New Member Intro: Southeast Michigan - Just bought an 02 Z71 Tahoe

[dhulsey779]

I found a set of LTZ wheels w/ brand new 275/55/20 tires for my Tahoe.

 

[GM iraqi]

Hi man keep the good work
Your ride looks brtty sweet
I only say it may need little black touch on the body paint job

 

[unt0uchable]

Well, it's official, my trans is on it's way out the door. So instead of pulling it and having it rebuilt, I decided to buy an entire 2500HD pickup truck and swap the 6.0, 4L80e, and HD transfer case into my truck.

While nothing spectacular has happened yet, I have managed to make all of my purchase price back by parting out the pickup. It's an 03 2500HD 6.0L Silverado 4x4 Ext Cab 6ft bed, Arrival Blue. Sold pretty much all of the stuff worth a damn, still have some good smaller items and the seats, doors, and cab. Here are a couple before and after shots of the donor truck.

Here is when I first got it home. I drove 3 hours away to get it, drove it back with my FIL following. What a trip!

And after the vultures got to it....WOW!

So I've essentially got myself an entire HD drivetrain for free. I'm still selling parts, and hoping there is enough cash left over to do a transgo shift kit, and MAYBE a cam, but we'll see. The donor truck has 214k on it (my Tahoe has 197k so not too far off)

I did have this wild idea of having my buddy who owns a custom shop body swap my Tahoe onto the HD frame but I might have to part a few more trucks before I can afford that, but it may still be in the future.

I'll post up more once I get moving on the actual swap (or removal) or the 6.0L and all that. I need to put new knock sensors in it, and do the manifolds (one is cracked) and I might clean up the block a bit and paint it so it's nice and fresh in the bay of the Tahoe.

Stay tuned for more! Should get exciting here in the coming days.

 

[FamilyTruckster]

pictures no worky! thats awesome you were able to make it all back man, well done!
Sounds like youve got a solid plan, and a few good options to choose from. Def have your head on right by keeping buying while all is seemingly in "limbo" i.e. cleaning up the block/painting etc etc, it may not seem like all that much when youre chipping away at little things like that, but they def shine in the end... I had my blower sitting on a rolling tool cart in my garage for a few months, by the time it went it, it was in damn near brand new looking and ops status...
well done sir!

 

[unt0uchable]

Looks like the images aren't working in Tapatalk for some reason. Working fine in my chrome browser on Android... And on my PC. Not sure why??

Thanks for the kind words! Hoping things go smoothly. I'll be playing weekend warrior to get it done, and the weather sucks here (Michigan) so it'll be fun. I do have a garage but we park my wife's Saab in there because it's our LS2 baby, lol. I'll be in and out of that. Will keep this updated though!

 

[FamilyTruckster]

so glad the snow today didnt stick!
sounds like we have similar garage issues

 

[unt0uchable]

Haha yeah, stupid flurries...Just saw you're from the same area as I am. What part of Detroit-ish are you in? Lol

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

 

[FamilyTruckster]

live in Allen Park, work in Ann Arbor and second job in Farmington Hills... you?

 

[unt0uchable]

Damn!! Talk about suburban commuting, ha. I live and work in Rochester Hills. Comparing our commutes would be about like comparing a Yorky to an American Bulldog. Lol

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[#1taho]

Subscribed !

Pics are not working tho. Tap talk or the tfy web site.

 

[unt0uchable]

Alright, let's see if the photos work now. I updated all of the links to see if it changes things.

Trans was acting up more this weekend. I've been driving it to work and back and around town but it's not been TOO bad. This weekend, I decided to take it out to my mom's place about 40 miles away. Driving in 3rd on e-way for about 10 minutes, then the freeway ends and it can't downshift fast enough when I come up to a light. It made some awful grinding/gurgling noises. Kept it in 3rd and carried on. I'm sure it'll shit the bed here soon. Thankfully I only work 1.5 miles from my house so it won't be a big deal when it does.

I didn't get around to pulling anything this weekend. I might hold off for 2 weeks and have my buddy come give me a hand getting the 6.0 and all that out and on a pallet so I can dig into the knock sensors and exhaust manifolds....

Found this last weekend:

So now I am debating on getting some stock manifolds or spending an extra $100 or so on some shorty headers that will bolt up to the stock exhaust setup. Decisions, decisions!

 

[Countryboy07]

Just catching this thread, Super clean Tahoe for being up in MI and good price too. IMO, since your going to have the motor out, I would do a complete refresh on the motor since it has that many miles on it, then cam, long tubes, tune, and a converter in the transmission along with Vette Servo. Could do all of that on a pretty decent budget. Sub'd for progress

 

[unt0uchable]

Not gonna be able to get that deep on the engine. My pockets aren't deep enough at the moment, lol. It ran very well when I bought the parts truck, drove flawlessly 200 miles home, hardly used half a tank with no exhaust, a cracked manifold, and knock sensor codes. Once those things are sorted, I'll be in good shape.

Engine is out of the parts truck and on a pallet for me to do the following to it:

Knock Sensors/Harness
Intake Gaskets
Oil Pan Gasket
Exhaust Manifold Studs/Gaskets
Removing the dumb ass throttle body spacer.

I think that covers it. Then she'll be ready to go into the Tahoe.

I'm not breaking the trans/engine apart because I simply don't want to deal with that. There is no evidence of a rear main leak so I'm leaving it alone.

Here are some photos of the parts truck and engine removal:

It did fit in my garage, barely...

It fits!!!

Comin' out...

Time for some surgery to happen...

 

[#1taho]

Nice. But you will have an extremely hard time getting the engine and tranny in the taho together. It can be done but it's real hard to do it and not break anything.

 

[unt0uchable]

Nice. But you will have an extremely hard time getting the engine and tranny in the taho together. It can be done but it's real hard to do it and not break anything.

I plan on removing the entire front end besides the fenders. Still no chance it can be done as a unit? I really don't want to separate if I don't have to... My cherry picker won't go up and over the core support anyway so all of that has to move...

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[Boxdgm]

Wow thats a clean truck, makes me wish mine was white.

 

[#1taho]

There is a plate under the oil pan that will have to come off and you will have to take out the bolts for the front diff. You will need about 3" more clearance. To be honest I would seperate it and do it that way. It is a lot less work. I did it the way you want to do it just a few months ago. I didn't think it would be so hard. I learned the hard why. Just trying to save you some time.

 

[unt0uchable]

Wow thats a clean truck, makes me wish mine was white.

Looks can be deceiving. The rear pass door is starting to come through from behind the plastics. Not sure how I'm going to tackle this yet. I'm thinking I'll just do some truck bed coating for the bottom few inches and paint it to match the best I can. Wire wheel things clean, POR 15 or Chassis saver over the bare metal, then bed liner and paint to match. We'll see how ambitious I get after the LQ4/80e are in. Thank you though!

There is a plate under the oil pan that will have to come off and you will have to take out the bolts for the front diff. You will need about 3" more clearance. To be honest I would separate it and do it that way. It is a lot less work. I did it the way you want to do it just a few months ago. I didn't think it would be so hard. I learned the hard why. Just trying to save you some time.

The entire front end will be coming off except fenders. I know exactly the plate you're talking about and I have no problem undoing it from the carrier and then axles to get it to drop down a bit. The problem won't be removing the 5.3 though. I will separate that since the trans needs to go to get rebuilt before it's used again anyway. But I'm still going to do my best to get the 6.0/80e in there as one unit. I do not want to separate those and I'll remove what I can to get it in as a unit. If there's a will, there's a way!

I just ordered all my seals and gaskets for the intake removal/knock sensor job. Also got exhaust manifold gaskets and a trans mount since the bolts broke when I was pulling the 80e.

Doing the following before it goes in:

Intake Gaskets
Valve Cover Gaskets
Knock Sensors/Harness (OE Parts)
Oil Pan Gasket
Exhaust Gaskets
Exhaust Studs (Stainless)
Used Exhaust Manifolds
Injectors are going out to be rebuilt

Also removing the throttle body spacer that was put on before my ownership.

Going to clean things up a bit too while I can get to the block, not going crazy on it though.

Waiting on the gaskets to come and I'll be diggin' into it. More pictures to come!

 

[05Single]

Wow subscribed . Tons of potential here and wanna see where this goes. Looking to do a swap in the near future myself.

 

[unt0uchable]

The main reason for switching to an entire HD driveline rather than rebuilding a 4L60e trans...

Going to be a weekend warrior towing this baby. Dry weight is just under 6,000lbs. I brought it home with my FIL's 2014 RAM 1500. Those things suck for towing, bouncy as hell. They ride like a car otherwise, but any truck capabilities are lost. I've read TON's of forum threads from people towing with Yukon's and Tahoe's (shorties) who LOVE it, especially with airbags and a proper hitch/sway setup. I have a 1000# rated WD hitch with dual sway controls along with a Prodigy brake controller. We're not towing long distances (250 miles or less) and I'm not an idiot driver. I can handle 60-65mph and just taking our time.

My buddy is going to tune the LQ4 with HP Tuners for me to get a little more power out of it also. That will help a bit with the loaded situations and help me enjoy the go pedal more so when unloaded.

Going to tear into the knock sensors this weekend and see if I can't get the exhaust manifolds off also. Wish me luck! More updates to come. Just thought I'd fill in the blanks for people saying "Why's he going this deep if he only needs a trans??"