Huck's daily - 2005 Z71 crewcab

[TotalyHucked]

I should have mentioned before you stabbed the motor back in. You want to replace those plastic heater hose connectors on the firewall. They are known to break and dump all your coolant out before you even notice something is wrong. Use genuine GM plastic connectors. Or Dorman now makes metal replacement fittings. But DON'T use the Dorman plastic ones. Just good prevenattive insurance. Would be alot easier with the motor out fo the way. There is also a dorman steel "wye" replacement for where the hose mounts to the water pump.

Here are some links for examples, make sure to match your vehicle info/hose diameters for the right ones:

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/NOE800403HP?cid=paidsearch_shopping_dcoe_google&cid=paidsearch_conversions_pmax_napa_google_autoparts&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADzGEwy_ruIwAtd_DMRRzwgyyYeKL&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_JzABhC2ARIsAPe3ynr731uFPXUOKtAXDnRM7NTRjjbukVTqVHhUZ60NroJ7n8BZMsuU-AcaAmpsEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Dorman - HELP Radiator Coolant Hose Connector 47157

Shop for Dorman - HELP Radiator Coolant Hose Connector 47157 with confidence at AutoZone.com. Parts are just part of what we do. Get yours online today and pick up in store.

www.autozone.com

I thought about that, and then forgot about it, and then thought about it again after I got the motor in lol. I *think* they've been replaced before, they look newer and the hoses are definitely newer. I'm gonna pull my best ViceGrip and pretend I didn't think about it lol

 

[TotalyHucked]

Last night, I worked on all the little peripheral details. Installed the new knock sensor grommets in the valley plate and installed that with a fresh gasket

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Installed and torqued the knock sensors, installed the harness (with gasket maker on the rubbers) and made the dams around them with RTV. I don't do RTV on the wires so they can move/breath a bit

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Painted the water pump while I waited on the RTV to set up

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Installed the intake, water pump, routed the harness and started plugging things in

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Got 99% of the harness plugged in, the AC compressor fully bolted on, starter in, this is where we left off last night

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[TotalyHucked]

So then today at lunch, I double and triple checked my wiring at lunch and unplugged the coil harnesses. Hooked up the battery, listened for arcing and watched/smelled for smoke, saw nothing so I spun the motor over without the plugs in it to pump out any left over liquid WD40. It spun smooth!

So now I started getting nervous. Put antiseize on all the plugs and installed them, put the new plug wires on, put the intake box/tube on and plugged in the MAF. Plugged the coil packs back up and filled it up with VR1...

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Hit the key and we got 50psi of oil pressure within 3-4 seconds! Lots of valvetrain clatter but otherwise, it was pretty quiet, best I could tell. The lifters will take some more time to pump up, even though I soaked them, they've been in the motor and draining down for a week and half now? Not out of the woods yet but was able to breathe a big sigh of relief. Now I need to hook up the coolant hoses, gonna fill with water for now. Then move onto the level kit install

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[TotalyHucked]

So last night I decided I wanted to do something other than work on the engine, so I started stripping the front end to clean/paint/install the leveling keys and new UCAs/LCAs/shocks

This truck is so nasty underneath. Thankfully zero rust, just dirt everywhere

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I did the pass side first and it's been a little while since I've pulled a spindle off. My dumbass didn't pull the nuts all the way off before separating the BJs so then the shafts started to spin A little patience, my trick Gearwrench pass through ratchet set and an allen key got them of though

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My coworker had borrowed my impact so I was doing all this by hand. Had another blonde moment, I was under the LCA to get better leverage on the bolts and when I got the 2nd one loose, it swung down and got the side of my head. My ear was bleeding like a stuck pig and MAN that hurts getting hit there lol

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[TotalyHucked]

I've always cleaned and painted the frame on all my trucks, usually takes a weekend or two and I use a combo of wire brushes in a drill and hand brushes to clean every inch I can, then wipe down with laquer thinner or brake clean, tape up anything I don't want paint on, then prime and paint. I didn't care to do that this time. I will go back and do a better job later on but I really just wanted to get black paint around the control arm mounts and shock so I don't risk getting paint on them when I re-do it later. I literally just hand wire brushed as fast as I could, sorta blew everything off and started spraying lol. It's fine for this truck right now.

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After I painted the passenger side, I went over to the driver's side and got it stripped, wire brushed and painted. Then came back to the passenger side.

Threw on the LCA with some anti-seize in the pocket for the torsion bar and grease on either side of the bushing, installed the leveling key with more anti-seize, then the Spindle Source UCA with grease on it's bushings. Went to put the spindle on, it went on the lower BJ fine but the upper balljoint was too big to go in. Phoeey. So threw on the Bilstein 5100 to hold the LCA up and called it a night cuz it was 11:00 and I had an hour drive home

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Emailed Spindle Source this morning explaining what I'd run into. They emailed me back within 3-5min saying yes, they're aware of that. For some reason, there's a couple thou of variation in the upper BJ hole in these trucks, some are smaller than others. He said zip a 1/2" drill bit through from the top and it'll be good to go in 2 seconds. So I'll do that at lunch today so I can finish the pass side and then move onto the driver's side assembly.