Huck's new daily - Victory Red '05 CCSSB

[Huck]

So as I pulled into the shop Sunday, I rolled past 498mi on the near rearend setup. So what did I decide to do? Start yanking the motor out I've been planning this for a long time anyway, this 5.3 leaks from every orifice

First thing's first, put the hood in service mode. Didn't know this was a thing till like 2 years ago, wish I would've known all these years with all these trucks lol. 'Course this is the first one I'm doing serious work on





Another goal of this job is to re-loom the harness cuz all the factory stuff is just brittle as hell and falling apart



This truck had a fresh trans put in it a couple years ago so thankfully the Y-pipe didn't fight me too bad other than this one nut. I'm gonna have to replace this one



The first real hiccup I ran into was the damn spark plug wires and plugs. Whoever did the tuneup before I got it didn't put a SINGLE DROP of antiseize or dielectric grease on these things so they were seized on there hard. Ended up pulling the front liners out to get better access

 

[Huck]

While I had the liners out, I cleaned the back of the fenders where they meet the door jamb where crap always collects






And this was the dirt that JUST came out of the bottom of the driver's flare



Remember the brittle harness I mentioned? I popped the main harnesses out of their firewall brackets and there was nothing there, thankfully the wires had not started chaffing yet



Then getting ready to drain the coolant

 

[Huck]

Pulled most of the accessory drive off. I think I'm just gonna bungee the PS bracket/pump out of the way and same thing with the AC compressor/bracket



Popped the intake off in prep for the lift plate



Did discover my lift plate is only for a GenIV, so I had to make a cut. Dropped the Gen3 valley cover on and traced it





20min later, worked great

 

[Huck]

Ran out of steam at about 7:30 and called it quits. At this point, I need to yank the fans out, move the PS and AC brackets, undo the wiring that goes under the front of the oil pan and get the bellhousing bolts out and trans supported. I was brainstorming with some buddies and might go ahead and install the 1.5" bodylift I've got laying around first to give me better access to the bellhousing bolts lol

 

[gmc00z]

another 5.3 or 6.0?
Looks like those front shocks are ready to be replaced as well.

 

[Huck]

another 5.3 or 6.0?
Looks like those front shocks are ready to be replaced as well.

I forgot to mention, this is just for a reseal. The engine runs great, is literally silent (not even any piston slap or lifter tick) and has fantastic oil pressure. But the whole thing is nasty and it drips a little oil when parked. Figured I'd do this now while the front diff is out of the way, it's easier that way.

I also have all new front suspension and steering ready to go for it, LCAs/Spindle Source UCA's to correct BJ angles, level keys and Bilstein 5100s. That'll get installed after the engine is back in

 

[Huck]

Didn't do the bodylift first, that was gonna be too involved. Got the last few ancillary things unhooked/bungee'd and got the bellhousing bolts out with the hoist hooked up. The dowels were frozen so I fought that a bit to get it separated




I was wailing on it, prying on it and COULD NOT get it to come free of the trans. Finally realized I forgot the 2nd from the top bolt on the driver's side that holds the fuel line bracket



A couple of my old school GMFS buddies warned me I would need to pull the fans. I thought I'd have room. They were right.



Worked it all the way back down into it's saddles, unhooked the hoist, pulled the fans out and finally JUST had room to get it out. The studs on the manifolds still hit the cowl but it did come out. I guess in the future I'll pull the balancer before I lift it

 

[Huck]

This thing is grimy as hell, every gasket is leaking and the old guy taking it down dirt roads all the time didn't help







Rear main was the main culprit though I think the oil pressure sender may be as well. I'll redo it's thread tape when everything goes back together

 

[Huck]

Got it on the stand and cleaned it up with some degreaser and the hose outside






Heads are nice and clean up top



Cam does have a little spalling going on, but nothing really unexpected for 185k

 

[Huck]

Cylinder walls look great though, no scuffing, nice cross hatch still and no ridge





Heads are exactly as I expected underneath. Nothing a little lapping compound, wire wheel and roloc disc work won't fix

 

[Huck]

So this got completely out of hand since the last time I posted lol

Pulled the balancer off. A squarebody shock stud works great for the last little bit that the puller can't do by itself





Bottom of the bores still looked good too



Pulled the cam out and this is where it started to go off the rails (I knew this was a possibility going into it)



Some of the lobes were a little rough but what I mainly didn't like was the scuffing on the journals, specifically the rear 3

 

[Huck]

So I did what you're not supposed to do and looked at the cam bearings. They were smoked. Could see the front one from 10ft away, it was shiny on the bottom and textured on the top half. No bueno



So at that point, I decided we're gonna do a full ring and bearing. Started with cleaning the tops of the pistons off



Then started pulling main caps off. It was time on these too



Thankfully the crank looks great, it's just the bearings that had any wear on them

 

[Huck]

Same story on the rods. Would've been fine for a long time still had I not cracked it open but since I'm here, they're getting replaced. I think this was Friday 3/28 I think



Got everything lined up and organized, ready for cleaning






Then I decided to open up some of my parts that had come in. Mainly because the Amazon jackass THREW my TruCool. Thankfully it was ok, just the hardware bag exploded

 

[Huck]

So then Saturday 3/29 I came in and didn't have a ton of energy, just piddled around a bit. Started with cleaning the oil pan. Shockingly, there was minimal sludge in the bottom for 187k



Much better



Started working on re-looming the harness. Alot of it had gotten so brittle, it was just falling apart any time I touched it, so this braided stuff that I already had is much nicer






Fired up a good stick while working on the loom and listening to the Dale Jr Download with Richard Childress and Chocolate Myers

 

[Huck]

Even the big bundle that goes along the driver's wheel well/frame rail loom was falling apart inside the clamp, I'm glad I had popped them out while messing with the bellhousing bolts.



Ran out of loom and was running out of what little energy I had so I decided to fiddle with the toolbox. I'd been meaning to bolt my 15" end cabinet onto the 56" main forever so that I could re-attach my handle and make it easier to move. So I did. Drilled a couple holes at the bottom, just left it hanging on the lip up top for now, drilled some holes for the handle and now it's much easier to maneuver around the shop






Also put my lifters in some oil to soak before I left

 

[Huck]

So last week here and there after work I got started on the heads. Disassembling here



The intake ports were gunked up REAL bad. I've ordered a catch can



I did find something interesting, it looks like the heads have had a valve job sometime in the recent past. The PO didn't mention any top end work but that's an awful clean seat and valve for 187k miles





I lapped everything anyway for good measure, mainly for the exhaust valve

 

[Huck]

So then this past Saturday I decided to start on cleaning pistons






I got in a zone and lost track of time while figuring out my process...oops. Got a bit of a chemical burn. Cleaned my hands, ran up to Kroger for some burn cream and gloves were worn the rest of the day lol






So then I pulled the old cam bearings out of the block

 

[Huck]

Tried to start installing the new cam bearings around 6pm and smoked the first one. Didn't have the mandrel tight enough I guess. Called it a night



So came back up to the shop Sunday with the GF and she helped me with the cam bearing tool. It's definitely easier with 2 people and that big ole long bar. My coworker loaned me his cam bearing tool and also brought me his extra 5.3 cam bearings





So I smoked the first one Saturday night. We smoked #4 again Sunday morning, managed to get all 5 in after that. #3 was a little boogered up, but I dressed it down with a microfile and thought it might be ok. Started test fitting the cam, #1 and #2 felt good, cam wouldn't even go in #3 no matter how I tried. So we knocked #3 out again.

Decided to test fit the cam without #3 in the block. #1 and #2 were ok, #4 was a bit tight and #5 felt fine. The cam didn't spin super great, figured it was #4. So we pulled the cam back out and sure enough, nothing we did, #4 had a high spot at the oil hole.



So knock #4 out. Get my last 2 bearings, #3 and #4 and get those knocked in. FINALLY the cam fit and spun nicely

 

[Huck]

So then I started checking piston rings. First ring was about right, .021"



2nd ring was tighter at .020". It also didn't fit the piston well. Got to talking to my buddy and he didn't have good luck with these Hastings rings. Had a motor that smoked bad because of it. So I ordered some EngineTech ones to have another set to compare, he used those the second go-round and they worked well.



Then last night I decided to check my main bearing clearance. Cleaned the block real good and put the upper bearing halves in. Then cleaned the crank real well, especially the oiling holes and set it in carefully where none of the holes were pointing up



Cleaned the main caps in the parts washer (with gloves this time!) and put in the bottom bearing halves. Then torqued everything down in the proper sequence using my new Quinn digital torque wrench that'll do angles. It's pretty slick



Pulled it apart and everything looked perfect. Spec is .0009-.0021 (I think), everything turned out to be ~.018-.020.

 

[Huck]

Forgot a couple details on the heads. The two rear manifold bolts were already broken off in the head when it was in the truck and then I snapped the head off the front one on the passenger side getting the manifolds off. Tried building up some weld, welding a washer to it, then a nut but it just spun the weld off every time. Drilling it didn't work, the bit kept walking on me. So I finally took it to a machine shop in town. Dude was super nice, said normally it's $30/bolt but because I'd fucked with them, they could be up to $60/bolt. I told him go ahead.

Left the shop, drove back toward work, stopped at Zaxby's for lunch and he calls to say they're ready. That was 11min later lol. Ate lunch, picked them up, cleaned up all the gasket surfaces and put them back together





Also cleaned them in the parts washer afterward before reassembly