Ron,
Did you go to Pinnacle? What did you think of them?

 

Hiya Mike, yep, My baby is still over there. I dropped her off Sept 28th. The update i got from Mike, at Pinnacle, on Wednesday, is that both my heads were bad. The valve seats were too far sunk/worn in. The local machine shop that does their head work didn't even want to try to resurface them as there would be no gaurantee that they would not fail. sigh. Mike had a set shipped in that should of gotten here yesterday. I drive by Pinnacle every day on the way to work to see if they are workin on my truck. Yesterday we finally saw her in the bay getting something done. Maybe the new heads came in? I'm gonna call tomorrow morning to see how it's going. Unfortunately this will not be an inexpensive fix. sigh.

 

if the core charge is not huge keep your heads, you can have new hardened seats put in your old heads. and they will be better than new. Has the motor been apart before Im surprized they are sunk in that far in unless they have been cut once or twice before.

 

Yep, Mike's gonna send the cores back for the core charge. I bought this truck in 2000 and the PO rebuilt it just before i got it. That's a 33yr old set of heads that was rebuilt at least once. (it was strictly a farm truck with that family) Before i took it to Pinnacle i pulled the passenger valve cover off and didnt see any broken springs. Something odd was i could turn several of the valve springs by hand real easily. I guess that was also a sign of the valve seat trouble. I've put 80+k miles on her, with lots of idle time in the winter. So i guess i can see how they are just worn. Mike also recommended that i use some kind of additive that has been taken out of oil the last few years. I can't remember what it's called. He said it's used for non-roller cams. I'll ask him what it is next time i see him.

 

Yea a zinc additive, diesel oils like rotella still has the high zinc. When we break in new cams now we add the zinc additive, if you don't you will wipe the cam lobes flat.

 

Yep, I get the zinc additive through Eastwood. 1 bottle with each oil change. I'm also running Valvoline VR1 racing oil in my Thunderbird. Engine will be 43 years old on the 18th and never been opened except for valve guide seals.

I also run this fuel additive from ACES IV Gasoline Formula Fuel Catalyst

Hope you get your truck back soon

 

I got my baby back yesterday. Whew, it's rough using one vehicle for two people on totally opposite shifts for three weeks. Glad to have it back. $1800 dollars and a rebuilt set of heads later and we're back on the road. The only issue i had was the mech did not hook up the tach. I showed him where the wire goes and with the turn of a nut, a few seconds later it was back to normal. It's amazing how smooth and peppy the engine is now. It must have been slowly getting worse over the last couple years. The last few months i noticed the engine vibrate more and just not have the power it used to 10 yrs ago. Now if i step on the gas hard it takes off hard and instantly like it's supposed to. I will need to increase the idle speed tho, as it is set to the factory 600rpm which is too low for good vacuum on the brake booster. That's a quick easy tweek for me tomorrow. When i picked up the truck they showed me the old head cores and the valve seats were toast. It would have cost more time and money for the local machine shop to try to rectify them than it would have to bolt on these new rebuilt heads. The receipt showed an itemized list of all the parts they replaced and the prices. (Their first source supplier is Bumper to Bumper, so the parts prices may be a little higher than some other places that use other suppliers.) They let me check out the truck and start the engine and look all over the receipt and ask questions before i plunked down the money for the bill. There is a 1yr warranty thru Pinnacle if the heads give me any trouble. I'm pleased with their service and price and would take my vehicles to them again. (LOL, they also gave me a free tshirt and my boys free hats. Those were the most expensive hats and shirt i've ever 'bought'. lol. )

 

Ron,

Glad you got your truck back and are happy with them.

 

Thanks, Mike. FYI, the major cost was for labor. $75/hr x 12hrs. I'm in the wrong business. lol.

 

kelly automotive in verdigris just north of the QT.. Adam is very honest and will treat you right...918-850-6257

 

FWIW, Pinnacle came thru for us again. My wife's honda passport was putting out a loud annoying squeal near the front of the engine. It wasn't the belt and i couldn't pinpoint the noise location. So we took it to them yesterday. They diagnosed and fixed it in a couple hours. It was a dying idler pulley and was fixed for $60. That was an awesome deal. Way to go Pinnacle!