ZZ4 Cam & More Install!! :)

[autolover3]

Thank you!

Last week thursday i got the oil baffle back on after a good clean, the oil pan, timing cover and balancer put on, and lifters lubed up and in the block.

This coming week I'll be finishing up on the heads. Screw in studs, cut guides down, valve job, check clearances etc.

Will be adding some pics tomorrow!

 

[autolover3]

Got the oil pan and valve covers painted

Timing cover and pan on the block

Lifters back in block

Here's the beehive springs and 787 retainers installed

Started pulling rocker arm studs today, thats a fun process haha

One stud somehow ended up bringing a piece of metal through the stud hold and made a nice gouge, didn't a chance to show instructor that yet. Hopefully it's not too bad to interfere with threads for studs.

Also got drill press setup to mill the towers down to compensate for the screw in studs, will be grinding .325" off

---------- Post added at 10:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:03 PM ----------

also does anyone know about swapping a 2500 radiator in a half ton or tahoe?

 

[retorq]

One of my heads did the exact same thing, no biggie. Keep up the good work.

 

[autolover3]

Instructor had a spare vortec head I could practice on and to make sure drill press was set correctly.

Checked to see if I cut the right amount down to put it at stock height. Had a slight gap at the pressed in studs but I didnt remove a slight edge from the cutter so the .325" I set it at will work

Here's one head after cutting the "pedestals" down

Here is the alignment tool to tap straight. After I tapped one whole the alignment dowel wouldnt fit into the threaded hole so used a drill bit to line it up.

Put the studs in to see how I did. Still have to call manufacturer to find torque specs for these and will need to clean the head before I put em in for good. Also the holes tapped using drill bit for alignment are tilting slightly, I mean very slightly, off center but are consistent. Hopeufully when I torque them down they will straighten!

Now just to finish the other head, and ******** these studs can be a b*tch to remove, makes me question if screw in studs were really needed haha. Me and my partner were cranking on two today with 2 foot crescent wrenches.

 

[retorq]

You aren't going to run pushrod guides? You could have went with the shoulderless studs and saved yourself a bunch of work ... Don't forget to seal/loctite those, I had one back out on me, caught it before anything bad happened.

 

[autolover3]

No since I am going with self aligning rockers.

 

[autolover3]

Ok things have been going pretty smooth now. The rocker arm studs straightened out once torque down, also had a good amount of sealant on threads.

Valve seats all done up

Valve seals on, studs torqued

Beehive springs installed with 787 retainers and new 7 degree locks. I've read people use the 618 locks if I remember correctly. But those definitely don't work on .341" stems.

Heads are on with .028" Chevy gaskets with some copper coating to help lower quench. Should be at roughly .053" versus ~.070 with the factory gaskets.

Checked geometry with new rockers and surprisingly they are good. I was figuring I'd need to go with different lenght pushrods with the new rockers and heads being shaved.

Beadblasted my water pump and painted black.

And here's a classmates 350 he did thats going back in his 85.

 

[autolover3]

Had welding class quick wip up a block off plate to remove rest of egr. Turned out simple and awesome IMO. I advise not to delete egr on a dialy driver though.

Using a oil pan drain plug for plugging the port. Didn't want to pay for shipping and wait for just a egr plug off summit. Same thread and pitch.

Alse bent some piping for cooler bypass, also had welding tig weld it.

The engine is finally back in. Today I got all the grounds, connectors, bellhousing studs etc all hooked up. Tomorrow will double check everything and will attempt to start the beast and hope she runs.

I am super excited but also nervous. Hoping it will be running fine because I need to drive it home this weekend and won't be able to get a retune till like the 14th due to Blackbear offices being closed. On their scheduled events Bismarck ND is on the list so I am hoping they come up and I will get it dyno tuned by them!

 

[retorq]

Not bad, why did you skip the cooler lines?

 

[Chezoom]

updates??

 

[autolover3]

Hey! sorry been busy had to pack up to leave college and move back home. Doin alot of work wround home for dad and started my new job as an intern auto/diesel mechanic! already have done injectors on some 6.7 cummins and helped swap over a whole new longblock in a 08 5500 chassis cab.

Update: the first turn of the key it started right up. Dialed in the dist with a tech 2. Finsihed cleanining up engine bay and what not. Also while I had it on the lift I welded in a flowmaster super 44 muffler (great choice). Right away I cruised around the country 2-4000 rpm to help break in cam even though instructor said it wasn't really needed since it was a GM cam, but did it anyways for piece of mind. Played with header bolts a couple times retightening them to rid exhaust leaks.

It's been about a week and a half since I left the shop with it. Just having a few problems with startup occasionally it will try to find idle but after a few blips of the throttle it smooths out. Down low its a bit laggy and feels like its bogging down rich wise and I exhaust smells rich. I hate driving it like this until I get it retuned but only vehicle I have right now (besides my 86 which is in pieces still haha) I had emailed Blackbear since I saw ND as a potential dyno tune location and they responded pretty quick and they added me to the list but am still waiting for any updates. Otherwise I'm just gonna do the scancable tune from them once I get some cushion back in the bank account haha.

Back to the driveability part. Idles smooth except for a slight miss and a p0300 random code once but I'm going to be checking fuel pressure along with a couple other things to solve that. Just need to find the time now. Power/torque is still not what I was expecting down low, could be it not running right yet, maybe shoud have went with a little higher stall converter even though it's not a big cam?, or cause I installed cam straight up even though when I degree'd it it showed 4 degrees advance ground into it. I have read people install the ZZ4 4 degrees advanced but instructor said no.. ? But once it hits 2500 rpm it starts pulling better and 3-3500 it feels like it hits boost haha. Revs clean and smooth all the way to limiter. Sounds great too especially with the super 44 on. After the rebuild and before the muffler I took a quick test drive and it was insanely loud... like you would not believe. Temps have been staying right around that 190-200 and its been pretty hot lately. It has a noticeable drive train noise due to the rocker arms which I think sounds pretty cool. slightly noticeable in the interior but not bad.

I am planning on ordering coolant temp and oil pressure gauges with a pillar column to help monitor things, not sure on which third gauge I should get. Tranny temp? Oil temp?

And sorry for the long update the reason I bypassed tranny cooler is my lines were leaky and the vortec lines are known for that. I don't plan on doing any towing with it. So yes it was kind of a quick cheaper fix. The welded up lines are solid though and fit without issue.

Can't remember if I'm missing anything, any questions feel free. I still have to get all my receipts together so if anyone is wondering on total cost of this it'll be a few days. I think I have some more pics of finished end product and video soon too.

 

[retorq]

No break in needed with that cam because it's a roller. Still need to seat the rings though ...

 

[SunlitComet]

fix the engine oil cooler system and return it to proper working order.

 

[autolover3]

With some searching there are many people who have deleted the oil cooler system with no problems. I went a step above and didn't just plug it. Instructor said this way the oil won't want to bypass filter when cold and "thicker" to prevent problems.. something like that. I can't recall exact words and way it works off hand.

 

[SunlitComet]

sound like a load of crock to me. one of the purposes of oil is to provide cooling to parts and given the power of the engines oil cooling with an oil cooler is very beneficial. it keeps your bearings cooler and helps to prevent coking. even when cold oil is not so bad that it would jam the cooler and cause the oil filter bypass valve to pop. it does stand to reason that an oil filter bypass valve is just that. protection from a plugged filter. not an oil cooler. hook it back up and stay cool.

 

[99 2dr]

I How is the power? I know that its not tuned yet, but is it noticeable? I have a brand new zz4 crate engine that I plan on dropping my heads and intake on.

 

[autolover3]

its noticeable when 2500 rpm hits it pulls stronger to redline. I bet your zz4 crate will have more snort than mine.