***ita - Becasue she is a mean B***h (aka 2004 Kenne Bell supercharge 8.1L Burb)

[Graystroke]

Edit: The board censors L O L ita...that's funny
Figured I start a thread on the new toy, family hauler, tow rig, tire roaster. I picked up a 2004 Suburban 2500 2WD with an 8.1L big block. It only has 47k miles on the clock. The interior is super clean. In typical G-Dawg fashion I got it super cheap from a co-worker. It needs some here and theres. It works fine the way it is, I'm just not a fan on how some things were put together. The guy that owned it before me wasn't too mechanically inclined when it came to all the custom sh!at, so whenever something needed attention it was down for a while at a custom shop and cost him big $$ to repair because pretty much everything that would need attention would either need to be made, ordered from Kenne Bell in CA, or ordered from Summit Racing.

So here is what I know (and am guessing):
Kenne Bell 2.2L blower (pulley has been changed to a smaller 2.75")
Custom Behr Intercooler set-up
Huge Aeromotive fuel pump with stainless braided lines running to tank
Larger Drive pulley installed
All the stock pulleys have been converted to 8 Rib (supercharger is 8 rib as well)
Dual electric 16" fans
Intake was either modifed or someone just thought it would look sweet powder coated black. I'm guessing it has been massaged in some way
Sounds like it has a cam in it
Full length headers
Magnaflow exhaust and duals out of the muffler
Stock 4.10 gears

What I need to do:
Redo pulley mounting plate. I'm replacing the idler. This has been a PIA. Dayco engineer says it's two tensioners put together and you can't get the tensioner part anymore.
New core support cover - looks like crap.
run heater line back to factory hole on water pump. I'll explain later.
remove headers and get coated - they get freaking hot! Melted a set of MSD wires.
Have it retuned on dyno. It's tuned pretty mean right now. The guy that owned it said it laid down 520 HP at the wheels when he had it tuned a couple of years ago. That place is out of business and from what I read on the interweb they sucked at tuning. It gets horrendous fuel mileage. Mostly my fault. it's hard not to stand on it. It makes the kids happy! Did I mention it hauls some serious ass!

Here are some pics:

[Graystroke]

So originally the engine was a six rib serpentine belt system. Someone upgraded it to an 8 rib. So in doing this the drive pulley for the supercharger is now spaced out 2 ribs more towards the front. They made a few aluminum spacers to push the idlers and tensioner out. They hacked the end off the pulley plate to make room for the new double 8 rib drive pulley and steel bracket. Hack is an accurate description. Saw marks are visible and it's not even square. I plan on milling the end square to make it look nice. Here is a pic of the drive pulley plate. Also, pics of the tensioner debacle. The only way I was able to identify it was by the PIN Number etched into it. For some reason there is no part number on the tensioner. I emailed back and forth with a DAYCO development to find out the P/N. He says it's not in their catalog anymore and I will have to use a new PN that's a close replacement and change the pulley out for another offset one. I figured out another way. I will remove the tensioner spacer and it will be pretty dang close. Then I can replace it fairly easy. I will have to drill a new locating dowel pin hole. I found this new tensioner by image searching their catalog. It is OE on a 2003 Ford 750 with a 7.2L CAT.

[Sharpe]

Schwing

[Graystroke]

On the pulley plate one of the idlers has eccentric adjustment. There is an aluminum spacer that has a cup milled into it to lock in rotation with the idler and keep everything in-line. Someone had flipped it and it was all beat to hell. When you torqued it down, it noticibly got cockeyed and was not in the same plane. I had my machinist (my retired pops) turn me another one and made it a little taller. The old one was too short. So the next step is to fix the kluge that I discovered where the tensioner bolts on. The original tensioner had a much smaller footprint. You can see the original anodized dowel pin hole, it looks like that someone tried to clock it a couple of times to get the tensioner tighter. Then they went to the current bigger tensioner. the footprint on the current tnsioner is much bigger. You can see that the dowel pin hole for the current tensioner is all the way at the edge of the raised area. I was hoping when I removed the raised disc that the hole underneath was smaller. No luck. Looks like I need to mill the disc down. I'll call Kenne Bell first to see if they have this disc thing in a .25" shorter version. Either route will fix the belt alignment problem and also create a larger flatter footprint for the new bigger tensioner.

New spacer

[Graystroke]

better picture of idler plate and puck thingy I need to mill .25"

[Seth]

Heard about this a while back. Glad to see it happened. What happens to the quadra steer?

[Graystroke]

The wife thinks I'm going to sell it. For some reason she sees no need for 2 3/4 ton suburbans. I'm happy with 2. The black one can be the date night burb.

[Graystroke]

I was down at the shop blowing things up and decided to machine down the spacer and re bore the tensioner index hole.

[breckboarder55]

Looks like a fun little project! Iron block/aluminum heads? I don't know anything about the 8.1s.

[Graystroke]

iron block/ iron heads. the last generation of the big block. I think '06 was the last year they were produced in 3/4 ton burbs. You could probably ge them in '07 classic HD's. Here's everything you probably would want to know from the reliable source wiki

Vortec 8100[edit]
L18[edit]
The Vortec 8100 L18 was a V8 truck engine. It was a redesigned Chevrolet Big-Block engine and was introduced with the 2001 full-size pickup trucks. It had an all-iron engine (block and heads) with two valves per cylinder. It retained the same bore diameter as the old 7.4 L Big-Blocks, but the stroke was upped by 9.4 mm (0.37 in) to reach 8.1L (496cuin), for a total of 107.95 mm (4.25 in) bore and 111 mm (4.37 in) stroke. Power output ranged from 340 hp (254 kW) to 550 hp (410 kW),[citation needed] and torque from 455 lb·ft (617 N·m) to 690 lb·ft (936 N·m).

Other important differences between the Vortec 8100 and older Big Blocks include a changed firing order (1-8-7-2-6-5-4-3), a new 18-bolt head bolt pattern, longer connecting rods, different symmetrical intake ports, different oil pan rails and the use of metric threads throughout the engine. The fuel-injection system for the Vortec 8100 is nearly identical to that used on Gen III engines, right down to the fuel and spark tables in the ECU.[19]

Vortec 8100s were built at GM's Tonawanda Engine plant. The last L18 was manufactured in December 2009.

L18 applications[edit]
The Vortec 8100 was the engine used in the largest U-haul, their 26-foot (7.9 m) truck. GM also sold the Vortec 8100 to Workhorse (now a division of Navistar), making it one of the most popular engine choices in gas powered Class A motorhomes during the first decade of this century. GM stopped installing Big Block V-8's in the Silverado HD trucks when the GMT-800 series was discontinued in 2007.

Chevrolet Silverado/GMC Sierra 2500HD & 3500HD (option)
Chevrolet Suburban/GMC Yukon XL (option)
Chevrolet Express 3/4 or 1 ton
Chevrolet Avalanche 2500 (std on GMT800 2500)
Chevrolet Kodiak
Workhorse Class A motorhomes.
T-98 Kombat armored vehicles.
U-Haul's 26-foot (7.9 m) truck.
Malibu Boats, e.g. Wakesetter.[20]

[Graystroke]

I want to know what the heck the 550HP version was installed in...if it existed or just some crap someone made up on wiki

EDIT: Google says it was the devlopment of the HP3 Marine race engine...apparently the common ones were the 340 HP, 420 HP, 525 HP, they made a few other HP3 GenII rated at 540, 550 and 560 HP...all on 87 octane.

[tigweld]

marine versions i bet

[Graystroke]

marine versions i bet

yep. that's what they were...that would be pretty sweet to get one of those for a street car.


So, my initial thought about the fan relay set-up being iffy were correct. it took a **** on me while trying to get it washed after I had already paid (of course). Raincheck on the wash and hurried home about a mile away.

I went to the junkyards saturday to try and find a factory harness. No luck. So I'm ordering a Nelson Perfromance one tomorrow. The new harness runs off the ECM to switch them on and also reads the high pressure on the A/C line. I'll keep the aftermarket fans for the time being. Not sure what they are. They are 16" and loud so I'm guessing they move enough air. I'll have to get them to run off the rheostat until I get it in for a re tune on the dyno.

I thought about putting factory '05 fans on, but I think I don't have enough clearance. There is some kind of pressure relief /reciculating ~1.5" tube running across the front of the engine that would be in the way.


Ryan, Fred- Do you all know of any place (maybe the rod shop?) that has Earl fittings stocked like a hardware store? I want to reroute some heater cooling lines and want to do it with AN fittings and stainless braid. I figured if I could walk in there I could cobble something together If I could see what's availble and how to put it together.
Picture of crossover tube and fans




ghetto coolant line routing (the white wrapped hose over the engine cover)



You think that coolant hose gets hot? This where Kenne Bell tells you to route it. When I bought the truck, i had to replace this to drive it home. The rubber had turned to coal. I'm hoping I can route it back to the factory hole on the water pump.



The allen head in the water pump is where the heater return line originally went. Kenne Bell had you reroute it because that's where the the intake air exited the blower originally. You can see the welded aluminum plate now covering the old blower exit on the left of the pic. Now the blower air exits to the left of the blower and enters the intercooler lower pass side.

[AggieTJ2007]

Smiley's in mesquite is the only place I know that has fittings in stock usually.

[davido]

Does it smoke the tires? Watching Roadkill lately. Now I feel like I need something that will just roast them down.