Newbie be gentle

[Bluewaffle]

Good morning fellas and ladies.

I'm going start of like this. I've always been a Ford guy but I came across a deal I couldn't pass up 2011 Cadillac escalade esv 4 grand so I scooped it up. Little did I know about afm dod crap. Worst idea ever in my opinion.Long story short collapsed lifter 4 cylinder valve stuck all the goodies oh yeah destroyedcam as well. Now I'm pretty handy with the wrench and going to tackle this my self. Guess what I'm asking is how would y'all go about the build. Keep in mind I'm divorced paying alimony middle son starting college I will not let him get a student loan and daughter starting high-school so I need to be budget friendly and if anyone has good deals on parts let me know Thanks

 

[j91z28d1]

there's so many good posts and info here around what cams to use to delete dod on here, I've not done it so(fingers crossed) I'll leave it to those that have and you to read thru some threads.

my only 2 cents I see over and over is sadly trying to save money on parts will bite you. everything aftermarket these days is junk and you'll end up doing it twice trying to save money. pretty much oem everything except you can get a a cam itself of your choice but from a big brand name, no Amazon/ebay parts at all.

good luck with it.. clean looking truck. sorry to say welcome to the world of gm afm failure life.


good luck with it.

 

[B-train]

As @j91z28d1 said. Good info on here and I second his parts quality statements as well. If I were in your shoes, I'd price out a non-dod cam and corresponding parts, tuning (turn off afm), etc and see how it stacks up against a used, lower mileage motor.

Check car-part.com for a good selection of auto recyclers.

Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

 

[Fless]

Welcome to the forum from Colorado!

 

[strutaeng]

Welcome Brother. Great site for learning and sharing information on these trucks.

That's an insanely good looking truck for that price. Great score!

I would say get yourself a torque wrench (digital with degrees is best if going back with torque-to-yield head bolts), harmonic balancer puller/installer and maybe the crank centering tool. Otherwise just your regular 3/8 and 1/2 deep/shallow metric socket set should be enough. Misc. little tools of course.

Have an allowance of about $1500 (?) in parts, plus new fluids. Stick with a very mild cam and you probably won't even require tuning, which is an additional expense

Hardest part is probably removing the heads and reinstalling them with the engine inside the vehicle. Everything else is mostly just slow, tedious "nuts and bolts" work. But if you take one thing at a time, not that bad. Try to find a service manual with torque specs and have them handy when reassembling the parts back together.

Good luck.

 

[OR VietVet]

Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

 

[Bluewaffle]

I appreciate the love fellas I have been reading a lot of the forums and I will purchase the whole delete kit and I want a little pep in the step I have also torn the heads off a few times so I'm pretty good at it now will pull the whole front off when I do this for the last time hopefully just when the numbers start popping off That's where I get lost will be tuning it as well for this 8s going to be my mid life crisis project I was just seeing about some suggestions as my budget will probably be around the 3 grand range I just want good parts that will last it will probably be towed and my weekend ride

 

[Bluewaffle]

Welcome Brother. Great site for learning and sharing information on these trucks.

That's an insanely good looking truck for that price. Great score!

I would say get yourself a torque wrench (digital with degrees is best if going back with torque-to-yield head bolts), harmonic balancer puller/installer and maybe the crank centering tool. Otherwise just your regular 3/8 and 1/2 deep/shallow metric socket set should be enough. Misc. little tools of course.

Have an allowance of about $1500 (?) in parts, plus new fluids. Stick with a very mild cam and you probably won't even require tuning, which is an additional expense

Hardest part is probably removing the heads and reinstalling them with the engine inside the vehicle. Everything else is mostly just slow, tedious "nuts and bolts" work. But if you take one thing at a time, not that bad. Try to find a service manual with torque specs and have them handy when reassembling the parts back together.

Good luck.

My budget will be in the 3 grand range and I want the pep I just get lost when the numbers start popping up and I've torn into the heads a few times already just not knowing so I'm pretty good at it now really need suggestions on what brands and I will purchase all matching parts as this will be towed and driven mostly on the weekends

 

[strutaeng]

My budget will be in the 3 grand range and I want the pep I just get lost when the numbers start popping up and I've torn into the heads a few times already just not knowing so I'm pretty good at it now really need suggestions on what brands and I will purchase all matching parts as this will be towed and driven mostly on the weekends

Are you going for aftermarket heads? That alone could be $3k depending on what you buy.

If you are reusing your heads, $3k is more than enough for a DOD/AFM delete only.

Is this a daily driver or dedicated toy? What did mean 8s? Not like 8-second 1/4 mile, right?

Turbo is going to be the best bang-for-your-buck if you are thinking dedicated race truck. That's more like a $7-8k budget though. In that case, just skip aftermarket heads since you will under boost.

 

[Bluewaffle]

Are you going for aftermarket heads? That alone could be $3k depending on what you buy.

If you are reusing your heads, $3k is more than enough for a DOD/AFM delete only.

Is this a daily driver or dedicated toy? What did mean 8s? Not like 8-second 1/4 mile, right?

Turbo is going to be the best bang-for-your-bang if you are thinking dedicated race truck. That's more like a $7-8k budget though.

Meant to say is. Not racing it just like to have the power when I need it as I do live in Atlanta. I travel for work and getting tired of cleaning the work truck every time I want to go out for the evening . Sry for the misspelling as I'm half blind with fat thumbs trying to type

 

[BlackBearPerf]

Welcome to this great forum from Coeur D'Alene, Idaho! You came to the right place for advice, lots on knowledgeable folks here.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Welcome to the Forum from NH.

Lots of knowledgeable folks here who freely share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives. Knowledge is power.

I hope that you will become a participating member in the Forum's discussions.

You are already receiving sage advice from the knowledgeable folks on this Forum.

 

[Grady_Wilson]

Welcome to the forum.
There are a ton of great people here that are very knowledgeable about this platform.
I've been here less than a year and I could tell right away that this place is full of sage advice and great people.
Good luck with your project.

 

[Trey Hardy]

Meant to say is. Not racing it just like to have the power when I need it as I do live in Atlanta. I travel for work and getting tired of cleaning the work truck every time I want to go out for the evening . Sry for the misspelling as I'm half blind with fat thumbs trying to type

You could do it with around 1500-2k worth of parts
Imo Texas speed or Michigan Motorsports are two of the best places to get the dod delete cam bolts gaskets ect ect
If the heads aren’t cracked just get new valves and valve job seals and all that
When I did my Silverado I ported the stock 243 heads had a valve job and done a stage 4 cam with full exhaust ported throttle body and intake and she got up and went for a crewcab
In your case a stage 2 cam wouldn’t need a converter has moderate chop but makes good gains

 

[strutaeng]

Yeah. I would get your heads remachined. You certainly have the budget. My local machine shop charges like $350 IIRC for this service, which includes cleaning, taking enough material on the cylinder side to clean them up, valve work, and new stem seals. If you figure out what cam you want and the cam requires different springs, then have that work performed by the shop all at once.

I'm about to drop off some 317 heads this week for an engine I'm putting together slowly. They are usually done within a week.

These are a different set of the same heads (317) I had them work on.

 

[Bluewaffle]

You could do it with around 1500-2k worth of parts
Imo Texas speed or Michigan Motorsports are two of the best places to get the dod delete cam bolts gaskets ect ect
If the heads aren’t cracked just get new valves and valve job seals and all that
When I did my Silverado I ported the stock 243 heads had a valve job and done a stage 4 cam with full exhaust ported throttle body and intake and she got up and went for a crewcab
In your case a stage 2 cam wouldn’t need a converter has moderate chop but makes good gains

Sry been traveling thank you I hope to have it going by the 4th

 

[Trey Hardy]

Sry been traveling thank you I hope to have it going by the 4th

More budget friendly cams are factory ls6 camshafts with ls7 lifters new trays you’ll need a non dod valley cover and the rest of the dod delete stuff but you’ll come out a lot cheaper then getting the Texas speed stuff but personally you’ll have better gains with the aftermarket cam or atleast I did when I swapped from the ls6 cam to the stage 4 cam it was night and day difference

 

[Scrappycrow]

I do live in Atlanta.

In case you're looking for a competent machine shop, I recommend Grimes Automotive Machine in Alpharetta.

 

[petethepug]

Orly, @Bluewaffle ? I thought I was bad when I made a troll user name with enzyte in it.

 

[mountie]

A bummer, after buying your Esky, then having to do all this stuff......
( This won't help, but..... another reason I LOVE my '05 Yukon Xl.....
Most of my engine work requires a couple tye wraps and a cloth.... with 175,000 on the clock.

BUT... The advice in this forum is great, for all year models.....