Randeez 2012 Budget Yukon Denali Build (stick on hood scoops galore)

[randeez]

Crank rub

 

[randeez]

Randy, is that wear and tear in the lifter galleys normal? All those little nicks and scratches or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

De-burring I think is what you're seeing...stock block is cast pretty rough. As it heat cycles some of it comes loose. Rather get rid of it up front

Talking about the "scratches" on the walls? In these pics, some of the grit is just what builds up at the intake manifold (outside the engine) didnt take much care when pulling it all apart knew it would have to be disassembled and cleaned anyway

and still very little shiny stuff in the oil when i drained it, was surprised

 

[swathdiver]

De-burring I think is what you're seeing...stock block is cast pretty rough. As it heat cycles some of it comes loose. Rather get rid of it up front

Talking about the "scratches" on the walls? In these pics, some of the grit is just what builds up at the intake manifold (outside the engine) didnt take much care when pulling it all apart knew it would have to be disassembled and cleaned anyway

and still very little shiny stuff in the oil when i drained it, was surprised

View attachment 220057

No, I mean the lifter valley walls. I guess those are marks from the lifter guides but didn't think they moved around that much unless that was you prying them out. Never been inside and LS yet myself, just curious.

 

[randeez]

nope, all i do is use a magnet to pull them out.
there is a "chase" that runs horizontally across all of the lifters on both sides from the timing cover to the back. on the non afm engines, after loosen rockers and remove pushrods, you can slide a rod in as you turn engine over , as the lifters lift up it traps them from falling back down. and you can swap a cam without pulling the heads

 

[iamdub]

First time opening up this mill, other than installing the head studs? How many miles are on it?

 

[randeez]

not going to pull rotating assembly apart (yet)...

still undecided on if goin ghetto rebuild ie: pull it all apart see how much of it can be saved, piece in the rest, gap the rings for boost, balance all of it and slap it all back together with some new bearings, check cam (should be fine), prob new lifters, new valve springs, gaskets/studs throughout, arp rod bolts. thinking that if i can get it back together for like $1500 this is prob what ill do (short term)

issue comes if rotating assembly needs to be replaced, stock aint going to cut it, so full forged going to be minimum $2k (stock crank i know can handle power but if i need $500 worth of machine work on the one i have id rather just buy a new balanced kit), another $1k for machine/assembly work, all of that crap i was going to replace anyway will be close to another $1k.... i'm pretty much up to what a complete 400+cu in short block would cost.

 

[randeez]

First time opening up this mill, other than installing the head studs? How many miles are on it?

pulled the heads for afm delete way back when but i didnt even take the pan off. 40k +/- miles on it.

as a side note... was pretty happy with how everything has held up since then, gaskets i will probably use only gm for now on, front cover had a couple of places where oil was very slowly getting out - would just get covered with crud before any made it to the ground. head studs were the cheapies jegs "speed master" brand, same china made junk but had a little more faith that jegs would atleast replace if i had an issue installing- torqued 30-60-80 no problem. heads popped right off i seem to remember them being stuck as hell with the stock gasket/tty bolts not sure if a clamping force deal or possibly different head gasket . LS9 headgaskets showed zero fatigue, will definitely use them again.

 

[iamdub]

not going to pull rotating assembly apart (yet)...

still undecided on if goin ghetto rebuild ie: pull it all apart see how much of it can be saved, piece in the rest, gap the rings for boost, balance all of it and slap it all back together with some new bearings, check cam (should be fine), prob new lifters, new valve springs, gaskets/studs throughout, arp rod bolts. thinking that if i can get it back together for like $1500 this is prob what ill do (short term)

issue comes if rotating assembly needs to be replaced, stock aint going to cut it, so full forged going to be minimum $2k (stock crank i know can handle power but if i need $500 worth of machine work on the one i have id rather just buy a new balanced kit), another $1k for machine/assembly work, all of that crap i was going to replace anyway will be close to another $1k.... i'm pretty much up to what a complete 400+cu in short block would cost.

Get a forged 3.9" crank for a boosted 405 cu. in. FTW.

Do it right or do it twice!

 

[iamdub]

pulled the heads for afm delete way back when but i didnt even take the pan off. 40k +/- miles on it.

as a side note... was pretty happy with how everything has held up since then, gaskets i will probably use only gm for now on, front cover had a couple of places where oil was very slowly getting out - would just get covered with crud before any made it to the ground. head studs were the cheapies jegs "speed master" brand, same china made junk but had a little more faith that jegs would atleast replace if i had an issue installing- torqued 30-60-80 no problem. heads popped right off i seem to remember them being stuck as hell with the stock gasket/tty bolts not sure if a clamping force deal or possibly different head gasket . LS9 headgaskets showed zero fatigue, will definitely use them again.

I had to ask the mileage cuz of how clean it was inside. After what I just experienced with my brother's 181K-mile LM7, I'm really anxious to pop a rocker cover off my 195K-mile LMG for comparison. Although, his had coolant in the oil so that was probably the main cause of the sludge.

What cover gaskets did you use? I used OEM for the head gaskets and maybe the oil pan and Fel-Pro everywhere else. The Fel-Pros looked identical to the OEM front and rear cover gaskets. Sometimes those locating rings can develop quite a bite. I'm guessing cuz they're steel and the heads are aluminum?

 

[randeez]

They were a nice gasket, mahle if I remember just would like not to have a little oil seepage and not have to cover every surface with rtv as well. possible it's just going to happen tho

E85 seems to keep combustion chamber clean but been on 93 since I lost an injector a few weeks ago and a had little bit of oil back up pcv since I didnt have a catch can for a while lol