Project Penny - All good things must come to an end

[Russell]

I suppose I should update this thread!

I am actively working on this swap now. I pulled the ZF6 out of the 02 and put in a brand new southbend single disc organic clutch with a solid flywheel after the dual mass flywheel took a dump (the clutch disc, pressure plate and half the flywheel stayed on the trans when I pulled it!). I also installed new injectors last weekend to clear up the blue smoke.

I am still driving the 02 with the duramax in it to make sure it is totally reliable before I make the swap into my Tahoe as it is much easier to work on this engine in a stock height truck vs working on it in my giant Tahoe, lol!

Regardless, I have two LSx swaps I am just finishing up then I will be tearing the 6.5L / 4l80e out of my Tahoe. I am gonna box them all up and they will be headed south to wind up in Horton

I picked up all the clutch pedals etc I need for my Tahoe a few weeks ago. You guys can expect me to take this swap on in full earnest here within the next 2 or 3 weeks. I don't think it will take longer than a month or two to pull off. My goal is to have it finished and to be on the trail June 2nd

 

[y5mgisi]

You have too much fun man!

 

[76zimmer]

sounds real cool Russ...hey I can drag that 6.5 to Eric behind the HD in Sept.?

 

[Russell]

Sure thing Dave! Might have to build you a little trailer for it I'd actually pay good money to see you pull that all the way to Idaho

 

[76zimmer]

that would make my bike shi* a brick I think..

 

[max 02]

Sure thing Dave! Might have to build you a little trailer for it I'd actually pay good money to see you pull that all the way to Idaho

I`d chip in to see that. haha.

Your swap will be sweet Russel,Mabe I will get a chance to see it this year too. That would be cool.

 

[imiceman44]

that would make my bike shi* a brick I think..

Aw common, don't you think your HD could pull 1k lbs?
Build a lightweight trailer with surge breaks.
In the summer I would do it.
I am planning on building such a trailer for my Honda Magna V45

 

[Russell]

Some progress to report! Tore my instrument panel out this weekend and got my clutch pedals and master cylinder installed. Tonight I am going to take the ARB bumper off and start disconnecting all the 6.5L related electrical.

I am going to have to take my sweet time with this part, as I need some of the connectors and the under hood fuse block to install my Duramax in as factory a way as possible. That said, I can't just go slicing wires up as the old rattle box and the 4l80e are going to wind up in Horton. I want to make things as easy as possible for him, so I will be labeling all the wires so it is easy for Eric to hook things up to his existing TBI harness.

I imagine I should have the 6.5L out and sitting on the shop floor by about mid next week. I then need to drop the fuel tank and run a new 1/2" fuel line for the duramax (including installing a 1/2" pickup in the sending unit assembly). With some luck, I can steal Andrew for a few days while we get the LB7 installed and a new engine crossmember built. Once we get it physically installed, it'll just be a matter of doing up my wiring, hooking up the fuel system and dragging it in for a 4" turbo back exhaust system.

My goal is to have this swap done by mid May. We have been daily driving the LB7 since installing the new clutch and injectors, it seems that everything is working well on it. Should be a good candidate for my swap

Also, my Tahoe has been out of comission for the better part of a month getting the front axle fixed up. It was bent, causing all kinds of camber problems. My pinion angle and castor angles sucked too. I had the inner Cs cut off, the housing and tubes straightened out and will be re-assembling everything with some new bling....

35 spline stainless mile marker hubs
Solid axle industries inner Cs, knuckles, hi-steer crossover keyed steering arms, spindles, wheel hubs and 3/4 ton 10 bolt brakes to replace the big D60 brakes.

The new brakes will help with the proportioning issues I've been having. My rear 3/4 ton brakes come in way too fast and hard vs the fronts right now, even with the adjustable prop valve set to turn the rears down as much as possible. Having the same volume fronts and rears with the adjustable prop valve should allow for some better braking characteristics and a much firmer pedal.

I also called up ORD this morning and ordered all of the stuff I need to re-assemble the D60, as well as a hydraulic assist assembly. Should get my D60 built up about as beefy as I want to pay for right now.

Looking forward to getting it all back together and going for a rip with the new engine Should be lots of fun!

 

[folkenheath]

Sounds like a plan Russel! That thing is going to be pretty cool.

I am a little confused though, if your rear brakes are currently coming in too fast and strong, then making your front brakes smaller is just going to make it worse right?

I don't have any issues with my front Dana 60 brakes and rear 3/4 ton disks. I do have the smaller pistons on the rear on purpose. Do you have your adj prop valve after the factory one? Because I have heard if you put it before it will give you issues. Mine works fine with the adj valve after the factory one. I hope you get the problem solved, it just seems like you are going the wrong direction. The fronts need to be stronger, or the rears need to be weaker if I am hearing your problem correctly.

 

[Russell]

I am looking at it as a issue of volume... Sure, the front brakes are capable of more clamping pressure due to the larger pistons, but they require more fluid moved to do so. Smaller pistons would mean the piston would travel further than the big piston would, meaning they would apply force much sooner.

My rear brakes are smaller than the fronts and clamp sooner than the fronts do. If the front and the rear are the same volume and start braking at the same basic time, plus the addition of the adjustable prop valve and we should be good to go. The Tahoe came factory with ABS (which did proportioning internally), but I removed it in favor of an aftermarket wilwood system.

 

[78SWB]

 

[76zimmer]

Russell, I would appreciate as many pics as possible for this LB7 swap...It would still be a cool thing to do to BART one day, should I happen to fall into a bucket of $$$$$.
I'm still particularly freaked about the wiring...just intimidates the hell outta me, so if you could document what you do there I would surely be interested!
Oh, and as long as I'm in the neighborhood, how bout a ride?

 

[blazinzuk]

I am going to have to take my sweet time with this part, as I need some of the connectors and the under hood fuse block to install my Duramax in as factory a way as possible. That said, I can't just go slicing wires up as the old rattle box and the 4l80e are going to wind up in Horton. I want to make things as easy as possible for him, so I will be labeling all the wires so it is easy for Eric to hook things up to his existing TBI harness.

Yes Yes labeling is good

If we can get enough guys to come to Renes thing in order to take Keiths burb we can just pull it down then.

I am already gathering parts for the swap too!

Looking forward to the torque and mileage the 6.5 will give me. Not to mention the look on peoples faces when I tell them its a 6.5 and NOT a cummins

 

[jekquistk5]

Yes Yes labeling is good

If we can get enough guys to come to Renes thing in order to take Keiths burb we can just pull it down then.

I am already gathering parts for the swap too!

Looking forward to the torque and mileage the 6.5 will give me. Not to mention the look on peoples faces when I tell them its a 6.5 and NOT a cummins

wait this is going in horton? or the jimmy? Or the dually?

 

[DEMON44]

Russ, that theory doesn't sound accurate on the brakes. All OEMs have larger fronts. You may fix your issue, but I think its just bandaiding the problem.

 

[Russell]

Well, finally had a day off here, and got to work on the Tahoe. I removed the cooler stack, core support and inner fenders last night. Today I removed the rest of the driveline. I took the engine, transmission and t-case out with my handy dandy mobile engine hoist (aka skidsteer, lol) all in one piece.

Pulled out the pressure washer and cleaned up the engine compartment (it was pretty greasy from 300k of 6.5L sitting in it) then removed the steering box to be sent in for a rebuild / drilled and tapped for hydro assist. I also removed my front brake lines, as I kinda cobbled them together just for Blazer Bash last fall and was never overly happy with them. I'll be going with a single drop line to the center of the diff then shooting to to each of the calipers with some hard lines and finally some short flexible lines.

Before I tear down the 02 to rob the LB7 out of it, I am going to re-weld my front crossmember (there are some cracks in the welds) and paint up the frame. We will be installing a new engine crossmember to help stiffen the front end up after the new engine goes in.

To satisfy ya'll, here are some pictures!

 

[y5mgisi]

Hard to imagine a max sitting in there!

 

[76zimmer]

Yes Yes labeling is good

If we can get enough guys to come to Renes thing in order to take Keiths burb we can just pull it down then.

I am already gathering parts for the swap too!

Looking forward to the torque and mileage the 6.5 will give me. Not to mention the look on peoples faces when I tell them its a 6.5 and NOT a cummins

I'd tell em its a Cummins Eric, and then you'll really see a puzzled look!

wait this is going in horton? or the jimmy? Or the dually?

Horton, with the 4L80E to boot!

 

[Russell]

Well, I didn't get a whole lot done tonight like I hoped, but some progress was made!

I made a trip out to the junkyard after school while I was waiting for Andrew to make it home from work with the dually as he has been driving it daily for the last month or two to make sure the LB7 was ready to go before I put it into my Tahoe. While I was there I found a nice manual transmission instrument cluster to put in, which leaves me with finding a new heater control panel (broke mine ) and a new steering column collar for a manual transmission. The cluster is from a gasser V6, but it is no problem to re-calibrate the tachometer signal for a V6 output (it is 4 cylinder stock...) and I'll just use the shift light as the glow plug indicator. The rest all works just fine, and the cluster does not specify gas or diesel on the fuel level gauge. Good enough for me!

Anyways, drove about an hour towards where the truck was and suddenly realized I'd lost my phone. The last time I used it was in the V6 truck I robbed the cluster out of. So, headed back into the city and sure enough, there it was sitting on the bench seat of the junker. So, lost 3 hours of time on that little venture and didn't really get as much done tonight as I hoped.

When Andrew dropped off the dually, we took some time and installed the D60 up front (now waiting on a large shipment of goodies from ORD, ), with the ruff stuff u-bolt flip kit then tore the front clip off the dually to see how my Tahoe ARB fits compared to the proper one for that truck (they stick out like crazy up front). The Tahoe's bumper wasn't a whole lot better. We also set the dually at what we figure we want for it's final ride height after installing the hopped up 5.9L cummins diesel / NV4500 / solid axle swap.

Oh, also installed a new mirror in my 2012 with a compass and a temperature gauge, woohoo!

Anyhoo, couple of pictures for you guys since I know ya'll love em so much

 

[folkenheath]

Those inner Cs look beefcake.