Great, I had a hell of a time getting past it last year...

Lions Den is one i want to give a shot in the ol' k5.

Finally... I'll have traction!!! :thumbsUp:

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Now that you have traction... you gonna hit little Jagger with me?

I have the nuts to follow your ruts. :thumbsUp: But not till the last day. :laughing:

Little Jagger was a fun climb! Almost made it up but kept slipping on my own tranny fluid.

i have a feeling this is going to be an epic Harlan trip!.....Kevin, after riding in your corbeaus @ Windrock for a little bit, i purchased a set and installed them this past weekend. Great advice!

You won't regret buying suspension seats. Your back will thank you.

After much debate about propane or a new motor, I chose motor. After the trip to Rush this past weekend, I was done with the POS stock engine. So I bought this 04 Avalanche Z71 with a 5.3 for $1400. Should be ready for Harlan in May.

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LS is the way to go. the power increase and reliability is awesome. If the stock TBI in mine ever gives up, this is the route i plan.

Got the engine and trans out. Now the fun part, separating the harness. :sweatin:

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I ended up with an extra 5.3 out of the deal. It is a drive by cable. The one from the Avalanche is drive by wire. Not sure which one I want yet.

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I have most of the extra crap removed from the harness. Man that's a lot of wires... :whew!:

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That's allot of spaghetti. Harlan in only a month away !

Good, cause it looks pretty bad!

It already looks better. Most of that extra wire is gone. The hard part will be getting the computer to the passenger side inside the cab. The PCM was originally right next to the drivers wheel well. It will be in good shape by the end of tomorrow.

Kudos, on building your own harness from stock! I made mine for the LT1 swap and had to do the same thing with moving the computer from the driver's front to the passenger rear of the engine compartment. By building my own I learned so much more about how the fuel injection system actually worked.

Exactly, which also helps tracing problems down in the future.

Got the harness done. This is much better. :thumbup:
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Let the fun begin...
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Dropped the PCM off to a guy in White Oak that will remove all the BS I don't need for $90.. http://lt1pcmtuning.com/ We'll see how he does.

Ordered the fuse block for the engine today. Should work out good. http://www.waytekwire.com/item/46345...RO-RELAY-RTMR/

There is no way I will have this ready for memorial day at Harlan. :straight-face: Looks like I'm RZR bound.

After several hours of running the engine, there was a small amount of steam coming out of the exhaust. To be safe, I tore the engine down to replace the head gaskets and also check for cracks. Bought some spot check from magnaflux to see if there are any cracks. Going to lap the valves in if all is good.
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04 was during the years GM used Castech heads, which are known for hairline cracks in them.

Mine look like this. Hopefully this is a good thing.
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Got my clamp on VSS ring. Looks like I have everything I need to get this done. Time to get busy.

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I checked the heads for cracks and didn't see any. I did this as a preliminary check in hopes of seeing something obvious. Since I didn't, off they go to the machine shop to be cleaned, pressure tested, and checked for flatness. I'm taking them tomorrow to Performance Engineering in Hamilton. I've heard good things about them. https://www.facebook.com/PerformanceEngineeringLLC

Got the heads back. They said no cracks, but needed to be milled.
Lapped the valves in myself.

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Got the the engine, trans, and t-case out. Time to put it back together. :thumbup:

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