Nice work man! I hear you on the FRX line. I ended up doing the same thing. I didn't like how it routes underneath, so it went over the intake with fuel line insulating it. It's been good since.

 

You don't have to remove the turbo or up pipes when RE installing the engine, unless your putting the tranny and engine as one, and I find this method stupid with such a heavy engine and tranny. The reason the turbo and collector don't live up is because you have the turbo bolted to the pedestal it has to he loose so you can work the collector into place.

 

Great to know. Thanks! I assumed the turbo had to be off. I'll try to get it ready tonight so I can put it back on the engine before installing engine and tranny tomorrow. I noticed that one of the bolts on the turbo looks like it isn't in all the way, so I'm going to have to disassemble it tonight to check everything.

I can't imagine installing the engine and tranny as one piece.

I tried keeping the turbo loose on the pedestal and working the collector on first. I couldn't then get the turbo seated on the pedestal, even after some gentle whacks with a rubber mallet.

 

In the pic below look at the Dorman collector. In the center it has an "outty" belly button. Grind that flush so the two parts mate better. Also check the alignment pin there, they are often mushroomed over which can interfere with seating correctly. File the 'shroom off and get it back to a cylinder. I had the same issues with my Dorman collector.

Getting those bits lined up while in the truck is a well-known PITA, get it done now out if you can.

Other notes; doghouse is backwards, unless you're routing CCV to atmosphere. HPOP lines looks OE, I'd replace with the new revised version. They see a lot of pressure and old ones tend to burst.

Great thread, thanks for taking the time!

 

Yes, I've routed the CCV to a filter mounted on the rails. Didn't work all that great when I had a lot of blow-by. I'll be curious to see how it works after the rebuild.

Got the engine and tranny installed Saturday am. Took about 3 hours. Luckily it was a cool day. The tranny was much easier to install than it was to remove, with the cradle in place. There was no o-ring in the tranny dipstick, so I ran out to Ace and picked one up. Hopefully I don't see any leaking where the dipstick enters the tranny.

I decided to replace the trans cooler lines rather the repair the old ones. They were less than $50 on RockAuto:



Looks like the egt sensor should be fine:



It might be possible to install the engine with the turbo attached, but I'm glad I didn't try. Squeezing the engine between the cowl and the cross member was hard enough as is. I left the up-pipes loose at the manifolds. Doesn't look like it will be too hard to reach from underneath and tighten them once the turbo's on the pedestal.

In any case, I discovered I have to rebuild the turbo. Last week when I was test fitting it I noticed that the bolts on the center carrier looked loose:



Sure enough, when I tore into the turbo on Friday night I found 2 of the four not even finger tight. I ordered a 1/4" drive 12 point 8mm socket in order to reach the bolts. And this morning ordered a 360 degree rebuild kit and new compressor wheel from RiffRaff. Hope to rebuild the turbo by this weekend.

I'll get the rest of the stuff around the tranny installed this week.

 

Looking good. Keep it coming.

 

Driveshaft and sensors installed on the tranny. A note on the trans sensors: the 2 small are exactly the same and one of the 2 large will fit on either large sensor. I had them installed backwards. Luckily I was able to move the wires around with the trans installed.

I busted the starter stud. Grumble, grumble:



Looks like the solenoid on the starter is replaceable. I tore everything apart with an impact screwdriver and will call the manufacture to see if they sell just the solenoid.

I realized after the fact that it will be easier to access the passenger-side up pipes with the starter removed, so it will be one of the last things to go back on.

Took the turbo shaft assembly for balancing. Here's what they removed from the compressor wheel:



I was wondering how they would index it. There are 2 small indentations. 1 on the wheel and one on the shaft. You torque till they align:



I know there's some debate about whether balancing is even necessary. What the guy told me is that it's "crucial." The assembly becomes slightly unbalanced as soon as it starts spinning. If it's unbalanced to begin with, the condition worsens as it spins.

 

Maybe that's why some have had problems with the 38R under load. I know there's one vendor that will not sell a 38R with an after market wheel. Never seen any problems with the standard GTP38 turbo and after market wheel. Was the guy local? An how much did he charge?

 

The wheel is RiffRaff's billet compressor, which is supposed to be "dual plane balanced". The shop is Performance Technologies in San Bernardino, CA. I've never worked with them before but they get excellent reviews on Yelp and the shop was clean and organized. The guy took time to talk to me about the 7.3 turbo after he balanced it. Seems like a legit place. They charged $40.

It was fun to browse the turbos they had lying around while he balanced mine. One was a small as my hand--he said it's used for go karts--another was almost as large as the engine in my Geo.

 

Nice to know. Not far from me either. Seems fare. Thank you.

 

Double post.

 

Had to wait about a week for new Viton rings from DieselORings for the hard fuel lines. I never could get the hard lines disconnected from the soft lines coming from the pump, so I just unbolted the front of the oil cooler and ran the lines through it:



Remembered to connect the ground strap to the cowl



Installing the turbo was about as difficult as I expected. You can't see anything between the turbo and firewall, so I had to go by touch. I put copper antisieze on the turbo and flanges. Hopefully that makes it easier next time I have to remove them.

$100 and a rebuilt starter later, I think I've learned my lesson about installing the starter. This time I put it on the trans stand and carefully bolted on the wires before installing the starter to the trans:



Started installing the wire harness this morning. Looks like I've got another busted pigtail. This time for the temp sensor at the thermostat housing:

 

Good idea on the starter install. I will use this method when I swap mine out.

 

Subscribed, late to the party. How did I miss this?

Great job so far!

 

Got the accessories and turbo spider installed. The belt will go on next. I removed the air intake heater and will install a boost sensor, on the RiffRaff plug. The fuel hose connected to the bowl drain line is in the lower left of the pic. Should make changing the filter much easier. Thanks again for the suggestion:



I've run into issues with the steering, I think from raising and lowering the truck so many times. With the wheels pointed forward the steering wheel is way off center. I think I'll wait to address this until the the lines are reconnected to the cooler.

Question on the steering pump: There's a nipple without anything covering it. See the pic below. I seem to remember that it had a rubber cover. I've looked online and don't see any hose routing from that nipple. Unfortunately I didn't take any notes or pics of this before disassembling. Anyone know what I should do, if anything, to the nipple?