Rocket Man's 02 Denali Build Thread AKA "THE BEAST"

[Rocket Man]

It looks like I need an OEM air filter housing. The high-flow setup they sent requires the stock housing for their tube and air filter. I threw mine away a couple years ago. If anyone has one, let me know.

 

[67RS427]

It looks like I need an OEM air filter housing. The high-flow setup they sent requires the stock housing for their tube and air filter. I threw mine away a couple years ago. If anyone has one, let me know.

You can have my NNBS (07) one if that works... just took it out and installed my AirAid a few days ago. PM me if you want it, just pay shipping.

 

[Rocket Man]

PM sent!

 

[Tonyrodz]

Would that fit?

 

[Rocket Man]

Would that fit?

Yep, the 07 is the same part according to gmpartsdirect. Thanks @67RS427 . Guess you never know what you're gonna need to hold onto, I should have kept the box and just thrown away the godawful tube I guess.

 

[Rocket Man]

I've been messing around with an instrument cluster face for a while. I found out long ago that for some reason the 00-02's have very little in the way of updated faces and bezels. The 03-up have a lot of options but not mine. Good thing the Denali looks pretty good as is because it looks like I'll just have to stay with the stock. I thought I'd found a decent face from a company called NR Auto. I ordered their silver face with blue lettering last week and got it a few days ago. I installed it a couple days ago and was NOT impressed. The lettering for "Volts" and "Fuel" were placed in the wrong place so they were partially obstructed and the tach area looked off. I have blue LED's in my cluster so with their blue effect it was dark at night although I could have probably swapped back to white LED's. I reinstalled my stock face back on today. I contacted NR Auto and sent pictures so they could see and figured since it's a used part now they probably don't want it back but guess what? They want me to send it back for a refund. I emailed them back and said if they want it they can send me a shipping label. Kind of pissed me off, especially considering when I originally ordered it there was no mention of shipping cost until they were ready to ship it, and then sent me a PayPal bill for $10 for shipping. I told them I'm sure in the hell not paying for shipping twice when it wasn't my fault their product was wrong.

 

[67RS427]

I was just looking at that stuff for my NNBS... I decided a few hours ago to close out all the tabs and move on to something else. My advise, screw them. Dispute the original PayPal or credit card charge if you can still. Thats not cool at all, clearly the fit is not correct. Not cool at all. Sorry man, ******...

Edit: you "could" modify the outer trim but not sure how clean you'd be able to get it. It'd be tough that's for sure.

 

[Rocket Man]

I'm done with the cluster. That was my second go-around. Last year I ordered an "upgrade" from www.fixmygauges.com which was basically their only choice for me. It was an 02 Escalade white face with a bezel that had chrome rings around the gauges. I took one look at it in-person and said hell no. It looked so cheap I couldn't bring myself to even install it. Sent it back and they refunded me. I talked to the guy and he said since the 00-02's are not in enough demand he can't afford to set up any more options since it takes so much money to tool up and he can't make enough money to recoup his costs.

 

[HiHoeSilver]

I'm done with the cluster. That was my second go-around. Last year I ordered an "upgrade" from www.fixmygauges.com which was basically their only choice for me. It was an 02 Escalade white face with a bezel that had chrome rings around the gauges. I took one look at it in-person and said hell no. It looked so cheap I couldn't bring myself to even install it. Sent it back and they refunded me. I talked to the guy and he said since the 00-02's are not in enough demand he can't afford to set up any more options since it takes so much money to tool up and he can't make enough money to recoup his costs.

Boo hiss!

 

[Rocket Man]

After not hearing from NR Auto for a day (I originally contacted them 2 days ago) I sent them another email and threatened to contest the PP transaction. Immediately they got back to me and said they're refunding my money. I also mentioned I was detailing this on the forum so that might of helped. Companies are understanding that forums can have a huge impact on their bottom line, either positively or negatively.

 

[Rocket Man]

Justin @blackbear had emailed me my new tune on Tuesday so today I figured I'd go ahead and load them onto my Autocal so the blower tune is ready for install. He put all of my tunes in one setup file so they all loaded at once. And since I found out that I need to run 91 octane or higher for the blower from now on, and nearly all the 87 octane needs to be gone from the tank before I install the Whipple, today I ran the truck below 1/8 tank and filled with 92 octane. I figure another tank after this and I'll be good to go. And since I'm running 92, figured I might as well run my 91+ octane tune until my blower is in so I just went out and installed it. I love the Autocal.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Justin @blackbear had emailed me my new tune on Tuesday so today I figured I'd go ahead and load them onto my Autocal so the blower tune is ready for install. He put all of my tunes in one setup file so they all loaded at once. And since I found out that I need to run 91 octane or higher for the blower from now on, and nearly all the 87 octane needs to be gone from the tank before I install the Whipple, today I ran the truck below 1/8 tank and filled with 92 octane. I figure another tank after this and I'll be good to go. And since I'm running 92, figured I might as well run my 91+ octane tune until my blower is in so I just went out and installed it. I love the Autocal.

View attachment 79815

View attachment 79816

Did you notice a difference with the 92 tune?

 

[Rocket Man]

I didn't really notice much when I ran it last time, that's why I went back to regular gas and the 87-89 tune. I haven't driven it since I just installed it a few minutes ago but I'm sure it adds a few hp. I just didn't think there was enough difference last time to justify spending the extra for 92. But since I'm stuck with premium gas now might as well run the tune for it until I start running the blower tune.

 

[67RS427]

I always run premium in my cars/trucks that can take advantage of it... The 6.2L in my case "Recommends" it. As an engineer and having a degree in high performance technology I can tell you that you might not notice the HP difference but there is a subtle difference in HP and MPG. The ECU pulls timing to compensate for the lower octane IF you have the higher compression or tune needed to use the higher octane. By using lower octane and having the ECU pulling timing you are lowering efficiency and or HP/MPG. The guy I bought my 07 Denali from ran 87 octane it's entire life and I put premium, drove it a hell of a lot harder than him (65 yrs old) and I am still getting 13MPG...

 

[Rocket Man]

My MPG was absolutely unchanged running 92 octane and the 91+ tune, ran it for 3 full tanks and used the calculator method so I know my MPG was accurate. I don't need a degree to tell me it wasn't worth spending money on premium fuel. You have a different engine, mine was built to run on 87 and doesn't have the higher compression like the LQ9 found in the Escalade which also makes my LQ4 a better choice for boosted applications. And Justin @ BB built my tunes for me. It's different than running a stock tune. That's why he made a tune for 87-89 and a separate one for 91+, so the ECU isn't looking for higher octane when I am running regular. I get 11 MPG the way I drive whether I'm running regular on the 87-89 tune or premium with the 91+ tune. And I'm not about to run regular with the 91+ tune....I know the ECU will retard the timing if I was to do that.

 

[67RS427]

My MPG was absolutely unchanged running 92 octane and the 91+ tune, ran it for 3 full tanks and used the calculator method so I know my MPG was accurate. I don't need a degree to tell me it wasn't worth spending money on premium fuel. You have a different engine, mine was built to run on 87 and doesn't have the higher compression like the LQ9 found in the Escalade which also makes my LQ4 a better choice for boosted applications. And Justin @ BB built my tunes for me. It's different than running a stock tune. That's why he made a tune for 87-89 and a separate one for 91+, so the ECU isn't looking for higher octane when I am running regular. I get 11 MPG the way I drive whether I'm running regular on the 87-89 tune or premium with the 91+ tune. And I'm not about to run regular with the 91+ tune....I know the ECU will retard the timing if I was to do that.

No argument there... There isn't gonna be an improvement without the higher compression. My motor is not as boost friendly as yours thats for sure. My heads are, bottom end, not so much... I'm getting 13mpg right now with really no highway use and me driving like an ass. I reset mine once for a freeway cruise and saw 19 - 21mpg but I've got the 6 speed, kinda cheating. Anyways, don't wanna clog up your build thread, just wanna add that you WONT see an improvement with premium gas unless you do have higher compression. Definitely recommended when you go with the Whipple though and any boosted application. Are you planning any Meth? It helps open the tuning window and gives you a little safety net for tuning/knocking...

 

[Rocket Man]

Premium is absolutely necessary with the Whipple. I have no plans for Meth, Justin @ BlackBear has my tuning in his hands and I trust him. I'll be running an AFR gauge with automatic 3-hour looping datalogging and my Autocal has datalogging capability if I feel I need more data to send him. I have complete confidence there will be no detonation. They have run many blowers on LQ4's for hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems. I'm hoping you have a trusted tuner for when you install your LSA blower- who are you planning on going with?

 

[67RS427]

Premium is absolutely necessary with the Whipple. I have no plans for Meth, Justin @ BlackBear has my tuning in his hands and I trust him. I'll be running an AFR gauge with automatic 3-hour looping datalogging and my Autocal has datalogging capability if I feel I need more data to send him. I have complete confidence there will be no detonation. They have run many blowers on LQ4's for hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems. I'm hoping you have a trusted tuner for when you install your LSA blower- who are you planning on going with?

You're in good hands... LQ4 is a bulletproof platform. I'm tuning myself with a friends help on the HP Tuners platform. He is the one helping me do the fabrication on the 67 Camaro and is more than qualified for the fine tuning. He's been doing OEM tuning for many years and custom stuff as well. I'm actually gonna buy my own HP Tuner and will have some extra credits so I will be able to tune some other friends cars as well. I've got a buddy that picked up a $1,500 GTP for his wife and already wants a pulley & tune, easy money... No dyno needed, just a good wideband and dataloging

 

[Rocket Man]

Sounds good. I'm just an amateur and want this to be as easy as possible. My years of building engines are behind me and my experience is with the old dinosaurs with distributors and carbs. The last engine I built was a 460 Ford with 429 Cobra Jet heads ported and polished running a Weiand 671 blower and nitrous back in the 80's. It was in my jet boat and I blew it up a few times lol. Seems I was always wrenching on that motor but it sure was a fun damn boat.

 

[67RS427]

Sounds good. I'm just an amateur and want this to be as easy as possible. My years of building engines are behind me and my experience is with the old dinosaurs with distributors and carbs. The last engine I built was a 460 Ford with 429 Cobra Jet heads ported and polished running a Weiand 671 blower and nitrous back in the 80's. It was in my jet boat and I blew it up a few times lol. Seems I was always wrenching on that motor but it sure was a fun damn boat.

I hear you... I know carbs are reliable and once you know how to get them dialed in they are great. I went through 3 of them on my 67 when it was NA before I got it right. Now its all Holley EFI. Computers are intimidating but it's my thing. I love computers... It makes everything so much easier. You just need to know what numbers to type in thats all. Tell it the AFR you want at what RPM and plot out a timing curve. Fuel pressure, timing, blah blah blah... It's a lot to learn but once you do it goes fast and you learn a lot about engines and how they function. I'm still learning and my LSA build will be my first "self" tune before my 67 Camaro with the help of my friend. It's scary but all fun at the same time. Till shit blows up that is... Good luck with yours, I sure hope you get time next weekend! Keep us posted.