Building my LQ4 engine in my Denali XL

[Ridculous]

Truck started up no issues through one heat cycle today....fingers crossed. Nice and smooth idle with a slight lump but nothing noticable. Replacing the front struts as they were leaking last week. Should have some vids on monday.




Pic of the Holley valve covers in wrinkle black and SSW headers...no issues on the install of the long tube headers per the shop



Better pics of the FAST intake manifold



And my dirty Wilwood 6 psiton BBK



Can't wait to get it dynoed and dialed in next weekend...I hope!

 

[Ridculous]

Ok picked up the beast and it's pretty nice. No leaks, check engine lights (so far) and a slight high idle from the base tune. Have 75 miles on the new engine so far and I plan on getting everything dialed in this weekend at my tuners dyno. I tried to get some vid's of the Denali at idle but didn't turn out well so I'll take one when I get back from my biz trip on Friday. Here are the final pics of her is buttoned up. Looks stock










looks good for a older style truck IMO!

 

[DenaliPrototype]

I'm new here, Got the same model and color... in for more pics! Maybe i'll get started on mine soon... love the thread!

 

[bottomline2000]

Truck looks great for a "new body style". Did u keep the Trans or swap to a 4l80?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[OHSIXX]

Looks purdy underneath the hood especially with that red intake!!

 

[Ridculous]

Truck looks great for a "new body style". Did u keep the Trans or swap to a 4l80?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Thanks boss!

Dropped the truck off at my tuners yesterday - about a 95 mile drive and no leaks, noises the entire ride (did have a flashing check engine light which I am assuming is the engine setting in). I actually think I picked up some MPG's compared to what I was getting before with the stock 6.0 - the enigne still needs to break in. I was getting 14 on the highway before and now it looks like 15 to 15.5 based on my math! I will be picking it back up next Saturday after it has been dialed in!

Regarding the transmission. It is stock for now as I start to collect all the necessary bits for the 4l80 conversion...hope to get it all together in the next couple of weeks and order a new torque convertor. Figure between the larger TRUCOOL transmission cooler and non-launching DD driving I should get a couple of extra months on the stock 4l65e.

 

[Ridculous]

Here are two vids of the beast in start up (outside) and inside....love it. Not to loud for the wife!

Hope this works...
Outside


Inside


The Denali is making some serious power. Made one run on the dyno and the tranny started to slip so we just did a street tune. Looks like the tranny upgrade is sooner than later...

 

[bottomline2000]

That 408 is ready to kill that transmission lol.. it seems like its got good street manners though. 150k seems to be the magic mileage for these transmissions... bumping the line pressure may keep it from slipping, but then the hard parts take the hit..

 

[Mr. Merk]

Its been a couple months. Where is the project at now?

 

[Ridculous]

So far so good. Passed the wife seal of approval!! Had some leaks and rattles that have all be worked out over the last 2 months - water pump had a casting issue and head gaskets needed to be replaced due to manufacturers defect all replaced under warranty. Also working on dialing in the new tune in with my tuner in OKC. The beast runs great but having some stumbling issues at 0-5 mph when the temperature drops below 15 degrees. I can tell you the car no longer down shifts their is so much torque through out the entire range it just goes at any speed!

I had it at 77mph on cruise control on a 400 mile trip and the Denali was sitting at 2000 rpm the entire time...even when it was going up on some nice size hills the car bumped up to 2100 rpms at most to maintain that speed...even saw 15 mpg (I get around 17 mpg at 65 mph)

Once I get the truck dialed in (also upgrading to a 92mm TB which will help) a new transmission will swapped in by q2 2015.

Their has been no need to go past part throttle during daily driving. So the plan is to simply baby the transmission till I get the new one in....if I want to go fast I will simply get into my daily driver E63 AMG and knock off low 11's all day long.

I'll try to get some more pics of the 408 later this week!