COCOAL's build/brag/progress thread...:)

PureHybrid

Isuzu Shakes IT
Feb 15, 2012
3,495
475
83
Central OH
Good idea pulling glow plugs. Other than a visual check there isn't much you can inspect them with while in the engine. Maybe measure piston protrusion while its apart to check rod length???
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
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Good idea pulling glow plugs. Other than a visual check there isn't much you can inspect them with while in the engine. Maybe measure piston protrusion while its apart to check rod length???

that's a good one too
I'll make sure to do that, although I'm not expecting to see any shortened rods. Before the piston failed she was running like new, smoother than the day I bought it, but we'll see ;)
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
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In case there was anyone wondering...WTF happened to COCOAL, wondering if I had given up or got in over my head, NEVER!!! Y'all ain't gonna be that lucky, I'm not fallin off the D-max scene...but
I gotta admit-
I Switched gears for a bit
Traded sides for a while
I'm a turncoat and a Trader
:sorry:

:secret:
I've been playing with the TBSS quite a bit, sinking my time and money into it to get it to a point that I was content with. Coming from a line of modified cars, and one helluva Duramax powered Silvy, owning STOCK SUV, regardless of being the only SUV to be honored with the SS badge, just wasn't gonna cut it.

I couldn't wait till the D-max was put together to mod this pig, so the D-max repair/build has been put on hold for the last two months or so.

Here she is, an AWD 06 Summit White TrailBlazer SS.
I find it fitting to have the summit of Mt. Rainier in the background ;)

2j44rb8.jpg


My mods started innocently and simple enough, but y'all know where this road ends...
So far I've pretty much focused on the chassis and lighting.
This is what I've installed already.

All on mod w/HID's in the low's and fogs PIAA 60w in the hi's and LED blinker lighting, license plate lights and interior lights.

MASSIVE chromoly adj rear UCA's and LCA's and panhard bar, DJM adj rear sway, prothane LCA poly bushings, modified DJM UCA's, new ball joints, hotchkis billet frt sway bracket w/poly bushings, LC32 crossmember, Simple Engineering Frame Stiffening Plate and rear crossmember and 1.25" bora wheel spacers.

Today I'm expecting a delivery to finish off the chassis modifications, and that is
Basically a 2" lowering package that includes; KW V3 variant front coilovers, NorCalSS rear springs and belltech shocks, air rite in coil helper bags and a set of 4 suspension maxx adj sway endlinks.

However, I'm not done there, before I tear into the D-max.
I've got to get a lil bit more performance outta the ol girl before I start to dig into the truck. I'm planning on a a few basics- headers, 4"Fender Well Intake, LS7 MAF and TB, cam, a yank 3200 stall, HD2 shift kit and Sonnax servos for the trans and some good tuning. All that should get me into the low 12's, and if I'm feeling ballsy, there's a 100 shot NOs kit that will push er into the mid 11's.

THEN I'm gonna hike up the ol britches and tear into the Duramax and make that dream a reality. All in all, it'll be about 2mo more down time on the CrewCab.

Just an update for anyone who was interested to know

Cheers
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
0
0
I did something similar. But, I bought something more........versatile.

ysymy3et.jpg


My Duramax is still rocking though!

Nice truck :thumb:
Had one...
It was the GMC equivalent, 1500hd 6.0L 4L80E with auto 4x4. Had a bunch of suspension goodies and I Put a D1SC supercharger on it, 3 row A2A inter cooler and 42lb or 46lb injectors as well...
Got smoked (literally, musta had stacked programmers) by a 6.7L dodge crew cab, then I bought a duramax...
Lol

My d-max will be rockin again soon, it's getting pretty tough to only be able to look at it tho
 

hondarider552

Getting faster
May 28, 2008
10,627
2
36
34
Arizona
F the Dmax and build the LS... it will take a lot more abuse and be a lot more fun being AWD... have a few 11 second bottle fed single turbo SS' here.
 

D-MAX Mafia

Hood down, smoke up!
Nov 4, 2009
1,112
13
38
Phoenix
Nice truck :thumb:
Had one...
It was the GMC equivalent, 1500hd 6.0L 4L80E with auto 4x4.

This is just a glorified half ton. LQ9 6.0, 4L70E 4x4. I thought the Vortec Max had a 4L80E.... I was wrong. I had my diff guy put 4.56's in it to wake it up and exhaust is next.

Probably gonna turbo it and throw a 6L90E behind it in a few years.

I drove it to the doctor yesterday after work and it scoots ok. Still needs a real tune though. Driving my Duramax this morning was much more fun!
 

Chevy1925

don't know sh!t about IFS
Staff member
Oct 21, 2009
21,681
5,830
113
Phoenix Az
I'm assuming you guys have better air and fuel up there Jason cause no tbss will touch low 12s with only that done to it lol. Fastest one I've seen out here hit a 12.1 on a 100 shot and he had a big cam , heads, stall, suspension setup and drag radials. Our air and fuel sucks out here though.

Gassers are cool but I'd never give up my built Dmax for a built LS in the same config
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
0
0
Ya, A.D.D is a bitch:rofl:
hahahah
TRUTH BROTHA!!!


F the Dmax and build the LS... it will take a lot more abuse and be a lot more fun being AWD... have a few 11 second bottle fed single turbo SS' here.
Yeah, I've been thinking exactly that, although to capitalize on what I've already done and spent the time and money on, I need a set of better pistons and rods. Probably gonna go with Jon's ovals and carillios.
Then the SS will get it's turn again.

That LS would be ridiculous if you put the dmax motor build fund into it.
No kidding. If I put a little more than half into the SS as what I've put into the d-max, I'd probably have a low 10sec SUV, lol

100Lb injectors, single turbo from Tricks, Yank converter and some tuning and it would rape a dmax for 1/3 the cost.

Brian-
Who is TRICKS???!
I've been looking for a good turbo set up for one of these rigs and so far I've come up, well, kinda short...enough so that I've started looking into the option of. Maggie TVS jack shaft 2300...and I hate super chargers...

This is just a glorified half ton. LQ9 6.0, 4L70E 4x4. I thought the Vortec Max had a 4L80E.... I was wrong. I had my diff guy put 4.56's in it to wake it up and exhaust is next.

Probably gonna turbo it and throw a 6L90E behind it in a few years.

I drove it to the doctor yesterday after work and it scoots ok. Still needs a real tune though. Driving my Duramax this morning was much more fun!
This^^^*
One word
TORQUE:)
I'm assuming you guys have better air and fuel up there Jason cause no tbss will touch low 12s with only that done to it lol. Fastest one I've seen out here hit a 12.1 on a 100 shot and he had a big cam , heads, stall, suspension setup and drag radials. Our air and fuel sucks out here though.

Gassers are cool but I'd never give up my built Dmax for a built LS in the same config
I dunno James?
That's just what the forum says
Lol
12's no prob on a cam set up with full bolt on's and a couple trans mods...
There's a local guy running 11.98 on just a built motor and built trans. He pushing 550awhp, which is totally attainable full bolt on and cam set up running NOs.
But yes, the air up here is pretty sweet for dyno numbers, however the climate isn't so great for track conditions, so win some loose some...:rolleyes:
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
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Got the rest of the suspension parts yesterday and installed last night! So the suspension mods are all finished up!

:woott:
nl1v87.jpg


2r4k7i9.jpg


Here she is with the new stance, I love it and it rides as good if not better than the stock suspension!
2h2hb3q.jpg

:thumb:
 

Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
0
0
looks good man!
Thank you sir!

D-max update!
Got the used engine today! It's in the garage and I'll start cleaning and prepping it for it's new home tonight!

Just getting it in the garage was a huge hurdle...

2b8687.jpg


2mdq4uh.jpg


Here she is

4u9l41.jpg
 
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Hot COCOAL

May the farce be with you
Jun 9, 2012
4,433
0
0
Hey guys-
I got a few questions before I get too far into this engine:

1) if I pull the heads off just to inspect what I can see of the cylinders and do a visual check of the head and pistons...is it a MUST to have the heads surfaced?

2) I have a SoCal flexplate on my dead engine, pretty sure the tranny guy used ARP bolts when he installed it, do I/should I get new bolts to install the flexplate on this new engine?

3) I can re torque the ARP 2000 head studs several times right? I don't need to get new ones, do I? I've been told by a couple shops that they wouldn't re-use them if they built me an engine, but here's the kicker, they told me to sell them to you guys- the forum! I'm pretty sure I've read it's fine to re-use them but I wanna make sure before I put them in.

4) The Glow Plug Control Module isn't programmed to the ECM, is it? Can I use the one provided with the used engine with my ECM?

5) Adding a SoCal dampener should be ok right? The one on this used engine has a few knicks in it and I don't wanna use it. Bit if the SoCal dampener is know to be problematic without balancing the rotating assembly I don't wanna chance it

And lastly-
Is there anyone that makes a billet pulley kit for the Duramax? These pulleys are not in awesome shape, I think this engine has sat for a bit and as a result there is some surface rust on several spots (including the pulleys) and the pulleys have a slight noise when spun by hand, although they do spin really easily and continue to spin a couple revolutions, oh, and they have a slight wobble...

Thanks for reading and for any help-
Jason
 
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boominator

Member
Jan 31, 2012
168
5
18
MI
Hey guys-
I got a few questions before I get too far into this engine:

1) if I pull the heads off just to inspect what I can see of the cylinders and do a visual check of the head and pistons...is it a MUST to have the heads surfaced?

2) I have a SoCal flexplate on my dead engine, pretty sure the tranny guy used ARP bolts when he installed it, do I/should I get new bolts to install the flexplate on this new engine?

3) I can re torque the ARP 2000 head studs several times right? I don't need to get new ones, do I? I've been told by a couple shops that they wouldn't re-use them if they built me an engine, but here's the kicker, they told me to sell them to you guys- the forum! I'm pretty sure I've read it's fine to re-use them but I wanna make sure before I put them in.

4) The Glow Plug Control Module isn't programmed to the ECM, is it? Can I use the one provided with the used engine with my ECM?

5) Adding a SoCal dampener should be ok right? The one on this used engine has a few knicks in it and I don't wanna use it. Bit if the SoCal dampener is know to be problematic without balancing the rotating assembly I don't wanna chance it

And lastly-
Is there anyone that makes a billet pulley kit for the Duramax? These pulleys are not in awesome shape, I think this engine has sat for a bit and as a result there is some surface rust on several spots (including the pulleys) and the pulleys have a slight noise when spun by hand, although they do spin really easily and continue to spin a couple revolutions, oh, and they have a slight wobble...

Thanks for reading and for any help-
Jason

1 I would have the heads cut if it was me but if the gaskets weren't leaking you might be ok.
2 if the shop used arp bolts then you should be fine
3 I think you would be fine but I would confirm that with someone more knowledgeable
4 you should be fine with either glpm I do not believe they are programmed to the ecm
5 Idk if it is bad to run unbalanced but I know it will have to be honed to fit the crank

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