Madness

[Jrgunn5150]

I'm sure some think so anyway, but I'll go ahead and post up here for discussion and verbal bashing or whatever. I won't be doing this with anything like the speed of some others, but I would like a log where i can get feedback and input. That I will then ignore

I have an 07 LT with a 5.3, I sucked about a gallon of water up in my intake. It was pretty lame as far as engine failures go actually, it just ran until it didn't, no knock, rattle, anything else terrible. Just stopped lol. So.. Snorkels.. Buy them...

When you break your Throttle Body loose, this shouldn't come out of the intake lol, and this was AFTER I soaked a bunch up, and had pulled the plugs,



It did clean my intake up though,



So, I pulled all my plugs, tried to hit the starter, got nothing. Beat it with a pole and a hammer, nothing. Swapped relays, nothing. Put a 24mm socket on it and breaker bar, nothing.

Of course, because the TB 5.3 is alluminum, people want it, and I couldn't find one at a reasonable price, which led me to the 6.0, because, why not.

Found this one up north for 450. It's missing a ton of stuff, but I really only want/need the shortblock anyway.



So, to make this work for me, I'll have to swap to the 54 tooth reluctor wheel on the crank, and keep my 5.3 timing cover with the crank sensor on it.

My only engine plans are to freshen it up, seals, bearings, a bore/hone if needed, a hone only if not. I need to research heads a bit more, there's a bewildering amount of info out there on them all. I know a 6.0 can make 400 hp on 87 octane, and even more torque, which is what I'm after.

Phase 2 will be the 4l80E swap. I'm sure my 60 was on borrowed time anyway at 212,000 miles or so, even with mods. Plus, my "long" crank 6.0, can only bolt to an 80, and I'd rather swap transmissions than cranks anyway. I figure between Erik's knowledge and my google-fu I can figure it out.

Which bring's me to the next link in my chain of while I'm at it's, a transfer case. I know Erik has his working with a 246, I would prefer a manual shift case with a SYE for where I'm going here, we'll see what shakes out.

Onwards on down the drivetrain. SAS, is going to happen. I have a few axles to choose from, but I intend to do a three link, and keep it low. Like, really low. I'll bumpstop it however I need too, I don't go 50 down trails anyway (not that going slow saved me ). I already have a Nissan Xterra box to use there, I think it will work OK, H3 guy's are using them, idk lol.

So, follow along as I make a fool of myself, or prove my genius and hopefully don't turn my Trailblazer into a part's truck.

[v7guy]

Erik laments his first gear a fair bit with the 80e, I know TCI has a low planetary gear set to get about halfway between the 60e and the 80e but it costs a lil bit of money. Something you might consider. I keep telling him the best option to use that first gear is more power! LOL

There's a fair number of good factory heads, that's without a doubt the spot where you wanna spend your money on the motor. A ported head and a decent cam should get you well over 400rwhp.


As long as you don't take as long as I have to build mine you should be good to go!

Looking forward to seeing the build!

[bartonmd]

Wow, welcome to the rabbit hole of "saving a few hundred dollars on the wrong engine and spending an extra few thousand dollars making it work."

IMO, I'd have liked to spend more time figuring out what failed (or not) on your old engine. The water coming out of the intake says that you may have wanted to pull the intake, drain the oil, and look around a bit, first. If the oil is full of water, it'll also cause the engine not to be able to turn over. I mean, do your upgrade, that's cool and all (when my DOD dies, I'll probably cam and port it, blow the 60E, and end up doing something like that to hold the ~400hp from the 5.3), but man... It really just depends on whether you're trying to get back on the road or looking for a 10th project.

Mike

[Jrgunn5150]

Erik laments his first gear a fair bit with the 80e, I know TCI has a low planetary gear set to get about halfway between the 60e and the 80e but it costs a lil bit of money. Something you might consider. I keep telling him the best option to use that first gear is more power! LOL

There's a fair number of good factory heads, that's without a doubt the spot where you wanna spend your money on the motor. A ported head and a decent cam should get you well over 400rwhp.


As long as you don't take as long as I have to build mine you should be good to go!

Looking forward to seeing the build!

I knew there was a lower planetary set for the 80, then I forgot lol. In another life, I owned a transmission shop, so I can save some money there.

With two other project trucks, living in the city where I can't get too crazy, it'll take awhile lol. I don't have any plan at all for the rear as of yet, just a half ass idea in my head.

Wow, welcome to the rabbit hole of "saving a few hundred dollars on the wrong engine and spending an extra few thousand dollars making it work."

IMO, I'd have liked to spend more time figuring out what failed (or not) on your old engine. The water coming out of the intake says that you may have wanted to pull the intake, drain the oil, and look around a bit, first. If the oil is full of water, it'll also cause the engine not to be able to turn over. I mean, do your upgrade, that's cool and all (when my DOD dies, I'll probably cam and port it, blow the 60E, and end up doing something like that to hold the ~400hp from the 5.3), but man... It really just depends on whether you're trying to get back on the road or looking for a 10th project.

Mike

I don't need it on the road, and with 210,000 on it, it wouldn't be back on the road for terribly long anyway.

The whole reason I bought it was it was in my budget at the time, it had a frame, and the clincher was the aluminum block LS I could pull out and use for another project when the time came.

If it doesn't run for three years, that's fine. I have my FJ and TJ to go wheeling in. The Trailblazer will never be anything but a trail rig again.

[v7guy]

I've read some comments about those planetary setups maybe not being fantastic strength wise, but I don't actually know. I do vaguely recall the 80e in the RVs having a lower planetary too and that's an actual GM part. Might also wanna take a gander at the 85e it's for a much heavier vehicle and a fair lil bit stronger.


My idea started as a half assed idea in my head too! It's still kinda half assed LOL

[Jrgunn5150]

I've read some comments about those planetary setups maybe not being fantastic strength wise, but I don't actually know. I do vaguely recall the 80e in the RVs having a lower planetary too and that's an actual GM part. Might also wanna take a gander at the 85e it's for a much heavier vehicle and a fair lil bit stronger.


My idea started as a half assed idea in my head too! It's still kinda half assed LOL

I looked it up today, at 1,100 bucks, I remember why I forgot about it before lol. The TH475 was for RV's and whatnot, had straight cut gear's.

My current idea, is to use my SD axles, with 5.13's, and 37's. Which should have nice grunt.

I'm just reading Erik's 246 swap thread and Chevycrews SAS thread over and over. I have a long road ahead, but on the bright side, I got storage today, and the owner doesn't care if I work on vehicles there, so that's just glorious.

[Anthony Hernandez]

An associate at my work has a engine for sale jr, are you interested? I can have him email you or whatever bro. Pm me.

[Jrgunn5150]

An associate at my work has a engine for sale jr, are you interested? I can have him email you or whatever bro. Pm me.

I have one already, but thank you.

On a related note, I went to look at the storage place today and it was way to small to do anything but park in.

[Jrgunn5150]

Well, I've been spending my summer getting my K2500 ready for working and driving, the Trailblazer has just been sitting, like my other two projects.

I have deciphered a way to get a 4l80 into the truck and a speed signal out of it that my E67 ECU can read. Using a 2wd trans, with a long "RV" output, would allow me to cut it to length and use whatever transfer case I like, since a 2wd has the VSS on the trans.

So, so far, I have a pair of Super Duty axles, a 6.0 longblock, a set of roller wheels, and a Nissan Xterra steering box. I also have the vague outline of a plan, and a desire to race it in my local RBOR series in 18.