Bargain week

[gmfan24]

So, I have not only been busy figuring out more projects for the Burban, but also busy making out like a bandit.

Item number one is a popular piece of unobtainium, more commonly known as 15045854, the antenna delete cowl end piece from an Escalade. The planets were in alignment or something, and I got it for $0.00.

 

Item number 2... Well, item number 2 is a second chance at a project that I started last year, but had to scrap due to needing emergency oral surgery. Anyway, item 2 retails for $2377.99, yet I somehow managed to purchase it, brand new of course, for a jaw dropping $1050!!!

 

 

 

 

[gmfan24]

I do realize that I'll have to get creative with the discharge tubing, as I will be using a vortech LS truck bracket. I was thinking about doing some kind of s-pipe with provisions for a bypass valve, or possibly going around the side of the head unit, coming around to the front, almost parallel with the inlet ducting.

[gmfan24]

I already have a bracket, 3.33" pulley, pulley retaining hardware, and inlet duct, part numbers straight from the 2000-2006 LS truck supercharger kit coming, should arrive Thursday. I'm going to get a used oil pan and have an NPT bung TIG welded to it for connecting the drain line from the supercharger. I just can't bring myself to drilling and tapping a hole in my or any oil pan while it's still on the engine. Even moreso with the unavoidable accumulation of gunk in the pan after 150,000 miles, just waiting to catch aluminum chips and release them at a most inconvenient time.

[gmfan24]

I guess I forgot to mention, if you run the part number on item number 2, you will find it to be a Vortech V2 SQ SI Trim, CW rotation, curved discharge, satin finish.

[gmfan24]

Oooooooohhhhhhh I'm so antsy for my box of goodies tomorrow! Here's my baby with Grade 8, black phosphate coated, 3/8×16×2 1/4 hex flange mounting bolts. Also visible it the M12×1.75×50mm idler pulley retaining bolt and the jig I made as a guide for modifying a Northstar idler pulley spacer to properly locate the pulley on a vortech supercharger. I promise to take better pics than I did with my cdx install.

[gmfan24]

I don't care much for bolts and washers. I prefer hex flange bolts. Also, even though vortech spec'd Grade 5 hardware, Ben (me) spec'd Grade 8

[gmfan24]

Here's some better pictures of the supercharger idler pulley retaining hardware.

The bolt and the jig for making the spacer. That's an 11/16" OD, 1/2" ID, 1" long bronze flanged axle bushing with some fender washers. The flange is hidden by the plush of the towel. The ID of most pulley bearings is 17mm, so I had to painstakingly sand down the OD of the bushing with emory cloth. I bought a handful of fender washers and mix and matched them until I was satisfied with the thickness.

Ok. On the left, is an idler pulley spacer from a 95-99 Cadillac Northstar engine. 95-99 Oldsmobile Aurora idler pulley spacers are similar if not identical, but they are a royal PITA to get as they require romoval of the torque axis mount bracket that Cad's dont use. The hole in the spacer is for a 10mm diameter bolt, and needs to be drilled out to 1/2". Then its just matter of setting the height of the spacer by sanding off the bottom, frequently checking pulley alignment. Make sure to drill before shortening, so you have plenty of material to hold on to.

[gmfan24]

Got my first box of goodies in the mail. I will take more pics when I get home.

[gmfan24]

 

 

 

[gmfan24]

Here's a shot of the supercharger stuff I've acquired so far.

[gmfan24]

I don't believe in pounding things together with a rubber mallet, so I made a simple pulley installer for less than 20 bucks at my local fastener store. It's made of a piece of 3/8×24 class B7 (between grades 5 and 8) threaded rod, some grade 5 fender washers, and a grade 8 nut.


Don't forget the...


Applied sparingly with...


Till the pulley looks like...


Make sure your woodruff key is here before you start pressing...


Set pulley on input shaft lika dis...


Thread the rod into the input shaft until it stops...


Lube the washers so they will spin against each other and not the face of your brand new 82 dollar pulley...


Lube the threads on the rod, to prevent the nut from galling and/or welding itself to the rod...


Seat everything gently, making sure that the pulley is square to the shaft, and lined up with the woodruff key...

 

Go to town with an adjustable wrench or a box end, or open end. I also used a strap wrench to make sure that the pulley didnt turn out of alignment with the woodruff key.


In less than 5 minutes, the pulley will seat like a boss. This part is why I suggest using the anti seize sparingly, and only in the pulley ID. Any excess will be pushed out the front by the input shaft as the pulley is forced down on it.


Because I was careful with how much anti seize I used, I was able to clean up the excess with 1/2 of a paper towel and one end of a q-tip.


Retaining hardware installed. I used my 20V cordless impact, holding the pulley with a strap wrench.


Lookin purty

[gmfan24]

So this is a gm idler pulley spacer...

 

Unfortunately, it establishes the pulley standoff a little to low for my comfort level.

 

A closeup of the spacer jig I made...

 

I'm much more comfortable with that alignment.

[gmfan24]

For those of you with keen eyes, yes, that's an AR-15 in the background

[gmfan24]

Got some more bargains for my project last weekend. I went to the salvage yard for some idler pulley spacers, and to check out the 3/8" inline check valves that I have been reading about on some Nissan vevhicles (hardbody pickups mostly) that I had read about. Long story short, I had a quart sized ziploc bag full of gm pulley spacers and check valves and was on my way out of the yard when I spotted a Tahoe that I had somehow missed on the way in. Someone had taken the radiator, water pump, a/c compressor, transmission, front axle, hood, and both fenders from this Tahoe, leaving the engine just sitting on the mounts. Rather convenient for someone who wants an extra oil pan to weld a fitting to. But I hadn't planned on pulling an engine that day, so I had nothing with which to cut a seatbelt out of a car with. Rats! Moving on down the aisle, I came across and oldy moldy Astro van. It was light blue with stripes on the outside and oh yeah, blue velour interior. Low and behold, buried under some clutter between the seats, there was a pair of scissors! Yay! So, a couple hours later, I had the engine 7 feet above the mounts, dangling from a seatbelt that I tied to the exhaust manifolds. I should have gotten a picture, but my hands were too dirty to touch my phone at that point. Anyway, here is my oil pan, minus the baffle, after the first bath in the parts washer at work. Cost $25.67.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gmfan24]

Obviously it will need some more cleaning before TIG welding on it, but it's clean anough to handle at least. I leanrned something new today too. Apparently all oil pans like this have helicoils factory installed for the oil drain plug. There's even a callout for it in the GM catalog. Weird. I figure that I may as well put a new o-ring on the oil pump pickup as long as the pan is off. I also got an intake manifold from a 2002 Tahoe to play with for $20.32. They didn't charge me for the bag of pulley spacers and check valves. I will get pics of the valves and spacers tonight.