My Project

[WCSting]

I decided to start a thread on my work which began the day after I bought the truck from the dealer. This is my 2nd diesel - I had an '07 Cummins 5.9 and modded it heavily, went through 3 trannies, and ended up trading it on a new GMC Sierra gas truck last year for my business.

Anyway, I got this white LML this past September and started with the little stuff - wheels and tires the first day, Banks CAI, Cognito UCA kit with Fox shocks among others.

I have PM'd Don and Ashley and one or two others and a couple of the vendors herewith questions and already I have had tremendous support and guidance, which is probably the underlying reason for these forums in the first place. Don encouraged me to post a thread on my process and I decided that if I could help any forum member in any way by doing so then I'd be happy to do it. So here goes.

The task I am attempting is something I have NEVER done before. I am very mechanically minded, but often bite off more than I can chew and get myself into all kinds of shyte along the way. The toughest thing I have ever done is replace a clutch plate on a 5 spd 1992 Toyota Celica GTS... alone... in my garage. And it ran pretty well for years afterward, so I can turn a ratchet if I need.

But this..? Definitely way beyond me. Especially with no instructions. So, I really need some help.
Please feel free to comment, chip in, donate, criticize, whatever... help, even. I still have lots of questions.

I am giving myself about 6 actual work days to do the work, and its not really "myself" its a diesel guy at a shop I really trust. His name is Jim, and he has worked on many LBZ's extensively, and the odd LMM a little, but never an LML. Did his apprenticeship as a diesel guy with a GM dealership (may not be a good thing ) The owner of the shop has a warmed up LBZ, & is a mate of mine, he did some of the work on my Cummins and maintains much of my business vehicles, and he is happy to have me work with Jim and let Jim get the experience of doing these mods using my truck as the test vehicle. Basically, its a big experiment being conducted by two idiot rookies who could destroy some really expensive gear in a minute. Fun!

So... Here's the game plan:
OUT COMES the exhaust, DPF, DEF tank, down pipe, up pipes, manifolds and about 80lbs of other unnecessary things I gather are not needed...
IN GOES new manifolds up pipes, down pipe, exhaust, Fuel Lift pump, and some other goodies.

In the first 2 days, Jim and I (me part time in between running a job site 8 miles down the road) got through the "OUT COMES..." part, drew blood a few times, and did not break anything we need to re-use. We did come up with questions which hopefully I have answered using Don's thread, but we shall see.

So here goes:

Wheel well liners out... Passenger side shows a clear path, but drivers side reveals a tough task ahead.

[jay_boom]

Looking forward to seeing it progress. Good luck!

[WCSting]

Very quickly the passenger side manifold was off and on the floor and we were starting to think, "Yeah, this is going to be easier than they've been writing..."



Jim was up on top while I was down in the wheel well...

[WCSting]

By 3:00pm yesterday, my view of the inside of the passenger side wheel well still looked like this...



and there was still a heat shield behind the down pipe, but it was covered with this...



I had to get stuff ready for a bid, so I left Jim with the task of trying to pull it out, and when I came in this morning, I saw this...

[WCSting]

Then it was time to start to get new bigger parts to go into spaces that were made for smaller older parts. The drivers side manifold proved the toughest test of the day. No way would it go in through the obvious route, from the top. I had to try slide it past the oil filter and squeezed between the fuel lines and the brake lines in a forward direction at about a 15 agree angle...



Once it cleared the fuel lines and brake lines, then I could rotate it and get it into position to start lining up the gasket and cap bolts.

[WCSting]

The drivers side up pipe also presented a small problem. It took a "minute" to get it in there... it kept getting snagged up on the tranny dip stick tube which we eventually had to bend out of the way with a pry bar. Once in place I was so excited that I grabbed the gasket, a bolt and started turning, without checking, Jim found another hole and within 5 minutes the up pipe was finger tight and we were ready for cigar time. I decided to take a look with a mirror. LOL!
The stock up pipes have heat shields, and the gaskets I believe have tabbed projections with holes sticking out at odd places around their perimeters, and they need to be lined up correctly. The 2 up pipes fit really close together, so you have to get the gaskets fitting right, and I had this one wrong. If I put the right side up pipe & gasket on, it would not have fit because it would have overlapped on the tab 2/3 of the way up the right side of the flange.



So, off it came. I then picked up the old up pipes, laid them out on the floor with the gaskets in place, and then cut off the tabs off the gaskets just in case I got one or both of them mixed up on the next few steps which could take another day and a half before I got to putting the right side up pipe on.



Once that was done the up pipe was bolted in place, and left manifold offered up and bolted to the up pipe.
Rick Lance from ProFab Performance makes a very high quality product and the bolts are really high quality as well. They screw in with fingers until they are all they way in and then almost abruptly stop, and you think you've missed the bolt or something, but no. Just really well made.

[jwcgmc1985]

[LMLDenali11]

Subscribed

Will you be doing the egr?

[WCSting]

Blank off with Alliigator Diesel Performance delete kit.

[WCSting]

One thing that came up this morning and maybe someone can help...

Jim is asking what do we do with the fuel "returns"? Maybe Don has an answer here?

This device...



Do I leave this device on the vehicle?



This is what I did back at the HP pump: