Sveins 1999 6.5 Suburban that´s getting "everything I ever wanted" eventually

[MrMarty51]

You do know they make nice mufflers in those calibers too......

Yeah, but, there`s a huge tax stamp on them mufflers. LOLOLOL

 

[jrsavoie]

I`ll be ordering the 4" diamond eye exhaust system for My K3500, after seeing Your laid out, made My heart do a little thump and now I dont think I`ll be waiting, getter done. LOL

I'd go stainless if in the rust belt. I've never had an aluminized system last.

 

[FellowTraveler]

I'd go stainless if in the rust belt. I've never had an aluminized system last.

What will kill stainless is salt air water etc.....had that happen to my stainless exhaust system.
There are a few methods that will make an aluminized system last is coating the outside with either high temp silicone after heating with a torch before install or high temp ceramic 1.9k paint inside and out agains after heating the pipe with a torch this will not cure either product but will allow handling pipes without making a mess then when the vehicle is run up to operating temp the exhaust heat will do the rest.

Eastwood sells hoses with circular spray pattern tips to extend into exhaust pipe or you make your own.....

 

[MrMarty51]

I'd go stainless if in the rust belt. I've never had an aluminized system last.

What will kill stainless is salt air water etc.....had that happen to my stainless exhaust system.
There are a few methods that will make an aluminized system last is coating the outside with either high temp silicone after heating with a torch before install or high temp ceramic 1.9k paint inside and out agains after heating the pipe with a torch this will not cure either product but will allow handling pipes without making a mess then when the vehicle is run up to operating temp the exhaust heat will do the rest.

Eastwood sells hoses with circular spray pattern tips to extend into exhaust pipe or you make your own.....

Not much rust over here. The DOT uses very small amounts of chloride so rust is minimal.
I do have some ceramic engine paint in the garage. Pipes is suppose to be here Friday, I`ll wash them with some brake and parts cleaner, wipe them down and give them a coating.
I may have goofed on the order, got it coming with a muffler. LOL

 

[FellowTraveler]

Not much rust over here. The DOT uses very small amounts of chloride so rust is minimal.
I do have some ceramic engine paint in the garage. Pipes is suppose to be here Friday, I`ll wash them with some brake and parts cleaner, wipe them down and give them a coating.
I may have goofed on the order, got it coming with a muffler. LOL

One thing I noticed with aftermarket systems is that the bends are made to close OEM which used a staggered muffler so the inline muffler systems allow the rear tail pipe to hit the the rear fuel tank skid plate on the Suburban.

 

[MrMarty51]

One thing I noticed with aftermarket systems is that the bends are made to close OEM which used a staggered muffler so the inline muffler systems allow the rear tail pipe to hit the the rear fuel tank skid plate on the Suburban.

WHEW, I hadda go back and look at the pic of Sveins new exhaust, muffler appears to be a straight through unit. LOL

 

[FellowTraveler]

WHEW, I hadda go back and look at the pic of Sveins new exhaust, muffler appears to be a straight through unit. LOL

A little tweaking can resolve the issue.

 

[MrMarty51]

A little tweaking can resolve the issue.

Yeah, I got hammers, a torch and a selection of grinders, it will fit. LOL

 

[jrsavoie]

One thing I noticed with aftermarket systems is that the bends are made to close OEM which used a staggered muffler so the inline muffler systems allow the rear tail pipe to hit the the rear fuel tank skid plate on the Suburban.

I have always had clearance iisues with the spare tire on the truck. I wrapped it with heat shield to protect the spare

 

[jrsavoie]

Yeah, I got hammers, a torch and a selection of grinders, it will fit. LOL

If you have somebody close with a bender for large EMT, thin wall conduit, that can be handy for tweaking also

 

[MrMarty51]

YUP, body/muffler shop about four blocks away. LOL

 

[svein]

You're better set than I am - I am hoping I can get away with mounting the diamond eye system as it came in the box. Worst case modify the included hangers a bit to get a better fitment. I guess I will see..haha

Came home from work travels this afternoon. Picked up a box from rock auto with new tuna can and injector return lines as I was grocery shopping. All the parts have arrived now, so I´ll get going at putting the burb back together tomorrow!

 

[svein]

So, first day back from work - and boy did I have a productive day!

Went down to my parents where my truck is parked. It was Christmas Eve all over again:
-injector return lines and new cdr valve from yesterday.
-brand new shaft and exhaust wheel for the turbo
-new front casting for my starter
-new glow plugs as an added bonus - had a bit of luck and scored a set of brand new ac Delco 60g for 70usd. Cheap for Norway!

First I had a look at the new front casting for the starter. After consulting a bit with @MrMarty51 on how to get the gear out and back in, I got it going. The solution was to put it in a vice and use a piece of wood and a hammer to drive the gear out of the old casting and in to the new.

New starter with new housing, and the old housing at the side:


Then I went to my old companys warehouse, and had a go at the turbo and the new shaft. I took my time, and it took some hours, but at last I could drive home with a overhauled gm8 with new exhaust wheel, shaft, wicked wheel 2, and a mech. waste gate controller:


A big thanks to @bison who has written a great thread on "Rebuilding a GM8 turbo,show and tell". It was a great help to me. I shot a lot of pictures during the rebuild, so I will make a post or two to show what I did. Maybe someone finds it useful, maybe someone can spot my mistakes! haha!

Think I'm gonna proceed with the starter and exhaust tomorrow. Its supposed to snow and rain, so I rather be under the car than on top of it, but if it clears I might have a look at the injector return lines and the glow plugs as well!

 

[MrMarty51]

Yeah, do them GPs and injector work while the turbo is removed, at least on that RH side.

 

[FellowTraveler]

SVEIN, How are things going in your neck of the woods, hopefully everyone there and you are healthy.

 

[svein]

Hi @FellowTraveler!
So nice of you to ask! Hope everything is well with you and yours as well!

I have to admit it´s quite a privilege to live in a tiny Northern European country these days. Even though covid obviously is making a great impact on our society, it is pretty much a walk in the park here compared to most other places I have the feel. The "closest" it´s gotten to me is a friend of mine who had a close encounter with someone who had it, but luckily face masks and hand sanitizer saved her!

It´s been way to long since I last updated this thread. Life has been rather crazy already before covid, and even more after, so even though I have had no work for the last nine months, there has been simply no time to play with the burg! The good news, on the other hand is that it just keeps running and not giving me any trouble as long as I change the oil and filters. I had some hickups with the veg oil just before Christmas, but that´s what I get when I cheap out and skip filter changes I suppose...

At the moment, I´m at the home run of refurbishing my apartment. I´ve built 45sqm from scratch in the basement (well - the walls was there, but thats it), and when that is finally done my workload should lighten significantly so I can give some love to the burb and hopefully catch up on the progress here!!

 

[FellowTraveler]

Good to hear you are doing well, I too live in area where covid had little or effect on daily life, stay well and keep us informed.

 

[svein]

It´s been a long while since I posted anything here now - as I mentioned earlier, I´ve been crazy busy with everything else than the Suburban. Luckily, she just keeps on working giving me very few problems!

I wrote that I´d share the pictures from my gm8 turbo rebuild, so here goes....

This is the service kit I got from quaestor tuning:


Part by part going into the turbo:


The new wicked wheel compared to the stock wheel:


All ready for the housing:

 

[svein]

The story continued with getting the diamond eye exhaust and the new starter in place. I was very worried about breaking the bolts when trying to get the old crossover removed. A friend of mine recommended soaking the bolts in 50/50 ATF and acetone, and it worked like a charm! I gave it a couple of days, and the bolts came off like they were new!!


Installing the 4" exhaust itself was quite straight forward - having a friend helping hold it helped enormously though!

The starter however, was a different chapter. With the new housing on, I carefully torqued it in place, but look at that...

I couldn't believe I had ripped another housing, I had been so careful. But wait...I had a look at my torque wrench...and stupid me had read the scale completely wrong, so It was all my fault all the way. So embarrassing, and still with no new starter. Luckily, my multi genius welding friend helped me out yet again and repaired a housing so I could get the new starter in place, this time with the CORRECT torque...


Before putting the turbo in, I also drilled and tapped for an EGT sensor....



....and replaced the ground strap behind there. I think this one had done its job:

 

[WarWagon]

and replaced the ground strap behind there. I think this one had done its job:

No... Way too early. You leave those attached and then break them with the cherry picker when removing the engine. Then you replace them.