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97 Tahoe 2 Door

Leaf springs worked awesome for me. But my mistake was putting in 52s. If I went with the stock 47" front springs, it'd have been a great daily driver.

Coilovers turned my Tahoe into a trailer queen due to geometry issues.
 
Yeah it might be overkill in some perspectives.....

But I really want something that rides and handles really well on and off the road. Not to say that leafs can't do that, however a linked setup with the right coilovers and swaybar is going to do a much better job right?

Who knows, I might change my mind and go with a higher end leaf spring but this is where I see things going as of now.

Russell said:
Leaf springs worked awesome for me. But my mistake was putting in 52s. If I went with the stock 47" front springs, it'd have been a great daily driver.

Coilovers turned my Tahoe into a trailer queen due to geometry issues.
Click to expand...

I should probably re-read your build thread, I vaguely remember some of the debacle you dealt with. At least Penny can tow a load when $hit hits the fan though.
 
skunked said:
Yeah it might be overkill in some perspectives.....

But I really want something that rides and handles really well on and off the road. Not to say that leafs can't do that, however a linked setup with the right coilovers and swaybar is going to do a much better job right?

Who knows, I might change my mind and go with a higher end leaf spring but this is where I see things going as of now
Click to expand...

Yes, a link setup, if set up correctly, can do better all around as you mentioned, however what people tend to forget is that getting a link setup to that point usually takes A LOT of test/tune time to make sure link geometry is correct and also getting the coilovers setup with the correct springs/pressures to work for you needs (limiting body roll, etc.)...which usually increases the time and cost of builds way farther than people anticipate.

It just seems very very unnecessary for the overall use of the truck. Would it be sweet? Absolutely! But you can get really close to the same performance and still good road manners out of a good leaf setup.

Just something to think about. Either way, I'll be watching!
 
GWeakland620 said:
Glad I stayed with 47" springs then!
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Yeah if it were me and I was already planning on spending the $ on high end coilovers...I would put that money into a really good ORD set of front springs that still have great road manners (to keep the wife happy while driving around town) but gets you the desired off-road capabilities while keeping the simple and proven leaf sprung SAS design.

If you were building this to be your next trail truck then I would be all for linking it (the mid-90's chevy trucks are just begging to be linked in the front...lot easier than the square bodies). But once again, going back to the uses of the truck....ORD springs would be more than enough to accomplish it

At this point, you can tell me to :sign4: if you want...:D
 
I don't mind constructive criticism and I'm sure I would be happy with a high end leaf setup with quality shocks. Like you said, these trucks are begging for a link setup but that may not be easily accomplished with a small lift. I'm sure this rig will go on the rubicon at some point......

Last night I cleaned the deck of the block so it's all prepped for the new heads. Called the machine shop, they're still waiting on the new castings which should come in today or tomorrow. Need to order the head gaskets today, debating on whether or not to buy new head bolts :dunno: Also put the intake manifold in the parts washer, that damn thing needs some elbow grease for sure.
 
New heads, head gasket kit, plugs and injector spider. That was expensive....
3DE83385-CA78-4540-823B-5A23F9E26BDF_zpsiayzrg4z.jpg


Block cleaned up, note the steam cleaned piston
08B6BF8F-EA93-4859-82CA-5382C4BA451D_zps5rm3a2lm.jpg


Tomorrow I'll get it back together as long as the heat doesn't get too irritable.
 
Ran into a problem today, apparently the machine shop didn't think I needed the push rod guides from the old heads :rolleyes: Maybe I should have removed them....

Made some good progress otherwise.

Heads torqued
E54BEF24-2753-4D8C-AD0B-7DE705444F37_zpsbzwflp8y.jpg


Intake manifold cleaned with the updated spider installed
CDB11E79-DF90-4295-A142-289FB9494161_zpswljlkgvx.jpg


Manifold installed along with the distributor.
12D7D02C-F888-4E1A-B990-4E71A31B0E9F_zps3hiht5xk.jpg
 
Forgot to mention that I asked the machine shop about the head bolts and he recommended I replaced them with the earlier version and use a final torque spec of 65 lb ft. Rather than the wierd 55/65/75 degree crap the later model bolts recommend.

Here's a pic of the manifold with the factory spider that used poppet valves. The newer version utilizes injectors.
74228D8B-5773-468F-9001-D765ADE7A461_zps06npt7yo.jpg
 
Just got off the horn with the machine shop about the missing push rod guide plates and he said I shouldn't have any? He wanted to know what rockers I had to know for sure, of course those are at my house so I need to run home and call him back. He mentioned that some aftermarket heads had guide plates but these do not need them unless it has a certain rocker design. The pushrods are hollow, I do remember that much.

@bent72 or @wetoolowdingbangow or @Russell are you guys familiar with any of this?
 
Found this info on Super Chevy about the Vortec heads

The Vortec head also uses guided rockers to position the rocker arm over the valve stem. If you choose not to run guided rockers, then you must add guideplates to the heads with screw-in studs.

p177897_image_large.jpg


So I need to make sure I have these guided rockers.

Really makes me wonder what heads were on this engine since I had guide plates and apparently the vortecs did not come factory with them.
 
Yeah guide plates are a bit weird on oem.

I didn't have them on my 4.3l vortec...

My 350 didn't have them before but it does now as the aftermarket, screw in stud heads have a way bigger hole than is acceptable for 5/16 pushrods...
 
wetoolowdingbangow said:
Yeah guide plates are a bit weird on oem.

I didn't have them on my 4.3l vortec...

My 350 didn't have them before but it does now as the aftermarket, screw in stud heads have a way bigger hole than is acceptable for 5/16 pushrods...
Click to expand...

these heads have the bigger holes so there's plenty of clearance for the pushrods. I'm going to run home and look at the rockers at lunch, hopefully they're guided.
 
skunked said:
these heads have the bigger holes so there's plenty of clearance for the pushrods. I'm going to run home and look at the rockers at lunch, hopefully they're guided.
Click to expand...

They should only have .020-.030" clearance over the pushrod. If they're bigger then you need guide plates for sure.
 
wetoolowdingbangow said:
They should only have .020-.030" clearance over the pushrod. If they're bigger then you need guide plates for sure.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that it doesn't matter as long as you have a guided rocker. Otherwise you need guides to keep the pushrods in place which will then keep the rockers over top of the valve tips.
 
skunked said:
My understanding is that it doesn't matter as long as you have a guided rocker. Otherwise you need guides to keep the pushrods in place which will then keep the rockers over top of the valve tips.
Click to expand...
This
 
Go fast motor.

Ironically, early small blocks had neither. Some how they rarely had valve train issues
 
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