mikeskiw

Starting a new thread for my truck as I have figured out a few things on my build. If you saw my other thread you will know that my Edelbrock E-force Supercharged 5.3L engine finally started smoking and burning oil at 145k miles so I finally get to put a stronger motor under the blower. The truck (SUV) is a 2007 Chevy Avalanche stock except for the supercharger and tune. Currently tuned on the dyno to 365HP at the rear wheels (exactly what Edelbrock told me it would do).

The new motor I just purchased is a new ATK HP93, rebuilt LQ4 with cam they claim makes 450HP with a carb and headers. Mine is going to get stock exhaust manifolds and a mild tune so it can still pass CARB smog tests. The Edelbrock blower is CARB listed so everything I do needs to pass the visual and sniff test. I guess the blower will add about 100hp and that's plenty for my needs, I plan to run the 3.5" pulley on the blower so it should be pushing 6.5-7 lbs of boost. I know the motor will take more but I don't want to go through the rest of the drivetrain. I will address the transmission in another thread as I am currently debating between a stage 3 fresh built Xtreme transmissions 4L65E or a good low mileage junkyard 4L80E.

I have some questions for cooling. The 5.3L motor with the blower did get a bit too warm for comfort on warm days when towing my boat so I will likely need to address the cooling system with the new motor.

- Should I install a new bigger radiator? (original radiator has 145k miles)
- Should I install an oil cooler?
- Should I install a new bigger radiator and oil cooler?

The front of the truck is going to get pretty busy between the radiator, AC condenser, trans cooler (adding a tru cool 40k), blower intercooler, and possibly oil cooler. In terms of stacking I figure the intercooler and trans cooler should get the fresh air, then the AC condenser, then the radiator. I will need to determine how I can best utilize the real estate behind the grill so everything gets the best access to the coolest air.

Pictures always make threads more interesting!

Tydriver

iTrader: (2)

As the owner of a 2005 Avalanche, this is about the only way I could imagine making the MPG worse, LOL adding a blower. Don't get me wrong I'd love to have it in my truck but geeez what does it get for MPG ?

As far as coolers are concerned, consider getting a rear mounted transmission cooler with a thermostatically controlled fan on it, that will free up some area up front. I imagine you ~could~ do the same with the oil cooler but then you'll have fluid lines running in ever direction on the truck. IMO, an oil cooler is nice, but an aux transmission cooler is a must in these 6000# pigs.

If you ~do~ decide to go with the 80e don't be surprised if out of the hole it doesn't pull like it used to, the 80e is all around better but the 60e has a shorter 1st gear (higher numerical ratio) than the 80e does in 1st gear. I've seen people get a higher stall in their converters to help overcome this, but when do you draw the line between race truck and street truck ?

Contrary to public opinion on this (and many car forums), the 60e isn't a totally bad transmission if you take care of it. Most people get in and mat the throttle and continue for WOT shifts etc. with high horsepower builds. That combination will kill a 60e every time. If I am towing or going WOT in my Avalanche or Silverado I usually let out just before it shifts and let it complete the shift without a full load. So far I have 186k on my 60e in my Avalanche (and counting). Yeah it sucks they didn't all come from the factory with a real transmission like the 80e, but the economics don't always balance out converting a vehicle over vs,. taking simple measures to help it last. Good luck with your project, I always wondered what a blown Avalanche would roll like :-)

mikeskiw

It gets 13.3mpg according to the dash. I've seen over 15 on the highway. Hook up the boat and its 8-10.

I'm getting a transbuilderguy (Robert Godfrey) level 4.5 built 4L70e. Considering my bone stock trans has held together for 3 years at 365RWHP towing a few thousand miles, I have faith the new trans will work. I did decide against a big stall. Keeping the stall low will help the truck get rolling before the motor gets too far into the torque curve, should reduce the stress on the trans a little.

outlawz2004

iTrader: (18)

Robert built me a trans a couple years ago for my 04 silverado and it was a beast. Its hard to go back to a stock trans after having one run and shift as good as a built one.

therock

iTrader: (2)

Tell us how is the trans doing. How did it shift in daily driving conditions.

Thanks

mikeskiw

Well it took me almost a year but I finally gave in and hired help to do the swap for me. I just don't have any time with a busy work schedule and young kids.

Just got it off the dyno a few hours ago. It pulls harder down low but surprisingly not much harder up top. It sounds like a jet plane through the exhaust, my tuner says the cats are too restrictive limiting the power. It only pulled 400RWTQ/369RWHP with 6psi of boost but the torque curve is flat like a table top from 2000-5500rpm. At the very start of the pull at 2000rpm it's already pulling over 320ftlbs at the tire. The transmission is also working very well. I went with a Trailblazer I6 torque converter to give it a 2600-2800 stall. I'm still getting used to it. If I knew it was going to be so strong at such a low RPM I may have opted for a stock torque converter.

Still some minor tweaking and some exhaust work to do then back on the rollers. I might bump the pulley 1 more size putting boost at about 7.5. Thinking those mods may get me to mid 400's at the tire?

therock

iTrader: (2)

I am now on a TBG 4.5 build and love it. I have been banging on it pretty regular.
The drivability is spot on. It takes about 500 daily driver miles to seat a band in. My 1st WOT 1-2's were kind of long. Robert said wait for it, and it worked.
Now, the OE Flexplate is protesting after 80+k miles of fun.
She is in line at the shop for an upgraded one and a rear main seal while she is apart.

mikeskiw

Yes, I am up over 500 miles now and it's running great, both engine and trans. Unfortunately I must have bunched up the rear main seal somehow when I pulled the crank to swap the reluctor wheel from the 24 to 58x. Now I need to pull the trans again to replace the rear main seal, booo. While I am in there I am going to change out the Trailblazer converter to something tighter (it's flashing around 2,800RPMs now, I want to see 1800-2000RPMs). As fun as it is to load up and blast off from a dead stop the round town drive-ability is not what I want. I am also dreading towing my 5000lb boat with this torque converter. I made the choice to go with a Hughes XTM series GM22ELXTM specialty towing converter. I didn't do a ton of research but this recommendation came from somebody I trust so I just ordered it up.

Of course the driver side engine mount was toast, not sure how long it had been that way but I decided to have my fabricator weld it up solid. I didn't find any other reasonable solutions. I was also thinking about a torque strap to the head but I have concerns about the torque on the aluminum head. The fabricator says no torque strap is needed now that I have the solid mount.

The exhaust was also bothering me, after removing the resonator trying to unplug things I found the antiflowmaster 50 to be pretty annoying. I ended up going with the Magnaflow high flow cats and Magnaflow single 3" straight flow through system. It is so much better now, I highly recommend this combination. It has a nice growl, flows well, and doesn't drone in the cab.

I will be stepping up to the 3.25" pulley and heading back to the dyno next week after the oil leak is fixed and the new torque converter is installed. Expecting to see mid 440-460RWHP on the rollers!