Just Fishing's 09 Tahoe Build thread

[Just Fishing]

I got my pistons!
did a quick mock up with one of them, perfect fit on the rod bushings (phew)

So looking at it, with the piston at TDC.
the top of the crown is roughly .008 from the top of the deck.

My gasket shows ".048" compressed thickness.

so my Quench will be pretty freaking loose.


So i can either try and find a different supplier of headgasket to meet my quench needs.
Or have the machine shop deck the the block to match up with the head gaskets available...
looking around, i should be targeting something like .030 - .040 quench
Does that sound right?

 

[Just Fishing]

Everything is loaded in the ol s10, ready for a machine shop run!

The tahoe was supposed to replace the s10.
Tried to give the s10 away a few times (mostly the wife).
Needs too much work apparently. lol

I'm Sure glad i still have it right now.

I was pleased to see that sealed power included a nice oil return path for the oil rings.
Something that the oem gm pistons lacked.

Doing some reading, seems that has been some cause of carbon build up, oil burning, and sticking oil rings due to the trapped oil.

When removing the oem pistons, i noticed that most of the oil rings seemed to be a little stuck.
Also lots of carbon buildup around those oil rings.

Sorta looks like it was a big contribution to the sludge i saw in the pan after i made the mistake of adding a half can of seafoam before an oil change.

Everything went downhill from there.
Sudden reduction of oil pressure, stuck pressure relief valve in the pump...

Lots of crusty sludge in the pan...

I'm betting the filter clogged, bypassed some crud, and maybe it made it up to a cam bearing.

And i tossed my cam bearings into the box, hoping to get the machine shops thoughts on em when i drop everything off.

I'm also going to see if they are interested in my 5.3 block, maybe it will save me a little money, and get it out of the garage.

 

[Just Fishing]

Also, thoughts on cometic head gaskets?
Looks like they have a nice selection of thinner mls head gaskets.

Should make it easy to target that .040 quench...


I'm also thinking about a set of full roller rockers.

A nice set of 1.72 ratio would put me right at the max recommended lift for the valve springs i ordered...

Watched a youtube vid where they compared the factory ls rockers to a full roller set.
They gained more hp than i expected, just by adding the roller tip...

But I'll probably do them as an upgrade later, since it's pretty easy to get to after the engine is in.

 

[pwtr02ss]

Also, thoughts on cometic head gaskets?
Looks like they have a nice selection of thinner mls head gaskets.

Should make it easy to target that .040 quench...


I'm also thinking about a set of full roller rockers.

A nice set of 1.72 ratio would put me right at the max recommended lift for the valve springs i ordered...

Watched a youtube vid where they compared the factory ls rockers to a full roller set.
They gained more hp than i expected, just by adding the roller tip...

But I'll probably do them as an upgrade later, since it's pretty easy to get to after the engine is in.

I think @iamdub used cometic gasket on his engine.

 

[Just Fishing]

And i dropped everything off at the machine shop today.
the old man was there, i was worried he retired.

I had a nice chat with him, mentioned the 5.3 to 6.0 conversion on the crank and he said it should be no problem.
the younger guy i talked to before, not nearly as good.

He told me i should be fine to rock the oil pump, he did mention if i said anything other than mellings, he would have told me to dump it.
and the timing chain should be fine as well.
honestly with the pretty much 0 wear on the guide, i figured it would be gtg.

so there is a good $200 savings.

said my balance should be done in a week or two.

He also gave me instructions to verify the measurements, write them down with drawings.
bring them in and he will calculate my my CR.

My end goal is to be able to run regular gas, and with the high elevation...
so my goal will probably be the 9.9:1 CR that the 5.3 has.
(Reason is because i expect gas prices to continue to rise, if not double +)

 

[pwtr02ss]

Good deal. You'll be up and running in no time. I can't remember, did you decide to keep the 799/243 heads?

 

[Just Fishing]

Good deal. You'll be up and running in no time. I can't remember, did you decide to keep the 799/243 heads?

Yes, i'm keeping the 799 heads that the 5.3 had.

Plan is to get the numbers, and then bring the heads into the machine shop with my numbers.
Let them make the adjustments from there.

adds time, but at least it will be done right.

 

[pwtr02ss]

Yes, i'm keeping the 799 heads that the 5.3 had.

Plan is to get the numbers, and then bring the heads into the machine shop with my numbers.
Let them make the adjustments from there.

adds time, but at least it will be done right.

Did you do flat tops or dish? If the 799 raises it too much, you could always run a a 317 and get it back in check. Even a 317 with flat tops will bump the compression into premium range, I think. Or you could do some L92

 

[Just Fishing]

flat tops.
basic cr calculation was 10.09:1 with this setup (something like that).

i looked at pistons with valve reliefs, but then that lowered the CR too much.
and even with the valve reliefs, the cost of the pistons nearly doubled for the basic same thing.

 

[pwtr02ss]

flat tops.
basic cr calculation was 10.09:1 with this setup (something like that).

i looked at pistons with valve reliefs, but then that lowered the CR too much.
and even with the valve reliefs, the cost of the pistons nearly doubled for the basic same thing.

Hmm. Someone smarter than me will have to chime in but I' pretty sure you'll be in premium fuel range. IIRC you can mill down 317 and make it the same as a 243/799