yeah, I remember trying to sort through all the rods trying to find the straightest one (emphasis on straightest, they were all warped).

 

ya, I spent 10-15 min. rollin em across the floor. I found 4 nice ones, & in reality, 2 were true. I pulled out 2 or 3 Oak ones & even found a better hardwood like Oak needs to be gone thru to find some straight ones.

I think Poplar will suit me fine. IDK if u saw my last post, but I edited it (basically, $105 for the JPR rods). So, I spent how many hundreds on this cam swap & saved $104.

I just got home a lil bit ago, & let my truck cool down for almost an hour. Lat thing I want is boiling DexCool on me. I only got ~1 hr. of daylight. At this time, the garage lighting isn't optimal, so I'll try to get the DexCool draining. Oops! I hope I have some empty pans & jugs. At least these efans will come off quicker than a clutch fan.

I might just do some of the simple stuff (where I stay kinda clean) now & hit it hard Sun. Do all the grungy work at once. I'm just like that, once I start a job, I wanna finish it, but I don't mind gettin greasy.

 

The cam swap is easy, just takes time & patience. I did a cam swap on my '06 5.3 all by myself, at that time my experience as a mechanic included a total of 2 or 3 tire changes plus spark plugs replacement lol so if I could do it anyone can do it.

I'm interested on your final dyno numbers as I have a R-tvs1900, same 212/218 cam, just can't find the time to install it. I don't have access to a dyno.

 

A few things. Since there's no petcock, how do ya not get coolant all over the floor?
I tried to be careful, just like the last time (when I did e-fans & w/p gaskets). This time. I even removed that lower splash cover w/. the (5) 15mm bolts. That didn't help much. In fact, I think I got more on the floor this time than when I had the w/p gasket leak.

Next, if I take those (4) 8 mm bolts off valve cover, will some oil leak onto headers? I'm guessin I need to stuff some paper towels just uinder cover prior to poppin them off.

Is there a trick to removin the big belt? What, no tensioner for the other "main belt"? I know there's a tensioner w/. a 3/8" sq. for the A/C down low. I just slid it off the hub leftover from clutch fan. I gotta do a quick belt routing drawing since my cover over core support isn't on truck.

And, lastly. They say, we know someone by the time we get to the 6th person. Well, I hope someone in that line of 6 is related to, knows who, & I'm somehow connected to the person who designed those STUPID Clamps for all those coolant hoses!!! If I ever met the person, I'll surely give them a x2.

Is there a secret a or a slick pr. of pliers. Cause even w/. all the specialty pliers I've got access to, I still don't have any short of some good ole slip joint Channellocks. They work OK, but I want faster. If anyone has a pic of these "mystery hose pliers", please don't be shy & post a pic!!!

 

Anyway, in just under 3 hrs., w/. poor lighting & only using hands tools, I've done the following.

-Disconnected (-) on batt, plug wires @ coil packs, the big white harness for coils, removed the 10mm bolts holding down the coil packs to valve covers & set the whole thing aside. All that's left on v/c, are the (4) 8mm bolts on ea. side.

-Drained & removed rad. Wiped up what I could that didn't make it into drain pans (sounds trivial, but it was a pain).

Removed efans & hoses off water pump. Slid off main belt. That's where I stand.

 

I pretty much use regular pliers all the time, but there are variations of the tools made for taking off those hose clamps.

 

I use vise grips for the coolant lines. I had a special set made by Mac tools that have teeth built into them for holding those hose clamps. I would post up pics but they where recently stolen from me. You can find them at Mac tools or buy them off any Mac tool truck, they are definatly worth the money and make the job alot easier.

 

i was gonna make a joke or two, but since im such a "good" guy i will just say - good channel locks will make those clamps easy, just gotta get the right (aka full) solid squeeze on them then twist back and fourth up and down while going off the hose..
If you are that desperate, i am prob only 4hrs away, although i do charge $130hr, which includes driving..

 

For now, I'm N/A. Radix will be after. No TVS here.

Ya, I post dyno #'s.


So, while talkin to my good buddy from TX, I got both of my valve covers off & the rocker girdles. I only had a problem w/. a couple of bolts. I told him, it feels like my 6 pt. is seated, then slippin. I took his advice & put a wrench to those stubborn 2; I shocked it w/. a few light whacks. Then tried the socket again. I kept seeing a line on socket goin upward. Come to find out, it split right where the point meets on socket. After further inspection, it was thinnest part of the whole socket, inconsistent w/. the other 5 areas at the same spot. 1st SnapOn socket (or tool from them) in general, I've ever broken after all these yrs.

Water pump is off now too. No, I didn't work on this job this whole time.

I hope I didn't out trick myself. I came to realize after I was at this point. Am I gonna be able to take off harmonic w/. no belt, just as long as I use that flywheel tool?

For $130 / hour, I hope my avatar is w/. you, if ya catch my drift.

 

hit the pulley bolt with a decent impact and it should come off no problem, if not that use gmctrucks picture and use the belt to your advantage with long bar, last ditch effort would be the starter trick but dont think you need that yet.
and no, no company comes with that hourly rate, just my sweet face, dont think you could quite afford hers..
edit: didnt see you mentioned the flywheel tool, but thats for sissys anyway..