Rocket Man's 02 Denali Build Thread AKA "THE BEAST"
- Thread starter Rocket Man
- Start date
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****** peer pressure lol. Damn I almost gave up on that oil pan about 10 times. What a *****. I was so close to just saying the timing set and oil pump will have to stay. At one point, with the front diff dropped as far as it would go and the pan looking like it wasn't going to clear, I was sure I made a huge mistake and was going to have to pull the axles and remove the diff. Then I pried some more and there it was. Oil pan off. Must have taken 3 hours. Then I pulled the oil pump and timing chain but no matter what I tried, the lower timing gear wouldn't come off. I tried for over an hour, heating with a torch, driving a tool I made and pounding with an 8 lb sledge but no way. I read online that sometimes they have to be split in half. ridiculous. I stopped before I hurt it. I decided to just replace the chain and the cam gear and oil pump. I measured and tested and checked and the Cloyes chain works perfectly on the lower gear and is the exact same length and width as the OEM. I didn't get crazy with pictures, especially with the part where I was on my back under it (where I think I invented some new cuss words) but here ya go. First pic it starts. Then a shot of the radiator pulled and some of the butterflies I killed. Next is a shot of the front with radiator, intercooler, and A/C condenser removed. That was fun but I had no idea what was coming. A few more bugs, then a shot of what I used to pull the harmonic balancer. I know I shouldn't use the word, but I used a Chrysler balancer puller and modified the old crank bolt to use for it to push against. Easy breezy. The puller hooked on the center spokes of the balancer perfectly. I read this online somewhere. View attachment 180293 View attachment 180295
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Stupid forum keeps turning my pics upside down and then I have to mess with them to load right so that post was a bit messy. Anyway, next the cam comes out, then the new cam is in and a new retainer plate is on. Then hours friggin later the oil pan is finally out, and look what I found. It's the piece of the oil filler tube that I dropped when I was doing my headers. Finally, the chain and new cam gear is on and the dots are lined up.
in there
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Final shot for the day. I spent 10 hours on this today, in record heat of 105 degrees. I'm beat!
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Almost done. All I have left is the CAI, intercooler, EFans and then fill with fluids. Today I installed the oil pan, transaxle, roller rockers, and all the rest of the engine parts as well as AC condenser and radiator. It was a long day again but it's close. Startup will be in the morning. I'm nervous and excited. In case anybody has to replace the oil level sensor, I included a couple shots of the stupid plug which you can't see the top of so you won't know it has the same clip a lot of other things do, but they made it real hard to release since you can't see it's inside the female part.
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A few more shots.
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And more. It was an 11 hour day but it only got to 95 today. Lol.
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And my Bilstein 4600's for the front came today. I noticed the fronts were feeling soft when I went camping earlier in the week. Amazon Prime had them here in 2 days. Since it's on jack stands and the wheels are off, now's the time. Replacing Arnott's.
95escahoe
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about20ninj45
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Didn't like the arnotts?
