BrandonHall10

Hello! I am the proud new owner of a 2006 2500HD. It's not pretty and it needs some work, but for the price I paid, I'm thrilled! Here's the rundown of the problems:

1.) The U-joint is doinked. It kind of entered the space that the spinning pinion yoke occupied while dolly towing. Needs a 1410 U-joint and a strap kit.
2.) It pours water out the back of the right head just as quick as you dump it in the reservoir. I can feel a hole in the expansion plug. Looks like I'll be pulling the head(s).
3.) Has a code for a fuel level sensor causing a CEL. Thinking I'll just put a whole new pump module in due to the miles. Assuming that's the cause of the code. Need to research.
4.) There's something rattling underneath. Sounds like flexplate. Goes away when you put it in gear.
5.) Some of the gauges don't work. I guess that's pretty common in the GMT800 clusters. Hoping some stepper motors will fix it.
6.) Battery is shot.

Here's how it sits now,





I've had a couple square bodys in the past. An '85 K5, an '81 K5 and my current square is a 1984 K10. I'm in the beginning stages of doing an LS swap. Just a stock bottom end LM7 with a cam, springs and new gaskets. Have yet to do anything to the truck.



But the engine is ready to drop. I've even test fired it on the stand.



Also not my first 2500HD. I bought a 2002 a few years back.



However, that one was dismantled so it could donate it's drivetrain to an S10. It's now my daily driver. LQ4, 80e, cut Ford 8.8.



I let a local Youtuber borrow it for a review,




Anyhow, I'm here for the '06. I'll be posting the repairs and keeping a running tally of the cost as I go.

$750 - Purchase price
$100 - To have it towed home

$850 - Total

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

I've seen that S10 video. Looks like an awesome daily! What are the rest of your plans for the new project?

BrandonHall10

Thanks! It's a blast to drive. I've been waiting on some cooler weather to work on the tune some more. Fixed the rev limiter issue, and the VE table is close. Need to work on the MAF table.

Strictly maintenance for now. I want to get this thing back on the road for as little as possible (without sacrificing reliability). The sooner I it registered and rolling again, the sooner I can get into the K10/LM7 swap. Plan is to just drive it. If for some reason something happens to it, I've got a 6.0/80e to drop into something else!

U-joint and strap kit came today.







U-joint is in and looks like the strap kit is a match. I'll reassemble tomorrow when it's not raining. Now I can drive it around front and park it by the garage. Going to be much more convenient to do the head gaskets in the driveway than in the backyard. Maybe I'll pull the inspection cover off the trans while I'm down there.


Oops. Forgot to add to the tab.

$850 - Previous
$31 - U joint and strap kit

$881 - Total

BrandonHall10

I ordered up some parts last night and stopped by the poor man's speed shop (aka Wal-Mart) on the way home from work. I don't have any personal experience with Everstart batteries yet, but I figured I'd give them a shot. The price seemed decent, and the warranty looked good. Plus there's a Wal-Mart in every small town in America so it shouldn't be hard to find one when it comes time to exchange. Also grabbed some radiator flush. The WP and radiator are brand new, but I have no idea what the block looks like. They may have dumped a bunch of stop leak in it trying to band aid the expansion plug leak. Then again, maybe not. I'll make the call to use it or not when the heads are off. New exhaust manifold bolts because I can see at least one head is missing. Almost guaranteed to break a couple more when pulling the manifolds off.



$881 - Previous
$82 - Battery
$10 - Dorman Exh bolts
$4 - Filter
$4 - Radiator flush

$981 - Total

BrandonHall10

Popped the battery in and pulled the truck out front. I only got as far as removing the intake manifold. Wasn't really surprised by how dirty it was. Just reaffirmed my decision to buy a complete top end gasket set. Been a while since I worked on anything with an engine bay this big. Hardest part was figuring out where to put my feet! So much different than the S10. Not sure which I prefer...



I'm not in a huge rush to get this put back together, so I wanted to take the time to clean it up a bit. I'm not a fan of working on a dirty engine. Got it prepped for pressure washing.



Called it quits there. I'll pick it up again tomorrow. She may not be pretty, but she's mine.

BrandonHall10

Couple hours of spraying with cleaner, scrubbing with a brush and blasting with the pressure washer here's the result.



It's not showroom clean, but at least now I can pull the heads without dropping a TON of crud into the engine. I'll clean things up a bit more once the heads are on the bench. It'll also be nice working in a little cleaner environment.

1FastBrick

iTrader: (17)

Looking good already!

Beatdown Z

iTrader: (18)

BrandonHall10

Thanks guys! We're pretty fortunate here in the southwest. Engines clean up really well.

So I got the right head off. Everything went well, no surprises. Probably taking me longer than it should, but this is my first time doing heads on an LS. Plus part of my attention is on my kids. Also kind of awkward squatting on the valley cover. I'm making progress though. By the time I was done, it was already dark and I was too gross to pick up the camera. I'll take some pictures tomorrow as it sits before I do anything else. Judging by what I've seen so far, I'm fairly optimistic. Not a ton of carbon buildup, the rockers aren't too dark, and I can still see crosshatch. All the exhaust bolts came out except for one. That one broke at the head so I still have something to grab with the vise grips. Bonus!

The only thing that kind of bothers me is the amount of corrosion in the block. Looks like the PO ran straight water in the cooling system for quite a while. I wonder if that's why the expansion plug rotted through... #sarcasm

thunderwagen

iTrader: (3)

looking good!