The Stupid Engine Questions Thread

[SUBURBAN5]

For 95% of people I would say "buy a crate motor". You can build it yourself cheaper, but make one mistake and you're back inside it, and that second set of head gaskets just put you even with a crate motor. The upside of building yourself if that you can spread out your parts purchase over a few months so your wife doesn't notice. If your motor is already down, crate motor all the way.

Same here I keep parts and it annoys my wife. I would build me a new engine but it's kinda like taking some body who's never been to IKEA and say go get all the parts you need. That's my issue. Getting a crate motor and so much easier and I can swap parts. Or sensors its a big chunk of change I don't want to spend right now plus I don't have it lol however I like the way you think. Unfortunately my wife would catch even the smallest amount of money spent lol. I barely got lucky with my new headlight switch thank god for paypal

 

[thegawd]

My wife is 100% in charge of money I cant and dont try to hide anything from her. Instead I present an analysis of our situation and our options. It was ultimately her idea to spend the extra $2000 on the tranny to turn it into a stage 3 HD.

Shes a keeper. Lol but were entirely on the same page. Hell she fillets my fish and process's my game.

Al

 

[SUBURBAN5]

My wife is 100% in charge of money I cant and dont try to hide anything from her. Instead I present an analysis of our situation and our options. It was ultimately her idea to spend the extra $2000 on the tranny to turn it into a stage 3 HD.

Shes a keeper. Lol but were entirely on the same page. Hell she fillets my fish and process's my game.

Al

I try to not hide anything lol but theres always those small things like the headlight switch that I know she would of been like is it broken (nope) does it work (yup) then why you need one (cuz it needs to be replaced one day and the knob is ugly as hell lol) but that's my last buy for now. Were gonna try to get some Bill's in control then I'll get back into it.

 

[thegawd]

Hahaha I know how expensive they are as I bought one as well. It was amazing when I learned how the switch was supposed to work. With the dome override button and interior lights n all. Hurray we can see LOL.

Al

 

[thegawd]

....And not all liquidy rubbery feeling and gross LOL

 

[SUBURBAN5]

You know it's just funny cause if I would of kept the suburban interior original the dash would of been cracked and falling apart. Radio lights would of been out, steering wheel was showing the metal ring, light switch was black and sticky, cup holder would be useless lol. Carpet stains of coke and coffee. Brake petal pad was worn to the metal. Lol I'll stop the hijack. Sorry everybody. I know this is the "stupid engine questions"

 

[east302]

Any idea why someone would put a ground wire from the heater core to the ground bolt on the frame?

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[SUBURBAN5]

I have an idea but that doesn't make sense in auto motive .... in plumbing there are devices you hook up to the water line to break up calcium or build up by using a electrical current. This however I doubt was for that reason. My guess would be look at the heater core and see if its grounded inside. Then the dummy would have made sense by grounding the core in the dash and completing the grounding it to the frame to complete the loop lol..

 

[east302]

Thanks, the plumbing angle sounds familiar, I’ve just not seen it before on a 400.

Heater doesn’t work anyways, the actuator is busted, lol.

 

[Zseventy-one]

Hey Everyone!

91 GMC Sierra 1500 SLE Z71 w/350 TBI (VIN: 1GTDK14K2ME520254) - Belts/Pulleys

Have a horrible metal crunching sound coming from the front of the engine. The noise is the worst at idle after she is warmed up. Oddley, the sound almost goes away when throttle is blipped. Was trying to record a video of it this morning, when I noticed what looked like a small spark come out the back of the alternator. While no other sparks came out after that, I did find some metal shavings behind it and more shrapnel laying on top the intake manifold. Almost like it was chewing itself apart from the inside somehow? (see pic below)

Goal right now is to keep her running and driving while we slowly restore it. All of the pulleys and engine accessories will be getting replaced eventually but for now I'm going to order a new alternator, belt tensioner & pulley. AC hasn't worked in 15 years so also going to get a ac bypass pulley so while I'm at it I can remove the ac compressor while keeping the same belt. Belt looks fine.

Usually shop around for parts but for this repair I was thinking of going with LMC Truck. The ALT is 150 Amp (PART 36-2730) costs around $200 bucks which should be an upgrade over stock, the auto tensioner (PART 32-2231) costs $55 & Pulley(PART 32-2204) costs $15 and the AC bypass pulley (PART 32-2750) costs $53 bucks.

Thinking $323 in parts isn't to bad to stop the madness and carnage going on under the hood.

Anyone run into problems with LMC parts? Wouldn't deleting the AC help the engine run a little better? Suggestions on cheaper parts you would trust on your truck, or input about anything gmt400 related is appreciated!

Thanks - JP

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