My "HOE" is on the road!!

Well guys is official.. I drove my tahoe home for the first time in two months :)

I spent over a total of $1200 for a 5.3l replacement engine including:

All sensors, oils, performance parts *which I didn't use*, paint, hoses, clips..

I found the the whole problem was..

I changed out the heads today to which they was 241 Cast LS1 5.7L heads
back to the 5.3L original heads.. which took me over a couple hours and some drink breaks ;)

Started the truck over on one key turn and it cranked right up.. I just drove it home from where it was located (60) miles and I haven't recieved ANY SES lights on the drive home.. The oil pressure and engine temp was perfect.

Thanks everybody for ya'll input and help throughout the two months of hell :lol:

I will post pictures as soon as my iPhone charges back up so I can upload.

Thanks again!!!!!!

-Justin

very cool...so those 5.7 heads is what was causing all those problems?

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Originally Posted by jcormier89

very cool...so those 5.7 heads is what was causing all those problems?

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... yeap ... :(

all the hell trying to figure it out.. all the beer wasted on thinking about it..

it was horrible..

but hey..it runs :)

know anybody that needs some 5.7 heads?
they are CNC'd heads..i have the flow charts :dancenana:

sweeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!!!!!!!! i told u it was the tune :LOL:

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Originally Posted by justinjthomas

all the beer wasted on thinking about it.

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I dunno.......sounds like a good beer-drinking excuse to me!:shots:

I know something of how you feel, though. My truck has been down for 4-6 weeks while I accumulate parts to do a brake job. This MAY finally be the week I get 'er back together! I'm thankful that my dad let me borrow his spare '92 Olds to drive while my truck is down, but frankly, I'm sick of it.

But then, my truck is also in my driveway and not 60 miles away >.<

Glad you got it back!

Hell yeah! Congrats!

this makes no sence. did you not get them milled down to the right cc for the correct compression ratio?

...... weird thing..... i have a 5.3 and i think i have 241 heads on it

from the factory....hummmmm

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Originally Posted by Aphotic

...... weird thing..... i have a 5.3 and i think i have 241 heads on it

from the factory....hummmmm

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read it again dude
his are CNCd n all sorts of stuff not stock like urs

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Originally Posted by gordo

read it again dude
his are CNCd n all sorts of stuff not stock like urs

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thanks DRUT.
i wasn't being rude or sarcastic.... i was puzzled. then i went back and seen they were CNCd when u said so.

It's cool guys..

I'll post pictures along with the flow sheet with it on another thread soon.

The intake and exhaust ports are huge compared to stock.. :lol:

And they had less compression then the 5.3 heads..

It was wierd how I switched back to the stock heads and it cranked right up with no problems at all..

But if anyone wants to buy them let me know..

They have -0- miles on them but maybe two running hours from trying to run it..

241 Cast 5.7L CNC'd heads from Thunder Racing - Performance Parts for your Late Model Musclecar! Camaro, Firebird, Trans Am, Corvette, Impala SS, Mustang, Cobra, Truck, GTO

hhoollaa ;)

I am so coRnfused I'm not sure I should post but how exactly did the heads make it not start?

Which company CNC'd them?

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Originally Posted by GasGuzzler

I am so coRnfused I'm not sure I should post but how exactly did the heads make it not start?

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+1

I had asked this in another thread, but maybe there was a ground not bolted down or the coil packs weren't connected...

The chamber was too big and not enough gas and too much air...

The heads was CNC'd on the intake and exhaust ports (which are bigger)

and I stated that Thunder Racing did the CNC job on my last reply.

:)

Trust me. I checked my wires. I spent two months (countless hours) trying to figure out why it wouldn't run.

I even honed the grounding spot to be sure it had a good connection..

I got a meter out and tested resistance on the fuel injectors.. Relocated grounds.. Checked for vaccuum leaks around the intake and EGR valve.

Changed countless sensors just to be on the safe side.

Even took my cam out because I thought it was too much of an LSA (109)

Phew.. Lastly I changed out the heads and vuala.. It runs ;)

I spent over 1k on sensors, $100 on oil and fluids, $375 on ARP bolts through out the engine, and countless troubleshooting hours..

I may be a newbie doing it but I did do my research fellas ;)

I'll just know to check next time I rebuild another one..

Hey atleast you got it running its all trial and error. Good to hear bud

if you mill the head it will fix the compression problem, this still make no sence to me.

thunder racing sells heads that are cnc'd by several different people..

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Originally Posted by Lsx10

if you mill the head it will fix the compression problem, this still make no sence to me.

thunder racing sells heads that are cnc'd by several different people..

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* a guy named Allen.. Good friends with him.. He did the CNC on the heads I bought from Chevrolet. He works at thunder racing. They do all the "in house" stuff now.

No I didn't get the heads milled..

I don't understand what you don't get honestly..

Either W4M didn't compensate for the tune with the heads I used. Or I was supposed to upgrade fuel injectors to compensate for the heads..

Man I give up on the head situation. Obvious enough the heads was the issue and now I have a running vehicle and everybody here is happy ;)

right? :lol:

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Originally Posted by justinjthomas

The chamber was too big and not enough gas and too much air.

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i thought u said the compression was like 13:1? Did u mean the a/f was way off cuz its not the same thing.

the head situation is really rather simple, you had a cammed 5.3 with a 8.8 to 1 compression ratio. dynamic compression ration would be even worse...

you would want to have about 2.2 points more on your compression. even if the wiring and everything else was done right you would have lost far mor power then you would have gained.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but no you did not research this if you tried to put this setup togather. buy a book on building performance engines, it will help you alot.

also shame on your "friend" for trying to give you that setup.


this would be your engine specs if you wanted to put it into a calculator
bore 96.01mm
stroke 92mm
gasket .053 inches
cc volume 66.67cc's

and here is a calculator to plug it into
Engine Size and Compression Calculator

stock 5.3 heads are 61.1x cc volume
ls1 heads are 66.67 cc volume

keep in mind that is if they are untouched combustion chambers, and alot of port jobs will shape the combustion chamber for better flow which enlarge it even more which would lower your compression even more.

My point too. It should have run at 6.0:1 compression. Something else was the problem...something was disconnected that got corrected during the swap back to the other heads, the seats or spring set up was off holding the valves open and killing dynamic compression....something OTHER than the cc of the chambers obviously.

+1

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Originally Posted by GasGuzzler

My point too. It should have run at 6.0:1 compression. Something else was the problem...something was disconnected that got corrected during the swap back to the other heads, the seats or spring set up was off holding the valves open and killing dynamic compression....something OTHER than the cc of the chambers obviously.

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Thats what I was thinking.

peanut gallery agrees...

This is mind boggling, lower (yet equal) compression cannot cause a no-start, motors havn't had 10:1 since there invention, high compression in a flathead was 8:1 then there was that real rough spot from about 1972-1990.


But this is worse, 4 to 6 weeks to get pads and rotors? Sorry bud, brakes are a 45 minute deal at the most.

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Originally Posted by DigitalBoy0101

I know something of how you feel, though. My truck has been down for 4-6 weeks while I accumulate parts to do a brake job. This MAY finally be the week I get 'er back together!

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I'm rarely a douche but in these circumstances it's necessary

Well some of the old flat heads...not just F**ds have more like 6:1 as previously mentioned :LOL:

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Originally Posted by sleeper1500

But this is worse, 4 to 6 weeks to get pads and rotors? Sorry bud, brakes are a 45 minute deal at the most.




I'm rarely a douche but in these circumstances it's necessary

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My truck had catastrophic brake failure as I was driving it. I knew the brakes were going bad prior to that, but I had to keep driving it while I saved up money to do the repair (digging out of debt sucks). Of course, I didn't have any parts yet when the failure happened.

Buying the parts (mostly) online added 2 weeks or so due to processing and shipping. I was set back a week and a half to two weeks when it turned out the supplier couldn't get the calipers I ordered online. It took them that long to refund my money. I ended up going with stock replacement calipers after that fiasco.

My truck is too big to fit in my garage......well, with all the crap my roommate has stored in there, anyway. I have to do the work on my gravel driveway. Also no air tools.

Then I run into the hard reality of my work hours.......I get home from work at midnight, and due to sleeping problems "my time" is from midnight to around 5:00-6:00 AM. I'm NOT gonna disturb my neighbors by lighting the place up like daylight and hammering away at night. So, the only time I can work on my truck (even without my nephew there) is on my days off (Wed/Thurs). Because of my screwy sleep and work schedule, I only have about 5 hours of daylight to work with on my days off after I get up.

I'm also going slow(er than normal) as I work because I have my 13 y.o. nephew over helping me, so he can start learning how to work on vehicles. Teaching safety procedures, explaining why some things were designed the way they were, diagnosing the multiple causes of the failure (with helpful input from this Forum), etc. He starts Shop class in school this coming year, so hopefully he remembers some of what we've been doing. If so, he'll have something of a head start on his class and it will all have been worth it.

I've always been slow when working on vehicles to start with LOL. I'm used to it taking me 2, 3, or 4 times as long as other people doing the same job. It doesn't matter. Everything gets done eventually, and done right.

And no offense, dude.......if it takes you only 45 minutes to do pads, rotors, calipers, parking brakes, and lines on all 4 wheels (without power tools, or a lift, or even concrete to work on), then you're really REALLY good. I bet it took me/us 2 hours just to get the tires off with my nephew there. I don't claim to be good. I might be a little better (though not quicker) than the Average Joe, but that's it.....and that's not saying much heh. For instance, when I get around to swapping an LS1/80 into my '89 Blazer some year, it's not gonna be a weekend project like it would be for some people. I suspect it would take me a good 3 months or so.

I got the rear of my truck put together today, before I ran out of time for this week. The fronts will have to happen next week. Sure, I could have done the whole thing over these last 2 days easily if I was working by myself, including paint. But hopefully my nephew is learning a lot and he'll be better prepared not only for his upcoming class, but for the rest of his life.

I'm not pissed about your comment at all, man. Just thought you'd see things differently with a more extended and accurate background on my brake project :beer2:

My next project, before winter, will be to paint my faded grey lower body cladding, as well as the fairing (or whatever that thing is called on an Avalanche) and bed top. I probably won't be able to accomplish it on my 2 days off due to the meticulous prep work, so my truck will be down at least a week for that as well. I could probably do all the bottom plastic one week, and the top plastic the next week. Not sure I'd want to drive it for a week looking funky like that. The end result will be worth it, however. I'm looking forward to that :)

/end thread hijack, sorry!

That was pretty long but I deff. See where your coming from in that aspect.

As for me to tell everybody else I'm the same way myself. Took me two months to figure out what my problem was.. Lol

and I can see that some people on this forum (not being rude) doesn't have patience for some of the people on this planet that doesn't do this everyday or make it a hobby to work on cars.

For my situation I bought a stocker 5.3l just to replace the 260k mile one that was about to blow and I started searching and seen some videos and this forum with guys and cammed out trucks and decided to give it a shot.

I spent the money like everybody else here to get where I'm at on the project.

But I'm just excited that my truck does run and I did figure out what the issue was. (thanks to a few that prooves I'm not that smart with head demensions)
My bad if I miss led anybody.

If I misspelt anything wrong I typed it up on my iPhone..

-Justin

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Originally Posted by justinjthomas

That was pretty long but I deff. See where your coming from in that aspect.

As for me to tell everybody else I'm the same way myself. Took me two months to figure out what my problem was.. Lol

and I can see that some people on this forum (not being rude) doesn't have patience for some of the people on this planet that doesn't do this everyday or make it a hobby to work on cars.

For my situation I bought a stocker 5.3l just to replace the 260k mile one that was about to blow and I started searching and seen some videos and this forum with guys and cammed out trucks and decided to give it a shot.

I spent the money like everybody else here to get where I'm at on the project.

But I'm just excited that my truck does run and I did figure out what the issue was. (thanks to a few that prooves I'm not that smart with head demensions)
My bad if I miss led anybody.

If I misspelt anything wrong I typed it up on my iPhone..

-Justin

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But the thing is, you really didn't figure out what your problem was. You put stock heads back on that were assembled correctly. Your 5.7 heads just sound like duds. THATS why your truck wouldn't run, NOT because it was 5.7 heads on a 5.3. My truck has 243s stock.

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Originally Posted by pl4yboy

But the thing is, you really didn't figure out what your problem was. You put stock heads back on that were assembled correctly. Your 5.7 heads just sound like duds. THATS why your truck wouldn't run, NOT because it was 5.7 heads on a 5.3. My truck has 243s stock.

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I took a look at them today, the valves was being held open on certain cylinders..

I'll look more in detail tomorrow when I drive up state to take the valves out and see what the problem was.

Dum Dum Dummmm, the plot thickens.

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Originally Posted by pl4yboy

Dum Dum Dummmm, the plot thickens.

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-Whatever you say :dancenana:

....:LOL:

Tolt y'alls the balves were helded opening!

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Originally Posted by GasGuzzler

Tolt y'alls the balves were helded opening!

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You said that wrong its open not opening :P