Dan's 2.9L Turbo Build

Since I can't leave well enough and I went and added sound deadening from RAAMaudio. I had a few upgrades done to the sound system so I wanted to go the extra length. Plus with the turbo going in I was going to be adding some more engine and road noise.

RAAMaudio has great how to instructions. I added the RAAMmat to the outside door shell to add mass. Then the Ensolite on top of the mat. Once the outer shell was done I cut some sheet metal to stiffen up and seal the inner door shell. I added a full layer of matt then the Ensolite on top of that.

I pulled the carpet out washed it and added the RAAMmat to the floor and focused on the passenger side where the exhaust is run.

Then I focused on the back wall. This was by far the most time consuming part of the project and the most rewarding. If your going to do any sound deadening the back wall is the place to start. The first layer of mat was hard to get pressed into each nook and cranny. Then the second layer of Ensolite was much easier since it flexes and is more pliable.

When I put it back together, the bass and midrange were greatly improved. The ambient road noise was reduced too. The whole project was about $250 since I bought enough material to do 2 trucks.

I don't have all the picture right now but here are the fully sealed doors.

Now that is how an interior should be done!
Is that an OE black dash, or did you paint it?

I agree also about the rear wall. Just the fact that it's one big expanse of flat sheet-metal tells you so.
The roof is really important for the same reason.
Also, a lot of wind-noise comes through the roof panel at highway speed.

On my '05 crew I used a mat of ordinary pink fiberglass wrapped in a sheet of plastic drop-cloth placed between the headliner and the roof.
Even if I were applying LizardSkin I'd probably want fiberglass in there also.

I know that LizardSkin, Deadbeat, and Dynamat are made for automotive use, but I think fiberglass insulation is probably better at both sound insulation and heat insulation in summer.

Ford did a lot of focused research about 20 years ago into noise/vibration/harshness and they concluded that nothing beats ordinary fiberglass insulation.

Alright I'm going to post a few photos at a time and work through the whole build slowly bc I'm having trouble losing my write up half way through.

With out further ado. Here is my 2.9L build

So my old engine would burn through about a quart of oil every month. After pulling the valve cover and realizing how much a pain it would be to replace the valve seals, I went out and found a newer engine that had 8,000 miles on it. At least that's what they guy who sold it to me said. I picked it up for about $750 and brought it home. As you can see a little dust had accumulated on it.

Once I cleaned it up I started tearing it down to port and polish the head. I pulled the oil pan and front cover to get to the timing chain. It was much easier to do while on the engine stand. When I got into it there was very little wear which means I got a killer deal on this engine!

Now it was time to start porting and polishing!

*NO CFM numbers. I only did common sense changes and there were a lot of them.*

If you want to see the whole build check out my (Daniel Sudol) facebook album Colorado 2.9. There are a lot more pictures than Ill post on here and I have almost all of them up there.

Porting and polishing time!

I followed Jafromobile YouTube video on how to port and polish. I think I watched the whole thing like 10 times.
https://youtu.be/iejDWSQEsqI

I bought the Summit Racing® 3-Piece Non-Ferrous Deburr Kit to take out the majority of the material that I thought needed to be removed.

To hold the bits so they didn't jump around I made a glove. It made my time grinding much easier.

In total I spent the majority of my time on the exhaust ports. There was a lump of aluminum right behind the valve seat. That was the first thing to get rid of and smooth out. I also knifed where the ports come together and gasket matched the ports. As you can see there was a lot of material to remove.

On the intake side I just knifed the bridge and smoothed out the transition from port to bowl and valve seat.

The rest of the work I did with sanding rolls and polishing compound. I used 80,120,220 grit sanding rolls to smooth out the rough finish. Then I moved to some scotch bright wheels that had grits of 80, 120, 220, 320 grit. Once I had smoothed out the ports to near perfection I went an extra step and polished them to a near mirror finish with black emery.

Once I finished the ports I repeated the process on the combustion chamber. I knocked down the sharp edges and tried to get as much of the surface porosity out that I could. Then I polished the combustion chamber to a mirror finish.

Once all of that was completed I sent the head off to the local machine shop to get decked and a three angle valve job.

Best looking piece of aluminum I've ever seen if I do say so myself.

Wow is a understatement. very impressive. wonder if there is room for bigger valves? and who can custom cut a set of cams?

I love this little 4 popper, weight, size, etc.
But I don't love how hard speed parts are to find.

my 04-3 build has a 5.7 aluminum ls1 sitting in the background but I may put it in the Jetfire instead. and seeing the flexability in the head as far as porting goes im really thinking about keeping the 2.8.

I like the narrow width of the I motors. this width may allow me to push the engine into the interior and significantly rear bias the weight of the truck. that LS will not fit in the cab with me.

I already have plans to put the corvette transaxle set up in the truck. (Jetfire has to be running first)

I hate that I don't have enough me to work on the Mistresses.

Excellent work on that head.
How much boost are you thinking of pushing?
Any idea how thin the port walls are now?