30,000 miles on the 4.3 and all the bits and pieces.
Well the other night, it happened. While crossing the Snohomish River, my rig hit that magic numberà.thirty thousand miles! Although it seems like just yesterday that I put this rig on the road, it has been over 2 years since that first road test.
What has it been like?
A real joy! This rig does whatever is asked of it, and more. Every time I wheel it, I learn a little bit more about just how good it is. This may sound conceited, or something like that, but this rig is just cool, if you have any doubts, just ask anyone that I have wheeled with, or have let drive the beast.
My favorite mods;
1. 200+ horsepower, and 300+ ft.lbs. of torque! 14,000 ft of altitude didnÆt faze it last summer, and on a trail with a æ95ÆSR along, it had NO trouble climbing a section of trail that would/did stall the SR in past attempts.
2. Gearing! ItÆs all about being able to multiply what you have, and it makes it very easy to crawl up, and down, most anything.
3. The transmission! There is a fair amount of debate on the ôAuto vs. manualö as far as transmissions go. In this case, I love the manual transmission! Yes, it was a major stumbling block to get it the way I wanted it, but it was worth it. With the proper gearing, a manual transmission is very easy to drive. Add a 75 lb. flywheel/clutch to the low gearing, and you can go almost anywhere, with ease. The clutch is 11ö in diameter, so it should last a long time, and with proper sizing of the hydraulics, the pedal effort is not much heavier then stock.
4. Fuel injection. GM calls this one ôCPIö It works very good, makes great power and torque, and delivers reasonable fuel economy. I did find 1 glitch in the software that GM programmed into the motor. Above 11,000 feet, when decelerating, the engine processor will set a fault. The processor is seeing a low MAP sensor value, well NO kiddingà.there is NO air at that altitude for the engine to use, hence NO MAP PRESSURE! The motor ran just fine, and the fault did not trigger a different strategy for engine fuel/ignition mapping.
5. The tires. 33 x 12.5 x 15 Yokohama Geolander MTÆs are THE tire to own. These have 30K on them, and have an easy 10K left in them. They work fantastically; they offer superb traction on the street, trail or in mud. The 12.5ö width may be slightly wide for this rig, but I donÆt rub, or hit the tires on anything, during any suspension movements, or wheel travel. The sidewalls are soft, the tires conform to almost any object, and siping them doesnÆt hurt either. When these are worn out, IÆll replace them with exactly the same tire. That says a lot about them.
6. The rest of it is just great! It all has worked as I had envisioned it should. I could say that ALL the mods are my favorites, but some stand out more then others. ItÆs the combination of wheelbase, torque, gearing, and tires that make this rig able to go just about anywhere. The vehicle makes me look like a better driver.
Problems and glitches
Cooling system;
1. I started, in my design of this rig with trying to build the most bullet-proof cooling system, and to have it be something that I would never have to worry about. Best laid plans, donÆt always work out. I started out using a custom made water pump from Stewart Components. It was a short design, even shorter then the short pump that is used on the Corvette engine. I built a billet aluminum water pump pulley to match the rest of the belt drive on the motor. The pump lasted 19,000 miles, But because of the time elapsed, wasnÆt under warranty. No problem, but the pump got noisy just before a major wheeling trip to Oregon. I had one shipped overnight, and got it installed in plenty of time before the trip. This second pump lasted only 3,000 miles and showed signs of impending failure by making noise, as the first pump had. But, before I even had time to deal with Stewart Components, the pump failed catastrophically, when the pulley/flange fell off on the hi-way while I was headed home from visiting a friend. Since the engine uses a serpentine belt, I lost all power to everything, but my Optima yellow top did not let me down. I made it to with-in 2 miles from my home before running the battery down to nothing, and that was running headlights, heater fan, and the radiator fan, as the fan switches are located in the cylinder head. The engine never went over ¢ scale, or ~220*F. Stewart Components was very apologetic, and would of course warranty the pump, but needed to see the pump before they could speculate on the failure. I started to think that the pulley that I had made could be the problem, but its mass was still far less then the mass of the stock pulley, fan clutch, and fan combined. But I still started to second guess myself on this point. While the rig was on my lift, I realized that I had enough room to use a stock water pump from GM, and that also meant I could now go back to the stock water pump pulleyà..problem solved, if there was one. During the evolution of this rig, I had decided to move the radiator further forward then I had first thought, and this has now proved to have been a very good thing, as not only is the water pump less expensive, but it is available anywhere, at any auto parts store, and a genuine GM pump costs ~$37.00, and carries a 1year warranty.
2. Radiator. Again a custom part and not truly a manufacturing problem, it was still a problem, as it leaked. The first radiator fell victim to GM Dexcool, what was first thought to be the latest, greatest antifreeze in the free world, is now at the cusp of a class action lawsuit. This antifreeze has been proven to eat soft metals, and some engines in GMÆs line up are worse then others, with the 4.3 being one of those. This radiator was replaced, coincidently just after I had been backed into by a ¢ ton 4x4 Chevrolet truck while out of town on business.
When I replaced the radiator, I also added a shower circuit to the new radiator, so I now have an on-board shower for long trips in the ôoutbackö of the USA. This replacement radiator started to leak with-in 60 days of installation, and up-set me greatly. The company is a good company to deal with, but they are NOT around the corner. They have offered to repair this unit, but for reasons even unclear to me, I have purchased yet another (my third) Radiator. The newest radiator has epoxy sealing where the core and the tanks come together, and seems to be great. The company is going to issue a call tag for radiator #2 and address the problems with it, and epoxy it also, so perhaps the purchase of radiator #3 did help with that situation. I can use this other radiator for rig #2 that I have in mind, or just keep it as a spare if needed.
I now believe that the cooling system is as bullet proof as I had intended it to be.
The GM alternator. Although the alternator used with this engine is a 105 amp unit, it is not a popular, or reliable unit. It has a ôsoft chargeö regulator, and wonÆt charge the battery the way that I prefer at idle. Even with brand new factory parts, the regulator failed in less then a year. The fix? I now have a Ford 3G 130 amp alternator in its place and it works very well.
Rear leaf springs. Torque is a great thing to have, but the rear springs are not up to the amount of torque, and the gearing that now reside in this rig. I have now bent 4 right rear springs in the time that this conversion has been on the road, 3 in the last 3 months.
I have bent the shackle on the right side so badly that it is hard to tell what it was like to start with. A fix is in the works, and will take care of this problem, along with a traction bar being added to the rear axle, to control axle wrap.
Yet to be finished, and latest mods.
Yet to be finished.
1. Cruise control
2. Hand throttle
3. On-board air system
4. Shift boot
5. Newest design, 1 piece idler arm bushing
6. New refinished æ90Æ dash, with
Boston Acoustics 4öseparate speakers.
7. Fix the darn squeaky bouncy seat....
Done8. Finish the interior winch remote plug/wiring.
9. Finish/build the rear bumper design that is stuck in my head.
In the works, the latest ôgreatestö new mods.
1. New custom carpet set and floor mats, (matched to a carpet sample) with enough extra carpet to cover a small box with an 8ö sub. Due in the next week....
Here2. Stereo amp to run the sub, mounted inside the rear body panel.
3. New Clifford alarm, with remote proximity sensor, every other bell and whistle, and the ability to operate the winch with the remotes. Due this week.
4. Custom Recaro seats with both heat and blowers in the seat base and back, electric tilt, and recline, air lumber support, adjustable thigh, and back support wings, and fully adjustable headrests. Due by Christmas.
5. Dynamat for the front of the rig to match what has already been done from the door jams rearward.
6. New rear suspension, with 10ö travel shocks, and a torque bar to control spring wrap. Due to be finished by March 05.
Well, thatÆs it. The rig should be completely finished, with nothing else left to do by April. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
This is to be the final post on the construction of this vehicle. ItÆs been a long, but fun ride. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Kary
