eh, what the hell. It's an upcoming project so figure I'll start a thread.

Parted out a 92 GMC Yukon 4x4. Engine is on the stand in the garage. It'll be getting refreshed, torque cam, new timing chain, possibly roller rockers (if money allows), rings, bearings, and basic head porting. Have a set of large port steel heads from my boat that i sold, that may go on if they have bigger runners/valve than the ones on this engine. Just going for a torque monster for hauling whatever, and getting decent mileage when not hauling.

The "project" part of this, is that I'm converting the van to throttle body injection from carb. Have all of the wiring and tbi stuff from the 92. After I get the engine pulled down and see what it needs, then will start on stripping down the wiring harness to make an engine only harness. I plan to do as I did with the stang and end up with only 6 wires that need connected back to the 86 harness: Battery, Ignition, Tach, Oil Pres, Water temp, and fuel pump power. I also have an engine break in stand available, so once rebuilt, I can test and verify the harness is working properly.


In comparison to the Mustang project, I really hate GM. Ford has a disconnect for the engine harness, so all engine related wiring is self contained. GM includes everything in one mondo harness, including washer motor, wipers, etc etc. But haven't had a good electrical project to work on in a while, so figured what the hell.

Also the van will get long tube headers (pulled from the yukon), possibly a stronger axle (6 lug from the yukon), and electric fuel pump upgrade. Will post some pics as I get going.

Thanks to Patterson for use of his engine crane!

bleh, first update.

Got the donor motor pulled down, and found out, again, that it was a good thing I junked the truck. 1 main bearing, 1 rod bearing semi scored (small piece of something went through. #1 main bearing completely chewed, engine wouldn't have made it another couple thousand miles without siezing. So add a crank grind to the budget.

At least napa can get me a reground, and full bearing set for 175. bearings alone are 75, so not too bad.

hoping to get the engine out of the van in the next couple weeks, have it listed for sale, will see what I can get out of it.

Had a crank given to me, engine is almost ready to come out of the van, once I get it sold ordering the parts to build the new engine. Should have it together in a month or 2 hopefully. Also got info together for getting it tuned (chip) for the changes I'm making, just gotta get a gas tank from a newer van with the in-tank pump, get lines run, and get the new wiring harness built.

well, the project continues slowly. Engine wiring harness is almost ready. Block is prepped for build. Block is getting a main stud kit, windage tray, and good used top end timing set from one of our race engines. Slowly but steadily moving forward, just gotta keep selling parts so I can get the engine build started

bottom end assembled, waiting on the heads. Gotta get out and see if I can find a newer gas tank with in tank pump this week for the EFI conversion. Harnesses mostly figured out, need to get the old harness traced down and see where to splice in the new harness. Hopefully have it mostly in/ready by end of month, and troubleshoot wiring and such to finish out.

Need to get some pictures here at some point.

The van project is mostly complete. Borrowed Patterson's engine crane, dropped in the engine and trans myself (with some careful rigging, trans had to be hoisted up with some chains). Once that was in, installed a new electric fuel pump (14-16psi for a diesel, works good for TBI) by the fuel tank, had to cut/remake some lines, buy a few new lines from TB to filter and return lines. Also put a new pre and post pump filter on. Finished all the electrical, cut a hole for the ECU harness and get it into the cabin, upgraded to a 4 wire O2 sensor.

Remaining items:
-- modify air cleaner to clear trans fill tube
-- mount dipstick tube
-- Exhaust - Only one of the 2 headers I have fits. So currently have a header on drivers side, and manifold on passenger side, lol. muffler on drivers side, but still need to hook up passenger side piping and muffler. Gotta fab up some brackets/pipes.
-- Solder in Diagnostics Harness, and hook up the laptop for some datalogging.
-- Hook up Canister Purge system.

Other than that, pretty much a done deal. Got it fired up right before it started getting cold, and got the cam broke in. Still would like to run it in a little more again next time it's a little warmer. Pretty much on hold otherwise, as I'm waiting to get license and insurance back on it until I finish up the little things and make it driveable.

I had the van started again a month or 2 back when it was warmer, and i was hearing a rubbing/scraping noise that I couldn't place, and it was slowly getting worse. So when it was nice yesterday, I decided to fire it back up and see what I could figure out. Well, low and behold, when you install a windage tray, you need to make sure you notch it with a provision for your dipstick. When I put the dipstick in, it caught on the tray and slid in where it was rubbing on the crank. I don't think it caused any damage, there were just some slight rubbing marks on the stick. soon as i pulled it out, no more noise! lol. so gotta drop the pan sometime and notch it for the dipstick.

Other than that, got some work done on the exaust, but am not happy with how it came out so need to buy a premade piece and finish that up. Got the datalogging kinda working, though didn't mess with it yesterday. Aircleaner is fitted and on. Don't think I'm gonna need to hook up the purge system, it seems like it's venting to atmosphere ok so just gonna leave unhooked for now. Just need to get the correct headers for it, get timing reset, and get a chip burned and will be good to go, wooo.

Got the exhaust done a bit back. Took the thing for a drive and had a horrible stutter in midrange, come to find out my 4 wire O2 conversion wasn't quite wired properly (the ground side of the sensor can't hook directly to the ground feed on ECU, both have to actually attach to chassis ground or it doesn't work). Got that fixed, thing runs pretty solid. But then discovered a leak coming from the back of the block somewhere, either rear main or cam plug. So gotta drop the trans and see what the deal is.

once running properly, will start logging it and get a tune ready. Debating on doing it myself though, chip/burner are only about 110-120, and lowest i've found someone to burn a chip for was 75. if I do it myself i can keep tweaking it down the road...

Note to self: When purchasing a fuel pump, make sure that said pump flows the required amount. After replacing with the correct (and not nearly as cheap) fuel pump, van runs like a dream! Now a few more minor things to address, new fuel filter/chunk of line, reseal exhaust leak, and good to go!