New whip v.towing

[Mr_Roboto]

So, my in laws were selling their Escalade off and after some coaxing from the old lady I was like "what the hell why not?" It's got about 189K on it and it's the 6L/AWD/loaded. My wife wanted it for the towing capacity, the RV we have is way under it's load limit (3K higher than my Volvo.) I know I need to get the dash lights done, some wheel caps would be nice and few other minor things. You guys get one pic b/c rain.

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[Yaj Yak]

well this is neat

 

[10sec]

Sayin ^^

 

[Mook]

Looks clean.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Just a quick update, I installed inner tie rod ends on it and holy shit. If you've done the steering box adjustment mod and you're looking to take more slop out of your GMT800 vehicle this is a likely suspect. I had probably 1/8 inch of play in the passenger side, and a bit less in the driver's side. With inners and outers it was something like $75-100 of rock auto parts.

 

[DEEZUZ]

I had never knew of this...

You mean it hasn't eaten a cam yet?

 

[Yaj Yak]

 

[Mr_Roboto]

I had never knew of this...

You mean it hasn't eaten a cam yet?

Considering I have HPT that would likely be the start of a very bad trend if it didn't eat the whole engine up. I'd end up with that $300 Elgin jobbie probably.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Welp been doing some wrenching on this beast, new oil pressure sender (what a bastard to get to, 1 1/16 socket for those who need one later) but not horribly time consuming. Also did the valve cover gaskets, which has gotten rid of almost all the oil smell. This heap is starting to act like an almost decent vehicle. My luck it'll probably get totaled or blow something up.

What usually blows up in the A/C system on these? The belt remains are hanging off the crank pulley which makes me guess the compressor locked up. Reading on this it may not be though. Any experiences?

Also the dash keeps dropping power when hot. I've read that I can resolder some resistors. No bad motors yet knock on wood, but I would like to get it fixed. I can solder it my self. Also gonna toss in some LEDs.

Lastly, the rear door lock will unlock but not lock. Guessing some piece of plastic is broken. Thoughts?

 

[Mr_Roboto]

So I have an oil pressure at startup issue. It takes a few seconds then it builds up. I'm going to try (re) changing the sensor and seeing if it goes away. That said bypass issues seem to be a problem in the pump on these. You can change one in the chassis, although it's a pain in the dick esp with it being AWD.

With that out of the way, I'm wanting to do a cam at the same time. It would be far enough apart that it seems like way less of a bad idea. This thing is stock as a fucking rock. I tow my 4K lb RV with it, and it already probably weighs 6500 stock. It's the LQ9. What cam/springs would you put in it, and what timing chain? From what I understand I can spin the cam around twice and I can do the cam without pulling the lifters? Also, I Think I'm going to need injectors if I go almost anything about stock power which is something like 345hp. I would just say fuck it and leave it if I was going to do something like a turbo, but that would mandate a 4L80E setup which would be even worse to put in than the cam.

Thoughts?

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

I don’t know if yours has it (it should) but there’s a screen under the sensor that gets clogged and fucks up pressure. Otherwise the oil pump O-ring seems to be another common failure. Dropping the pan doesn’t seem to bad, just need to drop the diff.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/new-cam-adds-71-hp-stock-6-0l-ls-no-low-end-loss/

 

[HILROD]

You don't need to drop the pan to do oil pump, it's easier that way but not needed. Or you can loosen the pan so it drops. but not out. I'd keep the cam small. maybe a stock LS3 cam. DOD delete for sure.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

You don't need to drop the pan to do oil pump, it's easier that way but not needed. Or you can loosen the pan so it drops. but not out. I'd keep the cam small. maybe a stock LS3 cam. DOD delete for sure.

I missed the cam part on my first post.


Do you loosen and drop the front of the pan to help get to the pickup bolts or just deal with the tight quarters when you do it?

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

This article had good stock cam tests (though on a 5.3)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hotrod.com/articles/ls-cam-test-comparison/amp/

 

[HILROD]

I missed the cam part on my first post.


Do you loosen and drop the front of the pan to help get to the pickup bolts or just deal with the tight quarters when you do it?

There is only on bolt facing up through the pickup. Some are on the easier side some are on the lower more tight side. It's pretty easy to get off unless you drop the bolt. The whole pan would need to be loosened to lower the front to help any at all.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

This is pre AFM so no worries there.

 

[Bob Kazamakis]

Lucky

 

[10thSVT_03]

One of my employees has one with over 300k on it. He says he’s never getting rid of it. The thing is mint.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

One of my employees has one with over 300k on it. He says he’s never getting rid of it. The thing is mint.

This one came from Texas and it definitely has some war wounds but in terms of rot it doesn't have any of the up here stuff yet.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Took this up to Michigan and did well over a thousand miles. We developed an interesting bang/clank along the way. I was trying to isolate it today and something odd happened. It seems to happen even when the engine's off. I think it's the exhaust system. There's a valve in there and I'm wondering if that could be the cause or if it's thermally occurring with the muffler baffles. Any input?

 

[Bub]

If you have that post muffler valve thing like i do, I took a hose clamp and clamped it open so it doesn't flap. I did it for 4cyl shake. Didn't notice any change in drone at all

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Welp, the trans appears to have munched its self. Fluid is real burnt. I was thinking it may be the t-case so I dropped that most of the way down and then the fluid that drained out of the trans when I separated the two pretty much confirmed it was the trans. I need to pull the plug and see what I get out in terms of entrails. Gotta get this pig ripped out and rebuilt. Gonna have Redline do it in all probability. Price was good and more importantly talking with Carl the bits I wanted put into it were pretty much defaults in the transmissions he builds.

It would at least get me to where I could think about H/C/I with this if I was ever so inclined. Obviously if I have to fuck with the front of the engine a cam is certainly going in. Why not when 3/4 the work is done already?

Truthfully I'm probably less than 1/3 the way to getting it out and maybe 1/4 the way. I have to still:
-Disconnect electrical lines
-Disconnect cooler lines
-Disconnect the flexplate bolts (after dropping the starter)
-Disconnect the bellhousing bolts
-Deal with the torsion bars since they keep you from dropping the crossmember
-Drop the crossmember
-Drop the trans (finally)

 

[OffshoreDrilling]

Bummer to hear about the trans man. Do yourself a favor and throw a mild converter in the truck while the trans is out. Night/day difference in performance.

 

[Mr_Roboto]

Going to get the tbss unit. Redline said it's a big step up even for a tow rig.

Atf was not a good color.