The ol' Tahoe is down for the count - coolant in cylinder(s)

[arveetek]

There are two support rods that bolt onto the trans bellhousing cover and extend forward. The longest one mounts to the starter side of the engine and bolts onto a bracket on the block side of the passenger side motor mount. The shorter rod... I don't know what/where the forward end bolts to.

I only had the one longer rod on the passenger side when I pulled my engine....

Casey

[Robyn]

The IFS front ends only use one rod.....Diffy is in the way of the other one....

[arveetek]

Making progress!


Rebuilt transmission and transfer case installed:







And then my helper (my 11 year old son) and I worked on getting the engine stabbed back in:












Success!









My son was a great help; he operated the engine hoist and the floor jack while I was underneath lining everything up. He's an awesome worker.

Won't be too much longer now.

Casey

[Robyn]

Looking great.....Having that extra pair of hands is such a big help...

[More Power]

Looking good, and you're so close! It's great that your son is taking an interest.

I like that you removed the passenger side wheel well liner. That'll make getting the electrical and the turbo installed easier. Looks cold outside your garage! Was 67 degrees here today, but that won't last long.

[arveetek]

Looking good, and you're so close! It's great that your son is taking an interest.

I like that you removed the passenger side wheel well liner. That'll make getting the electrical and the turbo installed easier. Looks cold outside your garage! Was 67 degrees here today, but that won't last long.

I'm so grateful to have a son who loves all things mechanical! He'd rather be outside or working in the shop than be stuck inside watching TV.

Removing the inner fender makes life so much easier - whether it's replacing glow plugs, working on the turbo, or working on the exhaust, it's a no-brainer for me. I can literally have the fender out in less than 10 minutes.

It was chilly this weekend in SW Missouri. Lows in the upper 20's and highs in the upper 40's. It was 65 today and will be 70 tomorrow. The temps have been a roller coaster for about 2 weeks now. But mostly what you're seeing are dirty windows!

Casey

[arveetek]

Of all the parts I had to order for this project, one of the items that I am most excited about is a brand-new, aftermarket replacement wire harness for the injection pump circuit:







The original harness was in awful shape. After 26 years and nearly 380K miles, the plastic connectors had become brittle and were breaking apart:










A completely rebuilt engine will do me no good if the wiring harness that controls the fuel delivery system is worn out. I feel this will provide a lot of trouble-free service in the coming years:













I'm very pleased with the fit and finish of this harness.

Casey

[a5150nut]

Do yourself a favor and get a can of spay tuner cleaner with oil or us some dielectric grease when you assemble those'

[More Power]

That new harness looks nice! Where'd you get it?

I had a couple of take-off IP harnesses that I got from Peninsular back in the late 1990s. I didn't need to use them with my 6.5 project, but they are a great resource considering the dwindling supply, and a great backup. Luckily, all of the Blazer's original harness connectors were in pretty good shape.

And, I agree with A5150 about the electrical cleaner/lube. I bought a spray can of electrical cleaner and a can of silicone spray from NAPA to allow the connectors to be clean and go together easier. They do get brittle over time.

[arveetek]

That new harness looks nice! Where'd you get it?

Here:

https://quadstartuning.com/collectio...nt=41414604242

Casey

[arveetek]

4:30 pm yesterday (Sunday) afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPMMtMAyQmo

After getting the radiator installed and topping off all fluids, I cranked the engine over without the glow plugs in order to circulate the oil and to also help bleed the air out of the fuel injection system. It didn't take long before there was a decent puff of fuel vapor coming from each cylinder.

I then installed the glow plugs without hooking up the wires. I cranked it over again to see how it would turn over under compression, and to my surprise, it acted like it wanted to start! I then hooked up the glow plug circuit wiring, and she fired immediately and then stalled. Just a little more cranking, and she came to life! One of the easiest first starts I've ever had.

Now I just need to install the exhaust down pipe, the inner fender, grille, bumper, hood, and finish up the air cleaner setup, and she'll be ready for a road test.

Casey

[Robyn]

Getting that harness is a real plus for sure.

When I did the engine in Dahooooley I was able to find a NOS delco harness off of ebay.

Definitely provides peace of mind....

Looking good..

[2INSANE]

Very nice Casey! All the hard work is paying off! Can’t wait to see the next video of you driving it! :-)

[More Power]

4:30 pm yesterday (Sunday) afternoon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPMMtMAyQmo

After getting the radiator installed and topping off all fluids, I cranked the engine over without the glow plugs in order to circulate the oil and to also help bleed the air out of the fuel injection system. It didn't take long before there was a decent puff of fuel vapor coming from each cylinder.

I then installed the glow plugs without hooking up the wires. I cranked it over again to see how it would turn over under compression, and to my surprise, it acted like it wanted to start! I then hooked up the glow plug circuit wiring, and she fired immediately and then stalled. Just a little more cranking, and she came to life! One of the easiest first starts I've ever had.

Now I just need to install the exhaust down pipe, the inner fender, grille, bumper, hood, and finish up the air cleaner setup, and she'll be ready for a road test.

Casey

Great job! The enthusiasm from your son is priceless. The engine sounds great.

It's always with a little trepidation that I look beneath the vehicle for leaks and such...

[arveetek]

Thanks guys!

I got it on the road about 9 pm last night, and drove it to work this morning. I'm still a bit nervous, but everything seems to be working well. I accidentally overfilled the transmission, so it's burping a bit of fluid out, but other than that, so far so good!

And holy cow, that new turbo is crazy! Driving without the hood on last night the turbo whine was almost obnoxious! With the hood on it's much quieter, but I can still hear the turbo the whole time I'm driving. Very nice! I've already gotten it to 15 psi with little effort. The old GM-4 maxed out at 13 psi under heavy load.

More updates soon!

Casey

[2INSANE]

Any chance you could hook up a compression tester and take it on a drive to see what your compression is at 15psi with the Hx35w? I am very curious to see those numbers.

[More Power]

Any chance you could hook up a compression tester and take it on a drive to see what your compression is at 15psi with the Hx35w? I am very curious to see those numbers.

Combustion pressure will wreck a compression tester.

[56pan]

?????!

[Robyn]

Great job.....
Worth the time and effort for sure....

[arveetek]

The engine is running great, but it appears my transmission guy supplied me with the wrong torque converter. It appears I received a TC for a gasoline application; my stall speed is around 2500 RPM! I noticed during my initial test drive that it seemed to take a lot of throttle and RPM to get moving. I first attributed it to the fact that I hadn't driven the vehicle in 4 months, and had gotten used to driving a little Volvo wagon and forgotten what it was like to drive my diesel. However, I finally realized I had a much higher stall speed than before.

There seems to be some confusion on torque converters for the 4L80E... most parts catalogs list the same part number for both gas and diesel versions. However, I did finally find a parts listing that showed low stall and high stall options. The low stall is 1600-1800 for diesels and big blocks and the high stall is 2200-2400 rpm for everything else.

My transmission guy is willing to replace the torque converter. My question: can anyone recommend a good, high-quality performance low-stall torque converter? If I'm going to have to pull the tranny again, might as well do it right once and for all.

I'm wishing now I had pressed this issue further, but I trusted my transmission guy. He's done great work for me in the past, and specializes in GM racing transmissions. But, I don't think he's had too many diesel transmissions come through his shop.

Casey