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Quadrasteer 8.1L Suburban tow rig

2003 Suburban 2500 Quadrasteer camper towing 8.1L 6.0L swap 4L80-E
Overview Gallery Discussion
Look at that, 3 months have passed without touching it. Didn't know I could do that, but I'm sure I've been avoiding it. Fired up the Suburban today to turn it around for the engine pull. Starts at 45psi and climbs to almost 60 when accelerating. I still think that's too low for cold 15W-40, which is what I put in it last. Didn't let it warm up to check hot pressure again - probably better to run as little as possible. Runs really nice -sell it now? :reddevil:

I would drop the pan if I didn't have to pull the whole front drivetrain again. Going to pull it, open it up and have a look-see. Then I can form a plan.
 
 
None of what looks like scratching is felt with a fingernail. I can pull the main caps next and look at those and get some more pictures of the internals. The oil pickup had 0 debris in it, but there is some black stuff in the oil pan - it was 100% clean when I put it on. I guess after that I should look inside the timing cover and pull the camshaft out. I have to find the source of the metal and cause of low hot oil pressure before any decisions. Wonder if it's as simple as some debris scored the internals of the pump.
 
The cylinder walls show crosshatch, but #8 has some scratching from the bottom of the piston. Don't know if that's consistent with the piston slap these engines are known for or something else.

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I've run worse bearings than those.

Then again, my record of keeping Chevy V8s running is abysmal. I bought another one a couple weeks back, and managed to break it before I even got home (AGAIN :doah:).

So you might not want my input. :ignore:


:haha:
 
Well the betting pool is closed with no winners. The metal is coming from the cam. #8 intake.

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The pushrods, rocker arms, lifters, oil pump drive and timing set all look fine. Was it some metal from the windage tray lodged in there, some pre-existing condition or gremlins I don't know.
 
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I should have said all the lifters look OK except that one. It was hard to get the camera focused on that roller.
 
campfire said:
I'm surprised that the pickup is so clean. Did all of the missing metal stay in the bottom of the pan?
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I haven't opened this filter yet, but the engine has hardly been driven between pan drops.

Still debating with myself if a used stock cam and lifters with new bearings is all this engine needs. I would have to clean it like crazy (maybe new lifters are worth not taking all of those apart), but I was still thinking to not pull the heads.
 
Blue85 said:
I was still thinking to not pull the heads.
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Can you pull the pistons out the bottom to check them carefully?

If not, I'd want to check the bores from the top. You already said you saw signs of piston slap. I wouldn't just slam it back together given that you know metal has circulated for 100+ miles. Who knows where it wound up? :doah:
 
Here's the plan:
plus gaskets for timing cover and oil pan.

Flush the oil cooler and oil cooler lines, remove the bypass and fittings to clean, flush the engine down as much as possible with brake clean and compressed air. I already tore the 15 lifters apart, cleaned and re-assembled.
 
I pulled one head so the crank could come out. The wear on the pistons on that side seems normal and cylinder walls look good. Plan is to give the crank a polish, then pick up plastigauge and assembly lube locally. Won't have all the parts until later in the week.

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It's getting all fancy in here. I polished the crank by pulling oiled 1000 grit around the journals in direction of rotation and then some metal polish on strips of rags (I was afraid to Google "crank polishing", honestly). The new (used stock) cam finally showed up, so all parts are on hand. This crankshaft must be close to 100lbs. I was actually thinking about strapping it from the cherry picker for less chance of nicking a journal.

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