53 Surburban "Family Truckster"

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Khaus

Awesome to see all the progress pics of your build!

Thank you..

Marc

[_Ogre]

not bad for a mid 90s michigan anything, my 97 dodge was way worse than that in 09 when i traded it. your kid should appreciate the new wheels

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

not bad for a mid 90s michigan anything, my 97 dodge was way worse than that in 09 when i traded it. your kid should appreciate the new wheels

Thanks....The last of the fuel parts show up Saturday. We are going to try to make fire this weekend. Also on Family Truckster I'm down to hooking up (2) wires and I can try to make fire with that one as well. We are hoping for a twofer this weekend.

Have a nice Labor Day

Marc

[youngrodder]

I put a lot of Labor into Labor day weekend. My son and I got his Blazer running. We developed a few brake leaks so we replaced some brake lines. His Blazer chewed up a lot of my weekend. It was fun working with Cooper, so all is good.

On Sunday, I realized that I over looked the MAP sensor on the Family Truckster. On Monday I pulled the intake and drilled and hole and fab'd up a bracket to securely hold the MAP sensor.

Once I bolt it back together tonight I should be ready to fire it.....

Marc

[youngrodder]

Well that test fire did NOT go as planned...During the start up the engine was starting to get fuel and sound like it wanted to start then made an awful sound. We shut it down to notice the starter was hanging and took part of the block with it....

After some research to see what happened apparently it is quite common for the starter to break/come loose (For the record my starter bolts were tight) at the inside small bolt and the torque of the motor turning over rips the starter to the outside which takes out the mounting tab off the block. I'm running a stock starter and stock flywheel. The stater has 2 bolts. One bolt is longer than the other. At the shorter bolt, the starter housing is thin. GM later changed the starters to 2 long bolts with an equal more substantial mounting block. GM trucks used this starter. When I ordered an OEM replacement from Summit it is the new design.

My block is Aluminum

My fabricator friend is going to swing over and weld the tab back on. The new starter is in route. This is common enough that a guy fabricates and sells a LS starter bridge ($370) to allow you to remount the starter with a broken mount.

With all of the LS builds going on I thought it would be good if I shared what happened to me and what I learned. Some guys I read about didn't even notice their starter mounting tab was broken until they looked. Obviously it had not ripped off yet.

All is good. It just shows that its not always sunshine and rainbows...

Marc

[Kevin Mac]

Dang it man, hate to see that. I had a 99 Tahoe i replaced the injectors in and when i went to start it it hydro locked because one injector i skinned the wire and it was grounded. That made it spray fuel all the time and filled the cylinder. The started gave out instead of the block, but it was a steel block not aluminum. Might be something to check?
Love your build, so sorry at this point you have to weld on the pretty motor.
Mac

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Kevin Mac

Dang it man, hate to see that. I had a 99 Tahoe i replaced the injectors in and when i went to start it it hydro locked because one injector i skinned the wire and it was grounded. That made it spray fuel all the time and filled the cylinder. The started gave out instead of the block, but it was a steel block not aluminum. Might be something to check?
Love your build, so sorry at this point you have to weld on the pretty motor.
Mac

Thanks Mac will do. I pulled 3 of the plugs and they did not show any signs of excess fuel. I will pull the rest and inspect. I also have a noid light I can use to isolate which injector night be stuck on. I did have my injectors cleaned prior to installation and I'm running a new harness but it is worth checking out as hydro-locking was another cause I did read about.

Good suggestion...thxs.

Marc

[oldman3]

Marc, sorry to hear about this. I've never heard anything about this before, thanks for posting...Jim

[Tempest67]

I am sorry to hear this,

I am thinking that it must have taken a lot of 'misdirected' force to cause that, the flywheel/motor must have 'kicked back' on the starter while it was cranking , .... like a misfire or a crossed ignition wire?, but that is me thinking of distributors and timing, and these computer controlled motors are so much more complicated.

hang in there, just another bump in the road of the project that you will eventually overcome.

Good Luck and keep us posted

[mongocanfly]

Well that sucks...glad its fixable...

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Marc, sorry to hear about this. I've never heard anything about this before, thanks for posting...Jim

Yes, I will post the root cause once we know for sure....

Originally Posted by Tempest67

I am sorry to hear this,

I am thinking that it must have taken a lot of 'misdirected' force to cause that, the flywheel/motor must have 'kicked back' on the starter while it was cranking , .... like a misfire or a crossed ignition wire?, but that is me thinking of distributors and timing, and these computer controlled motors are so much more complicated.

hang in there, just another bump in the road of the project that you will eventually overcome.

Good Luck and keep us posted

Thanks, yes we thought backfire but the more I think about it I'm leaning toward a stuck open injector that caused a hydro-lock. I will know more tomorrow when we retrace wiring and test the injectors.

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Well that sucks...glad its fixable...

Thank you, of all he things that crossed my mind during the start up this was not one of them....I really took my time an thought I had all bases covered (guess not)...

Marc

[mongocanfly]

Glad you showed that...I've never seen or heard of anyone e having that issue...
If it is hydrolocked be careful...a guy I work with had that happen to him..they took the plugs out and cranked it over...blew the gas out of the cylinder..that immediately ignited and burnt his truck up..

[layinrocker65]

Nice that you are getting it fixed. I’ve seen this issue more than once. The aluminum mockup block I have was torn down because of the same problem.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

Glad you showed that...I've never seen or heard of anyone e having that issue...
If it is hydrolocked be careful...a guy I work with had that happen to him..they took the plugs out and cranked it over...blew the gas out of the cylinder..that immediately ignited and burnt his truck up..

Will do..There will be no cranking it over with spark until two things happen first
1 - The block it fixed so I can remount the starter
2- We determine the root cause.

Originally Posted by layinrocker65

Nice that you are getting it fixed. I’ve seen this issue more than once. The aluminum mockup block I have was torn down because of the same problem.

Yes I felt a little better after it happened and jumping on the internet for some quick research to see it was more common than I knew.

Marc

[youngrodder]

Update

It was a hydro-lock that caused the issues with my starter. The #7 injector (which I sent out to have it cleaned and tested) is the root cause. It sprays all the time. The #7 cylinder filled with gas causing the Hydro-lock when trying to fire the motor. I does feel goo to know what happened. I'm glad it was not something stupid I did.

The new stater is here. New injector in route. Waiting for my friend to weld my block back together.....Then another test fire. Hopefully with less excitement.

Marc

[mongocanfly]

wow.....that's crazy....I thought you were gonna be all good by having the injectors rebuilt

[joedoh]

yikes!

I had that happen on a TBI 4.3 engine where the injectors needed rebuilt, i didnt break a starter mount but it did refuse to turn. sorry to hear of the problem! I hydrolocked a bmw once in a big puddle and the #3 con rod looked like a salvador dali painting. difference between 0 rpm and ~2000 rpm!

glad you got it figured out, especially the block welding!

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

wow.....that's crazy....I thought you were gonna be all good by having the injectors rebuilt

Yeah me too. On my 48, I started it with dirty injectors then sent them out to be cleaned later. I thought I was doing a much better job this time around having clean injectors to start with...who knew.

Originally Posted by joedoh

yikes!

I had that happen on a TBI 4.3 engine where the injectors needed rebuilt, i didnt break a starter mount but it did refuse to turn. sorry to hear of the problem! I hydrolocked a bmw once in a big puddle and the #3 con rod looked like a salvador dali painting. difference between 0 rpm and ~2000 rpm!

glad you got it figured out, especially the block welding!

Yes Hydro-locking a motor in full revolution has much a more costly outcome.

Thanks, just a bump in the road...

Marc

[youngrodder]

I did make some headway on my cooling system. I got the radiator mounted and the Cooling Components 2 speed fan mounted. All that is left is to make a mount for the condenser. The clearances look closer in the pics than in reality. I have about 1.5" to the closest pulley. Not bad for a 4 core radiator and a sucker fan.

My hose set up will be easy which it nice. My lower hose I can get away with a 1.75 dia - 1.5 dia 45 degree elbow. The upper hose will consist of (2) 90 degree elbows and a piece of 1.5" SS pipe that I will paint black. Similar set up to my 48.

Thanks
Marc

[Tempest67]

Hey Marc, looks really good.

Just a suggestion, when I put my new rad in the old cradle, it is a tight fit, so, to avoid running a long bolt into a side tank of the rad when attaching the fenders, I welded the 2 bolts to the rad cradle,so the fenders will slide onto the studs, and then I will add the washers and nuts.

You can see the 2 studs in this pic.

I found that assembling the front sheet metal can be a bit finicky to line everything up, and this made it easier. ..... just a suggestion, as your work looks great

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Tempest67

Hey Marc, looks really good.

Just a suggestion, when I put my new rad in the old cradle, it is a tight fit, so, to avoid running a long bolt into a side tank of the rad when attaching the fenders, I welded the 2 bolts to the rad cradle,so the fenders will slide onto the studs, and then I will add the washers and nuts.

You can see the 2 studs in this pic.

I found that assembling the front sheet metal can be a bit finicky to line everything up, and this made it easier. ..... just a suggestion, as your work looks great

Thanks, that's pretty slick. I will have to look into that. I will have to repaint my cradle anyway once I complete the condenser mount to the front so if I have to weld studs now would be the time.

Marc

[28TudorAZ]

Man that stance with the wheels is killer...Great job!!! Love the patina too.

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by 28TudorAZ

Man that stance with the wheels is killer...Great job!!! Love the patina too.

Thanks man..These wheels(20's) are just my rollers. I plan to buy a set of 22" US Mags soon...I already have the rubber.

Marc

[MiraclePieCo]

Originally Posted by youngrodder

Thanks man..These wheels(20's) are just my rollers. I plan to buy a set of 22" US Mags soon...I already have the rubber.

Marc

Big is good, bigger is better, and TOO big is just right!

[layinrocker65]

Which US Mags did you go with?