When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Have my engine on stand stipped down to valve covers, should i change the freeze plugs? What else should i take care of while i have it out? I was gonna get the bock cleaned up and engine paint it. Advice? Suggestions?
Should I go with stock replacement freeze plus and fuel rail plugs?
I would see if you can get marine freeze plugs they will hold up better then the steel freeze plugs. And as far as fuel rail banjo bolts Bob at DieselOring has them. Take one of them out and look on this website because there are 2 different banjo bolts and they use different orings. Here is a photo of the different style bolts and as you can see I modded the left banjo bolt on the short shank one.
This would also be the time to change the oil galley plug orings on the both ends of the heads. There is a 1 piece updated oring out the factory ones are 2 piece. Here is a photo.
Good info... I have installed a riffraff frx and if I recall I had to remove those fuel rail plugs... I'll shoot bob an email.
The plugs you pulled to do the RR FRX is on top od the heads. The fuel banjo bolts are on the front and back for each head. The fuel comes in on top of the head and the banjo bolt transfers it to the fuel rail galley in the head. I hope that made sense?
With 320000 mikes the original tranny still shifting good I couldn't decide to rebuild or not while I had the engine out.. Decided to just replace the torque converter with a billet banks unit... My truck dynoed 402 HP and 732 ft lbs and if I'm not mistaken that's about max ftlb of torque for my current converter... Anyone know about the flex plate? Should I go with a billet unit or replace stock one or just reuse the one I have?
So I am putting it all back together and I noticed on the crank the heat marks in the following pictures, are they normal? Do I need to worry about the presence of the discoloration as I know this does happen with heat and our 7.3's sure do make a lot of heat, no signs of cracking and no play in the crank and no other signs of excessive wear.
They look normal. The journals are heat treated after the counterweights are machined and the journals are rough sized. After the heat treating, the journals are ground to finished size and polished. So if you were to pull a connecting bearing cap and the heat discoloration was on the bearing journal, that wouldn't be normal. If the crankshaft got hot enough to leave those colors post-install, you'd probably have other symptoms
They look normal. The journals are heat treated after the counterweights are machined and the journals are rough sized. After the heat treating, the journals are ground to finished size and polished. So if you were to pull a connecting bearing cap and the heat discoloration was on the bearing journal, that wouldn't be normal. If the crankshaft got hot enough to leave those colors post-install, you'd probably have other symptoms
So do you recommend pulling a connecting bearing cap? I have no engine symptoms, the engine runs strong! Also what are everyones thoughts on stock flexplate versus billet? Im running just over 400 wheel hp and 732 ft/lbs torque, should i replace the stock one, reuse the stock one or upgrade to billet? Its really not in the budget but If it means I wont have to do this again it may be worth it.
Today i started rebuilding, i installed the timing cover, water pump, freeze plugs, replaced oil galley plugs and seals, replaced fuel rail banjo plugs with driven diesel upgraded plugs, cleaned out the oil pan sanded and repainted it, steam cleaned the block about 10 times with 10 degreasings so that i can put some ford blue engine paint on the block. I was rather annoyed that the freeze plug kit i purchased shorted me two plugs and gave me a bunch of extras i didnt need. Man its nice having the engine on a stand, so much easier to work.
