1999 Chevy Tahoe 2 Door Refresh

I love this whole rebuild. Im learning so much and this last engine rebuild part is just amazing!

 

I Thought they needed peen around the weight?
Luckily mine just needed drilled.

 

We made it a point to make sure the wrist t had absolutely no chance of coming loose hence tig welding. I’d never trust just peening but that’s just me. It was business policy where I worked.

 

The larger displacement engine is somewhat restricted by the stock throttle body. Later model LS engines utilize larger throttle bodies even with smaller displacement.
This BBK throttle body is 50 state legal for my make and model. At 80mm in diameter it is the same size as a 6.0 LS throttle body and will support up to 500 HP.
Between the intake porting and larger throttle body, we should have an air delivery system that supports the larger engine.





This throttle body comes with a tapered spacer to squeeze the larger 80mm back down to factory size.... Kind of a gimmick if used as directed.
Do not fret, this will be corrected!
A common complaint with this throttle body is poor idle quality due to not enough air supply to the IAC. We will be enlarging the IAC port to mimic the stock flow capacity.

 

All parts are cleaned, prepped and ready for assembly.
I have narrowed the camshaft selection down to a Comp and a Howards unit, just waiting to hear back from my tuner.
Comp is a "264" grind 210/220 .480/.480 with 112 LSA. Howards is a "266" grind 213/217 .485/.495 with 114 LSA.
It is a lot of work to change a cam in this truck, don't want to get too aggressive and have to change it, either unit will make north of 350 hp under 5K rpm.
I started off wanting to go conservative with the cam, but considering we are here now and doing the work we might get as much as we can.

I'm also waiting my turn for the build bench. Most of the engines going on the bench for the last several days are boring stock engines.....
300 Ford 6, several GM 3.0 boats, GM 5.0L boat, Skidoo 3 cyl jet ski, Subaru flat 4 nightmare, Ford 5.4L triton is next....
Last night I assisted with these two "fun" engines while the last of my parts were in the washer.
First up we assembled this circle track engine.



Second engine of the evening was a 6.0L LS for some off road race truck.
Not sure on the truck specs, but the word is that this beauty is getting topped off with aftermarket heads and a super charger.

 

Really cool you get too hang around and help.

 

X2

 

mother phucker. you're just tearing into that thing like its no big deal.

You got skill homie. Gawd damn.

 

The first step in assembly for most engines is cam bearing installation.
I had never installed cam bearings before, so after receiving instruction and installing my own cam bearings I installed the cam bearings in Joe's engine.



Once the cam bearings are installed the cam is slid into place to check for alignment and smooth rotation. The cam in the picture is Joe's billet cam that will be going into his engine.
The camshaft shortage is not limited to just odd fire Buick's, there is a lingering shortage since the "vid" days. Howards cams is 12 weeks out on any non stock item, that includes many SBC cams.
Joe's camshaft is a Summit Billet unit made in USA. His specs are 204/214, .450/.450, 112 LSA. We are playing it a little safe with his cam as the tune ability on the TBI ecm in his truck is limited.





Just when you thought you saw two 383 blocks with cam bearings installed ready for assembly....
Wrong
These blocks will now head back to the "clean" washer for a final wash/pipe cleaner and blow out before painting and assembly.
I am building my engine along side the shop owners own engine, my engine is getting all of the extra TLC that an engine builder would give his own build.

 

So much to learn. I could really enjoy that.

 

With the cam bearings installed it's time for a final brushing of all the oil galleys.
There is a solvent can of pipe cleaners in different diameters and lengths to reach every little spot.




Back into the hot washer for a good 1/2 hour bath.




One block at a time is washed, dried and painted.
As soon as the block is dry the cylinders are treated to a mist of WD-40 to prevent flash rusting. The cleaning solution in the tank has an anti rust agent in it but most of it gets rinsed off, especially from the cylinders.
While normal builds get a simple coat of engine rattle can paint, we are building an engine builders engine here.....
This 2 part catalyzed engine enamel from Eastwood is impressive stuff!

 

Oooo, wish I had known about that stuff before I painted my engine with rattle cans!

 

I have used rattle can 2K paint on a bed rail/headache rack and have been surprised with how well it has held up. Way easier than buying and mixing paint, cost effective too. For small pieces or intricate stuff, I would use it all the time.

 

What!?….no heavy runny coat?….you must like this better then your JEEP.

 

Those type of paint jobs usually happen when both of my hands are full.
Beer in one, paint in the other.

 

Two clean and freshly painted blocks.
It's really too bad you never see the all of the hard work once the engine is installed.
The important part is I know the engine clean and pretty!




I am assembling my engine side by side with Joe while he assembles his own engine.
Both engine's are exactly the same with the except for the camshaft selection and intake/fuel delivery systems.
Joe owns the shop and assembles over 500 engines a year himself. With thousands of 350 chevy engines under his belt... it's hard to keep up with his assembly pace.
I didn't end up with many pictures of the rotating assembly installation.
One highlight, coated bearings for both the crank and rods. These are one of the goodies that the average build doesn't receive as most people don't want to pay 3x more for bearings.
Joe asked what bearings I wanted in my engine and my reply was, "The same that you put in your own engine."
Coated bearings it is!





Mostly assembled short blocks.
Oil pumps, windage and oil pans still need to be installed.
Joe was ahead of me and had his engine bagged up before I got my lifters and retainer installed.

 

Small progress yesterday.
I was hoping to get the rest of the bottom end buttoned up but we ran into a snag with the oil pickup.
We are using Melling Shark Tooth high volume oil pumps with 3/4" bolt on pickup tubes. Aside from a billet oil pump, or dry sump system.... this is the best oil pump made for SBC.
3 pressure springs are included with the pump, we went with the lower 55-60 psi pressure relief spring.





Stalled out on the short block, I moved to the cylinder heads.
These heads are supposed to be ready to run out of the box but are known to have disappointing valve sealing surfaces.
There is no way I would install these heads without disassembling, cleaning and deburing.
A couple of the exhaust valves leave a bit to be desired after vacuum checking, I am going to lap all of the valves before re assembly.
The positive is some decent weight savings with these heads and better flow in a stock appearing package.

 

The cylinder heads were vacuum checked before being broken down for interior machining slag cleanup.
A couple of the exhaust valves were a little weak on holding vacuum, the decision was made to hand lap all of the valves.











With the valves now hand lapped to their specific hole, it is necessary to keep them in order.
The guys at the shop who do this stuff everyday work circles around me.
I'm over here marking everything with a sharpie, paranoid that I'll screw my $2,000 cylinder heads up.





Before heading to the parts washer the head surfaces are checked for flatness. Both heads were within the .002 spec across all directions.
Reassembly of the heads was fairly quick. I did manage to pinch my finger between releasing the spring compressor and holding the spring retainer in place.
Rookie mistake.....
The assembled heads were vacuum checked and all valves pulled/held vacuum equally.





The intake manifold needs some port matching to the heads.
We bolted the heads on temporarily and installed a burner set of intake manifold gaskets. On the intake side of the gasket we applied glue before sitting the intake in place and torquing it down.
One the glue is dry we should be able to remove the intake with gasket attached in the exact location, providing a template for port matching.
The engine looks great with all that aluminum.... unfortunately once the accessories are installed it is out of sight.

 

I'm enjoying watching this build

 

I second that!