[Just Fishing]

been putting my valves through the ultrasonic cleaner after polishing.
I noticed something strange.

Valve stem tip appears to be welded on, and there is a clear gap on some of the valves.
a few almost appear to be crooked!?

this one looks more like a seal, but it's just cleaner.

I can hook my fingernail under it...

is this normal, or do i need to be looking for some replacement valves?