1995 Chevy Tahoe 4X4 - Adventure Rig Build

[Chevrolado]

Good deal, sound like just a poor sealing intake gasket for some reason. That should be an easy fix.

Yeah... Unfortunately, I know the reason. And hes the one that stares back at me every day in the mirror.

During my whole process.. the motor shop assembled everything for me. Then when I got the motor to the shop to finish the add-ons and installation into the vehicle, I found that my Edelbrock intake wasn't fully ported in the EGR hole. There was residual metal sitting in there. Not wanting any issues to come of it, I removed the intake, then took it back to Edelbrock for them to fix it. Then I went back to the shop and reinstalled the intake myself. Unfortunately, I made a bad assumption on the gaskets used as well as being the first intake manifold I ever installed, I installed starting from the ends and criss-crossing until the center. I now hear it's common practice to start from the middle bolts and work your way out to evenly seat the manifold down. Not knowing this.. I think I didn't evenly seat the whole thing down and this middle portion was off-angled a little and was a weak point and failed prematurely.

Guess I had to learn the hard way, eh?

 

[Chevrolado]

So... I had dropped the Tahoe off at my buddies shop last week when it died and asked him to pull everything, put new gaskets in, and make sure its all up to snuff.
Then we left this weekend for the vacation. Didnt get any calls from the shop while on vacation, so I was hoping everything went well. When I got back home I discovered that my father in law had already picked up the truck from the shop and it was waiting for us at his place; all fixed up!
So we went to his place, picked it up, and I drove it home last night and it appears to be running well.

Drove around a little this morning to get a better feel and its running MUCH better than it has been so far since the new motor has been in. Idle is smooth. Seems to feel a lot better.

There are still a couple little things I feel dont make it 100% but I'll need more time behind the wheel to really diagnose if its all good or not.

Time will tell..

 

[Rebelord]

Nice Tahoe. Enjoying following your build process.
If you dont have a transmission cooler install one, along with a inline filter. Hayden 679 is one of the larger plate style coolers that work very well. There is even a option to have it with a fan installed on it for extra cooling. The inline filter, Magfine inline filter is a good choice. Wix, Raybestos, etc make em.
I would also drain n replace your filter for you transmission after about 1-2k miles on it. Get rid of all the nasty initial break in material.
I assume you have the 700R4. Those trannys hate heat and old fluid. I've been through to many of them. Especially when I lived in AZ. Even with dual coolers and fans.

 

[rabbiporkchop]

ems offroad in Danville Pennsylvania made me a rear bumper and swing out tire carrier for my 95 Tahoe

 

[rabbiporkchop]

http://s1297.photobucket.com/user/w...ahoe/DSCN4675_zpsa12b38c4.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

 

[Chevrolado]

Nice Tahoe. Enjoying following your build process.
If you dont have a transmission cooler install one, along with a inline filter. Hayden 679 is one of the larger plate style coolers that work very well. There is even a option to have it with a fan installed on it for extra cooling. The inline filter, Magfine inline filter is a good choice. Wix, Raybestos, etc make em.
I would also drain n replace your filter for you transmission after about 1-2k miles on it. Get rid of all the nasty initial break in material.
I assume you have the 700R4. Those trannys hate heat and old fluid. I've been through to many of them. Especially when I lived in AZ. Even with dual coolers and fans.

Thanks for the info and the tips! Glad to have ya watching the build.

ems offroad in Danville Pennsylvania made me a rear bumper and swing out tire carrier for my 95 Tahoe

Thanks bud! Love that rear bumper. I'd definitely want one if I could come up with the money for it.
Thanks for the info and the pic.


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As a general update to my thread here. I havent been doing anything with the rig other than just driving. Feeling out if there are any further issues or if its basically there.
I'm charting my fuel consumption since the motor rebuild and I still have yet to see anything over 9. Which is concerning because I was figuring after the leaky intake manifold gasket it would be pushing 10mpgs. But no. I think I'll run through one or two more tanks of fuel and see what happens and then I'm going to re-install my TBI Spacer to see if that was truly helping the thing! When I had the shop fix the intake gasket, I had them remove the spacer. So I'll add it back and see if it improves or makes it worse. We shall see.

On top of that, it appears the next venture will be fixing these leaky Power Steering hoses.. It's always something.

 

[duxndogs]

Awesome Tahoe! Have enjoyed reading your build write-up! :bike_rider:

Question - how do like the RCX 4 lift? How's the ride?

I'm considering it for my suburban project. I'm leaning towards 33's maybe 34's if they fit?

Thanks!

 

[Chevrolado]

Awesome Tahoe! Have enjoyed reading your build write-up! :bike_rider:

Question - how do like the RCX 4 lift? How's the ride?

I'm considering it for my suburban project. I'm leaning towards 33's maybe 34's if they fit?

Thanks!

Thank you very much! Glad to see people enjoying the ride with me. Hah.

Honestly, I love the lift. I haven't had any issues with any of the components. It's a great kit. The ride is pretty smooth and there isn't any issues with gettin proper alignment and everything. You should be able to fit 33s under the 4". I think in order to get to 35s you'd need the 6" lift. So 34s would be questionable. But 33s Id bet would work.

Honestly, if you want a decent lift that rides well, performs better than stock, and not too drastic that you'll need to change too many components.. This RCX 4" is a good one.
If I could do it again, I might go with the 6" but that's just cause I really love big trucks. Hah. The 4" is actually reasonable for my life. I just like to be unreasonable every now and again (thus the reason I threw this whole Edelbrock 350 motor into a daily driver commuter. Hah)

 

[duxndogs]

The 4" is actually reasonable for my life. I just like to be unreasonable every now and again (thus the reason I threw this whole Edelbrock 350 motor into a daily driver commuter. Hah)

I'm right there with you bro...I love the looks of the 6 in lift but don't think it's practical for me. I just bought a 2500 4wd suburban and I'm liking that RCX lift - especially the price. 33's is all I really need. I'll either do that lift or one of the $ nicer leveling kits from Cognito Motorsports. :smiley_drive:

 

[chilliwak]

Glad to hear your intake problems are over Chevy.
Nice looking rig. Lets hope your power steering leaks get fixed soon.

 

[Chevrolado]

Soooo long story short; the intake gaskets that I had the shop replace turned out to be the wrong gaskets (the parts guy at the motor shop gave me old motor version style, not the right ones to work for this 95 TBI).. So they naturally failed about 500 miles into it and started running like junk again. Found the torn new gasket and huge vacuum leak in close the same exact place as the FIRST go 'round. :yikes:

So... I had a long talk with my Edelbrock support folk who gave me GM part numbers, and precise instructions for the proper gaskets and proper installation notes proven to work for this Edelbrock head/manifold TBI combination and assured me that if we followed the correct procedure with that correct GM set of intake gaskets, it would work. But since we didn't previously do that.. this is what happens.

So the Tahoe is back under the knife to get the NEW (correct) parts installed. I'll let you know when I'm back and driving it again. hah.

 

[Rebelord]

That sucks. But at least you got good part numbers and procedures form a proper source for your intake manifold.

 

[Chevrolado]

Yep. Just drove it around today a bit with the new proper gaskets and things feel smooth and in tune. Let's hope I get more than 500 miles out of these ones.. hah!

Once this thing is actually running properly, I might be able to actually focus on fun add-ons and truly building the thing.

 

[NevadaLover]

Don't throw in the towel too soon, once You get the bugs worked out this will be a rock solid expedition vehicle, there is a good reason there are sooooo many 88-99 chevys still on the road, fix the few problems You run in to and then enjoy the hell out of it and You will thank Yourself!! by the way the tahoe does look awesome!!

 

[Chevrolado]

Don't throw in the towel too soon, once You get the bugs worked out this will be a rock solid expedition vehicle, there is a good reason there are sooooo many 88-99 chevys still on the road, fix the few problems You run in to and then enjoy the hell out of it and You will thank Yourself!! by the way the tahoe does look awesome!!

Thanks for the kind words. It's been a tough year. I bought this thing in Feb and immediately the motor was knocking which sent me on this adventure. I have been basically going from one repair to the next all year long.
At this point, I'm SO hoping 2014 will be a year of adventures outside with it. I spent a year building it.. It's only fair that it gives me a year to enjoy it now, right?! hah.